Product-to-product research

Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM vs DealerSocket Accelerate

Cox Automotive on Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM: A CRM product. DealerSocket on DealerSocket Accelerate: Additional named products the directory tracks.

VinSolutions Connect CRM and DealerSocket Accelerate are not the same kind of product. Connect is Cox Automotive's dealership CRM, the daily lead, showroom and follow-up system for sales.

DealerSocket Accelerate is described in the directory as a digital retail and deal acceleration offering within the DealerSocket suite, and buyers are told to confirm its current scope and CRM integration with DealerSocket and Solera. A fair comparison is between Connect and DealerSocket's CRM, or between Accelerate and a digital retailing tool.

Direct answer

Choosing between Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM and DealerSocket Accelerate

Ask DealerSocket exactly what Accelerate includes today, which CRM it connects to and whether it works with a CRM from another vendor. Find out how Connect handles online deals started by a shopper and whether it needs a separate retailing product.

Compare how each tool writes a deal into your DMS, how customer records are shared and how reports show online and in-store sales together. Look at the contract terms and renewal dates for each, and ask a store that runs each how long onboarding took.

What to check before you choose

DealerSocket's CRM pages describe a configurable platform that consolidates sales, marketing, service, desking, data mining, website and digital retailing capabilities, with call and lead management, real-time reporting and a dedicated success team, and a turnkey version for independent and buy-here-pay-here dealers. A customer quote on the page says lead management and reporting were better than the previous CRM. VinSolutions' pages stress Cox shopper data, AI follow-up and desking.

Because Accelerate is a desking and digital retail offering rather than a CRM, the more direct question is how each CRM hands a deal to desking and the retail flow, and whether desking numbers write back to the lead record. Ask both vendors for a live walkthrough of a lead that begins online, builds a deal in the store and closes, and watch where data is re-entered.

Also ask both vendors about ownership. Cox and Solera each operate several related products, so confirm which contract, support team and roadmap apply to the CRM, desking and digital retail you are buying, and whether pricing is per user, per rooftop or bundled. A store already on one DMS should ask which system the integration was built and tested against.

Finally, ask for references among stores of your size and brand that switched from another CRM, and ask what the first 90 days looked like: how long data migration took, how many reps adopted the tool and which reports they relied on. A reference who cannot name a specific improvement is a useful signal in itself. Names can mislead buyers.

A

Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM

Cox Automotive describes it this way: A CRM product.

VinSolutions Connect CRM is Cox Automotive's dealership CRM, the daily lead, showroom and follow-up system for the sales team, integrated across the Cox ecosystem with vAuto, Dealertrack and marketplace data. Evaluate staff adoption, DMS write-back quality, and how the Connect Automotive Intelligence layer prioritizes customers.

Cox Automotive describes itself as a company transforming how vehicles are bought, sold, owned and used, with data-driven solutions for dealers, fleets, lenders and consumers. Its site presents a family of twelve brands and a set of solution areas, and states that Fullpath has joined the company.

Who it says it serves: Dealers, fleets, lenders and consumers.

Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM record → · Cox Automotive profile →

B

DealerSocket Accelerate

DealerSocket describes it this way: Additional named products the directory tracks.

DealerSocket Accelerate is a digital-retail/deal-acceleration offering within the DealerSocket suite; confirm its exact current scope and CRM integration directly with DealerSocket/Solera.

DealerSocket describes itself as a unified solution for franchise and independent dealers covering CRM, DMS, inventory management, websites and digital retailing, and states that it is part of Solera’s Vehicle Solutions. Its site says its CRM helps dealers manage leads and customer satisfaction.

Who it says it serves: Franchise and independent dealerships and dealer groups.

DealerSocket profile →

Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM vs DealerSocket Accelerate
FieldCox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRMDealerSocket Accelerate
ProviderCox AutomotiveDealerSocket
Corporate parentNone recordedSolera
Primary marketNorth AmericaUS
Typical segmentAll dealer segmentsFranchise and independents
Mapped workflowsCRM & sales enablementCRM & sales enablement
Named offerings on its own site75
Connection records in the directory139
Where they meet

Overlap and divergence

Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM and DealerSocket Accelerate are both mapped to CRM & sales enablement.

Cox Automotive and DealerSocket both connect to Impel, so they sit in the same integration neighbourhood without a listed link to each other. Cox Automotive has 1 connection records and DealerSocket has 39.

Integration neighbourhood

Companies both Cox Automotive and DealerSocket connect to

Read from coxautoinc.com, dealersocket.com. To score Cox Automotive VinSolutions Connect CRM against DealerSocket Accelerate on the same questions, use the demo scorecard.