AutoAlert vs VinSolutions

What to check before you choose

A store with VinSolutions already has a CRM. AutoAlert does not always replace it. Many dealers use AutoAlert's equity and service-drive lists on top of another CRM, and the first question is whether its data can flow into the one you have.

Ask VinSolutions how its predictive scoring works, what the desking tool includes and which products come in the base price. Ask AutoAlert how it decides that a service customer is ready to upgrade, how those leads reach a salesperson and what the AI assistants may say when they contact a lost lead.

Then ask about results. AutoAlert's service page shows claimed gains in service-lane vehicle sales and in used inventory acquisition cost.

Request the measurement method, the number of stores and the period behind each number. Ask VinSolutions for the same detail.

Check the practical limits too. Find out who owns the lists, what happens to them if you leave and what the contract term is. For a dealer group, ask how enterprise reporting works across stores.

Start with one store and one month, and compare sold units from each source.

Think about who works the lists. A predictive score only pays when a salesperson calls the customer the same day. Count how many calls your sales and service teams can make each week, then check that either tool produces a list that size and no larger.

Groups should also test reporting. A general manager needs to see, by store, how many equity and service-drive leads were worked and how many turned into sales. Request a sample dashboard from each vendor and check whether it matches the numbers in your DMS.

Compare onboarding. Find out how many weeks each vendor needs to load your data, train your team and send the first list.

A product that takes a quarter to reach the sales floor has a cost that never shows in the price. Request the implementation plan with dates.

Inside the shared categories, AutoAlert fields 4 named lines against it (AutoAlert CXM, AlertMiner, One-to-One Intelligent Marketing, Customer Retention Management); VinSolutions fields 5 named lines against it (Connect CRM, Connect Automotive Intelligence, Virtual BDC, Desking, and others).