Getting started with Dealerslink

Matt Beeler was first introduced to Dealerslink when he became General Manager of AutoFarm Ford Lincoln in Logansport, Indiana.

“I’ve been with AutoFarm Ford Lincoln for two and a half years. I’ve been using Dealerslink since then. “

AutoFarm Ford Lincoln had already been using Dealerslink for quite a while at that point but Matt soon realized that Dealerslink is more than just an inventory management tool.

“I’ve used other databases or whatever you guys want to call it for inventory control, but this is more than an inventory control,” said Matt “Had a lot of great success with it. Not only with my pricing my cars and staying within the market and getting activity that way – but also by buying and selling some of our old age stuff.”

The Future of Dealer Auctions

The future of buying and selling at auctions is digital, available 24/7, and accessible from the palm of your hand.

“We’re not traveling,” said Matt. “We’re not doing all those extra things that take you away from your dealership.”

Customer locates

With over 150,000 used vehicles, the Dealerslink Marketplace gives dealers the most used inventory available for sale in-lane or on dealer lots.

When a customer comes in looking for a specific vehicle Matt can do a quick nationwide search on the Marketplace to see if there are any available to purchase.

“We’ve been able to pick up vehicles from all the way down to Georgia for our customers, which is really nice,” said Matt. “We found a Bronco Sport for a customer. It was easy to do those searches because you just go to everybody else’s Liquidation Link or their auctions that may be out there.”

In the past, this meant heading over to a brick-and-mortar auction and spending hours snatching up as many quality vehicles as you could. But with the Dealerslink Marketplace, those days are in the rear-view mirror.

When Matt mentioned purchasing the Bronco Sport for his customer he said, “The great thing about it is you don’t have to sit on the auction for 4 hours trying to find the right vehicle. You can dial it into specifically what you’re looking for.”

Purchasing front-line ready vehicles

A car from a traditional auction can result in dealers sometimes taking 10 days or more to recondition, photograph, and get a car frontline ready.

Dealerslink also gives Dealers access to over 30,000 vehicles that are available directly from other dealer lots without paying auction fees.

These vehicles are currently for sale on other dealers’ lots and are retail-ready, saving the purchasing dealership thousands of dollars in time and reconditioning costs.

“I haven’t had one that we’ve purchased that wasn’t retail ready, like literally besides a little washing and vac, we were able to put it right on the lot,” said Matt. “It saves me time. It gives me more time for the vehicle to be listed for sale, instead of waiting to be listed for sale.”

Maintaining a strict 90-day turn

Managers have not had to worry as much about depreciation and turn times during the COVID Pandemic and Chip shortages, but we have been seeing a month-over-month decline in many segments of the market and aged inventory is starting to be more and more of a factor.

Dealerslink allows members to sell aged inventory directly from their lots without having to pay auction fees or transportation costs.

“One thing I really like about Dealerslink is putting our inventory into 33, 60, 90-day categories. We’ve been able to maintain a 90-day rotation with our inventory,” said Matt. “And the nice thing is we’re selling vehicles to guys down in Alabama. We had a dealer buy a couple from Utah. We had one by one from Florida.”

Mediation Process

Most online marketplaces like Amazon, Airbnb, and eBay list sellers’ feedback and ratings, and the Dealerslink Marketplace is no different.

Every member has their dealership name and personal brand representing the condition and quality of every vehicle they are selling. Although it is very rare, there is a mediation process in place and Dealerslink won’t hesitate to remove any unethical dealers from our platform.

“I like the way that you have to put in good descriptions on the vehicles and that if it’s misrepresented in any way, Dealerslink, will back you up,” said Matt. “But I’ve never had to do that just because I’ve found most of the dealers that we’ve worked with have been honest and upfront from the get-go.”

vAuto Stockwave V.S. Dealerslink Marketplace

Dealerslink was already being used at AutoFarm Ford Linclon when Matt first started there but he now prefers Dealerslink to vAuto.

“I came from a store using a different platform. But I actually like the ease of how fluent Dealerslink is from all aspects of the business,” says Matt. “There are too many steps you have to take to narrow down your search on vAuto, whereas Dealerslink you don’t have that.”

Why should I take a live demo of Dealerslink?

When asked why other dealers should take a look at Dealerslink, Matt had only a simple sentence,

“If you’re not with Dealerslink you need to get with them now.”