UVeye Announces Integration with CDK Global to Streamline Dealership Inspections
• New processes developed by UVeye and CDK Global save dealership time, increase profits and improve customer satisfaction.
Thousands of U.S. car dealers will soon have access to high-speed vehicle-inspection technology on their dealership management systems (DMS) to improve customer satisfaction while streamlining service-department operations.
CDK Global has added UVeye vehicle-inspection data to its Fortellis platform suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) to automatically create repair orders. The new process can save up to 45 minutes or more for dealership service advisers and their customers.
CDK serves more than 15,000 U.S. dealerships. Other DMS providers, such as Tekion, are expected to include a UVeye-created interface on their dealership operating systems within the next year.
UVeye provides automakers, dealers, and fleet operators with automated high-speed inspection systems driven by artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies. High-definition UVeye cameras can spot and record vehicle problems ranging from damaged tires to defective underbody parts within seconds.
Dealership service advisers and technicians with Fortellis will have immediate access to reports with actual photos of potential problems. The CDK system allows dealers to share the information with their customers and automatically create repair orders.
Jonathan Biggs, a Midwest regional sales manager for UVeye, noted that early tests have shown that dealers as well as their service customers like the new system. Customers, for example, can be shown problem-area images and quickly decide if repairs are needed. Service-department productivity also gets a boost. The time for a vehicle to pass through a UVeye inspection line to the completion of a repair order totals 15 minutes or less.
Biggs described how a repair order is written under the new Fortellis DMS system:
- A service writer using the UVeye interface brings up a series of photos and a list of problems detected as a customer’s vehicle passes through a UVeye inspection lane.
- Serious problems are red-flagged on the service advisor’s computer screen. Issues can range from defective exhaust-system components to missing parts and worn tires.
- With customer approval, the service representative automatically translates information from the inspection report into a repair order with pricing to save the dealer and the customer time and effort.
Dealerships already using the new system include McCluskey Chevrolet in Cincinnati and the 16-store Jeff Wyler Auto Group in Ohio.
“I remember when we were showing a McCluskey service adviser how the system worked,” Biggs recalled. The adviser turned to me and said, ‘You just cut my time in half.’”
A recent CDK survey indicates that most dealers and their employees try to improve operational efficiencies with smoother workflows. CDK’s goal is to use technology to eliminate redundancies such as the need to reenter information. CDK systems speed up processes for the benefit of dealerships, their employees and their customers.
The UVeye-CDK API does just that.
“The CDK-Fortellis dealership management system is a seamless way to create and manage repair orders,” said Yaron Saghiv, UVeye’s Chief Marketing Officer. “The integration of our technology with CDK is a great match and makes for better dealer-customer relationships.”
UVeye’s vehicle-inspection systems include:
A system that provides a 360-degree exterior scan of sheet metal and other external body components such as bumpers, mirrors, door locks, grilles & windows.
A tire system that quickly identifies tire brand & specifications, air pressure, tread depth, sidewall damage and even whether a vehicle’s tires are mismatched.
An underbody scanner that detects a wide range of problems from frame damage to oil leakage and corrosion issues.
Volvo was one of the first automakers to recognize the value of UVeye’s technology and invest in the company. Volvo hopes to have a majority of its more than 280 U.S. dealerships equipped with UVeye inspection systems. A recent survey of UVeye customers showed that automated inspections can identify 96 percent of existing vehicle defects compared to just 24 percent for much more time-consuming manual inspections.
“The DMS plug-and-play pioneered with CDK Global makes sense to UVeye because of the benefits it provides to dealerships and their customers,” added Amir Hever, UVeye’s founder, and CEO. “We can add value to a variety of systems, whether they are dealership or customer-focused.”
Hever opens every UVeye staff meeting by saying “Customer first.” Regarding UVeye’s work with CDK Global, he concluded, “We want to help our dealers succeed and we feel that our collaboration with CDK Global will add value to both of our brands.”
