Comments on: Autobase gets bought by Dominion Enterprises.

By: Jeff, Internet Sales Mgr.

Jeff, Internet Sales Mgr. — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:32:00 +0000

Autobase was, is, and forever will be antiquated and useless. Avoid this horrible software AND the antiquated equipment that comes with it. It was forced upon me by a new GM who only knew Autobase. The fact that we had to DOWNGRADE Windows 7 from the 64 bit version to the 32 bit version should have been his first clue that his decision was stupid.

By: David Goodison

David Goodison — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:47:39 +0000

Back in 2002 DM was interested in buying my company but we weren’t in the market to sell. ProResponse has been around since 1998 (before anyone ever heard of CRM) in the car and RV arena. We also have clients in Canada and Mexico.
The three main problems with CRM are:
1. Too expensive.
2. Lack of adoption by the users.
3. Way too complex for most sales reps and managers.
It seems that everyone tried to “outbellandwhistle” the next company with functions that no one ever used. Car guys are not programmers and never will be. It has to be simple or it won’t get used.
Somewhere the “Customer” got lost in Customer Relationship Management. It’s all about following up and getting the right message to the right customer at the right time.
Any CRM initiative should be easy enough to track and market to Internet leads, Phone ups, Floor Traffic, Sold/Leased and Service customers with minimal involvement from dealer personell. Make it easy, show them results and you will have their business forever!

By: Bryan Anderson

Bryan Anderson — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:24:26 +0000

I can promise you that we will be much faster and more responsive to market demands with Dominion then we were with a VC. A VC’s primary interest is quarterly top and bottom line. Dominion is interested in long term growth with a focus on innovation and customer satisfaction. We will definitely be leveraging all of our sister companies from a technology point of view. For the last 18 years we pioneered CRM for Auto Dealers… stay tuned… the best is yet to come.

By: Jock Schowalter

Jock Schowalter — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:29:43 +0000

It puzzles me that these large companies buy these products, but most often the only integration they do is done by their marketing departments. They always end up being the same stand alone products that don’t talk to each other so where’s the synergy to the dealer? Plus Autobase isn’t even a web based platform so it would be next to impossible to integrate with their other divisions.

By: Bat In Hand

Bat In Hand — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:43:26 +0000

I am curious to know if Autobase has direct mail capabilities or will have with the merger. Let me know please

By: Alex Snyder

Alex Snyder — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:49:35 +0000

Interesting read Jake – thanks for linking it. We used to be an AutoBase dealergroup, and have entertained ideas of moving back to them, but this news has me concerned. Despite Dominion’s track record of leaving acquired companies alone, it seems they leave things alone too much. I’ve already mentioned my large corporation buying small corporation woes.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:28:53 +0000

DM,

I’d be happy to discuss Dominion with you if you would like any insight via one person’s opinions. I won’t give any advice in terms of whether or not you should make a move there, but I can shed some light on some things that may not be visible on the surface. I worked there for a few years and still have several of my closest friends in a range of departments – cust. service, programming, dealer sales, national accounts, management – the whole gamut. By no means am I a disgruntled former employee, actually I’m thankful for my time there, but I don’t hold anything back when it comes to my opinions on DE, good or bad. Feel free to get in touch with me through higherturnover.com (jake@). I also gave my $.02 at http://autoventures.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/dominion-enterprises-the-internet-conglomerate/

By: DM

DM — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:21:31 +0000

I have been doing some intensive research about Dominion Enterprises since I am considering a corporate management position with the company. I am a bit dismayed about the turnover rate at the company that has been discussed here. Although the position I am considering is not a programmer position, it is still a red flag for me. Any advice? It seems the company is making efforts to aggregate some of their divisions and get all functions in the same place and also are re-designing their websites. Any advice?

By: Yago Paramo

Yago Paramo — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:29:50 +0000

I have to agree woth most of you.
Most of these great-smaller-companies are better than larger ones because of the team of people that started amd grew up with them. Once the mergers are done, they leave as the new corporate mentality settles and the new people that comes in can’t be as efficient.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 02:35:40 +0000

EJ is correct. I have yet to see Dominion/Trader do anything with any of their acquisitions. Like management used to tell me during my tenure there, the easiest way to take care of competitors eating into opportunities/marketshare is to buy them out. Once they buy them out they let the newly acquired company continue almost as if nothing happened. See boats.com, xigroup, homes.com, etc. They have been like this for years, but it seems like they’re getting more agressive with it lately. Heard it from a Dominion employee/manager/friend today that they just acquired another dealership web development company and are doing away with some of their vehicle web services division. Haven’t been able to find any published info yet on that though.