I have used Homenet before and was very impressd. At my last store used dealer specialties with Homenet and it worked well. We later switched to Auction123 and they worked great with Homenet. I believe that Auction123 does a better job taking inventory photos then Dealerspecialties. However, I think it all depends on the person that takes your picture and how detailed they are. Anyone can take a picture but the importance is quality of the picture. There are other companies like vauto which I am starting to see come around.

My compliment to Auction123 is that they have one of the best support staff team members that I have ever worked with and the same goes for Homenet.

I do agree with Jeff that you need to consider what your plan is when it comes to releasing inventory.

The question is; are you bringing your photo process in-house?

There are other companies out there to consider as well and I believe you should look at several before making a decision. Other to possibly consider – Autorevo, ebizauto, ecarlist, auction123. I’m sure there are others I’m missing so do your homework.

Once you have the right tool and assuming you are bringing your inventory photos and data process in house, when will you release your inventory?

Will you release your inventory to the web before you have all the data and photos OR will you wait until you have all the correct data, pricing and photos?

Are you using homenet to push your photos? Who takes them? You or do you use a college or high school punk? I considering dumping Dealer Specialties. Not that they don’t do a good job, its just too expensive and they’re not consistent. I think I could do better with more control.

What software do you use for comments?

What do you show on the gas cap on HUGE SUV’s? “Poor Gas Mileage” or “Wow, look how much it takes to fill me up” ???

Thanks!

The reason I ask is because we accept feeds and feed updates w/o any costs to the dealer so I’m wondering if the posed question is still a concern when individual pushes are no longer taxed.

I know in one particular case a dealer had switched their inventory management company but their old feed provider was still sending us the last snapshot of the vehicles from the dealer and that caused some problems.

On the other hand, I have also seen dealers not filling out their website and email fields in their management systems accurately and leads for the cars from those dealerships are probably lost on the web somewhere.

BTW, EasyAutoSales.com is accepting feeds from all dealerships for free for any of you that are interested. I know a number of dealers here are already on the system through Dealer Specialties, Diamondlot and a couple of others. If you’re with eBiz, just request them to add you to our website – everything is already setup.

- Wei

The account reps we’ve had for AutoTrader.com have been decent lately. Our last one received a well deserved promotion – he really did work hard for us. The two new ones we have are coming in when we feel like we wasted a lot of money on another trial with ATC and we’re bitter. We have tried ATC numerous times for long lengths of time ever since ATC came into existence. What you’re seeing right now, is our inventory being placed on ATC for free and I’m not paying full attention to it. My concentration is in other areas that are giving us incredible ROI and increase. I don’t have time for the non-performers.

Despite how it may look on Dealer Refresh, I have always left the check book open for ATC in case they make some changes that cater better to our market place and Checkered Flag. I don’t know exactly what those changes are, but I’m ready to be a customer again when they do happen. In the meantime, I will continue being the nail in your boot until you guys make those changes. I don’t gripe because I want to see ATC die – I gripe because I want to see ATC become something we can use. I wouldn’t gripe if I didn’t care.