Dealerships are increasingly implementing a new technology to improve customer relationships and speed service. Audi Coral Springs, for one, has installed Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFID) on the vehicles it sells. The RFID tracking devices wirelessly send a customer’s information to the service department the moment that person drives onto the lot, enabling quicker, and more personalized, service.
For instance, a 5,000-mile service typically takes 45 minutes to an hour, the dealership’s General Manager Bret Macy said in a published report last week. The RFID system can shave five to seven minutes off the process, because the car is recognized, he said.
If all the cars on Audi Coral Springs’ lot are already tagged with RFID chips, couldn’t the dealership’s floorplan lender leverage the technology to conduct its inventory audits? The floorplan auditor would simply pass by the vehicles, and the data on the dealer’s entire stock of cars could be verified quickly.
Should lenders start requiring such technology as part of their floorplan agreements?
