Xtime Launches New Service Tracker to Help Bring Trust and Transparency to Every Vehicle Service Visit

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Dealerships and customers can both agree that the vehicle service experience needs improvement. Hindered by poor communication, the relationship between the two parties has hit a crossroads, hurting retention and business. Today, Xtime is unveiling a new Service Tracker feature, helping dealerships close this gap and build greater trust and loyalty by offering customers mobile access to real-time vehicle status updates.

"As service revenue continues to play an increasingly dominant role in dealership gross profits — 49.6 percent according to NADA Data 2018 — Xtime's Service Tracker provides the advantage necessary for dealers to compete in a crowded market," said Tracy Fred, vice president and general manager for Xtime. "Service Tracker's core purpose is to bring trust, communication and transparency to the automotive service industry and ultimately, to keep dealers and their customers happy." 

Until now, the automotive service industry lacked the tools necessary to provide the same level of on-demand convenience consumers have come to expect in the rest of their lives. Consequently, service advisors are often faced with a high volume of phone calls and text messages from customers requesting routine service status updates. This obstructs the ability to satisfy existing customers and displaces time which could be spent helping other clients standing in the service drive. Dealers now have a tool designed to meet this challenge head-on with Xtime's Service Tracker, which offers the following benefits:

1. Real-Time Service Status: Dealers can offer their customers the ability to access real-time vehicle service status updates online through a customized URL link provided via email or text message.
2. Increased Consumer Transparency: Dealership trust and loyalty increase when consumers have visibility into the status of their vehicle throughout the service experience.
3. Reduce Phone Call Volume: Service advisors can spend less time answering the phone and focus on other tasks at hand, increasing department capacity and improving the customer experience.

"About 70 percent of inbound phone calls through the service center are customers checking the status of their vehicles," said David Hult, chief executive officer, Asbury Automotive Group. "We clearly needed a solution that could simultaneously enhance our flow of information with customers and reduce demand on staff. With the introduction of Service Tracker, customers can independently check the status of their service in real time, allowing advisors to concentrate on the customers in front of them and provide higher levels of service."

For more information about Xtime's Service Tracker, soon available to all franchised dealers in the U.S. as an add-on to Xtime Inspect, visit https://xtime.com/xtime-spectrum/inspect/.

About Xtime
Xtime increases customer retention for automotive dealer service departments by using technology to transform the ownership experience. Improving customer satisfaction and retention drives dealer revenue and profitability. Xtime is committed to delivering the experience consumers demand – an experience which emphasizes value, convenience and trust.

Xtime books 52 million service appointments and processes 120 million repair orders annually. Twenty-nine global OEMs have chosen Xtime to drive that same type of success for their businesses, converting more than $13 billion in service revenue annually for more than 7,500 dealerships across three continents.

About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive Inc. makes buying, selling, owning and using cars easier for everyone. The global company's 34,000-plus team members and family of brands, including Autotrader^®, Clutch Technologies, Dealer.com^®, Dealertrack^®, Kelley Blue Book^®, Manheim^®, NextGear Capital^®, VinSolutions^®, vAuto^® and Xtime^®, are passionate about helping millions of car shoppers, 40,000 auto dealer clients across five continents and many others throughout the automotive industry thrive for generations to come. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately-owned, Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion. www.coxautoinc.com

SOURCE Xtime