Vehicle Health Check added free to Pinewood's Pinnacle DMS

11 August 2009

 

A sophisticated Vehicle Health Check tool has been added by Pinewood to its Pinnacle dealer management system - and will be included free to customers in the next upgrade of the software.

 

Pinewood managing director Neville Briggs said that vehicle health checks in general had proven to be an important source of profit for dealerships during the recession.

 

He explained: "We believe that it is the right move to provide the new Pinnacle VHC functionality to our customer base free of charge, giving them the best tools to maximise revenue in tough times.

 

"Early reports are that the additional profits generated by using the Pinnacle VHC are, in effect, paying for or exceeding the entire monthly charge that we make for using the DMS."

 

The Pinnacle VHC allows technicians to gather information about each vehicle reviewed in the workshop either on paper or direct on a workstation into the DMS. For further enhanced functionality, Pinewood offer handheld device integration via an iPod Touch or similar.

 

Service desk staff are then prompted by Pinnacle to check with the vehicle's owner whether the work identified by the technician can be carried out. If accepted, it is automatically added in the DMS to job cards and parts ordering.

 

The Pinnacle VHC even links into manufacturer menu pricing, meaning that jobs identified are carried out at fixed prices where possible. Also, discounts agreed with account customers are automatically taken into consideration.

 

Pinnacle customers are familiar with unrivalled reporting functionality, with VHC providing detailed reporting analysis allowing dealer managers to track the results of using the tool, and act upon the new rich data source.

 

Briggs underlined the advantages of using the Pinnacle VHC compared to the standalone, third party vehicle health check systems that are often used by dealers.

 

He said: "These third party systems rarely integrate fully with each dealer's DMS system, if at all, and obviously cost more to use than adopting the Pinnacle VHC. The advantages for existing customers in using our system are obvious."

 

Because Pinnacle is provided to customers on a software-as-a-service basis and is hosted by Pinewood, the new VHC upgrade will happen automatically for dealers on the next update.

 

Briggs continued: "Of late, we've typically provided bi-monthly upgrades to Pinnacle every year, but the addition of the Vehicle Health Check is one of the largest we have undertaken and provides genuine added value for our dealer customers."

 

 

For further details please contact Simon Wells at
Paperchase Public Relations on 01283 711311
or e-mail simon@paperchasepr.co.uk