Pinewood was announced as the overall winner for ‘IT Innovation of the Year’ for the Zero-Touch Service Journey, at the Motor Trader Independent Dealer Awards 2021.

We’re always looking to improve Pinewood DMS to help dealers perform every aspect of their customer journey in the simplest way possible. Our response to the pandemic was to create a Zero-Touch Service Journey, allowing dealers to perform the entire aftersales experience digitally, without any physical interaction with customers.

“With all this hard work, we are incredibly honoured to be recognised by Motor Trader,” says Neville Briggs, Managing Director at Pinewood.

We looked at each aspect of the digital service journey and developed a host of new tools to improve dealer workflows directly in Pinewood DMS. Working with a select few pilot dealers, we proved then rolled out each element of the journey. We provided free integration with the DVLA, keeping MOT data up to date – this became hugely important when MOTs were pushed back throughout the pandemic.

Using a proven and secure online payment solution, dealers can offer their customers the ability to pay their service invoices online before collection. The Barclays EPDQ solution is fully integrated with Pinewood DMS, once the customer pays on the portal, the money is directed straight to the dealer’s bank account and appears in the DMS Accounts module.

Briggs explains: “It’s quick and easy for service customers – they can book a service on the website and are then sent a link straight from the DMS which shows them the job card with all work planned for their vehicle. Before the vehicle even arrives at the dealership, customers can approve repair work with an eSignature. The vehicle is picked up by a member of staff and the job progress tracker tells the customer exactly what stage the vehicle is at while it’s in the workshop. The entire process is seamless and updates the job automatically within the DMS.”

While COVID may not be permanent, many dealers are embracing digitalisation in their businesses. Even as we are returning to normality and dealers have more freedom to engage with customers face-to-face, our Zero-Touch Service Journey is now an essential part of the customer experience.