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We have a Ford and Subaru store under one roof. We drink the kool-aid and have a ton of Cox automotive products including Vinsolutions.

We have two separate websites for both Ford and Subaru and are looking for a better service scheduling for the consumer side and back-end. We use Ford's Smart program which is a nightmare!!

Refreshers - what do you use and you love (or at least recommend checking out), one that integrates with Reynolds?

Anyone using Xtime and could provide some feedback?
Ha ha... I love it... "We drink the kool-aid and have a ton of Cox automotive products including Vinsolutions." Hey, at least you're honest.

Xtime, I've used heavily (while working at the dealership level), but it seems as if Cox has purchased it. Have no idea what's going on with them, but it was a decent product at the time, albeit it was built in Macromedia / Adobe Flash, which wasn't the brightest idea.

What you could do is check out the vendor ratings on DrivingSales.

Have heard good things on the following:
  • eLead1One AutoPilot Service Marketing
  • DealerSocket Service by DealerSocket
  • Dealertrack Service Pro (also owned by Cox)
  • iMagicLab (I can remember them having something decent, but unsure if they are in fixed-ops any longer)
I wouldn't go anywhere near Service Drive Control Manager by CAR-Research XRM. I was forced to use that for some time and nothing but headaches.
 
Ha ha... I love it... "We drink the kool-aid and have a ton of Cox automotive products including Vinsolutions." Hey, at least you're honest.

Xtime, I've used heavily (while working at the dealership level), but it seems as if Cox has purchased it. Have no idea what's going on with them, but it was a decent product at the time, albeit it was built in Macromedia / Adobe Flash, which wasn't the brightest idea.

What you could do is check out the vendor ratings on DrivingSales.

Have heard good things on the following:
  • eLead1One AutoPilot Service Marketing
  • DealerSocket Service by DealerSocket
  • Dealertrack Service Pro (also owned by Cox)
  • iMagicLab (I can remember them having something decent, but unsure if they are in fixed-ops any longer)
I wouldn't go anywhere near Service Drive Control Manager by CAR-Research XRM. I was forced to use that for some time and nothing but headaches.

Suggest you consider AutoDXS (Dealer Express Service). It maintains 3 different schedules, REPAIR, ADVANCED and EXPRESS. Can make an appointment in 60 seconds or less on line or with the companion cell phone app in just 6 taps of your finger.
 
Is it possible for Service Scheduling tools to fire Google Analytics events for campaign tracking, success metrics? Am working with a few providers, so far no success.

If they're in an iframe, good luck.
If you have some sort of native integration or dedicated success page, you can tie it into that.

We once did a very complex iframe content detection script that would determine if the iframe had reached a success page, but the logistics broke down when cross-domain javascript became borderline impossible.
 
If they're in an iframe, good luck.

Nice try on the detection script :thumbup:

It is a shame that the more popular service schedulers are still playing the iframe game. Especially since they're owned by companies who also own prominent website solutions. APIs are quite standard these days fellas ....duuuuh.

But, I guess it lends to the fact that dealers spend over $1 Trillion per year on sales-focused solutions while barely scratching the $1 Billion line on fixed-operations that help make a better customer experience.
 
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It is a shame that the more popular service schedulers are still playing the iframe game. Especially since they're owned by companies who also own prominent website solutions. APIs are quite standard these days fellas ....duuuuh.

The problem is that APIs don't solve the problem, because it puts the issue on the website vendor.
They need to offer both, so that lazy vendors can use the iFrame and competent, friendly vendors can use APIs to make a proper booking tool.
What would be great is to get some sort of javascript interface component that can call the APIs and create an embedded form that any developer is able to use.

The ideal integration is how Stripe payment integrations work - seamless, simple and consistent while remaining secure and not using iFrames.
I would love to at least see the biggest players (Xtime, DealerSocket, etc) offer a solution, but they don't seem too interested.