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  1. ggarvin

    Background Image Replacement

    Background Image Replacement has been around for a long time but it has gotten better, cheaper and more automated - still done poorly in a lot places - but a dealer asked me if anyone has ever studied the effectiveness of it. Besides a consistent look and aesthetics, does it sell cars? Does it...
  2. ggarvin

    Promoted Article Digital Dealer Tampa 2023 REVIEW with Kevin Frye #digitaldealer

    Great write-up as always! The speed-selling was definitely great and the highlight of the show for me as a vendor. I echo your thoughts on Emerald’s efforts to solicit and accept feedback… that says a lot about their intent to serve dealers, vendors and speakers. Unfortunately the show...
  3. ggarvin

    Digital Dealer Tampa 2021 Recap with Kevin Frye #digitaldealer

    Agree with Kevin - definitely less vendors - some of the big companies are still on travel restrictions. The layout at Tampa was very good and I think Digital Dealer has made some process improvements to make the exhibit hall more of a central hub when possible. All in all, it was good to get...
  4. ggarvin

    Promoted Article Three Keys to Managing Your New Car Inventory Through a Pandemic

    Any thoughts on photos of in-transit or ordered vehicles? We have some dealers who are applying cloned images to incoming units. We will do whatever the dealer wishes although I typically advise them to put an "in-transit" stamp on the image or in the listing for at least some disclosure but...
  5. ggarvin

    The Mike Roscoe, we never knew.

    Could you see him performing at the next in-person Digital Dealer Party? I'm speechless over this...
  6. ggarvin

    CGI Photos for New Cars - Really?

    Intuitively the CGI images are just Stock Photos 2.0. Better than normal stock photos but they do not inspire and don't go in-depth enough especially on the interior images. I definitely see an advantage over regular stock photos... and if you struggle getting a good percentage of new car...
  7. ggarvin

    Photography Ownership by Third Party

    I recently ran across a third party photo vendor who is taking the stance that they own the photos taken for the dealership. This absolutely shocked me. Many years ago (~2001) Trader Publishing/ Dealer Specialties took this stance and was beaten to a pulp over it. One of the most...
  8. ggarvin

    Inventory Management - What's your Favorite Feature?

    Good point but I mean less about the overlap but I've seen dealers paying for instance: vAuto, homenet and a lot service provider all for inventory management and distribution. Not only does that cause conflicts and issues but the dealer is paying way more than they have to.
  9. ggarvin

    Inventory Management - What's your Favorite Feature?

    I wonder how many dealers pay multiple vendors for inventory management software and only use one? It seems interesting how much Wells Fargo got blasted for opening extra consumer accounts (at no cost to the consumer from what I understand) and yet automotive third party companies "sell"...
  10. ggarvin

    Your Service Lounge - What do customers like MOST?

    The WIFI not working is a great rant... that has got to be almost 50% of dealers and no one knows what to do or how to contact or worse, they don't seem to care about it. They just shrug their shoulders. Here's another one (sorry Jeff this isn't exactly what's most important but more about...
  11. ggarvin

    In-House Photographer Activity Level

    Would any dealers be willing to share the expected and experienced work load of in-house photographers? I'm working on a study for an upcoming industry event where I'd use this data to give standards of expectations for this type of position. I've got some experiences on this but would love to...
  12. ggarvin

    Can too many Vehicle Photos be a bad thing?

    First, the conclusion of "image fatigue" is unsubstantiated and a pure opinion even if the data itself was valid and statistically relevant. There is no basis for that conclusion beside conjecture. When I read statistics, you have to consider the bias and methods that are part of the...
  13. ggarvin

    It just got REAL! $5 per post starting 12/3

    Definitely good for consumers on Craig's List as the spam will be greatly diminished. The spam on FSBO will get worse... but I think it will be easier to police and blacklist because of that activity.
  14. ggarvin

    Inventory Export Feed - vAuto or VIN?

    In answering your question, I think I'd stick with vAuto rather than changing up to VIN. The change doesn't bring you any extra benefit, as I know of no reason why VIN has an advantage on vAuto. But I will agree with Yago that companies that are geared around this as their job would be your...
  15. ggarvin

    I am still not sold on Mobile Apps for Dealerships

    I think you guys are thinking of this wrong. It isn't about a "car dealer" app... it's a vehicle app geared to the post-purchase experience. It is about keeping the data you might keep in your glove box, everything vehicle related in one convenient place... with some car dealership branding...
  16. ggarvin

    Why I am filing a lawsuit against DealerRefresh

    Wait! Just came up with another idea. Let's name the US Government in the lawsuit. Since Obama said that all entrepreneurs needed the help of the government, that is enough to indict the government as a co-defendant. Now, if they only had any cash...
  17. ggarvin

    Why I am filing a lawsuit against DealerRefresh

    Brilliant! I believe, however, you are missing the biggest pay day here. You should immediately turn this into a class-action lawsuit where everyone who has used the site from inception until today or even if they have heard of the site and/or considered using it would be included. This is...
  18. ggarvin

    Value of Predicting New Car Sales Volume

    On the heels of +Bill Playford's Power of Misinformation, I noticed TrueCar posted their prediction for June 2012's automotive new car sales numbers. They "guessed" (isn't that what their prediction or analysis really is). First of all, their guess is offered 5 days before the month ends...
  19. ggarvin

    Iphone App

    I think it really depends on the functionality. Based on what you've listed here, the "need" just to push to the OEM site is not a very feature-laden request, so it really shouldn't cost much. Honestly though, that functionality isn't going to get very many consumers excited. The biggest...
  20. ggarvin

    QR Codes - In or Out?

    Yago, you might be right... likely you are but unlike Super8 or cassettes or blue ray... you don't need to revamp your whole library or exchange a mainframe or operating system. This might be best classified as niche marketing as only some percentage of the population knows and/or uses QR...