eCarList System Wide VIN Decoder Problem

[JoeyD]

JoeyD,

You can get Chrome decoder for $25 to $50 retail on top of the existing manual input.

At $300 yours may also had a warranty and GAP insurance!

Well, it has been a while. I was quoting the old ADP/BZ website we had and if I remember correctly it was around $300. I'll look into the Chrome decoder. I seriously thought it was more than that though.

 

[yagoparamo]

Well, it has been a while. I was quoting the old ADP/BZ website we had and if I remember correctly it was around $300. I'll look into the Chrome decoder. I seriously thought it was more than that though.

I was just pulling your leg.

I do give that option to my clients, to VIN decode Chrome on top of what my guys do. It also helps a lot with Toyota and Honda so when we get a DMS feed and we need to push the data before we can touch the car at least we can get some compliant specs.

I think Chrome charges me $35 or 40 and I pass it to the dealers that want to use it for $50 so i can cover that thing called BO tax, insurance, etc.

I imagine DS has a very similar feature since I've seen some of their data with options I know a person can't add.

 

[JoeyD]

I was just pulling your leg.

I do give that option to my clients, to VIN decode Chrome on top of what my guys do. It also helps a lot with Toyota and Honda so when we get a DMS feed and we need to push the data before we can touch the car at least we can get some compliant specs.

I think Chrome charges me $35 or 40 and I pass it to the dealers that want to use it for $50 so i can cover that thing called BO tax, insurance, etc.

I imagine DS has a very similar feature since I've seen some of their data with options I know a person can't add.

I'll look into it, my issue is I'm working on a new Inventory drill-down/browser and don't want to use Chrome's system.. so I have to have the data in it's rawest form. I just need an affordable decoder. I'll check with DS again though.

 

[Chris Cachor]

From what I remember the Dealer Specialties feed is a bit short on column data. I imagine eCarList is grabbing VIN, Color Codes, and Model Codes then doing a more thorough run through to fill in the holes. Trim is always a tricky field too.

 

[ddavis]

From what I remember the Dealer Specialties feed is a bit short on column data. I imagine eCarList is grabbing VIN, Color Codes, and Model Codes then doing a more thorough run through to fill in the holes. Trim is always a tricky field too.

Trim is an area you see a lot of dealers leave off and it is costing them money. I've seen F150 pickups without a trim when the pictures show Lariot or higher. It isn't a software issue but a lack of attention to detail.

 

[sweece]

Anyone from eCarList out there that wants to make things right? This is a joke. This issue has been lingering for weeks with no solutions and hardly an admission of guilt. We're about to cancel our contract, although we have tried to work through this reasonably. Look at this most recent screenshot of one of our vehicles -- it has almost every single option listed twice and some of the options are wrong. eCarList tells us that we need to manually update the vehicles in order to fix the problem.

http://i.imgur.com/U4kXkoK.jpg

Dealers beware. This can't be the norm for such a large company given some of the comments I have seen on here, but the way we have been treated here is very telling.

 

[Chris Cachor]

eCarList tells us that we need to manually update the vehicles in order to fix the problem.

The only things I could think of that are required manually would be installed options, model codes, hex color values, and correct trim. Finding a match is usually the issue but I don't understand the duplicate options. Is there data required upfront that isn't being sent in order for them to find a perfect match? Manually updating the vehicles like that isn't acceptable IMO. I could understand if it was selecting installed options, but not for the standard equipment text dump.

 

[sweece]

Official response from eCarList:

I have spoken with our product team who has informed me that the new process for VIN decode selection is expected to be available at the end of this month. I have escalated this issue, stating that this is not a timely resolution.

Basically, if a model code isn't passed along w/ the data feed, their system always defaults to the first trim level available. Anybody know if I can get DealerSpecialties to pass the model code in our data feed? Should that already be included?