Reynolds DMS games again. MOPAR letter to dealers

[ddavis]

Alex, not only is the new car dealer body remaining static, it has decreased. I don't see any new entries coming into the North American market. How do they grow? I don't see anything really innovative coming from ADP or Reynolds. I don't see Reynolds growing their business by taking business away from ADP. All I see is additional income by porking their existing dealers.

 

[freel]

That's a strong statement.

I have a theory that is completely based on just thinking things through. This theory is based on no fact whatsoever. I've also been nursing this theory since we looked at switching from ADP to ReyRey years ago during my Checkered Flag days.

What is the most expensive cost in business? Employees.

What is also very expensive to maintain? Cheap customers.

If you eliminate both of them you win! Pretty simple huh? Easier said than done, but if you get your client base down to a sizable number of high-paying dealers and you don't need as much staff. By eliminating excess effort on lower-paying clients you can decrease head counts and strongly cut costs. You create happier customers, happier staff, and increase profit.....in theory.

Just a high-level hypothesis I've had for a number of years as an outsider looking in. Again, completely pulled out of the wazoo, but ReyRey did inspire my thought process to go down this path.

That is great analysis and possibly accurate. This is exactly the UCS model (the same owner of ReyRey)… they have a small market share, but still have many dealers using them. Most are very successful dealers that have been around for 50+ years in large US metro markets. These dealers pay UCS a crazy amount of money every month (even compared to ReyRey and ADP) and are very aware of their short comings (no integrations, little product enhancements, etc.) But they keep using UCS for a few reasons in my observation – 1) they are either locked in for another 10 years on their contract (YES, dealers will sign 10 yr contracts with UCS) – 2) or the dealer is too scared of change, - 3) or the dealer has had a lock down on market share and repeat business for so long, they can afford to stay with the status-quo (my opinion -they are old school and apathetic to changing times). So what’s the UCS end result… just like you said… Low overhead/employees + high paying customers = High profits.

I don’t think that model will fit with ReyRey and remain profitable (although it seems Bobo is pushing for this). Partly because MOST dealers, not the type described above, are willing to take the “perceived” risks that come with changing DMS systems. (I'm an optimist) So if ReyRey continues down this road, they will start to lose customers and market share. Also, technology has moved forward and dealers adaption will also continue to move forward. Think of how fast things have changed in the last 4 years… that old-school mentality will either change or die.

In the short term, it could hurt a lot of good people, dealerships, and innovative vendors. (I hope I am wrong)!

I'm not beating up ReyRey here, I think they have valuable and helpful products, but at the end of the day, they need to be more concerned with who keeps them in business. I doubt Bobo is listening, but I hope whomever ends up buying them is.

 

[DealerIntelligence]

We have a Reynolds client that recently stated that they talked to their Reynold Rep, who told them that a new round of changes are being implemented or have already been implemented

A) Report Scheduler was having it's 'Print to Screen' function removed, and B) Reynolds would be restricting 'New Users' from gaining access to Query Builder...

Has anyone else seen anything of this nature out there? We are aware of the CAPCHA issue, and the Remote PC restrictions, but have not seen these new security enhancements. What is Report Scheduler Print to Screen?

 

[yagoparamo]

We have a Reynolds client that recently stated that they talked to their Reynold Rep, who told them that a new round of changes are being implemented or have already been implemented

A) Report Scheduler was having it's 'Print to Screen' function removed, and B) Reynolds would be restricting 'New Users' from gaining access to Query Builder...

Has anyone else seen anything of this nature out there? We are aware of the CAPCHA issue, and the Remote PC restrictions, but have not seen these new security enhancements. What is Report Scheduler Print to Screen?

Oh geeeee.... another Reynolds unrequested not needed trick to make people's life's harder.

I wonder if people at reynolds know how hard is to sell cars as it is, the stressful days, the hours, the problems to overcome.

It seems that dealing with artificially created problems from a computer program for which the dealers pay a ton of money is the least deserved thing to get.

 

[ddavis]

Also, technology has moved forward and dealers adaption will also continue to move forward.

I remember back in the '80s we had a mainframe computer at the dealership. The software had the same look and feel, back then, as today. I'm not a programer but with the low cost of memory and speed of todays processors, it would seem that a company could develop a DMS with a user friendly GUI that would be much more affordable. What ADP and Reynolds charges is obscene.