- Jun 21, 2010
- 17
- 2
- First Name
- Bryan
Hey everyone,
One of my greatest pet peeves, which I've posted about before, is the lack of a centralized VIN lookup system across all brands for dealers to use to determine correct trims and factory installed options. We are a Chrysler Jeep Dodge and Kia dealership and anytime we appraise a vehicle that is not one of those brands it's always a battle to figure out exactly what equipment the vehicle has on it and sometimes what the precise trim level is (Mazdas are the worst!). And then when we try to accurately market the vehicle online, we again don't always know what to list for equipment/features (and again sometimes even trim). At this point I've only found one brand (Ford) that has this VIN-specific information available to lookup online without being a dealer of that brand. I'm wondering if folks know of other websites where this information may be available for the various brands? If not, I have another idea that may or may not get us in trouble with our manufacturers. What about pooling together a database of dealerships of different brands who agree to help each other out by looking this stuff up? Probably not practical, but just a thought. Curious what everyone thinks....am I the only one who is driven nuts by this predicament?
One of my greatest pet peeves, which I've posted about before, is the lack of a centralized VIN lookup system across all brands for dealers to use to determine correct trims and factory installed options. We are a Chrysler Jeep Dodge and Kia dealership and anytime we appraise a vehicle that is not one of those brands it's always a battle to figure out exactly what equipment the vehicle has on it and sometimes what the precise trim level is (Mazdas are the worst!). And then when we try to accurately market the vehicle online, we again don't always know what to list for equipment/features (and again sometimes even trim). At this point I've only found one brand (Ford) that has this VIN-specific information available to lookup online without being a dealer of that brand. I'm wondering if folks know of other websites where this information may be available for the various brands? If not, I have another idea that may or may not get us in trouble with our manufacturers. What about pooling together a database of dealerships of different brands who agree to help each other out by looking this stuff up? Probably not practical, but just a thought. Curious what everyone thinks....am I the only one who is driven nuts by this predicament?