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VinSolutions — DealerRefresh Vendor Library
Dealership CRM platform for managing sales leads, customer relationships, and follow-up workflows.
About suggest a correction →
Dealership CRM platform for managing sales leads, customer relationships, and follow-up workflows.
What you do with it
centralize lead capture, assignment, and follow-up workflows in one platform, so they can prevent leads from falling through the cracks and keep the sales team accountable
When managing an incoming flow of sales leads across multiple sources
consolidate disparate technology into a single integrated ecosystem, so they can reduce vendor complexity and maintain a unified view of the customer across the buying journey
When running a dealership that needs sales, inventory, desking, and website tools under one roof
automate and log customer touchpoints so no follow-up is missed, so they can move more prospects through the pipeline without manual intervention
When communicating with prospects across phone, email, and text
Community evidence → Stable
The DealerRefresh community consistently positions VinSolutions as one of the closest options to a comprehensive dealership platform, crediting its breadth of features spanning CRM, inventory, desking, and texting. However, trust is undermined by a pattern of reliability and execution problems: dealers cite a significant security vulnerability allowing cross-salesperson data access, intermittent lead forwarding failures including a three-day outage affecting GM OneSource, frequent crashes, VIN decoder errors, and a gap between features promised in the sales process and what the product actually delivers. Implementation complexity is a recurring warning, with experienced users stressing that success depends almost entirely on flawless setup, DMS integration, and timing of training. VinSolutions does receive credit for escalating serious issues to VP-level attention and for releasing fixes to workflow problems, but the community's overall tone is cautiously skeptical—several dealers report actively seeking replacements, while others stay largely because of the gravitational pull of the Cox Automotive ecosystem.
Platform breadth and integration within Cox/AutoTrader ecosystem5 mentions
Reliability and system stability (crashes, outages, errors)5 mentions
Lead management failures (forwarding gaps, routing errors, missed leads)4 mentions
Implementation complexity and onboarding risk3 mentions
Vendor responsiveness and escalation to resolve issues3 mentions
Gap between sales promises and actual product capability3 mentions
Security and data access controls1 mention
Product feedback and roadmap transparency2 mentions
Consolidation and vendor lock-in concerns3 mentions
Two-way texting and communication logging2 mentions
141 mentions · 19 positive · 37 negative · Scored from 20+ years of candid DealerRefresh discussion. Scores shift as new conversations happen.
NEUTRAL
"DealerRefresh administrators are planning a detailed product comparison video between iMagicLab and VinSolutions, featuring 20-minute demos from each company followed by a 60-minute Q&A with moderators"
Setting up the iMagicLab vs. VinSolutions bake-off →
NEUTRAL
"A dealer discovered that a recently demoted sales manager may have configured VinSolutions CRM to route certain high-quality lead sources to himself first before distributing them to other sales reps. Multiple forum users confirm this is technically possible through VinSolutions' lead management settings"
Is it possible for VIN lead sources to go to one employee first →
NEUTRAL
"how to properly handle incoming phone calls generated through Carfax and Cargurus listings in their Vinsolutions CRM, since these leads aren't differentiated from web leads"
Carfax & Cargurus listings initiated incoming calls (converting to a lead) →
NEUTRAL
"an automotive-native CRM competing with VinSolutions, eLead, and DealerSocket"
Community Review: DriveCentric →
NEUTRAL
"Matt's got a decent setup with VINSolutions, but that would be an awfully big change from where you're already heading."
Using 1 Program to Update all Social Networking Sites →
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"We were just about to sign up with Blue Sky AVA when VIN Solutions called and it sounds like everything the Blue Sky AVA does, VIN Solutions can do and the price was almost the same. Then when looking for reviews on VIN Solutions I found iMagicLab which I know nothing about but supposedly does everything VIN Solutions does, and then some."
Blue Sky AVA vs. VIN Solutions vs. iMagicLab →
NEUTRAL
"AutoTrader.com has made several strategic business acquisitions, including vAuto, CDMdata, VinSolutions and HomeNet, in an effort to bring together a best-in-class suite of solutions to address the changing needs of your business."
DONE! AutoTrader Buys Jeff Kershner →
NEUTRAL
"Should we go with strictly a PPC company (i.e. Reach Local) or use our website/crm provider (i.e. Vinsolutions)"
Help! - Pay-Per-Click SEM Marketing Best Practices →
NEUTRAL
"I would suggest looking at vAuto as well. They are by far the market leader for inventory pricing and stocking tools."
Homenet vs Firstlook →
NEUTRAL
"We're only evaluating the website package, not CRM or anything else. We're on contract with VinSolutions for CRM so the CRM won't be changing anytime soon."
Clickmotive VS DealerCom →
NEUTRAL
"We drink the kool-aid and have a ton of Cox automotive products including Vinsolutions."
Online Service Scheduling Widgets and Reynolds →
NEUTRAL
"Matt Watson from VinSolutions responds that ILM products are generally not recommended as standalone solutions, but if necessary, dealers should choose a vendor with full CRM capabilities to avoid future switching costs; VinSolutions' standard ILM pricing is $599/month with no contract and negotiable rates."
VinSolutions/Motosnap pricing →
NEUTRAL
"Many of the people that apply are the grizzled veterans who are not very receptive to using a CRM like Vinsolutions and cant email effectively."
How to attract Gen Y sales people →
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"right now training on Vinsolutions…"
New Member of Internet Dept, commisioned employee, need advice →
NEUTRAL
"high lead volume using Vinsolutions CRM"
BDC / Internet Dept Manager Wanted - MIAMI - FT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA →
NEUTRAL
"VinSolutions is recruiting a Territory Manager to cover the North East and Mid East regions, responsible for prospecting new dealership clients and closing sales."
VinSolutions is hiring for territory manager n the eastern region | www.VinSolutions.com →
NEUTRAL
"all Central/Eastern time, trained on Volie and VinSolutions"
Need Remote Business Development Reps? We have 11 available! →
NEUTRAL
"numerous options including HomeNet, VinSolutions, AutoJini, and DMI/CDK"
Inventory Management - What's your Favorite Feature? →
NEUTRAL
"multiple dealers compare ILM solutions—primarily VinSolutions, iMagicLab, and Liquid Motors—weighing features, pricing, and Reynolds compatibility"
ILM that Ties in with Reynolds Contact Manager →
NEUTRAL
"leveraging the dealership's CRM (VinSolutions) reporting tools"
Just started as the sole BD Rep for a dealership. Need help getting things off the ground easier. →
NEUTRAL
"VinSolutions and DriveCentric emerge as the most recommended options, with DriveCentric praised for user-friendliness despite being newer to the conversation"
Newbie: Best CRM/ILM to work with Ford Brand →
NEUTRAL
"A small used car dealer seeking an ILM/CRM system under $1,000/month receives multiple vendor recommendations including MotorLot, eLead, eautobusiness, VinSolutions, Dealer.com's LeadMachine, and Autobase's AVV Webcontrol."
Best sub-$1k (monthly) ILM? →
NEUTRAL
"exploring practical solutions for integrating lead capture tools with automotive CRMs like Vinsolutions using XML/ADF formatting"
Collect Car Buyer Leads CHEAPLY & EFFECTIVELY! →
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"One user noted a similar past experience traced to a Vinsolutions camera update that wasn't installed, suggesting multiple potential technical culprits requiring investigation with the vendor and lot management provider."
Other dealership's inventory (with brand overlay) on our site →
NEUTRAL
"VinSolutions and Autolotmanager.com both announced upcoming mobile-compatible inventory solutions supporting multiple platforms including BlackBerry"
Used Car Inventory Manager for Blackberry? →
NEUTRAL
"One respondent reports the software demonstrated well during a demo but ultimately chose Vinsolutions instead, providing no substantive evaluation of iCRM's actual performance."
Has anyone used iCRM from IzmoCars? →
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