We are pleased to share another update that went live in Q4.
The majority of our development comes directly from clients using the system. Some improvements are useful to every dealership, while others are more bespoke. All of them are built with the same three priorities in mind:
- User experience. The system must be simple and intuitive to use
- Speed of preparation. Helping vehicles move through prep faster
- Instant visibility. Management has clarity of the exact status to make faster decisions.
This latest set of updates focuses on removing friction, reducing clicks, and making everyday actions quicker and clearer.
1) Approval Process Improvements
We have made several small but meaningful improvements to the approval process.
A) Request all work from one button
Users can now request all required work from a single button, rather than raising approvals step by step.
This:
- saves time for users
- reduces missed items
- ensures all required work is captured in one action
B) One-Screen Approval for Managers
Managers can now:
- view all requested work
- across all processes
- in a single screen
No more jumping between processes or screens to approve work — everything is visible in one place, making approvals faster and easier.
C) Live Running Total During Approval
As work is approved, a running total is now displayed in real-time.
This gives managers instant visibility of:
- total cost
- impact of approvals
- budget control as decisions are made
No surprises. No extra calculations.
2) vAutoStock APP — Instant Messaging Enhancements
We’ve also taken our in-app instant messaging a step further, making communication faster, clearer, and more actionable.
A) Home Screen Notifications
Users now receive:
- instant notifications on their app home screen
- alerts when actions or approvals are required
This ensures important messages don’t get missed and removes delays caused by waiting for someone to check the app.
B) Direct Access to In-App Messaging
When a notification is tapped, the user is taken straight into the in-app message thread.
From there, they can:
- approve work
- start a conversation
- add additional users to the chat
All communication stays:
- secure
- linked to the relevant vehicle
- recorded for future reference
3) Automatically Push Approved Work Back to Your DMS
To further reduce admin and eliminate duplication, we have also enhanced how approved work flows back into your existing systems.
Once work is approved in vAutoStock, those costs can now be automatically pushed back using:
- DMS integrations, or
- vAutoBots, depending on your setup
This allows approved work to be sent to any system you need, without anyone having to re-key information.
Why this matters
- No duplicate data entry
- No admin delays
- No missed jobs or costs
- Faster movement from approval to action
Approved workflows seamlessly from vAutoStock into your operational systems, keeping everything aligned and up to date.
This final step closes the loop — ensuring that once a decision is made, the work moves forward immediately.
Why These Updates Matter
These Q4 enhancements may be small individually, but together they:
- reduce admin
- speed up approvals
- improve communication
- and give managers clearer, faster visibility
Most importantly, they support the wider goal we’re all working towards: preparing vehicles faster, with less friction, and better control.
What’s Next?
Development doesn’t slow down — and neither do we.
If you have feedback, ideas, or specific challenges you’d like us to help solve, keep them coming. Many of the features you see today started as a conversation with a dealer on the ground.
As always, if you’d like a walkthrough of any of these updates or help enabling them for your team, just get in touch.
