A meeting with a dealership’s senior leader and vAutoStock’s managing director Chris Barrett resulted in the automation of a manually intensive parts invoicing process that has driven huge efficiencies for the business.
The leadership team was looking at implementing vAutoStock, which automates the vehicle prep process driving efficiency and oversight, when Chris spotted an employee diligently inputting parts invoice data into the system.
“It seemed like a repetitive, labour-intensive task which I was confident our AI assistant vAutoBots could handle,” Chris explains.
Chris was right. The employee was manually transferring information from the parts invoices into the DMS so parts could be ordered and matched to the vehicle to progress through the vehicle prep process and onto the forecourt.
The vehicle preparation software provider had already identified a need to bridge the many gaps requiring staff to step in to maintain the flow of vehicles through prep centres and onto the forecourt and had developed its AI vehicle admin assistant vAutoBots as a solution.
Whilst designed to seamlessly integrate with its sister products vAutoPrep and vAutoTrack, vAutoBots can also operate as a separate module integrating with a dealer’s existing systems.
The dealership’s managers agreed to be one of the product’s pilots. When the efficiencies were realised, they deployed vAutoBots to other areas of the business.
Chris explains: “The employee was manually inputting parts invoices for 80 vehicles every day. It took him nearly all morning until we automated the process with vAutoBots freeing him from the monotony of a repetitive task and enabling him to deliver on a much higher level for the business.
“Generally, there is so much admin involved in the prep process along with several junctures where systems cannot communicate to enable the next step to continue smoothly without manual input. Our AI assistant carries out these duties in much the same way as a member of staff.”
The AI assistant undertakes a wide range of manual tasks including moving vehicles into stock, adding invoices to dealership systems, purchase ledger invoicing, internal and external invoicing, cost reconciliation, and raising and updating lines for internal work required on a vehicle. When a dealership utilises a system where an API is unavailable, vAutoBots will scan a PDF or CFV file to upload and act upon the information. It can undertake data entry from a simple email instruction and allocate tasks to dealership staff.
Dealers take a licence per automation enabling them to start small and scale up. As a UK-based company employing both technical and automotive retail experienced staff, dealers can also be assured of hands-on support as they migrate the prep admin process to AI.
The full vAutoStock toolkit combines robotics, AI, and vehicle tracking to automate vehicle preparation and manage stock with three integrated products – vAutoPrep, vAutoTrack and vAutoBots – and can be taken as a suite or by module.
