The monthly Techwatch feature by Automotive Management outlines a number of the last month’s highlights in motor retail technological developments.
By Alex Wright
Moneypenny has launched a brand new AI Voice Receptionist designed for automotive businesses following a beta programme.
The corporate said that the virtual assistant is built and run from centralised architecture at Moneypenny and is designed to talk naturally with callers, helping businesses handle enquiries more flexibly to reflect a dealership’s customer journey.
Moneypenny said that the AI Receptionist uses on a regular basis language to carry natural conversations, aiming to remove the frustration related to automated phone menus and long hold times.
In keeping with Moneypenny, the AI Receptionist can triage high call volumes, discover the explanation for a call, and manage straightforward requests comparable to booking services and repairs.
It may also capture key details including names and call information, route qualified leads right into a CRM or to a relevant specialist, and transfer calls either to a Moneypenny receptionist or to a member of the business for more complex or sensitive conversations.
The AI Receptionist is out there 24/7 and may handle multiple enquiries concurrently, which Moneypenny said will help reduce missed calls, voicemail backlogs and wait times during peak periods.
Jesper With-Fogstrup, group CEO at Moneypenny, said: “Our AI Receptionist has been developed recognising that many automotive businesses need to automate straightforward enquiries, while ensuring that complex and sensitive conversations remain firmly in human hands.”
Indicata has launched Market Tracker, a used automotive intelligence platform designed to watch pricing trends and provide and demand dynamics by individual vehicle brands and models.
The corporate said that the tool brings together historic market trend data, covering as much as five years, with real-time monthly updates in a single dashboard. It’s aimed toward OEMs, leasing and rental corporations, and dealer groups in search of clearer insight into used vehicle performance and changing market conditions.
Market Tracker enables users to construct patterns for used vehicle brands and individual models using data drawn from all used cars sold within the UK over the past five years which are greater than three years old and have covered greater than 38,000 miles.
Indicata said the platform’s dashboard allows users to interrogate the information by make and model in addition to body type, fuel type, category, segment and transmission, with all datasets updated monthly.
The corporate said different user groups will profit in alternative ways. OEMs can track competitive positioning, monitor market share movements and analyse model performance across segments.
Leasing and rental providers can monitor residual value pressures, assess portfolio risk and optimise fleet composition. Dealer groups can discover pricing opportunities, forecast demand patterns and improve stock turn efficiency.
Dean Merritt, Indicata UK head of sales, said: “Market Tracker represents an evolution in how we enable customers to access our data. It leverages Indicata’s years of used automotive market data and expertise to remodel it into clear, actionable insights for used automotive and remarketing professionals.”
A brand new automotive imaging platform has been designed to assist dealers advertise cars before they’re physically ready on the market.
Evolv, founded by motor trade professionals Michael Breen and Stuart Harrison, uses vehicle allocation and VIN data to generate photorealistic images of recent cars to exact specifications, including color and trim, without the necessity for traditional photography.
The system enables retailers to create digital images of vehicles still in transit or awaiting pre-delivery inspection, allowing them to be marketed online and avoid losing potential buyers who turn to competitors with visible stock already advertised.
The platform also produces short-form and long-form video content using virtual presenters, aimed toward supporting dealer marketing across social media and digital channels. Initial UK trials are already underway.
Breen said: “Every dealer has stood on their forecourt taking a look at rows of cars they couldn’t advertise. We lived with that problem for years. Evolv was built because we knew there needed to be a greater way – and now, with the technology finally mature enough, there may be a greater way.”
Steve Latham, general manager of Clarks of Kidderminster, was the primary to implement the technology. He said: “It’s a real game-changer. I can now advertise my entire recent automotive inventory with photorealistic images and cinematic video before the cars have even landed on the forecourt. It has completely removed the bottleneck from our digital marketing.”
While initially focused on franchised dealers, the corporate said that the platform is also utilized by manufacturers and leasing providers to present vehicle configurations more consistently.
Carwow has partnered with NextGear Capital to embed vehicle stock funding directly into its stock sourcing platform, allowing dealers to finance purchases more quickly through its day by day online auctions.
The brand new integration places NextGear Capital’s funding options throughout the Carwow Wallet digital payment solution, enabling retailers to use for a funding account and immediately use their stocking plan to pay for auction purchases.
Carwow said the move is designed to hurry up stock turn, ease cashflow pressures and reduce the executive burden for dealers sourcing vehicles through its marketplace.
With NextGear Capital funding embedded into Carwow Wallet, retailers can secure finance and complete payment throughout the same workflow, removing the necessity to arrange stock funding individually after winning an auction.
The platform said that this can allow dealers to commit to recent vehicles more quickly without waiting for existing stock to sell, helping them maintain forecourt availability and improve the client experience.
Matt Cockerill, VP of performance and trading at Carwow, said: “Dealers want less friction and more certainty at the purpose of purchase. This latest enhancement to Carwow Wallet is a component of our continued investment in creating an end-to-end stock sourcing platform that simplifies life for our dealer partners.”
Zoe Sutton, head of partnerships and banking systems, NextGear Capital UK and Ireland, added: “In a fast-moving, competitive market, the power to purchase decisively when the chance arises is important. Stocking plans enable dealers to do exactly this, reducing their financial friction and scaling their inventory without tying up capital on their forecourts.”
Carwow auctions currently give retailers access to greater than 20,000 vehicles per thirty days and have helped place greater than 300,000 vehicles on dealer forecourts up to now.
Dealers can register for Carwow auctions online and eligible retailers can apply for, or connect, an existing NextGear Capital account inside Carwow Wallet.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
