Apply Pricing Recommendations
Learn the best practices for applying ProfitTime’s recommendations to vehicles across your inventory.
Welcome to another installment of "Winning with ProfitTime," the video series designed to help you and your team get the most out of vAuto's one-of-a-kind used inventory management solution.
In our last video, we took a deeper look at how ProfitTime generates its pricing recommendations.
Now, we'll see how these recommendations are applied in the software, and we'll cover a few general tips that will help you use them to get the best outcomes for vehicles in your inventory.
First, you'll notice that the system will always recommend a range of prices — rather than a single number. You'll find this range in the "Pricing" area on each individual vehicle page.
It's important to note that these recommended ranges are not indications of "good" or "bad" vehicles. They are simply prices calculated to sell a particular vehicle in a timeframe that will maximize its profit potential.
A price range higher than the market average means a vehicle has a strong profit potential and is worth holding onto to get a little extra margin. A lower price range reflects a unit with low profit potential — one that should be priced to sell quickly.
In this example, we see that this vehicle has a ProfitTime score of ten, a platinum investment. Based on this score and other data in the software, the system has come up with a recommended price range from about $24,000 to $25,000 – well above the average market price.
Pricing the vehicle in this range will lengthen its time-to-sell, but it will give us a good amount of added gross profit when it does.
You can see what factors influence ProfitTime's pricing ranges by clicking the blue "i" icon near the range amount. This brings up a brief list of positive and negative influences impacting the recommendation.
Each factor has a different color shading corresponding to how much they impact the price. Darker icons have more impact, the lighter ones less. For more details on how recommendations are created, see our previous video.
As important as it is for dealers to trust and follow ProfitTime recommendations to see the best results, there are times when rejecting a recommendation and pricing outside the range is necessary.
For instance, maybe a vehicle has a significant amount of aftermarket equipment, some damage, or other special conditions that ProfitTime data can't see... but that a capable manager can.
To reject a recommendation, simply click the blue "i" icon next to the range. Then click "reject recommendation." Select your reason for rejection, click "send feedback," and a gray "X" will appear next to the "i" icon, confirming you've rejected the price.
It's important to reject the recommendation for each vehicle you plan to price outside of the range. This ensures each rejection and acceptance is represented in all your ProfitTime metrics and in your inventory list. You can always undo a rejection in that same menu you made it.
Thanks for taking a moment with us, we hope this has helped you know how and when to apply ProfitTime's pricing recommendations. As always, please reach out to your vAuto performance manager with any further questions.
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