What is automatic management?
Auto Management, also commonly called Automotive Management, is the management of services around vehicle management. Auto Management includes the management of auto repair shops, car and truck dealerships, rentals, body shops, and more.
So, for a normal person, Auto Management is the management of everything that has to do with cars, trucks, and other vehicles.
This is a really broad area that covers a lot and is designed for the automotive area, although you will see that it brings in areas that are common to most other businesses. Examples of specific automotive areas are:
- Management of used car dealers
- franchise management
- Management of new car dealerships
- Commercial and financial management adapted to the automotive industry
- Car inventory management
- Spare parts management
- Dealer management
- Customer Management
- Showroom management
- insurance management
- lease management
- Sales management
- Management of repairs and services
- labor management
As you can see in the list there are quite a few areas. For most areas, you can find the same support and management regardless of the vehicle you’re involved in, including cars, trucks, motorcycles, and boats.
One way to understand what it takes is to simply see what it takes to manage when you want to get a car (or any other vehicle).
You start by going to the car dealership. They will show you examples of cars in their showroom. The showroom is designed in such a way that they can sell the cars that are most interesting to them to sell more easily. Some car companies require greater visibility than others, which is also important for showroom design.
Once you have chosen a car model, you will be able to customize your new car according to your needs. All these extras are added to the system and a few months later you will receive the car.
Should you rent the car or buy it? If you buy it, do you need a loan for it?
While you wait for your car, you may want to rent another car so you have something to drive.
You receive your car and of course there are things you want to change. You may want to get some winter tires or other things from the car dealer. You will need insurance and might bring additional insurance for towing service and free rentals if something happens.
After 6 months it is time for the first service. It includes having staff reserved to take care of the car. You may have had a little accident and you need to get the body repaired and therefore you need to deliver it to that specific area of the auto repair shop. This is ongoing for a few years and he decides to sell the car. The car dealer makes you a deal to give you another car in exchange and you pay some extra money since the car is new.
The car dealer now has a used car that they need to sell. This is another process but with many similarities to the sale of a new car.
To support these processes there are different types of car management software (or automotive software). Different car management software have different purposes and few cover the whole area. There are different types of self-management software that include support for the areas specified above, such as:
- Dealer Management System (DMS)
- Specific CRM software for the automotive industry
- inventory management software
- time management software
- Lead management software
- financial software
- Sales management software
- Guarantee Shipping System
- Auction Management Software
- Vehicle Showroom Management System
Dealership management systems often cover multiple areas so it’s possible to have less bundled software in the same workplace. This generally makes work processes more efficient.
The area is so large that this article only covers a brief introduction of what areas to consider and what kind of self-management software might be interesting to look into further.
