Partnership removes an age old IT challenge for dealers
Specialist Cars, one of the largest privately owned BMW and MINI retailer groups in the UK, has undertaken a seamless DMS migration to CDK Drive, and benefited from strengthened financial and forecasting capabilities, thanks to its partnership with Cooper Solutions.
In addition to the move to CDK Drive, the DMS provider of choice for BMW and MINI, Specialist Cars was able to create a bespoke solution that maintained access to Cooper Solutions’ range of services, including FullForecast, FullCover and FullAppraisal.
“We have been utilising FullForecast for over a decade, and it revolutionised our business from the outset. To this day, it continues to deliver a level of forecasting and accounting that is superior to any alternative solution on the market. So when the time came to switch to a new DMS solution, it was crucial for us to be able to continue benefiting from its real-time financial reporting. Any sustained interruption would have had a significant impact on the business and our daily operations,” explains Clive James, Finance Director for Specialist Cars.
In addition to avoiding disruption to daily financial reporting, Cooper Solutions enabled Specialist Cars to mitigate risk on customer courtesy and demonstration vehicles by ensuring FullCover’s fleet management and daily rate insurance offering was sustained throughout the migration.
Specialist Cars believes that the success of its seamless Drive migration was driven by a team of experts within the Cooper Solutions business, who combine powerful knowledge of state-of-the-art IT systems and algorithms, with a coherent understanding of motor retailing processes. Continues Clive James, “More than just a provider of technology solutions, Cooper Solutions understands motor retailing, delivering bespoke, dedicated services that cater to our needs which strategically support our business. This is why Cooper Solutions continues to be a first choice partner for Specialist Cars.”
Andrew Whicher, General Manager at Cooper Solutions adds, “This successful migration builds on our long-standing relationship of over 14 years. Not only were we able to ensure the smooth, consistent operation of our solutions which Specialist Cars rely upon daily, we were perfectly placed as a consultant to assist them in the mapping of thousands of accounting codes that enabled quick and easy reconciliation of accounts, whilst retaining prior year information.
“This was only achievable because at Cooper Solutions we have a team of passionate motor industry specialists, working with dealers to maximise the benefits of today’s technology in building business profitability, alongside customer loyalty and retention.”