Rapid Recon

Pros

Love that you can track vehicle progress throughout the entire reconditioning process, but ALSO allows multiple people involved in this process to also track that same progress without having to navigate through multiple sections. Ease of access is 10/10. Doing anything on this software is fairly easy whether you're computer savy or brand new to this stuff. You can track cost, time to lot, effectiveness, and even generate reports that allow you to make the reconditioning process more efficient.

Cons

There are truly no cons to this product.

Pros

I feel that the product is well designed.
I like to be able to leave specific notes for the other departments following me. I also like to be able to track vehicle movements. Also to be able to highlight concerns with a picture.

Cons

I feel that the product is well designed but lately it has become frequently unstable under cellular signal even with full bars of signal. When trying to save notes, many times it will have to be pushed twice to finally get it to complete the save. Also when trying to save it may lock up and have to exit the program to reuse.
Is it possible to add a save button for notes? Rather than having to use the add notes tab....I can see it as confusing to some.
Also might it be possible to allow an individual user within an organization to customize there screen for example to setup their order of steps for what they use the most and possibly allow them within their individual programs to blackout steps if they wish? I only use 5 or so steps consistently. But I've accidentally sent cars to the wrong step because there's only so much space to use on a cellphone. I use a Samsung note 20 ultra 5g. There are steps that I will never use and removing or blacking out would save time and eliminate mistakes.
I live and work in upstate NY. 75% of my Rapid recon use is outdoors in the elements. Even though I have my s pen to help navigate, any customization I can perform only saves me time when I'm out in the cold or elements.
Additionally, I'm not an admin. But I see alot of potential issues with select individuals having access to say the notes. Is there a way to limit how much an individual can see?
In our business, salespeople tend to disclose Rapid notes to customers. We use those

Pros

The graphs and charts that monitor each step are neat, but dont fully represent the process.

Cons

It is one of three software systems that the service department uses for tracking vehicles in the dealership. It is redundant and does not benefit the service department very much. It basically adds several extra steps to the processes that we are already using.

Pros

It is the "Bible of Info" for our company and every car that we own. It's my first stop when looking for where a vehicle is

Cons

It could look a bit more sleek, but that is not a big deal at all

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Rapid Recon

Pros

I love being able to track all the vehicles in real time. To which status and/or department they are in to seeing how quick it moves through the recon process. Also seeing what jobs are completed and the dates helps with warranty issues.

Cons

Sometimes the software runs slow if too many people are using it and it takes a while to add jobs or move to another status.

Pros

Easy to implement and easy for your team to learn and use.

Cons

Inability to manage and modify individual steps. Need your rep to do that.

Pros

Ease of use
Support
Price
Ability to add / delete steps

Cons

Nothing really, everything work as it should

Pros

I can see where cars are at if off-site or being worked on. I can see immediately when marked wholesale to set appts at the right time. With a couple of stores in our group it makes checking on the service and body work process simpler.

Cons

Sometimes it is challenging to Log in and it can be slow to learn (took months of use to really become familiar). No one provides any training its basically here's your login and hope you can use it type of experience.

Pros

I love the ability to locate inventory, and know where each piece of inventory is in the reconditioning process. We share inventory over 5 lots. this a good product for our purposes

Cons

data updated with scans only. no real time tracking.

Pros

Rapid Recon was so helpful to the sales people at the dealership! We could see where the vehicle was--such Detail, Smog, etc. and we could see what mechanical issues were repaired or declined by management.

Cons

nothing from my end--was very useful for me

Pros

The product is easy to use with minimal issues. It does pretty well for having a lot of users at once

Cons

They came out with a gps way to know where the car is at, at our location it is not very accurate at all. I like the attempt though. There are certain things that if you change them it reset a lot of the time clocks that my managers use daily, so it makes it difficult to change those items

Pros

This software is utilized by sales, service, and administrators. We track where the vehicle is within the reconditioning process, with ease.

Cons

I wish it could further integrate with our CRM (Tekion) - to approve/decline recommended service items.

Pros

I think the best part of Rapid Recon is that people who are new to the software will be able to figure it out in a short amount of time. The buttons and functions were placed in relatively common sense places and it does not take a long time to get accustomed to the software.

Cons

This is just the recon department perspective in a car dealership, but customizable buttons that cut down on repeated button clicking would be nice for work flow efficiency.

Pros

I really enjoy the step by step function of this process. It makes it very simple to see where every vehicle is in the process and to communicate with everyone involved.

Cons

The software reporting is not very customizable. We have multiple stores using the system and it is hard to delineate the ADR and that kind of thing for the different stores as it only shows the one store at the top of the page. It is also not necessarily a true average time as there are multiple steps that could change this window.

Pros

You can use the search bar to find the vehicle in its current step.

Cons

It does not communicate with gm at all.
It can be edited by anyone at any time regardless of department.

Pros

THE APPLICATION IS EASY TO USE AND TRACK ALL OF YOUR RECON INVENTORY. IT IS GREAT TO BE ABLE TO REACH BACK INTO THE ARCHIVES TO SEE WHAT THE ORIGINAL INSPECTION WAS ON PAST VEHICLES. AND BEING ABLE TO SEE THE TRACKS OF WHO DID WHAT IN THE APPLICATION IS GREAT.

Cons

WITH THE LATEST UPDATE, SOME OF THE FEATURES HAVE MOVED AROUND A LITTLE AND IT IS NOT AS EASY TO SEE ON ONE SCREEN WITHOUT SCROLLING TO GET THE FULL PICTURE.

Pros

Adding Rapid recon was the best thing I could have done for my used car department. We were using internal emails back and forth for recon estimates. This old way of doing things didn't allow me to visually see the time and money it was costing me to manage my inventory. Rapid recon guides you and shows you how to improve your department in everyway!

Cons

Nothing I can think of that I would change

Pros

The Simplicity. We have sat in 3 other presentations from similar competing platforms, and none of them keep it as simple as Rapid Recon. It doesn't need improvement, just our people do.

Cons

Nothing. You have a great product, and anything we need to edit, everyone is very accomodating!

Pros

Ease of use between all departments. Every member of our team is accountable for specific processes of the operation. We use daily with little to no issues.

Cons

Stocking new inventory could be easier at times

Pros

Easy to use, keep track of inventory so salespeople can see where the vehicle is located. Estimating system is very good. Notes can be made for all to see. its an app, so you can use everywhere. Reports make it easy to track where bottlenecks are.

Cons

nothing, new features make it even better

Pros

This software makes me incredibly organized. I know where my cars are at in each step, how far along in each step they are and how many days they have been in a certain step. Without this software my job would be a lot harder! I have recommended this software to other stores in my dealer group and they are all extremely happy with it.

Cons

not a lot. everything is easy to use and figure out

Pros

Being able to show a customer what is wrong with their vehicle is great. Also, being able to text with them makes it easier to communicate and update my customers on my time so I dont get random update phone calls all day long. I use it on my phone as well.

Cons

When we initially had the program set up the phones that were brought were very chinsy and dont last. I would suggest a better device be used. I saw the same phones at the dollar store. I would have gladly paid more for a better device that would have lasted longer before needing replaced.

Pros

Being able to see all of the steps from buying the vehicle to the frontline

Cons

Having to type in parts numbers and descriptions with pricing

Pros

I enjoyed simply how easy the software is to use as well as how accessible from different devices it is. Being able to customize and adjust how you want your process to move is the most efficient feature due to being able to test and experiment with different ideas. Another amazing feature is the notification and SMS alerts you can set to specific users as sometimes we are not always in front of a computer or have the program open which allows us to be way more alert and aware of changes and task that need attention.

Cons

In terms of features that need either improvement or need to be added is a manner of editing a vehicles information once it is submitted into the system opposed to needing to delete it and creating another profile for the vehicle again.

Pros

the app puts everything in one place for everyone to see

Cons

the ease of accessing the recon/inspection pics from the phone app

Pros

One of the main features I like is the mobile application that it allows me to check on the status of vehicles when I am off work. I like how easy it is to get service work approvals sent to my phone so I can approve the work and move cars from one status to another without having to actually go back in service. I am also impressed how you can leave notes for the service writers to see without having to stop what you are doing to go talk to them. It’s a great way to keep up with the status of your vehicles as the process moves from service to recon and to frontline ready. Overall I have enjoyed using this application since we switched to it .

Cons

I can’t really say anything negative about the application itself. The only issues I see sometimes is that sometimes people don’t put the status of the vehicle in the right category so you know where your unit stands in there process. That isn’t the application but human error.

Pros

Impactful features of Rapid Recon have been:
1) the ability to customize Steps to match our existing teams, departments, physical locations and established nomenclature.
2) quickly review, modify and revise Work Items (estimates) by multiple staff and management in different locations.

Yes, Rapid Recon has proven to be very easy to use from the very start. It was simple to integrate into our business processes.

Cons

Like to see the ability to start a new estimate while still preserving an existing one. For example: a vehicle gets traded in a year after an inspection/estimate is completed. A NEW inspection/estimate will be completed. Don't want to delete the existing estimate to make room for the new one.

Pros

I love how it lets everyone in the reconditioning process know who needs to do what to each vehicle and where a vehicle is in the process. In my case, I love how it sends me an alert to my phone letting me know what work is ready for me to do.

Cons

While this may be a Pro for upper management, the feature that it tracks all sorts of metrics, including the amount of time to front line ready, which is important metric and valuable tool, some dealerships spend more time trying to use work arounds to game the system to keep their Time to front line number low because the upper management scores their efficiency and holds them accountable for these numbers - - that I believe they could use this time more wisely to just actually work on the reconditioning then trying to move the cars around to keep the time low.

Pros

Keeps the dealership flowing and everyone honest.

Cons

It doesn't move vehicles by its self when a step is completed!!!! Two other programs do!!

Pros

What I like most about this software is being able to see the time stamps of how long our vehicles are in each step and what's potentially coming down our pipeline. It not only helps guide me in doing my job, it also helps the rest of our department know what may be bottlenecked and/or know what our end of day goal is.

Cons

The things I don't like about the software is that in the details overview when inputting data on the desktop version sometimes without cause the screen will refresh itself and erase what you've already inputted. Also the phone app has been increasingly more counter productive in the streamline of moving vehicles from step to step, having to go into multiple screens/interfaces to move a vehicle instead of seeing the vehicle in step and being able to move the vehicle from that same interface. Instead of being able to move the vehicle in the step's list you have to individually click a vehicle then find the change step button and select from a drop down.

Pros

The features I like most about Rapid Recon are the ability to customize and re-order "buckets" whenever needed and the ease of searching for inventory by Stock or VIN number. We have had many different iterations of our buckets and the team at Rapid are always ready and willing to do that for us, it would be nice if they made this function something the administrator could do though, then we could tweak and re-order our own buckets whenever needed without any delay.

Cons

The mobile app needs to be re-launched and signed in to multiple times throughout the day. The online browser also has moments where it simply freezes and requires a closing of the browser tab and a re-launch of the website. Not a terrible problem to have, but every second wasted in a day is an inefficiency that could be eliminated.

Pros

The thing i love most about this product is how i can easily track what step my vehicles are in.

Cons

picture taking process during initial intake takes too long to load

Pros

Rapid Recon was the missing link for our company in streamlining and joining together our two teams (sales and service). It provides one location that everyone can turn to for information and makes communicating across the company effortless. The customer service is phenomenal, with quick turn around times and solid fixes. The program is customizable enough that we have tailored it to our company over the years of using it.

Cons

As with everything there is a learning curve but nothing was insurmountable. And now I can say that I have no negative opinions on Rapid Recon.

Pros

We really like that the tool archives the entire decision process so we can refer back to it at a later date if necessary. It also helps us keep track of our vehicles so they don't get lost in the day-to-day busyness.

Cons

It works great for us. No issues so far.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Rapid Recon

Pros

We appreciate how user friendly it is, and easy to use for all our staff members. Being that it's web based, it can be utilized on any computer or hand held devise.

Cons

There is a lot of unused features that pertain to a Car Dealership vs a Collision repair shop, but we understand that the main target audience.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Rapid Recon

Pros

Much better than a notepad, needs some work to keep pace with the larger dealership

Cons

The software needs to be more intuitive, I personally login 40 to 80 times per day five days a week why should I have to scroll through 85 different categories to reach my location when I only use two or three categories. You should be able to customize so your items are at the top of the page for speed of use.We process 1500 used for retail and a 1000 used for wholesale per month.As a large dealer the current format Limitations slow down the process. To truly be called rapid recon a few important changes should be Implemented.
Thx
Fred Gotelli UCD
Bill Luke Auto Grp
[SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN]

Pros

*User Friendly, even for people that run from basic technology
*Intuitive
*Interface for Service, Sales and Vendors
*Make following a vehicle through recon seamless and smooth
*Identifies roadblocks, delays and hurdles that might be otherwise hard to identify

Cons

*Flipping between locations can be clunky
*A "group level" hub might be a great idea for locations w/ multiple locations

Pros

Rapid Recon allows our company to move our inventory between two separate locations, without missing a step. We know exactly which location the vehicle is at and what step of the process it's in. We utilize the notes section daily as well as the reporting function.

Cons

I do not have any issues with Rapid Recon.

Pros

Best features of the software are:
-time stamps and day/hr tracking
-creating and customizable steps
-reports

Cons

What I would like to see:
-Limited view based on store role. Example: Salesperson can only see steps 5,10, and 15
-assigning to an indiviual user within the step

Pros

Ease of use, accountability, report generation and all of the other functions that we use.

Cons

Would like to see the ability to forward and estimate with photos. I buy several cars per month for our dealership and on occasion have to Arbitrate something on the the vehicle purchased. When submitting an arbitration, I have to send photos and detailed repair/damage estimate for reimbursement and Rapid Recon makes this part of my functions very time consuming. Also would like the ability in real time to edit vehicle information such as stock #s and other items without deleting the entire car 1st or waiting for the program to scrape our DMS for the changes.

Pros

KEEPS IT EASY TO LOCATE ANY UNIT IN OUR INVENTORY, SENDING TO USED CAR MANAGER TO APPROVE RECON AND BACK TO THE SHOP IIN NO TIME!

Cons

IT SHOWS US WE NEED MORE TECHS!
SOME REPORTS COULD BE EASIER TO FOLLOW.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Rapid Recon

Pros

THIS SOFTWARE IS EASY FOR ANYONE TO LEARN AND USE

Cons

SINCE THE LAST MAJOR UPDATE WE HAVE A LOT OF ISSUES WITH LOCKUP AND FREEZING. ALSO THE SPEED HAS SLOWED GREATLY IN THE SAME TIME FRAME.

WE DO NOT LIKE THAT THE CLOCK CAN NOT BE RESET ON A VEHICLE THAT WAS HERE, SOLD, AND THEN TRADED BACK IN, DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE USE THE LAST 8 OF THE VIN FOR OUR STOCK NUMBERS.

Pros

We now have a unified program for all our stores, which I love. We are a single department that services over ten stores, so having one screen to focus on keeps us sane in the midst of the chaos.

Cons

Gaps are present in the application. Stores at our different locations do not always have real-time visibility into the status of the vehicles, which further adds to confusion.

Pros

Ability to track vehicles through reconditioning process. Also able to track vehicle for other processes as well. Easy to use and reliable.

Cons

Inability to have a vehicle reside in more then one step at a time. It would be nice to be able to set a vehicle for sublet work (windshield replacement for example) but also still have the vehicle in another step such as inspection or detail.

Pros

I think it is an excellent tool for tracking the reconditioning of vehicles and to get them onto the lot for sale.

Cons

Your mobile platform. When you "improved" it recently it took away a lot of the functionality away. There are far too many issues with the mobile platform here. I presume that a lot of these issues have been addressed by other users.

Pros

Rapid Recon makes it easy to track your vehicles through the reconditioning process. Anyone in your dealership can easily see where a vehicle is in the process, what has been done and what still needs to be done to make a vehicle front line ready.

Cons

Everything from setup to use has been easy.

Pros

easy to use, easy for new users. time and date stamps,

Cons

reports wont pull most of the time, need better breakdown and more info on reports, would LOVE custom reports. Daily lag and crash issues on the hour. would like ability to add our own buckets not have to call tech support, better area for notes, ability to highlight curtain cars to move through faster, box showing last cars you were in(waist of time to go into log) Ability to print bar code stock stickers out of rapid

Pros

The app, its nice to be able to just use your phone instead of having to sit at a computer for everything.
Text notifications, nice way of being notified that vehicles are being moved from different steps.

Cons

Photos, Adding photos from phone galley are always bury, only way to get clear photos is to take them within the app. Not being able to click on a picture and zoom in or move around makes the pictures almost useless.
Desktop vs App, When adding work items, you cant select more then one item to add on the desktop but on the app it lets you add as many as you want at one time. This is a major slow down, Its faster for me to use the app to add everything at once then go back to the desktop and edit or add notes to each line item.
There's no direct messaging. Only way I can find is to add a note and select to notify certain people.
Under each work item added, theres only one line for "notes" Need another box to add more information.

Pros

Very easy to use and helpful in locating cars and moving them through our recon process efficiently.

Cons

When looking for new cars on the front line when we print out reports you can only see exterior color and trim level. I would love to see exterior, trim level, and interior color so my sales reps could locate the correct cars faster.

Pros

I'd like the most in Rapid Recon is their feature of Real-time tracking. I can track the vehicle through reconditioning process wherever I am. Very transparent. It gives a satisfaction in my automotive experience so far. Very reliable their feature of Recon Connect which is their extension that eliminating the need to switch between multiple applications. One of the best experience I had.

Cons

Rapid Recon is my favorite right now, Giving me an excellent job, and best Automotive experience so far.