Driving Solutions with Jim Fitzpatrick, powered by CBT News

Your Trade Appraisals Could Be Costing You $12,000 A Month Without This Tool

• CBT News • Season 1 • Episode 14

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BlueDriver Max is revolutionizing the vehicle appraisal process by providing dealerships with fast, accurate mechanical diagnostics that prevent costly mistakes and build customer trust. 

• Scan first: The BlueDriver Max device plugs into a vehicle's OBD2 port and delivers comprehensive mechanical diagnostics in 2-3 minutes
• Average dealership loses $4,000-$12,000 monthly from undetected mechanical issues during appraisals
• 81% of dealers surveyed consider mechanical inspection the most critical part of the appraisal process
• Device can detect when check engine lights have been recently cleared, preventing fraud
• Diagnostic reports serve as effective closing tools when negotiating with customers
• Simple pricing: $199 per device with $99 monthly subscription
• Reports can be printed, emailed, or shared through the smartphone app
• Implementation requires no additional time in the existing appraisal process
• Recommended usage: two devices per dealership

Visit BlueDriverMax.com/scan-first to schedule a 15-minute demo and learn how this tool can improve your appraisal process and protect your dealership's bottom line.


Driving Solutions is the go-to podcast for dealership professionals who want to stay sharp, informed, and ahead of the curve. Hosted by Jim Fitzpatrick and powered by CBT News, each episode brings you real strategies, smart tools, and expert insights to help you run a more profitable operation.

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Announcer:

This is Driving Solutions exclusively on cbtnews. com.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Hey everyone. Jim Fitzpatrick, thanks so much for tuning in to another edition of Driving Solutions right here at cbtnews. com. If you're a used car manager and you've been burned as I have been as a used car manager by putting the wrong number on a trade appraisal because you didn't know what the car actually needed mechanically, sure, you walked around the car to see if it needed some paint, maybe new tires, but do you really know what that vehicle needs mechanically? You're not going to want to miss this next segment. I am joined in the studio by Cole Reiken, who's the managing director of Blue Driver Max. Cole is going to explain to us why this product will become your next best friend if you're in the used car business. So, Cole, thank you so much for joining me in the studio.

Cole Reiken:

Thanks for having me here.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It's great we wanted to bring you in because your product, your company, is so exciting.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

As a former used car manager myself, I have gotten burned so many times by thinking, no, the car looks clean, it looks pretty good. Maybe I even drove it around the block, but I didn't pick up everything that that vehicle needed. Right, I can tell you if it needed tires or not, or maybe if it needed paint in the quarter panel, but man, have I gotten burned, as I know many of my colleagues have in the industry. So first, before we get started, tell us a bit about your role at Blue Driver Max.

Cole Reiken:

Sure, I'm the managing director of Blue Driver. I oversee the operations of Blue Driver and bringing the product to market and you know, really we're focused on a mission of helping dealers avoid costly mistakes during the appraisal process.

Cole Reiken:

You know. Think about it if you catch an item up, for you know a mechanical issue up front. You know it helps you save on margins, it speeds up the reconditioning process and ultimately will keep your customers happier. At the end of the day, think of it as a lie detector test. It's a scanning tool that will tell you the mechanical condition of the car and exactly what you're dealing with, so you can put an accurate number of that car and avoid those costly mistakes by scanning first.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, no question about it. Where was this product when I was appraising vehicles, right?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It was only one of those situations where I'd put a number on a car and then the service manager would walk in my office and go did you know that the car needed? You know? I'm like, oh, you got to be kidding me.

Cole Reiken:

It is a story we hear, unfortunately, very, very frequently. We often get a call right after some sort of significant issue. I miss something on a car and it's. Can you help us with that? Exactly long you know, short answers, yeah, we can't right that's right.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So you guys were a big hit with consumers. How does that connect with what you're doing with dealers today?

Cole Reiken:

yeah, it's great. So our retail product was a huge hit amazon Amazon. We sold well over a million units and we continue to sell there very strong. And we saw that very smart dealers were out there buying retail products. They are a consumer grade diagnostic tool and we were like, hey, there's something here, there's a need. So we introduced BlueDriver Max and it's a commercial-grade product. It has increased coverage from an OEM perspective, it provides more insights to dealers and we tied that with a bunch of a smartphone app and an integration to a lot of the leading appraisal software tools that are out there.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Wow, wow and talk to me. How does the product actually work?

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, it's easy. It's a combination of a hardware device. You plug it into the OBD2 port on a vehicle. It connects to your smartphone and it's. You know. We always tell you scan first when you go out to take the appraisal. So you walk out to the car, you take the device, you plug it in, open up your smartphone, you know, set it to run, you do the external walk around of the vehicle. Two minutes later you come back and you're going to have a diagnostic report of the mechanical condition of that vehicle. You'll have a report that basically tells you if there are any trouble codes with that vehicle. We then help you out and we translate that into English.

Cole Reiken:

Then we can help provide what the, what the recommended repairs for that vehicle.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Sure, sure, and that's got to be extremely impressive for that customer that you're presenting the number to, or even, you know, maybe it may be it's the salesperson that goes hey, you know, we got this customer, got this car appraised down the road and they got X for it and I need down chasing that number, you know, and I said, yeah, timeout, a minute,

Cole Reiken:

You're actually right on is one of the you know, when I first joined the business, one of the things that was really surprising was how often the scan report is actually used as a closing tool.

Cole Reiken:

Oh, absolutely, to bring that out to a customer, and we hear it time and time again. The diagnostic report is used time and time again. Hey look, did you know you have this? This is why we're putting this number on the car. It's going to cost us extra to recondition. That's a big learning for a lot of people when they come into the dealership. A lot of people weren't aware that what the actual mechanical condition is

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right, and how much it costs to get it fixed so that you can get that top dollar for the car. The other thing, though, is that you've got those customers that know the vehicle needs problems. We talked a little bit before we got recording today.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Those customers that see a, they see a engine check engine light and lo and behold, they pull into the service or they know somebody that goes. I can remove that for you if you're thinking about trading the car right?

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, a lot of the time we hear this.

Cole Reiken:

All you know, one of the advantages we have BlueD river max offers is, you know we call fraud detection, but it's the customer that goes down to the service center before coming into the dealership has their check engine light cleared. You know, we hear customers call us all the time. I drove it. It looked fine, no lights on, it was great. They put in the back lock before being reconditioned to move out to the front. Yeah, and they went to start again and lo and behold, check engine light light comes on. Oh my gosh, it wasn't there when they appraised that vehicle Happens all the time.

Cole Reiken:

And you're saying your product would catch that Blue Driver would catch that for you. Wow, so you have that insight. If that check engine light was just cleared a short time ago before coming into your dealership, oh my gosh, that's incredible.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You probably don't want to point that out to the customer. They might, they might get mad at you. But, uh, but you could say someone did someone, you know, someone, some point cleared it. Yeah, exactly, they cleared that. You know, and it's technology like this that, uh, that we need today. I mean, if a used car manager is trying to like just kind of wing it say, yeah, I drove it around the block, it runs fine, you know, these vehicles are so sophisticated today, right, that to think that you're going to beat the system by just, you know, driving it around the block and saying, well, I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything, you know, there's so much more to it.

Cole Reiken:

Not only are they more sophisticated, but the average car in the market now that's being traded in is a much older vehicle, and much older vehicles have more wear and tear on them and more likely to have a mechanical issue with them.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Very good point. Yeah, no question about it. So you really recently conducted your own research. What did you find? Talk to us about that.

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, sure. So we surveyed 122 dealers across the nation and you know we reaffirmed our position of the market is that the appraisal process is the most critical point of the entire trade-in process and getting the number right in the car is the most important at that step, at that time. 81% of our customers said that the mechanical inspection is the most important step in that appraisal process. Unfortunately, most of them are left to do manual, drive it around the block, visual inspections, turn it on and listen type of inspections. We identified that it's like hey, there's a real need here for us to help during that appraisal process. Blue Driver Max allows you to actually get a full mechanical inspection understand the condition of that car simply within two to three minutes.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, that's great. It's interesting because consumers you know they've got Carfax that they can go to to get a, you know, before they buy your car they want to get all the information on that vehicle right. Why can't a used car manager do that when they're about to buy the customer's car?

Cole Reiken:

Get all the information about their car Exactly.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And you know we talk about trade appraisals, but nowadays there's so many acquisitions being made directly from consumers that just sell their car to the dealership and it's not even a trade situation, it's just an outright purchase right, and I imagine this comes in handy in a very big way.

Cole Reiken:

It works exactly the same way. We talk about having a consistent way to appraise each vehicle, regardless if trade-in or direct purchase from a customer. You know that comes back. Scan the vehicle first, do the exterior cosmetic inspection before you do it, and then you know when you perform that. In that sequence you come back. It doesn't add any time to the appraisal process. You get a full insight to actually understand what that vehicle mechanical condition of that vehicle is and you can report it. Then that you you can actually look at it and go okay, I understand what's wrong with this car, I know what the reconditioning cost is and it helps you put the right number on that car. So scan first is always our message for our customers.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, it's good advice and you know this is perfect for whether you're the old veteran, you know, used car dog that can hit a car, typically right on the number, what have you? Not always but, but they'd like to think so. Right, but uh, but also the newcomers to the industry. You know we have a whole new generation now of uh, of middle, mid-level managers that are becoming used car managers, new car managers, desk managers and such that have not been around the block maybe

Cole Reiken:

-not seen quite as many appraisals before-

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Exactly. This product would be essential in that situation.

Cole Reiken:

It really helps. It's beneficial for them. A lot of sales managers, used car sales managers and appraisers come out of the sales department not necessarily out of the technical side of the world.

Cole Reiken:

So a tool that actually can perform the technical aspect for them, make their lives easier by translating that into plain language and explain what it actually means. That's right, and then say here's the likely fix for this car and here's what it's going to cost you from parts and labor to actually perform that repair. Right, right. Then you can actually take this technical information, translate it into what it means for you to actually put a deal together for that cost.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right. That's right. How big a financial risk is this if a dealer skips the scan?

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, part of the research that we did we talked about those dealers is that on average, dealers see about $4,000 a month through our survey work of uncaught mechanical issues that they end up with paying for later on. We have seen other industry data that suggest that number is as high as $12,000 a month. So if you think about that, or higher.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You know what I mean. It depends on the volume of the store. Right, that's right.

Cole Reiken:

If you think about that all the way through on an annual basis it's $144,000 a year. That just impacts the bottom line of a preventable solution. That's right. We have a tool that can help a used car manager or appraiser and say here you go, I have a mechanical condition in the vehicle, I will know upfront if there's anything wrong, avoiding that, depending on what number you want to use the $4,000 to $12,000 a month financial hit to the bottom line.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, yeah, wow, that starts to really really add up. Can you show any examples, because I know you've heard directly from dealers on this right.

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, like we were talking about before. But literally last week I got a call from a dealer in the Midwest and he's like I just took a car in a trade, seemed fine. I put it in the back two days later and ended up needing a transmission.

Cole Reiken:

Took it around the block it seemed fine when I was doing it, got it up on the lift and now all of a sudden I'm in for a transmission. I had no idea. And BlueDriver Max scans those key parts of the car Transmission, major components within the vehicle, brake systems, airbags. It gives you a full assessment of what's there. So to avoid those mistakes you know, and avoid those calls of "ee just took a car in and didn't know how to transmission issue or you know, a mischecking like that we talked about.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You don't want to be. If you're a used car manager and you know what I'm talking about, you don't want to have to walk into the dealer principal or the GM that you're working with to say, guess what, might've missed this one, right? You do that two or three times and they really start to question your ability to put the right number on trades, right, that's right, it's just a one step.

Cole Reiken:

as I said, scan first saves that conversation later on.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right. That's right. You've said that the key to this whole thing is really timing. It's so important to catch it before it costs you. What do you mean by that?

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, I've said a couple of times, but for used car managers, when you're going to take a look at a car, you bring the device out first, start the scan first before doing that visual inspection. Right, right, and building a consistent process that you do each and every time using tools that are available to you really improve the overall systematic approach to catching these issues. Again, plug the BlueDriver Max device in, let it run, do the visual inspection, come back after the visual inspection and you'll have a full diagnostic report, does not any time? Two to three minutes later and you can have a full understanding what that vehicles condition is.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And can you print off the report if you wanted to?

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, the report can be printed. The report is a customizable report. Okay, it can be printed. It can be emailed. It can be shared through the app on the phone. Okay, you can share that with the customer. Again, a lot of the time, as I mentioned, dealers are using it as a closing tool. They'll pull it up on their screen a lot of the time and say, hey, we just pulled this scan off the car. Here's what we're seeing on the vehicle itself.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right, right, and that can be if a spouse is in. I mean, if somebody's in the dealership and the spouse is not there dealership and the spouse is not there, but they're in the negotiating on the car. And whether the husband says, hey, I think the trade is worth more, or the wife says it, you know now they can take that scan and then email it or text it to somebody to say at home to go, hey, we didn't know it, but this is what the vehicle needs, right.

Cole Reiken:

We've heard from our customers that using that report becomes a third party, agnostic, invested person that shares that information with the customer.

Cole Reiken:

It really adds transparency to the process. It's not just hey, we got on the back and went up to the hoist and our mechanic says the second you start bringing, the mechanic says customers are like oh, I don't really believe, that's what your mechanic.

Cole Reiken:

my mechanic says something else.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right, that's right. Yeah, you get into this argument and this match of wits and it's never good.

Cole Reiken:

Never good to get in that situation. So Blue Driver comes in as a third party and says here's the actual condition of the car. You can take a look at it. Here's the report.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right right, what does this cost a dealership to have?

Cole Reiken:

It's 199 dollars per device and that's a monthly subscription of 99 dollars. We recommend two devices per dealership.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Are you kidding me? I mean, if this is like a no-brainer.

Cole Reiken:

We hear often from our customers. You know they catch one item a month. You said it earlier if you catch one item a year, it pays for itself.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's what I was going to say.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

You could be saving four or five grand in one vehicle right-

Cole Reiken:

We hear this quite often, that you help me prevent a loss. You save my bacon on this, of course, and we're catching items, you know, for large dealerships. You'll get to several times a week and if you add up the amount that we're saving on an ongoing basis, it's a very, very small investment for significant ROI.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, no question about it. If I were a used car manager and the dealer that I worked for said, no, we're not going to do it, I think I would sign up for it.

Cole Reiken:

Personally yes.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Personally, just to say you might not want it, but I want the peace of mind knowing that I'm hitting these numbers, hitting these cars, rather with the right numbers, and I want to know all the information on it. But really, dealers, I mean, listen, this is an absolute one. You've heard me say that before on a few items, but this really is a no-brainer. I mean, if you're talking about a couple hundred bucks for the device and 99 bucks, almost to the point that you know it's like what's the catch? Right, but there isn't a catch.

Cole Reiken:

There isn't all it is is peace of mind. You know it helps you put the right number on the car right, so you know what you're dealing with. From a trade-in perspective, avoid those costly misses that happen and let's just call a spade a spade. That they do happen, that's right. And it gives you peace of mind from, you know, the check light clearing that we talked about, that's right. You know we we refer to that as the fraud detection, but there's a bunch of peace of mind aspects that helped you just perform your job. It doesn't add any time to the process you're going through already. That's right.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

So where does BlueDriver Max go from here?

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, so we are focused on improving the quality of data and the overall completeness of our data, tighter integration, obviously, with a lot of AI moving. That way, you can think about the direction that we're going, as far as providing insights and improved data coverage and insights back to the dealership of what are the most frequent type of error codes you should be looking for. How often is that happening, based on the type of cars that you're getting traded in, and, it's amazing, the patterns that we actually see come through the data for dealerships.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Wow, that's going to be fantastic. So, for dealers that are watching, what is the next step? How do they communicate or connect with you and say I want this in my stores.

Cole Reiken:

Yeah sure, BlueDriverMax. com/ scan- first.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay, we'll show all the information on the screen there.

Cole Reiken:

Yeah, again, as simple as the pricing was, it's a 15-minute demo. We'll walk you through what a scan looks like, what the first kind of steps look like.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And you can do this remotely.

Cole Reiken:

It's all remote. We have an amazing team that will walk you through the process. Our support team after the sale is fantastic as well. We are 24-7 support available for you, yeah, to help you with any issues you come up. Doesn't happen very often, but, yeah, if you have something, we're there for you to help you walk through. We're very focused on ensure usage, so will we spend a lot of time. We talked about the process and ensuring you know that you have an appraisal process that incorporates a scan, sure, and, as well as you know, making sure that you're getting the volume up. We can see how often you're doing it and you know we actually look at the percent of trade-ins that actually are scanned

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right, Right for sure. Cole Reiken, who's the managing director of BlueD river Max.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Folks, I'm telling you this could be a huge advantage when you're appraising vehicles, and this is an area that you can. You and, by the way, I've missed cars where I don't step up enough on a car. The salesperson will remind me of that for the next 10 years, but many times you miss a car by hitting it too. Maybe you think it's right on the number and the car still needs a lot of work to be done, and this is the solution. We want to be bringing you these solutions here at CBT News. This is a really good one, so we're gonna have a link right below the video that you're watching right now to take you right over to Blue Driver Max. My, this is the company I highly recommend you look into. They're gonna be at NADA right, which is just like three months or four months away now, which is crazy and and then you're also gonna to be used car week, right. We'll be there as well, yeah and also SEMA SEMA as well.

Cole Reiken:

Wow, stop by the booth. We're happy to give you a demo there and walk you through it, or schedule an appointment 15 minutes on the phone.

Cole Reiken:

We'll walk you through the whole thing.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's great $99. This is less than a bar tab right at NADA. Fair enough. So, I highly recommend it. Cool, thank you so much Really appreciate it. Appreciate it Great.

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