Guidepoint News

When a local service garage calls John Kupres to get a part from one of his Crown Motors dealerships, he doesn’t have to guess which of his 5 delivery vehicles are closest and annoy drivers with unnecessary cell phone calls anymore. Just by looking at his computer screen, Kupres can track the locations of all his parts delivery vehicles, figure out who is best available and give mechanics an accurate estimate of when parts will be delivered to their doors. Each of the delivery vehicles is equipped with the Mopar Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS) module that transmits GPS coordinates and other data wirelessly. “Since we're at three different locations, we would have to call each store to ask what their parts delivery guy was doing, and how important it was -- and it was just a lot of phone calls,” said Kupres, parts manager at Crown Motors in Holland, Mich . that sells Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Cadillac, Buick, Toyota and Volkswagen brands. “This is saving me and the...

Don Rinaldi understands the value of knowing where all his vehicles are at all time, whether it’s managing more than 850 vehicles spread out through three dealership locations --  or his own truck parked at his home. As general sales manager for new and pre-owned vehicles at Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge Of Corpus Christi , Rinaldi is responsible for the floor plan audit of new and used vehicles that may be on the lot, at a subcontractor getting a bed liner, in the service department or anywhere in between. As an owner of a new Dodge Ram 1500 Longhorn, Rinaldi was able to locate his truck when it was stolen from his driveway and driven across the border into Mexico. And the tool that Rinaldi uses to easily track the locations of all these vehicles is the same -- the Mopar Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS) powered by Guidepoint Systems. “I have them pre-loaded into every vehicle at the dealership -- new and pre-owned -- and also have in my personal vehicle,” Rinaldi s...

When Terry Murdock arrives for work in the morning at Leith AutoPark Chrysler Jeep , one of the first things he does is boot up his computer to locate all the dealership’s 24 loaner vehicles, using a wireless Mopar Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS). “It’s an awesome tool to have -- particularly if you have customers whose cars have been done for awhile, but they don’t want to return the loaners,” said Murdock, fixed operations director for parts and service at the Cary, N.C. dealership. “If need be, I have to go out and get the loaner back, so I need to know where it is at any time of the day.