The used car inventory crunch is far from over, so dealers will need to be even more creative and deliberate to find enough quality inventory. With three new enhancements, Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer is making it easier for dealers to source incremental vehicles from one of the least used—but most promising—channels: their own service lanes.
Already a part of 56% of all trade-in transactions in the U.S., Instant Cash Offer puts more dealers in the driver’s seat when it comes to service drive acquisitions by delivering rich, actionable insights at their fingertips. The latest enhancements include more information from Xtime, data-driven badges that signal when shoppers may be ready to transact, and more.
“According to our data, the service drive yields more desirable—and potentially more profitable—vehicles, making it the ideal place for dealers to look for used car inventory,” said Derek Hansen, vice president of operations for Inventory Management Solutions at Cox Automotive. “These new Instant Cash Offer enhancements help dealers acquire vehicles easier and maximize their returns by more effectively prioritizing and engaging service customers.”
Enhancements to Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer include:
New Requested Service Information: Fueled by a deep integration with Xtime, the Instant Cash Offer Service Drive Acquisition dashboard just got better. Previously, the integration pulled in service appointments for dealers with both solutions. Now, dealers can see the all-important reason each vehicle is coming in for service—directly on the Instant Cash Offer dashboard to help them better prioritize which cars they want to target first in the service lane.
Integrated Buying Signals Plus Badges: Launched in 2023 as an optional upgrade, Buying Signals Plus aggregates and analyzes consumer shopping behavior—ultimately signaling when those shoppers may be ready to transact. According to Cox Automotive data, Instant Cash Offer leads that used Buying Signals Plus had a transaction completion rate nearly 19% better than leads without. It's making it even easier for subscribing dealers to understand where consumers are in their shopping journeys by including Buying Signals Plus badges in the Service Drive Acquisition dashboard. The enhancement will help dealers quickly understand which customers should get the utmost attention.
“Bringing Buying Signals Plus into Instant Cash Offer’s Service Drive Acquisition dashboard is a big leap forward for dealers, as it will enable them to be more strategic in deciding which consumers to engage with—and when—based on the vehicle’s repair requirements and shopper’s likelihood to buy or sell,” added Micah Tindor, senior director, Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer.
Time Saving Bulk Actions: Instant Cash Offer dealers can now send offer invitations to multiple service customers at once—and bulk export records from the service appointments screen. Highly requested by clients, these added capabilities will help dealers reduce the time and effort needed to acquire the right vehicles from their service drives.
With the new features, not only can dealers tap into a larger pool of trade-in vehicles, but they can also use rich data and actionable insights to connect with more consumers, more strategically and successfully source more inventory.
