Navigator Pro increases profits
With the expansion of the modern car parc, the pressure is really on workshops to manage multiple makes and models. In fact, New Zealand has one of the most complex car parcs in the world.
In addition to more vehicle types, more and more vehicle technology is also being introduced, and the requirement for expenditure on special tools, diagnostic equipment and training, is providing further pressure.
New Zealand’s leading parts supplier, Repco/Appco, has recognised this challenge, and has recently released a new version of its online ordering product (Navigator) to assist with managing this.
The new “Navigator Pro” is an entirely web-based solution which accesses parts for more than 16,000 vehicles from around the globe. It’s able to select a specific vehicle, along with its most commonly used parts, with just five clicks of the mouse, or entry of the vehicle’s registration number.
Along with multiple brands of the common items, the application provides access to live pricing, specials, live inventory availability and even parts specifications with photographs, all on one screen, greatly simplifying sorting through the multitude of makes and models in the market.
If a part or parts aren’t in the common list once the vehicle is selected, the area of specific interest, such as suspension or drive train, these areas can be selected and are populated with parts specific to the vehicle.
Similarly lists can be made for individual vehicles a workshop may service regularly, as well as weekly and monthly stock orders. Other than the obvious benefit in time savings – estimated at a minimum 30 minutes per day for a three-hoist shop, Repco Navigator Pro’s entirely web-based platform allows it to be used anywhere, and on multiple devices, from desktop and notebook computers through to Microsoft Windows, Android or Apple tablets. This means that a workshop owner, manager or administrator is no longer tied to a desk. Stock orders can be made in the stockroom, parts can be ordered directly from the workshop, and some users are already ordering parts from home.
Repco and Appco provides Navigator Pro free to trade account holders on the basis that it benefits both the workshops significantly, as well as enables Repco and Appco to speed up the delivery process and assisting with inventory planning.
Where servicing the wide, varied and electronically enhanced range of vehicles on the market today has placed pressure on the workshop owner or manager, technology will relieve the pressure and complexity with the assistance of Repco’s Navigator Pro.