Tag: RegUSA

So, You Want to Learn Reg & Title for Every State…

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Let’s say you’ve decided to become your dealership’s expert on every possible registration and titling scenario for all 50 states (and don’t forget the District of Columbia). You were a quick study in school, so it’s possible, right?

You’re probably thinking that memorizing 51 sets of calculations isn’t so bad. We agree – you could probably do it if it stopped there.

But don’t forget there are 3,141 counties in the U.S. (we’re including county equivalents like boroughs, census areas, and parishes in that number). Some of them also charge registration fees, but not all of them do, so that’s more to remember.

Then there are the individual municipalities. Of the 19,495 incorporated cities, towns and villages in the U.S., there are some that add fees or taxes to a vehicle purchase and others that do not. You’re going to need to know which are which.

And as they say in TV ads: But wait, there’s more!

A quick scroll through the National Council of State Legislatures list of Registration and Title Fees By State reveals many more variables that different states use to calculate their fees.

Some states start with a flat base registration fee, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. Here’s a selection of additional factors used to determine vehicle taxes and registration fees:

  • Vehicle weight (weight classes/ranges vary widely from state to state)
  • Vehicle body type
  • Vehicle class/type
  • Vehicle age
  • Electric and/or hybrid vehicle fees
  • Electric and/or hybrid vehicle discounts
  • Fee discounts or exemptions for seniors
  • Air quality research fee
  • Transportation or infrastructure improvement fee
  • Decal fee
  • Horsepower
  • Multi-year registration discounts
  • MPG rating
  • Registering a vehicle from another state
  • Special plate
  • Fuel other than gas or diesel (but not electric)

No two states use the same criteria for determining registration fees and taxes. How are you feeling about that plan to memorize every deal scenario now?

The reality is that it takes technology and close coordination with the motor vehicle bureaus from each state to ensure that a dealership has access to reliable cross-border tax and fee calculations to quickly drive the best deal forward. So instead of trying to commit every state’s tax and fee structure to memory, use that research skill to choose the best solution to get your back office ready for more out-of-state customers.

Click to find out how RegUSA® helps make cross-border deals simple.

How A Better Reg & Title Workflow Helps Your Dealership’s Bottom Line

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For every vehicle your dealership sells or leases and each one you take in on trade, there’s registration and title work to be done. These essential back-office tasks are sometimes underappreciated as an opportunity for improving the dealership’s daily workflow efficiency and providing faster, more satisfactory service to customers.

Manual reg and title processes are very time-consuming, involving numerous phone calls, faxes and runners going in person to motor vehicle offices. It all takes time – much of it spent waiting.

Registration and title technology solutions have helped reduce costs, increase speed and efficiency, improve compliance – and cut down on that waiting time. Better yet, 3 out of 4 dealers report that technology innovation improvements have been followed by increased profitability.

We know that GMs are always looking to increase margin, which means they are looking to their controllers to reduce costs to help achieve that goal. That’s where it helps to provide the dealership’s title clerks and back office operations with more intuitive solutions to make the reg and title process faster, while still ensuring compliance.

Here’s the range of total titling processes your dealership needs for optimum efficiency:

  • Trade-In Titling – Technology solutions help streamline and shorten the time for vehicle payoff and title or lien release, which in turn helps your dealership avoid payoff surprises, save on holding costs, and turn inventory more quickly.
  • In-State Registration and Title – In states with electronic registration and title, you can now process motor vehicle transactions online from your office, in real time. Faster transactions and same-day registration and titling help increase your back-office productivity.
  • Out-of-State Registration and Title – With more and more customers finding your dealership online and purchasing cross-border, technology support is invaluable for smooth registration and titling for customers from across the country.

Technology providers continue to innovate and improve registration and title workflows with input from dealerships. Make sure to review your solutions from time to time to make sure they cover your registration and titling needs and provide the speed, efficiency, transparency and compliance you require.

Explore the range of registration and titling solutions that Dealertrack provides.

Complete Your Toolkit with End-to-End Titling Solutions

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Does your dealership have all the technology solutions necessary to handle your most pressing registration and titling needs? Are you still using manual methods to handle part of your registration and titling workflow for vehicles taken in on trade, those delivered to in-state customers, and/or your cross-border deals?

The industry runs on speed and efficiency. Using a comprehensive suite of registration and titling solutions can help you streamline your workflow, improve customer service, and maximize profitability.

Here’s what you gain from adding end-to-end registration and title technology solutions to your toolkit:

Faster Trade-In Title Processing
The sooner you accomplish payoff and title release for a vehicle taken in on trade, the sooner you can re-sell or auction it. With Dealertrack Accelerated Title®, you can speed title release on trade-ins from the industry average time of 12-18+ days down to as little as 4-6 days. That helps speed inventory turn and reduce the holding costs that come from having the vehicle sit on the lot. With title in hand, it’s nearly twice as likely that the vehicle will sell on first pass at auction.

Cross-Border Confidence
There’s no need for uncertainty when it comes to handling reg and title for out-of-state customers who find your dealership online. RegUSA® helps simplify your out-of-state workflow and provides certified, compliant registration and titling processing for any state. Its enhanced functionality guides you smoothly through each out-of-state deal with checklists, deal comparisons tools, customized forms and real-time fee calculations to help you provide a convenient, full-service experience for every customer.

Back-Office Workflow Efficiency
For in-state title processing, you’ll gain powerful, user-inspired transaction and workflow management tools for a faster, more accurate process that helps to maximize profit opportunity. We back you up with industry-leading support so you don’t have to navigate challenging transactions alone.

Learn more about how Dealertrack Total Titling Solutions can give your dealership all the tools it needs for registration and title scenarios. Register for a demo today.

Improving Your Reg & Title Workflow to Help the Bottom Line

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As dealerships look for ways to adapt their processes to keep auto sales moving in new ways, registration and titling may get overlooked. But because every sale, lease and trade-in vehicle you handle includes reg and title work, it’s an area where there’s opportunity to make process improvements. Better speed, efficiency and customer service can help preserve the bottom line.

To reduce costs and increase margin, look at the technology solutions that can make registration and title work faster and easier – all while keeping up with compliance. Let’s examine the three types of registration and titling processes that dealerships can address today:

1. Trade-In Titling
With inventory low and cash flow tight, trade-ins are an important lifeline for dealerships – assuming there are no payoff surprises and they can be auctioned or re-sold quickly. Using a technology solution to view title details in advance and speed up payoff and title or lien release can help dealerships turn inventory more quickly, save on holding costs and keep cash flow moving.

2. In-State Registration & Title
When many DMVs were closed or restricted last year, manual registration and title processing practices that involved phone calls, faxing and in-person runners to the motor vehicle office mostly came to a halt. States with electronic registration and title had the opportunity to show just how valuable that service really is. Today, more than 30 states are electronic registration and title (ERT) enabled – and most of the remainder have plans in the works to catch up. Using a technology solution for reg and title to process motor vehicle transactions from the dealership’s office is a boon for productivity.

3. Cross-Border Registration & Title
Digital retailing has helped dealerships keep sales going by showcasing inventory online and using technology to facilitate the deal process. The wide net cast by dealers’ digital retailing efforts means that out-of-state customers have been increasing each year. Having technology available to guide the dealership’s back office staff through the myriad taxes and fees that vary by the customer’s state, county and municipality helps improve deal accuracy and make deal completion faster, easier and more customer friendly.

When choosing technology providers to help keep your business on track, don’t forget to optimize your registration and titling processes as well.

Find out how registration and title solutions help get the deal out the door while protecting your bottom line.

The Good News & Bad News About Out-of-State Deals

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Let’s start with the good news! Out-of-state deals are increasing as dealers promote their inventory online and cast a wider net for potential customers. Out-of-state sales grew by 16% over the past year, according to Cox Automotive analysis of IHS Market new and used vehicle registration data*. Even with the current economic situation, cross-border sales are a natural consequence of online car shopping.

As great as it is for dealerships to leverage their online presence to bring in more cross-border customers, dealers and retailers need to be prepared to avoid potential complications that come from out-of-state business.

Here are some of those potential challenges:

Good: There’s a buyer coming in this weekend for a top deal with all the bells and whistles!
Bad: The buyer is from two states away and no one in the back office is familiar with the reg and title processes from the customer’s home state.

In the past, a dealership in Nebraska probably wouldn’t register a vehicle in North Dakota very often. Thanks to digital retailing, an increasing number of customers are willing to visit another state to purchase the vehicle they want, which means out-of-state registration and title processes are becoming a common challenge for dealerships across the country. Because no title clerk has every state’s reg and title processes memorized, this leads to more time spent on phones figuring out the details, more DMV rules and regulations to know and understand, and more paperwork to process.

Good: An enthusiastic and motivated online car shopper “went the extra mile” to come to your dealership because a few local customers of your dealership area raved about the service they received.
Bad: The deal process could be slowed down or held up by time-consuming manual tax and fee calculations to make the deal accurate.

Even if your dealership’s home state has technology solutions for in-state reg and title calculations, those don’t apply to cross-border deals. If your staff needs to build a deal for an out-of-state customer, they need to know that state’s taxes and fees to get to the best deal for the customer. Being forced to compare deal options using unfamiliar tax rates and fees could make it take longer than usual to complete the deal, which could dampen your customer’s enthusiasm. If calculation errors lead to deal inaccuracies, your customer satisfaction scores could take a hit.

Good: Your registration and title submission for in-state customers is handled electronically, straight to the state DMV.
Bad: It’s much more difficult to finalize out-of-state registration and title transactions because the in-state checklist isn’t the same for customers in different states.

Most dealerships end up providing their cross-border customers with a very general idea of what they might need for registration. That lack of specificity has drawbacks for customers that could cause them to overlook something important, make them have to chase down paperwork and documents during the signing process, or worse, leave them with an unwelcome to-do list that could sour their experience and drive down your CSI score. Your dealership could help create a much more positive experience by giving every customer a simple and defined list for what paperwork they need and what steps they need to take for their specific situation.

Good, Better, Best! The right out-of-state registration and titling technology solution can help ensure that all your cross-border customers get the same level of customer service that in-state customers receive. That technology support can help smooth the process for your back-office staff to help save them time and drive up deal productivity.

Learn how the new Dealertrack RegUSA® can provide the simple solutions your dealership needs for all these scenarios.

*Based on Cox Automotive derived analysis of IHS Markit new and used vehicle registration data as of Q3 2019 where a selling dealer was identified. Used registrations includes selling dealer for 31 states.

 

Streamlining Out-of-State Registration & Title

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As many dealerships enable digital retailing tools, their potential customer base can expand significantly as they engage with clients outside their normal reach. As of early this year, dealers using digital retailing saw a 25% increase in out-of-state customers.* Even in today’s business environment, buyers are still willing to cross state lines to purchase a vehicle if it’s what they want at the price they want to pay.

More sales are always good, but out-of-state transactions can introduce uncertainty into the deal, starting with desking. One factor that plays into this uncertainty is that not all desked deals go as deep as city, county and municipality for taxes and fees. Different states have different tax and fee calculations that can vary down to the county or municipality – and might also be affected by the type of vehicle being purchased. If you’re team is not aware of the nuances, the result can be payment miscalculations.

Then there’s the customer service aspect of handling registration and titling work for every customer so they can go home with their new vehicle and not worry about needing to stand in line at the DMV. Does your back office know the regulations and have access to the forms for every state? Probably not – and if they did, laws and forms change all the time, which makes staying up-to-state extremely cumbersome.

Many dealerships seeking to providing fast and accurate registration and title services for all their customers choose a 50-state registration and titling solution. This helps ensure that they can roll out the red carpet for customers from any state – and empower their back-office staff to smoothly complete the deal.

When you’re selecting a cross-border registration and title solution, here’s what to look for:

  • Guidance through every step of registration and titling specific to the customer’s situation.
  • Side-by-side comparison for deals so customers can choose the one that best meets their needs.
  • The ability to identify and access the exact documents required by each deal.
  • Confirmation as you enter data so you will not need to correct anything later.
  • Speed to keep deals moving and status monitoring to know when each deal is complete.

A comprehensive out-of-state registration and title solution helps your dealership provide a high level of customer service and improve efficiency and productivity from your front office to your back office.

Not sure your dealership needs a 50-state registration and titling solution? Find out why you should reconsider.

*Based on Dealertrack credit application data between December 2019 – February 2020 when compared with and without the adoption of Digital Retailing</span.

3 Keys to Reimagining Your Dealership’s Back Office

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Now is a great time to seek out time- and money-saving opportunities in every facet of your operation, including registration and title processing. Why? Because making your back-office processes more efficient can help address three key challenges that dealerships are facing today: slow cash flow, staffing shortages, and untapped opportunities produced by the expanded customer base that digital retailing enables.

Let’s look at how registration and titling technology solutions can address each of those challenges.

  1. Leverage used car inventory to get cash flow moving for your dealership

Incoming vehicles taken as trades need clean titles to remarket at retail or auction at wholesale. It usually takes 18 or more days* to get the payoff and title release completed, and that’s if there are no payoff surprises along the way. In the meantime, cash flow is stunted and holding costs mount on these vehicles as they sit idle on your lot or fail to sell at auction.

A digital titling solution can help streamline and significantly shorten the time for vehicle payoff and title or lien release, which in turn helps your dealership avoid payoff surprises, inventory more quickly and keep cash flowing.

  1. Keep your back-office staff caught up 

As dealerships and DMVs both face continuing staffing shortages, your back office may be faced with registration and titling work that tends to pile up. Add current sales to the workload and the stress intensifies.

In states with electronic registration and title, you can now process motor vehicle transactions online from your office, in real-time. But some electronic solutions are intuitive enough for staffing flexibility and efficient enough to tackle batch import processing and GL writebacks to your DMS while finalizing deals.

  1. Extend your front office technology improvements through to the back office

We’ve seen year over year increases in cross-border deals across the country as online shopping has taken hold, but this trend has intensified as dealerships implement more digital retailing tools to help them facilitate virtual sales.

Dealerships wishing to take advantage of the opportunities that digital retailing tools send their way can be stymied by the 51 unique state motor vehicle jurisdictions, ~100 distinct sets of taxes and fees, ~250 unique forms, and approximately 300 possible registration and title transactions for any given deal. Whether you are a GM or controller, it’s easy to see how time-consuming these deals can be for your back-office operations. Any shortcuts and band-aids used to make up for the issue only raise compliance concerns.

Electronic solutions can help take the guesswork out of processing these state- and county-specific deals with a guided interface that customizes each unique transaction. An electronic checklist of requirements and instructions tailored to each deal helps ensure that every customer is handled more efficiently, regardless of their state or county.

Start reimagining your back office today

Technology providers continue to innovate and improve registration and title workflows with input from dealerships. Get to know the innovative and powerful digital solutions that meet today’s titling challenges head-on, increasing efficiency and cash flow for your dealership’s back office to ultimately improve your bottom line.

To further explore solutions to finish each deal strong, see our latest resources.

Why Use An Out-of-State Reg & Title Solution?

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Your dealership’s online presence has done its job and brought in a customer from several states away who’s been looking for a vehicle of the exact make, model, trim and color that you have on your lot. The deal goes smoothly, the transaction is almost done, and now it’s registration and titling time.

Because your dealership prides itself on customer service, you look to provide all customers with a hassle-free experience that includes reg and title work that saves from a trip to the DMV. But not all states are the same when it comes to deal closing.

Let’s face it: it’s nearly impossible for back-office folks at the dealership to know the ins and outs of registration and titling for all 50 states. Among different states you’ll find a wide variety of taxes, rules for categorizing certain vehicles, inspection requirements and exemptions, and insurance regulations. Each state has its own set of required forms that often include rules about who can sign them and when.

Even if you made a dedicated effort to learn about the hundreds of rules and forms needed to cover every state, you’d find it to be a moving target as regulations change and so do forms.

So, what can you do to provide a high level of service for every customer – including registration and title – and gain the CSI scores to show for it? Many dealerships are choosing to add 50-state registration and titling solution to their back-office toolkit.

With the right technology, your dealership can be prepared to welcome customers from anywhere in the country. Be sure to look for a solution that can:

  • Guide you through the necessary registration and title steps and transactions for each deal.
  • Compare deals side by side to help customers choose the option that’s best for them.
  • Identify and provide the exact documents that each deal requires.
  • Confirm data accuracy as you go along to eliminate the need for later corrections.
  • Progress deals quickly and give you the ability to monitor their status so you’ll know when they’ve been completed.

With a reliable cross-border registration and title solution in place, you can support your dealership’s commitment to customer service while gaining efficiency for deal completion and back-office productivity.

Dealertrack RegUSA® simplifies complex out-of-state deals for customers in any state. Find out how!

3 Reasons to Prepare for Out-of-State Reg & Title Processing

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Unless your dealership is on a state line, you can probably remember a time when out-of-state deals were few and far between. The internet has changed all that. Now, your next customer might be walking in the door after a cross-country road trip or a one-way flight.

Anything that makes sales increase is great, but is your back office prepared to handle registration and title needs for these customers?

Let’s have a look at some stats every dealership needs to take to heart:

1. 71% of car shoppers search for deals online before they visit a dealership

Today’s customers are less concerned with where your dealership is located and more interested in whether you can provide the vehicle they want. The key is to be prepared for expanding your customer base – and that includes providing the same registration and titling services that local buyers enjoy.

2. Out-of-state sales have increased by 28% over the past three years

Car shoppers aren’t just browsing online – they’re visiting other states and buying there. As more tech-savvy generations become the primary base of car buyers, it’s safe to say that this trend will continue to build.

3. Customers spend an average of 3+ hours at the dealership before delivery

Three or more hours at the dealership is already a long stretch and making it longer for out-of-state buyers risks your dealership’s CSI score. It can also lead to negative online reviews that may deter future out-of-state sales.

Are you ready?

The out-of-state buyer has chosen your dealership because you have a vehicle that meets their specifications closely enough that they were willing to put in extra effort to buy it from you. Now it’s your turn to make sure you go the extra mile for them.

It’s unlikely that your back office staff is familiar with the registration and title documentation and fee structure for all 50 states, but that’s where Dealertrack RegUSA comes in. This online tool will help you find out what information is necessary to meet state requirements, accurately estimate vehicle taxes and fees, and let you review state forms with the customer while they’re still in the showroom.

To learn more about how Dealertrack RegUSA can help you increase registration and title processing efficiency for out-of-state deals, read our ebook – or request a demo.

Sources:
1. and 3.  2017 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Study
2. 2017 Cox Automotive Research, Out of State Vehicle Registration and Titling Transactions

Fall in Love with End-to-End Titling 

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Do you love your dealership’s titling solutions? “Love” sounds like a strong word, but consider how important it is to be able to handle all your registration and titling workflow for vehicles taken in on trade, vehicles delivered to in-state customers, and vehicles delivered to out-of-state customers.   

What you need is a comprehensive suite of registration and titling solutions that increase your back office efficiency, maximize profit, and contribute to customer satisfaction. The total titling experts at Dealertrack can offer you just that.  

Here are some reasons we think you’ll fall in love with the registration and title technology solutions that Dealertrack provides. 

Faster Processing 

How much would you love being able to reduce payoff-title release time from 12-18+ days down to as little as 4-6 days? With Dealertrack Accelerated Title, you can speed title release on trade-ins, which helps with faster inventory turn of these vehicles, reducing inventory holding costs. Having the title in hand also makes it nearly twice as likely that a vehicle will sell at auction on first pass. 

More Efficient Workflow 

For in-state title processing, you’ll be smitten with the powerful, user-inspired transaction and workflow management tools you can have at your fingertips for fast, accurate, up-to-date and compliant processing. We think you’ll also be fond of the industry-leading support we provide. 

Unmatched Expertise 

If your dealership has been shy about fully embracing out-of-state customers, RegUSA® can smooth the path for you. This solution simplifies your out-of-state workflow and provides certified, compliant handling for any state’s registration and titling. So you can welcome online deals with open arms and provide a full-service experience for every customer.  

Want to learn more about Dealertrack Total Titling Solutions? We’d love to walk you through them! Register for a demo today.