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July 11, 2011 5:56 p.m. John Brown SuperDork

I have a rare opportunity to have started a new job at a GM dealer NOT writing service and one of my first tasks is to help the owner decide to renew and upgrade with ADP (From 2007 to Drive for metric buttloads of money) or change to a different dealer software package.

We carry three brands (Buick, Cadillac and GMC). We write 60-100 ROs a day and have a full service body shop.

I have used ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds, I have heard Corum(sp?) is a player as well as others. Who has used what and what are your thoughts?

JmfnB
July 11, 2011 6:06 p.m. GVX19 Reader

I would go with what ever Mr.Goodrich wonts to use.

Given a choose I would use a sys that has spell check and cut and copy. That way the techs will not shy away from giving better detailed decorations of the work they performed.

Customers don't mind paying more to have work done. When they can read how labor intensive a job was or is.
July 11, 2011 6:06 p.m. Ranger50 Dork

I know the dealer I last worked for, a GM/Chrysler store, switched from R&R to AutoSoft or something.

I, personally, LOVE R&R, ADP in ANY form suck donkeyballs. The other one I listed is somewhere between the two, but it would be a bottom halfer.
July 11, 2011 6:51 p.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

ReyRey is a PITA to learn, having to know all those screen numbers (3010, 3030, 3040, 3651, 3654 ad nauseam) but its single biggest strength over the Windows based systems: It rarely (if ever) crashes. I'd stick with ReyRey on that alone.

It also will do anything you ask, you just need to know where to look (there's that training thing again).

Yeah, no spell check is a PITA but that's a lot of why the service advisor is there: to clean all that up.
July 11, 2011 6:58 p.m. Junkyard_Dog Dork

ADP and Reynolds&Reynolds both have their strong and weak points. R&R is a bit more clunky, but more reliable. ADP is more user friendly but crashes a lot. How good is your in-house IT support? If its strong then the ADP problems aren't as bad. If you have weak (or no) in-house IT then go for R&R.
July 11, 2011 8:03 p.m. DrBoost SuperDork

Can you guys come up with a system of sticky-notes and blue pens? What's with all this high-tech crap?
July 11, 2011 8:16 p.m. Curmudgeon SuperDork

ReyRey doesn't like others meddling in their programs and tend to keep their support to themselves, which can be a drawback.

If I was King of the World the absolute FIRST thing I would do is outlaw the sticky note. Those damn things create more problems...
July 11, 2011 8:53 p.m. iadr New Reader

Ah..., Curmudgeon, hate t'tell ya but you are living up to your name...

You guys [ 'specially Ranger 50 ] pretty much have it covered. It's still pretty much a two horse race, and honestly ReyRey Era is the better package for way less $'s.

One thing which, well it should be more minor than it is: Personally I find a mix of numbers and letters easier to remember.

With it all in numbers I find myself more prone to being thrown off path. I have to recall a tag #, a Partial Vin, a tech number, an ERA menu number, as I pull my knees under the desk...and it all goes blank. :(

Now, granted, I am getting older and dealing with more stress in my life but it just seemed easier hitting PRO and a number, than to hit a number, then a number.

Way easier, oddly.

But having waited half hour-ish daily through a tough patch for tech support to finally pick up the phone at ADP, ReyReys tech support is utterly amazing.

Such well spoken, sincere people, generally picking up first ring. No one knows all the answers, but they try hard, call back super promptly.

ADP's Websuite and I assume anything newer are the perfect example of software bloat, and glitz over foundation.

Oh and 6910 is ERA is really cool for control freaks like me. ADP's attempt to copy it (code is on the tip of my tongue) was seriously weak.
July 11, 2011 10:16 p.m. John Brown SuperDork

Curmudgeon wrote:

ReyRey doesn't like others meddling in their programs and tend to keep their support to themselves, which can be a drawback.

If I was King of the World the absolute FIRST thing I would do is outlaw the sticky note. Those damn things create more problems...

I will try to remember to take a picture of the board my predecessor left me of his "notes" absolute mayhem.
July 11, 2011 11:02 p.m. EvanB SuperDork

We use ADP Drive (former Saturn, now Mitsu dealer). Before that we had a previous version of ADP. The Drive is more user friendly, at least to me, the older guys have more trouble adapting to it. It has had its share of malfunctions but overall is a pretty efficient system.

If you have older computers it will run very slow, I am often frustrated when it takes 10-15 seconds to respond after entering an RO number or other command. However, we do 20 ROs on a good day so it isn't a huge deal.
July 11, 2011 11:21 p.m. iadr New Reader

Evan- you don't know how lucky you are. We do a little over twice that volume day in and day out....

With exactly One service advisor who does most warranty clerking and most all tower/dispatch + payment taking, and a Service Manager who mainly does anything internally billed, jumps in as needed, corrects all the flat rate hours, and back catches when things go wrong.

So, pretty much half the staff I've ever seen for the volume we do.

But back on topic. If you haven't at some point worked with ReyRey Era for long enough to get comfortable with it, you are missing out. It's a classic piece of software. (not that I can't point of 40-50 ways I'd change it, but...)
July 12, 2011 8:01 a.m. Bobzilla SuperDork

After using both, I think ERA is the better way to go. There are more options, more solutions and overall is a really good system. I will bitch about it from time to time (it's what we do!) but it really is a great system. The biggest thing is getting everyone TRAINED and actually utilizing the system. That is our biggest hurdle is getting everyone onboard at the same time and using it as it is meant to be used.

Busy times we'll see 60-70 RO's a day, not so busy we'll see 40. We don't have time to "wait" with ADP.
July 12, 2011 11:48 a.m. John Brown SuperDork

The majority of the technicians are 45+ years old and have been with the company for more than 15 years. I am concerned about losing two goods ones with a system change, geographically there is a bit of a void in talent. It seems the good young techs are all crooks and have set out to screw the system at any cost. They fired one on wednesday for theft, I fired one yesterday for falsifying an order (claiming a repair that was not done and attempting to take the parts home) the old timers ratted him out.

I bought them all lunch today to say thanks.

Thank you all for the info.
July 12, 2011 2:50 p.m. car39 Reader

R&R has a better accounting system, ADP was faster at closing RO's but then they would get lost in the system. R&R's real strength is the customer database. It tries as hard as it can to stop you from entereing customer info 14 times.