With the Takata airbag disaster, there are tons of cars on the market that still have outstanding recalls. Last year alone, over 50 million trucks and cars were recalled for one reason or another. That can be a huge hurdle for dealerships that are looking to sell cars. If a dealership sells a car with an open recall, they can be held liable, making the whole business a headache for many used car business owners.
The problem with recalls is that since they are being issued so quickly and the recall notice goes directly to whomever the car was originally sold to, tracking the outstanding ones sometimes can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. The good news is that there are new technological tools that may help your used car dealership find out which cars have open recalls, so that they can be repaired before a car is sold to a consumer who can hold you liable.
The new software is a much more reliable and hassle-free way of finding out which cars have trouble, and it can save your workers time from trying to research and stay on top of the latest recalls, and your dealership from being held liable for not catching a car with an open recall before it is sold.
Recall Masters and AutoAp are software providers that offer dealerships the ability to monitor all the recalls put into action and track their used car intake and inventory to ensure that any recalls are addressed immediately. Both vendors supply Surrey car dealerships with daily updates about which vehicles have been recalled and what to look for.
Carfax, a leading used car app popular with used car dealerships and buyers alike, also has recall services available. The only problem is that they only offer updates on a weekly basis. For a used car dealership that does high volume, or has a quick turnover rate, that can leave you with inventory waiting to be checked or being sent out for market before the recall has been fixed. The difference between AutoAp and Rapid Recon is that they deliver completely automated updates to the dealerships immediately, instead of waiting for the recalls to be provided through the federal government.
Many manufacturers will initiate a recall before the government issues the recall or the information to the general public, which is why having the immediate details delivered automatically is such an advantage to your used car dealership. If you get a popular car into your dealership, you want to move it in and out quickly, not have to wait a week to see if there are any recalls and then get to work fixing and selling it.
When it comes to selling a used car with an open recall, ignorance doesn’t negate liability, which is why getting daily updates becomes so important to protect your dealership. The small price that you have to pay to subscribe to the technology is well worth keeping your dealership from being vulnerable. Even if you sell a car in good faith without knowing that a recall has been issued, if there is an accident resulting from that defect, it is possible for the used car buyer to hold the dealership liable.
Many recalls can be fixed without any cost besides labor by your service department. Estimates are that the cars can usually be fixed for less than what it takes to wash the cars that are set for sale. Not buying the protection to know what recalls are out simply doesn’t make good economic sense. If you know that a car has an open recall, then the fix is typically easy, and you can quickly get the parts you need if you work closely with a good parts manufacturer.
It doesn’t make sense to leave your dealership vulnerable by not spending the money to ensure that the cars that you sell are safe to be out on the road. At best, if your dealership sells a car with an open recall you could hurt your standing and reputation in the community. At worst, you could be held liable for any damages, which can be a sizable amount.
