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Mike Gravelle is the General Manager of Springs Automotive Group (SAG), an independent used car dealer in Colorado Springs and Englewood, Colorado. His colleague, Allen Wallace, is Sales Manager at the Engelwood store. SAG sells all makes and models, and prides themselves on having a seat for everyone. SAG has been in business for 15 years now and their biggest source of business is repeat and referral buyers. They enjoy taking care of the customers that have been in before and keep making them happy to bring friends and family back.
We sat down with Gravelle and Wallace to discuss their dealership’s experiences with RecovR and especially with stolen vehicle recovery.
Is dealership vehicle theft a problem?
Gravelle: Colorado's one of the worst states in the nation for auto theft, and we certainly haven't been immune to that. We've had a few instances across our dealerships where vehicles have been stolen and RecovR has been a great asset for that, not only recovering the vehicle but the timeliness of it. We know losses are less when you recover the vehicle quicker and it's been very helpful for us in a few instances.
In the year we've been using RecovR, we've had nine thefts across our three locations and RecovR has been an asset in recovering eight of those nine getting it done in a timely fashion or most cases avoiding damage to the vehicles.
How do you work with RecovR when a car is stolen?
Gravelle: When we've had them stolen our first call is, obviously, to authorities. Next is getting on the RecovR Portal and activating the theft recovery mode. It's been very easy to share the location link with law enforcement and get a quick recovery going versus not having anything to lead authorities to and a point of direction to where they can start the search for your vehicle. Every time we've had to use it, we've gotten law enforcement involved. They're very grateful that we've got at least the starting point for it. And it's not them going blind or hoping for the next traffic stop to get your car. We're giving them up to minute data on where the vehicle's at. And it really starts the search and recovery efforts on their side and makes it a lot easier.
Wallace: When we first put a vehicle into theft mode, the RecovR team called and walked us through how to use the system effectively and provided proactive support to help our dealership get the most value out of the product. So even though we have become independent using RecovR in the theft recovery process, we know we have a whole team ready to help when we need them.
The Case of the Stolen Denali
Gravelle: We had a Denali truck stolen from one of our Colorado Springs lots. Our alerts were going off overnight. We started the search as soon as we all got into the office; extra early because we had a vehicle missing. And by the time it's 9:15 in the morning, we've already got the vehicle recovered because we were able to activate theft recovery mode, find the car, alert the right law enforcement and make a quick recovery.
RecovR: Before and After
Gravelle: Prior to having to RecovR, if you had a vehicle stolen, you're really at the mercy of how quickly law enforcement can do their job. With RecovR, it's given us a great starting point in the instances that we've had to experience it to get the search going and get a quick resolution much faster than if we didn't have the solution with us
Wallace: Before RecovR, the chances of recovering stolen inventory were slim. With RecovR, we now have the visibility to see where our inventory is at, the automation to ensure we know when a vehicle is stolen, and the autonomy to recover stolen cars without relying solely on law enforcement. With RecovR, we’ve saved more than $150k in stolen inventory in less than a year. RecovR gives us more control of our assets, spares us the hassle of making multiple insurance claims, and saves us from paying increased premiums as more vehicles are inevitably stolen.
Has using RecovR to get stolen cars back helped you sell the product to your customers?
Gravelle: Having the firsthand experience with having a vehicle stolen and using RecovR in their theft recovery mode and the whole program as it works, has been a big boom to us. It lets us stand fully behind what we're selling, when we can explain to our customer how it's helped us in a handful of cases on getting a quick recovery and getting the car back before any damages are incurred really builds in that trust for the product that we're ultimately selling to our customers at the end of the process.
