The efficiency movement remains alive and well in 2025, enhancing appraisal effectiveness and helping with gains in speed-to-sale for auto retailers of all descriptions. Such productivity practices translate into monetary gains, seamless workflows, and reduced waste of resources and time.

This effort concentrates on identifying and removing waste in resources, energy and processes leading to improvements across different areas of business performance.

One observer notes, however, “the problem is, how do you know where the sweet spot lies?”

Where auto retailers implement efficiency movements in their operations, they can know with certainty their opportunities to gain operational efficiency. They do so by measuring clock-speed time or how long each step in a process takes to be completed and moved forward in the process, process-turn dollar savings and increased productivity across the three primary operations of the dealership.

• Used car acquisition
• Acquisition appraisal
• Vehicle reconditioning

The goal of efficiency efforts, particularly in dealerships, is to acquire the right vehicles for the market at the right price, in the best condition and pay a fair price so their internal processes can quickly convert those assets into profitable cash.

One example of this practice is Texas Cars Direct, a Dallas, TX-based independent used car dealership. The dealership purchases about 140 used cars per month, primarily from private sellers, through buying centers. These centers purchase all types of vehicles that their processes indicate will yield a return on investment.

Texas Cars Direct opened over 40 years ago, acquiring and selling off-lease Mercedes-Benz and other high-end vehicles from their OEMs. With the decline in the lease market over the past several years, hindered by COVID-era chip shortages and other challenges, the company shifted to an all-make-model strategy, focusing on trucks and higher-end domestic and foreign models.

Its buying centers bring Texas Cars Direct closer to its consumer bases, reducing or eliminating transportation costs. The business uses high-tech appraisal technology and carefully tracks and controls reconditioning practices to generate profits on all its acquisitions, particularly when buying older, higher-mileage vehicles in demand today.

Today, Texas Cars Direct runs four buying centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. Critical to its success and reputation as a retailer of exceptional, safe, and reliable used cars is the consistent use of a robust vehicle systems scan device, the VINSight OBD-II scan tool from Rapid VINSight (part of Rapid Reconn).

This OBD-II scan tool, powered by VinTel, has attracted the attention of both group and independent used-car dealers across the country since its launch last year. It is the most powerful vehicle diagnostic tool available, capable of identifying over 22,000 trouble codes, including resets. It also offers details on parts and labor reconditioning costs for the make, model and year of the vehicle being considered for trade or purchase.

Explicitly designed for acquisition appraisal purposes, the palm-sized scanner delivers a comprehensive MRI-like diagnosis of a vehicle’s electromechanical systems within 30 seconds of its connection to the under-dash OBD-II port.

The tool’s deep diagnostics and reporting technology identify vehicle risk exposures, allowing the appraiser or desk to factor in reconditioning parts and labor costs before penciling in purchase offers. Texas Cars Direct requires appraisers to use it at each of its four Dallas-area buying centers for every car they buy.

This appraisal process is now part of the Texas Cars Direct culture. The rote usage of this scan tool by its buyers simplifies the acquisition process by removing guesswork and risk from every appraisal, ensuring that no costly risks to margin expectations go undetected.

The scanner pulls OBD-II trouble code reports within 30 seconds and creates everyday language code diagnostics and appraiser notes for appraiser, desk, used car manager, and other authorized individuals’ review and decision.

Texas Cars Direct’s General Manager Mike Creech says this communication flexibility allows all his buyers and managers to access and review the same diagnostic, appraisal and offer data simultaneously in one place on an app. This smooth operation integrates scanner notes and recon cost estimates into their vehicle reconditioning software, making the reconditioning process more efficient too.

Texas Cars’ Director Dewayne Gill says it is hard to overestimate the value of software-driven reconditioning in bringing efficiency and clear performance metrics to the used car department.

Dennis McGinn, who founded Rapid Recon in 2010 and now serves as its chief operating officer, agrees. “By organizing, structuring, and establishing turn performance standards for vehicle reconditioning, dealers contribute considerable value to margin gain from the used cars they buy and sell.”

Having recon facts ahead of acquisition ensures that, regardless of the reconditioning time a particular vehicle requires, a projected ROI is built into every car they sell, Gill says.

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