PartsTrader has completed the national deployment of its parts procurement platform, which began in August 2013. As of April 17, 2014, collision repairers and parts suppliers are active on the system in all 48 continental states and the District of Columbia.
Throughout the initial pilot and subsequent rollout stage of the program, full adoption and use of the system has continued to grow each month, according to PartsTrader. There are currently more than 7,500 repairers and 8,500 suppliers active on the system, and of the active suppliers, more than 75 percent are OEM dealers.
"A dedicated field presence in each new market by knowledgeable PartsTrader staff has been a big help in assisting our customers adapt to a new parts purchasing process," said Dale Sailer, PartsTrader’s vice president of business development. "Our field staff has focused most of their effort on training users and listening – bringing suggestions for new functionality and integration back to the product team that have increased our value to users with each new release."
Since launching its initial pilot product 25 months ago, PartsTrader says it has processed more than 750,000 quote requests, with an average response time from suppliers of less than 15 minutes. These quote requests have generated more than 1,000,000 confirmed parts orders.
PartsTrader has provided the following overview of its program:
- Repairers choose which OEM dealers they invite to quote.
- Repairers choose who to order from after considering quality, service, delivery time, part types, the reputation of the suppliers and price.
- Repairers choose when to order (the need may be so urgent that there is not enough time to seek competitive quotes).
- All suppliers are given the same equal opportunity to compete for a repairer’s business.
- Insurers do not have access to a repairer’s buy prices, other than for recycled parts, as they do today.
"Our core application is now very different from when we started over two years ago," said Rob Cooper, PartsTrader CEO. "We are committed to giving repairers and suppliers a product of choice by continuing to adapt it to their changing needs. Earlier this year, we introduced the industry’s first system for tracking two-way repairer and supplier performance feedback. For example, repairers now have the ability to rate suppliers based on service and quality of the parts delivered. This ensures that each party can make a fully informed business decision before placing or responding to an order. Most recently, we’ve enhanced vehicle mapping capabilities and improved integration with the estimating systems, and have many more exciting features on the near-term horizon."
PartsTrader says it is available to all repairers and suppliers across the country, regardless of any DRP affiliation.
Repairers interested in using PartsTrader can register on the PartsTrader website and be up-and-running in the same business day, if desired. Suppliers who are interested in reaching parts buyers through the PartsTrader marketplace must be nominated by a participating collision repairer within the application. Once nominated, these suppliers can be up-and-running on a same-day basis as well.
"We’re excited about transitioning into the next phase of service for our current and future customers," said Sailer. "One of the things we’ve been pleased to see is the growing number of repairers who have achieved process improvements and are now using our system for all their parts procurement needs, not just those related to a specific insurance company."
More information:
