System Measures Regional Demand

CarsDirect.com is offering an analyzer of regional market demand for dealerships' online used-vehicle inventories.

The Demand Index is an enhancement to the Used Dealer Scorecard that CarsDirect, a third-party lead referral firm, provides to dealers each month. Instead of simply measuring the overall demand (searches for a certain model), the Demand Index analyzes online consumer demand regionally.

“Understanding the rapid shifts of local market dynamics is the key to efficient inventory management,” says Mark Miller a senior vice president at CarsDirect.com.

He says national averages on what is or isn't selling offer “little value to a dealer who's trying to decide what to buy at tomorrow's auction or which trade-ins warrant a premium price.”

The index grades each dealer's online inventory, then compares that with local online markets so dealers can see if their inventory mix is in synch with demand.