Manage complex customer expectations with Car-Part’s suite of products

By Jeff Schroder, Founding CEO, Car-Part.com

A buyer’s expectation increases as online experiences continue to improve. Buyers want to easily find what they are looking for and, when they find their items, they want all of the information needed to make their purchase.

Sourcing and buying expectations for recycled parts are being influenced by these general online buying experiences. Modern recycled parts buyers expect to have everything they need to be able to efficiently source and buy parts online.

When selling into the collision repair marketplace, auto recyclers meet a few additional obstacles. Estimating systems represent the interface between the repairer and the insurance company. The insurance company is ultimately paying for the repair, so recyclers really have two customers: the repairer buying our parts and the insurance company reimbursing the repairer for those parts (and often encouraging the use of recycled parts). Estimating Systems are built with OEM DNA in them; this gives OEM part types a few advantages: (1) OEM component parts, part numbers, and part prices are built into the estimating system; (2) labor times are based on OEM components; (3) OEM parts are accepted by both the repairer and the insurer’s part policy; and (4) when their VIN decoder can’t determine the part number, the estimator needs to answer the part catalog (interchange) question in order to get the correct part. Within the process of writing the estimate, the OEM parts are ready to be bought and generally repairers have been able to assume the dealer can deliver the parts when they need them.

Within the Integrated Car Part Pro (iPro) marketplace, the pieces are now in place for recyclers to overcome traditional recycled parts obstacles, address estimating system OEM DNA differences, and provide repairers a recycled parts sourcing experience integrated into Mitchell Cloud Estimating (MCE) that is eCommerce grade and meets insurance company part policy guidelines. iPro is available with one click inside of MCE and, once parts are sourced in the iPro marketplace and placed in a shopping cart, one more click uses the MCE 2-way part bridge to update MCE with recycled parts (and correct labor times).

The iPro parts marketplace requires recyclers to provide more information and higher quality data to provide repairers with an eCommerce grade experience that is more in line with sourcing other part types. Car-Part is working hard to add the parts procurement capabilities to its marketplaces. Our eCommerce procurement capabilities are based on iPro information requirements, so recyclers can be more competitive in the collision repair market today and be ready for eCommerce procurement within the Car- Part marketplaces when we go live with parts procurement.

The iPro marketplace provides the following recycled part information to the repairer:

• the insurance company part policy (insurers don’t buy certain recycled parts such as airbags or bumper assembly sensors so repairers don’t see the recycled parts that don’t meet our insurance partners part policy)

• recycled assembly availability and the components within the estimating system included with such assemblies

• VIN decoding into recycled part numbers (and interchange questions when required) in order to source the correct recycled assembly,

• real time part availability and delivery, • estimating system, repairer cost prices, and their profitability

• the condition of the part (‘A’ grade parts are nearly universally required in insurance repairs), and

• a preferred supplier list for those suppliers who consistently deliver a good buying experience.

The Canadian and the U.S. recycled parts marketplaces are similar enough that they are served by the same technology platforms and estimating systems available in Canada are also available in the U.S. This larger marketplace perspective allows iPro to invest more in providing estimating system integrated eCommerce grade part sourcing in both countries. In Canada, there are about 5,000 repairers with iPro integrated into MCE. One advantage the Canadian market has over the US market is that Canadian insurers have embraced environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives more than their U.S. counterparts—which is good for recyclers. ESG initiatives are driving a focus on environmental benefits, CO2 savings when using recycled parts, and providing recycled auto parts a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Within the iPro marketplace for repairable vehicles, the 2023 U.S. market’s recycled parts usage is a little over 16 percent. In 2023, Manitoba achieved 16 percent recycled parts usage—a figure on par with the overall U.S. rate, making it the top high-volume province for recycled parts usage in iPro.

The most successful auto recyclers we talk to are also using data to optimize their own operations. The reuse circular economy is primarily driven by ELVs that are involved in collisions and are declared a total loss. There are a limited number of quality vehicles available and there are many quality parts on those vehicles. Optimizing performance of the reuse circular economy requires a data-driven approach that spans the entire circular economy and operates at the part number (interchange level) to know which vehicles to buy and which parts to inventory and dismantle. Car-Part Interchange Plus (CPI+), a superset of basic interchange, offers interchange for 100 extra parts and powers iPro and Checkmate (Car-Part’s recycler management system suite of products).

Checkmate’s suite of tools provides recyclers with marketplace demand data at the CPI+ level to:

• Assist in buying ELVs with buy/no buy decisions at the CPI+ level based on marketplace and recycler demand and recycler’s local inventory

• a dynamic SmartList of parts to inventory for assemblies and components at the VIN and CPI+ level based on marketplace and recycler demand and local inventory

• Sales recommendations at the CPI+ level based on marketplace and recycler demand and local inventory

• Manage their price book based on marketplace demand data at the CPI+ level

The Checkmate suite of products also provides recyclers with extensive ARA Part Grading Audit and part information quality tools that that show recyclers where their part information is deficient or inconsistent, and the ability to fix such issues to produce quality eCommerce grade data for today’s online marketplaces and estimating systems.