In 1980, Bill Ward left Jerry’s Chevrolet as a General Manager to fulfill his dream of owning his own computer company. Thus DPC was born.
 
In the early days of General Motors DCS Vendors, DPC, once approved, was in the land of giants. Reynolds & Reynolds, ADP, and CARs were the early day leaders with General Motors, however, being the largest did not mean being the best.
 
Once DPC was an approved vendor, Bill and Company set out to design software for an automobile dealership that could easily be used by dealership personnel. From Parts Inventory, Accounts Payable and Receivables, Payroll, General Ledger and later Repair Order Invoicing. DPC proved that in spite of being a small company, they had the knowledge it took to build a complete dealership hardware and software package.
 
DPC always wrote their programs with ease of application in mind. Jerry’s tested many, many programs until Bill Ward decided it was ready for release.
 
Over the course of the past 25 years, I cannot imagine using any other vendor other than DPC. In my opinion, one of the main forces behind their success is their customer service. At any time of the day, if you have a problem, you will be able to speak to someone in the office who can and will take care of your problem. You can not say that about everyone.
 
In the car business we have a saying that price sells the first car, but service sells all the rest. Bill Ward and DPC understand this. They are the best.
 

DPC Systems has been Classic Chevrolet’s computer hardware and software provider since February 1992.
 
DPC is a one stop, total solution provider. Their team of technicians not only provide support for their computer system, but have been an integral part of setting up our internet system, as well as providing guidance and support of the GM Vehicle Order Management system.
 
In our tenure together, Classic Chevrolet has grown from an 80 employee company to a 280 employee company and DPC grew with us in every step along the way.
 
There may be a lot of computer system providers out in the market today, but DPC is a first class provider without the first class price.
 
Mark Escamilla
CFO
 

Classic has had the privilege to work with DPC Systems for over twenty years and have found them to be a very reputable company. Their products are very user friendly and they are very willing to hear any new ideas that we might have to make the product work better. We have found their pricing is very affordable and they are very competitive with the larger companies. Along with the products, the customer support goes beyond what is expected to make sure that we know the product and, if trouble occurs, they are there to repair. I really think what makes them a great company is that they think the consumer should come first with everything they do.
 
Maulinda Brown – Controller
Granbury, TX
 

DPC Systems has a knowledgeable and courteous staff. They always treat me with respect. When I call I get a real live person in each department. New software programs and forms are quickly updated into our system. DPC gives us full support for PC’s, printers, and network components with no worries through their hardware support. The savings are fantastic. Other dealers ask me about DPC Systems……I tell them how SIMPLE it is……they want to know all about it and how to get the service. There can be no words to describe how I have enjoyed my service with DPC.
 
Debbie Tanner
Tanner Chevrolet
Okemah, OK
 

It’s So Easy!
by Sandi Jerome
 
I pride myself on being able to figure out even the most complicated DMS systems, but after spending some time on a DPC System, I figured that I better start looking for another job if all the future DMS systems become this easy to use.
 
First of all it’s a simple menu driven system with easy two letter job numbers. Those job numbers are easy to figure out. What to look at service history? Enter SH. How about look in their online help manual? HM. It’s easy and simple.
 
Haven’t heard of DPC you say? First of all DPC scored either first or close to first in most areas of the recent NADA customer satisfaction survey, way ahead of those other systems that are easy to remember. DPC has provided computer systems for Dealerships since 1978 with installations in 36 states at over 200 dealers. They are one of only a few DMS systems approved by General Motors for DCS, GM ACCESS, and Rapid. They also interface to Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Ford with Route One and GM RIM in last stages of approval.
 
Located in Fort Worth, Texas, their system was designed specifically for dealers by folks who used to actually work in dealerships. In 1978, owner Bill Ward left his job as General Manager of Jerry’s Chevrolet to fulfill his dream of owning his own computer company and started the long process to become an approved GM DCS vendor. Once DPC was approved, Bill and the rest of his staff set out to design software for an automobile dealership that could easily be used by all dealership personnel. DPC proved that in spite of being a small company, they had the knowledge it took to build a complete dealership hardware and software package. They put their software on strong Dell Servers and although many of you think UNIX is an old system – it’s the industry standard for stability and protection of your data. Most of the Internet runs on safe UNIX servers.
 
Who was their first client? Of course, Jerry’s Chevrolet -- who still uses DPC. According to Don Allen, of Jerry’s GM in Weatherford, TX, “Over the course of the past 25 years, I cannot imagine using any other vendor other than DPC. In my opinion, one of the main forces behind their success is their customer service. At any time of the day, if you have a problem, you will be able to speak to someone in the office who can and will take care of your problem. You can not say that about everyone. In the car business we have a saying that price sells the first car, but service sells all the rest. Bill Ward and DPC understand this. They are the best.”
 
With most of their support prices for dealerships well under $2,000 a month you’re probably wondering – what’s missing? Nothing. They have Accounting, Finance & Insurance, Payroll, Parts, and Service (including dispatching and technician terminals.) Their payroll is fully interfaced all the way down to time clocks and uploading technician pay. It’s probably the most comprehensive parts system that I’ve seen, and in addition they have Multi-company functionality – that most smaller DMS systems lack. Add that to a simple 30-day contract and you might be rushing over to booth 648 at NADA in Orlando to take a look. When you go, be sure and take a look at these items;
 
Service Department
 
This system is so easy for advisors to find their way around. It is a simple two-letter menu driven system. First on the menu is WO – to write up or print a repair order. No need for an archiving system, because they keep the full repair order on file for 5 years. If I’m trying to find a repair order or customer, I have numerous search methods like the license number, tag number, etc. To keep the dispatching easy to use there are three formats; you can manually hand out work, the tech can request a job and the system gives him the best job, or for the busy dispatcher, the system highlights the 3 best jobs for that tech. The techs can put in their story and then go to the next job. For the advisors, there are lots of shortcuts and pop ups like a notification that special order parts have arrived. Reminder letters can be emailed thru the Unix server and anytime you are doing a letter, the DPC system will automatically check to see if they have an email address and then emails instead of printing the letter on paper. You can do partial repair orders, closing just the customer portion, but keeping the warranty portion open to finish. There is extensive password protection to functions within a function and over 250 control switches to customize how service behaves.
 
Parts Department
After spending time in the service menus, I didn’t need anyone to show me parts – they use the same menu structure and easy two letter codes. I had a nice tour guide anyway. One of the things they are most proud of is their RAPID parts ordering system for GM dealers. Their invoicing features are also easy to use – if the part is not in stock, just press enter and it registers a lost sale (but you can turn that feature on and off.) Hit a Control T and you can see any hold on parts. They have a nice automatic invoicing system – you select a customer, then add parts and quickly either invoice, or turn it into a quote. During parts inquiry you can easily flip the ticket into a repair order. They store all transaction detail so if someone changes something in the system – the record is always there.
 
F&I and Sales
I especially like how DPC divides their menus into functions. In F&I this was important because there is a box to work with deals or quote, another box to print the forms and reports and a third box for some “utilities” like searching for a vehicle or performing extensive searches on deals.
 
They have a lot of customizations on how deals come up and, for the Texas dealers, you can even have the vehicles default to a truck! There are five different payment rolls and it’s easy to move through the screen automatically in add mode or jump around in edit mode. When you print the forms the menu is again broken down by the form type and these can be customized. They work with a few different printers since most of their dealers came from another DMS system that had similar printers. They have online help in most screens and fields (F11 brings up help at any prompt) and the manuals can be viewed or printed.
 
Accounting
Again the menu is broken down in a logical way with the things you do the most in the left box – like GL inquiry, schedule inquiry and posting. To the right are all your print jobs like schedules, journals, balance sheets and income statements. You can get detail for the current year, previous year and up to 3 years with another login. To make a journal voucher you can have a special security code required and JVs are broken down to quickly find a certain type of JV. You can post one month behind or one month ahead. They use an efficient batch process; you post then update – except manual checks that update immediately. I like how their accounts receivable works – you can have various classes of customers, for example have a setup of employees, and then only print statements for that class. You can chose open item or all detail forward AR. You can lock an account number so nobody can post to it until it’s unlocked.
 
Accounting is not always the easiest thing to master in a DMS system, but according to controller, Maulinda Brown at Durant Chevrolet in Granbury, Texas, “DPC is very user friendly and they are very willing to hear any new ideas that we might have to make the product work better. We have found their pricing is very affordable and they are very competitive with the larger companies. Along with the products, the customer support goes beyond what is expected to make sure that we know the product and, if trouble occurs, they are there to repair. I really think what makes them a great company is that they think the consumer should come first with everything they do.” They must be doing something right because Durant has used DPC for over 20 years!
 
The system is highly integrated and repair orders and parts tickets can be on automatic update at night to keep the system running fast. They bring in the GM and Chrysler invoices to their system. They are most proud of their new Excel Reporting System – called “Easy.” Almost any file on the system can be brought up in Excel for reporting – or you can use one of their standard Excel reports to find over-age vehicle inventory, repair orders by advisors, and exception reporting. They have a bar code system in parts, and they use PDA’s for a Portable Sales Assistant. They also have Tablet PC’s for Advisors (Portable Service Assistant) and Technicians.
 
Who should consider a DPC system? First of all if you’ve had difficulty with other systems and are looking for simplicity with great customer service and a budget price – this one is worth the visit at NADA. According to Mark Escamilla, the CFO at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, Texas, “DPC is a one stop, total solution provider. Their team of technicians not only provide support for their computer system, but have been an integral part of setting up our Internet system, as well as providing guidance and support of the GM Vehicle Order Management system.” Is it for the smaller dealerships? While on DPC, Classic Chevrolet grew from an 80 employee company to a 280 employee company with no need to upgrade to a more traditional DMS system. Mark adds, “There may be a lot of computer system providers out in the market today, but DPC is a first class provider without the first class price.” I think that says it all! If you want to take my quiz to see if you’re ready for an alternative computer system like DPC, just send me an email. If you want more information on DPC, call.