Changelog
New updates and improvements to Driverseat
898 deployments in the last year
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Over the last few months we’ve been hard at work on making Driverseat even better. Aside from many platform improvements, we’ve also relaunched our website, published a complete feature list, and began offering managed services such as copywriting, social media management, and paid search advertising.
Authentication got an upgrade
We’ve upgraded our authentication system to Clerk, delivering a smoother and more secure experience. Clerk is SOC-compliant, so your data is handled with industry-leading security standards. Here’s what’s new:
2FA: Two-factor authentication for stronger account protection.
Manage active sessions: easily view and control all your logged-in devices.
Multiple verified emails: add and manage multiple verified emails for your account.
Passkey support: enjoy fast, secure login with passkeys.
This update makes logging in simpler while keeping your Driverseat account safer than ever.
Improvements
Enhanced search: you can now search the inventory by features (e.g. “sunroof” or “Apple CarPlay”) directly in the search input, not just with checkbox filters.
Page builder warning: added a confirmation alert when deleting a content row in the page builder to prevent accidental removals.
Reviews1: added a new row type (Reviews1) in the page builder, letting you showcase reviews from Google, AutoTrader, KBB, and cars.com, complete with total counts and star ratings.
Search1: added a new row type (Search1) to the page builder, allowing you to place an inventory search bar anywhere on your site.
Added support for Repuso reviews.
Added an optional setting to hide the search box in Hero5 (page builder).
Added an option to maintain aspect ratio on images in the CTA10 page builder row.
The FAQ page builder row now automatically generates Google schema JSON for better SEO and structured data compliance.
Fixes
Fixed an issue where sharing the inventory using the native iOS share sheet would clear applied filters.
Fixed an issue with the image Lightbox viewer on the VDP where the layout was sometimes broken on the first slide.
Fixed an issue where icons would render incorrectly in Hero4.
Fixed and issue where pasting an image into the text editor would cause an error.
Find an issue where it was sometimes impossible to change the SEO description of a homepage in the page builder.
Introducing DealerDB (in public Beta)
Many vendors claim to be "the best," but such statements are often just talk. That’s why we built DealerDB – an open-source dealership database that helps back our claims with data. DealerDB analyzes over 12,000 dealers and nearly all website providers, monitoring their performance over time.
DealerDB’s primary metric is the “performance score” – a weighted calculation of key Web Vitals, including First Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, Time to First Byte, and Interaction to Next Paint.
The performance score provided by DealerDB offers a comprehensive view of a website's health, focusing on elements that directly affect user experience. Improving these metrics can lead to better user engagement, satisfaction, and ultimately, higher conversion rates.
While working on DealerDB, we made sure to further optimize Driverseat websites to make sure that our dealers consistently outperform the competition. Try DealerDB today and see how your dealership stacks up!
Other Improvements & bug fixes
Added a new page builder row (Contact 4)
Added the ability to add inventory segments via the page builder
Added the ability to export as CSV for submissions captured via custom forms
Added support for even more ASC standard GA4 events - for complete coverage
Added support and parsing for HTML vehicle descriptions
Changed info tooltips to use a contextual help popover in order to ensure it works correctly on even more mobile devices
Updated the design of the Vehicle Highlight 2 page builder row for consistency
Improved account switching behavior for users with access to multiple dealerships. Instead of automatically resetting your view to “Home” when switching accounts, the previous dashboard view persists across dealerships.
Made improvements to the the AI blog editor
Improved ADA compliance by adding aria-label descriptions for icon-only buttons, aria-labels for links that open in a new tab or window, and more miscellaneous improvements
Fixed several UI bugs on the page builder and page builder components
Introducing Automatic OEM Rebates
Starting today, all dealerships on the Driverseat platform have access to OEM Rebates and Incentives. We’re happy to offer this functionality free of charge for all current users. If you’d like to enable rebates for your dealership, please reach out to support and we’ll be more than happy to get you set up.
Improved Navigation
The navigation bar has been updated with better support for dropdowns across all screen widths. As of this update, instead of simply combining all pages under the “More” tab, your site will maintain its original hierarchy by nesting entire tabs (including the title) under “More.”
No action is required by dealers.
New Page Builder Row
We’ve introduced a new CTA page builder row, which allows for a heading, subheading, a disclaimer, an image, and a a CTA.
Other Improvements
Improved CLS across all elements
Added more automatic H2, H3, and H4 elements for page builder rows
Added the option to only display vehicles with photos in VehicleHighlight page builder rows
Added an HTML page builder row with the ability to create custom sections
Added the option for dealers to blur out pricing on the SRP
Updated the sitewide banner to support a CTA
Added support for simultaneous image uploads to the media library
Added support for image cropping on upload
Fixed an issue where filtering by new + commercial at the same time wouldn’t save the state in the URL
Fixed a bug where you couldn’t delete the first slide in a carousel
Several technical SEO improvements
Apr 24, 2024
Enhanced Platform Features
Over the last several weeks, we have introduced a number of new features to improve the overall functionality and user engagement on dealership websites.
General Improvements
JSON+LD Structured Data Integration: We've implemented JSON+LD structured data on both inventory and home pages for all dealerships. This update is designed to enhance content visibility and interaction through richer search results in Google SERPs. Learn more about structured data.
Enhanced Text Editor: The text editor now supports embedding YouTube videos and creating tables, offering more versatility in content creation.
New CTA(9) Page Builder Row
Granular Dealership Control
Lock Pricing Options: Dealers can now choose whether or not they want to display pricing on their website - providing greater flexibility and control over how pricing information is displayed.
Validating Lead Emails and Phone Numbers: To ensure higher quality leads, we've added the capability to validate lead emails and phone numbers directly through the site settings.
Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements
Auto Image Alt Text Improvement: Our auto alt text for images has been enhanced to exclude brand names and pricing information, reducing the likelihood of an incorrect caption.
API Caching and Server Performance: Significant improvements have been made to API caching and server performance, reducing Time to First Byte (TTFB) and enhancing overall site responsiveness.
Balanced H1 Texts: Automatic balancing of H1 texts across pages has been improved, ensuring better SEO and user readability.
Inventory Navigation Bug Fix: Resolved an issue where navigating between inventory pages with different filters caused display errors.
Blog Post Image Saving Fix: Resolved an issue that prevented blog posts from saving correctly when adding inline images.
Mar 4, 2024
Commercial Inventory
Previously: The platform had limited filtering options for commercial vehicles, which may have made it challenging for dealers to showcase their commercial inventory effectively and for customers to find vehicles that meet their specific needs.
Now: The platform has significantly expanded the range of filters available for commercial vehicles. This enhancement means that dealers can now offer more detailed and tailored commercial inventory pages. Customers can filter vehicles by various attributes, such as:
Max Payload: The maximum weight a vehicle can carry.
Towing Capacity: The maximum weight a vehicle can tow.
Ground Clearance: The distance between the ground and the lowest point of the vehicle, important for off-road capability.
Bed Size: The dimensions of a vehicle's cargo area, crucial for transporting goods.
much more…
This expansion allows for a more customized search experience, enabling users to find vehicles that precisely match their commercial needs.
SEO URLs and Dynamic H1 Headings
Previously: Inventory pages might have had generic or less search-engine-optimized URLs and static H1 headings, which could affect the site's search engine visibility and user experience.
Now: The update introduces more SEO-friendly URLs and dynamic H1 headings for inventory pages. This means that:
URLs are now structured in a way that is more understandable and relevant to both users and search engines. For example, new inventory pages are accessible via “/inventory/new,” making them easier to find and share.
H1 headings on these pages dynamically match the page content, such as “New Inventory” for new inventory pages, enhancing page relevance and potentially improving search engine rankings.
Other improvements
Added support for helper text to the custom form builder
Added a new page builder row (CTA8)
Added support for fine tuned rotate speed to the Image2 page builder row
Feb 7, 2024
Introducing AI Copywriter (Beta)
Starting today, all dealerships on the Driverseat platform have access to powerful generative content capabilities at no extra cost.
We're thrilled to provide dealers with innovative tools designed to enhance their content creation efforts. The AI Copywriter beta is available immediately, and we invite you to explore it within the blog post editor on the Driverseat dashboard.
Media Handling Improvements
Key Highlights:
Added automatic AI-Generated Alt Text for all images for further improvements to search engine visibility and accessibility. Alt text descriptions can also be edited from the dashboard.
Introduced Image Placeholders to accelerate page load times, further improving the browsing experience for car shoppers .
Images are now optimized based on the visitors’ screen size, to further increase loading speeds
Introduced an Enhanced Media Library Picker - allowing dealers to re-use previously uploaded photos, edit meta data, and more.
Rich Text Editor Improvements
Key Highlights
Greatly improved performance of all rich text fields across the dealership dashboard. Writing long form content should feel much more pleasant.
Added support for inline images across all rich text inputs
Fixed several bugs, including:
inconsistent behavior of the pop up page builder text editor
being occasionally unable to add hyperlinks in text body
incorrect list and numbered list styling
Bug fixes and other improvements
Reduced JS Bundle: Reduced the JS bundle by approximately 30%, resulting in significantly improved web vital scores and overall performance.
Updated Page Builder Rows: Page builder rows with images now utilize a set aspect ratio to minimize layout shift.
Inventory Segments Filter: Inventory segments can now be filtered by year, odometer, and price for easier navigation.
Improved Image Carousels: All image carousels now use native scroll functionality, enhancing performance and responsiveness.
Additional Features: Added TradeIn1 page builder row and support for mobile image variants for Hero2.
Jan 15, 2024
Refreshed Inventory Pages
Over the last few weeks we began rolling out updates to inventory pages for all Driverseat dealerships. This refresh includes several enhancements designed to improve visibility and interaction, especially on mobile devices.
Key Highlights:
Enhanced Mobile Visibility: More vehicles are now visible on mobile devices, providing a richer browsing experience.
Improved Photo Browsing: Users can now scroll through vehicle photos directly on the Search Results Page (SRP) without needing to visit the Vehicle Details Page (VDP).
Direct Lead Submission from SRP: It's now possible to send a lead directly from the SRP, making it easier and faster for customers to express their interest.
Better Keyboard Navigation: Navigation via keyboard has been improved, making our platform more accessible, especially for users with disabilities.
Advanced Filtering Options: We've introduced more refined filters to help users quickly find their desired vehicles.
Clearer Pricing Information: Pricing details are now presented in a more digestible format, enhancing transparency and comprehension for users.
Additional Enhancements: These updates come alongside various other improvements aimed at creating a more intuitive and efficient user experience.
Impact:
Improved User Experience: These changes are designed to make browsing and selecting vehicles more convenient and enjoyable for users.
Increased Accessibility: With better keyboard navigation and clearer information presentation, our platform becomes more accessible to a wider range of users.
Enhanced Efficiency: The ability to send leads directly from the SRP and the improved photo browsing feature streamline the user journey, potentially increasing engagement and conversion rates.
Lead Data Encryption
We are pleased to announce an important security enhancement in Driverseat. All lead data submitted through Driverseat dealer websites is now encrypted using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit key length. This update significantly enhances the security and confidentiality of sensitive customer information, aligning with our commitment to data protection and privacy.
Impact:
Increased Security: Lead data, including personal and sensitive information, is now more secure against unauthorized access and data breaches.
Compliance: This update helps in complying with various data protection regulations, ensuring that we maintain high standards for data privacy.
No Action Required by Dealerships: The encryption process is fully integrated and automated within Driverseat, requiring no additional action or changes from our dealership partners.
Other improvements
Added the ability to search through VINs in VehicleHighlight filters
Added support for Chevrolet window stickers
Dec 13, 2023
Large Framework Upgrade
Last week, we have upgraded to the latest release of Next.js (a React framework) which brings a lot of exciting performance improvements to every Driverseat dealership.
With this update, we’re able to offload more website rendering work to the server – further reducing the amount of JavaScript that needs to load with your website.
This results in faster initial page loads and improved performance, especially on slower network connections or less powerful devices. Due to the savings in processing time, we expect that our dealers will see improvements to their Google Vitals & overall customer satisfaction.
Oct 10, 2023
Digital Business Cards
With this update, every dealership employee will automatically have a digital business card that they can share with their customers. Digital business cards include the employee’s Name, Title, Department, Dealership Name & Address, as well as an “Add to Contacts” option.
You can retrieve the URL for a specific employee’s business card from the “Employee” view on the Driverseat dashboard.
Bug fixes & Improvements
Added the ability to filter by VIN for all VehicleHighlight page builder rows
Added an option to filter by “has photo” for the VehicleHighlight1page builder row
Added mileage display for new vehicles
Added an option to “clone + edit” for custom forms
Vehicles with no price will now show up last when sorting by price (for both ascending and descending sorting view)
Improved the placeholder content for several page builder rows
Fixed a bug where making changes to the Privacy1 page builder row sometimes prevented page from saving
Aug 23, 2023
Custom Forms
With this update, your dealership can create form templates which can be used inside of the page builder.
You can create your first custom form by going to the “Forms” page (found under the Website section of the sidebar).
Once your templates are created, you can chose the style and form you’d like to use under the “Form” content section found in the insert menu of the page builder.
All form submissions are sent to your CRM by default, but you can also choose to receive submissions via email.
This is our first take on custom forms, and we’re open to dealer feedback. Please let us know how we can make the form builder better tailored to your needs.
Support for ASC Specification (GA4)
The Automotive Standards Council (ASC) created a set of universal event tracking standards and guidelines for the transition to Google Analytics 4.
As of this update, Driverseat fully supports the ASC Event Standard for GA4.
We will publish a more detailed blog post on the implications of the ASC specification, but long story short - this update helps your dealership better understand the performance of your website and the behavior of your shoppers.
Bug fixes & Improvements
Added support for mobile image variants to Hero1 and Hero5page builder rows
Added an option to lock the aspect ratio of images used in the Text6 page builder row
Improved the reliability of our sync service with Google Merchant
Fixed a bug where restoring an archived blog post wouldn’t show up under user activity
General performance improvements and bug fixes
Jul 26, 2023
Rebates & Incentive Breakdown
Driverseat dealerships now have the option to configure and display incentive & rebate information on their SRP or VDPs.
If you’d liked to enable the incentive breakdown for your dealership, please contact us and we’ll help you get it set up.
Google Vehicle Listings
Display your inventory across various Google surfaces, including your dealerships’ Business Profile and Google Search. With this update, Google users can search, filter, and learn more key information about your vehicles before hitting your website.
Bug fixes & Improvements
Improved price display and readability on the SRP vehicle cards
Improved support for GA4
Improved SRP search and filter performance
Added additional checks to monitor and alert of dealership inventory sync errors
Fixed a bug where the “vehicle detail view” on the dealer dashboard would become unresponsive
General performance improvements and bug fixes
May 3, 2023
Shopper Alerts
Your website shoppers now have the option to configure two types of alerts: price change notifications, and search alerts. Both of these are enabled by default for every Driverseat dealership.
Any user with an account at your dealership can sign up to receive an email every time the price of their watched vehicle changes (they will also be notified when the vehicle is sold). Additionally, shoppers can set up custom search alerts for any query on the SRP and be notified when new vehicles matching their search parameters have been added to the inventory.
Payment Calculator Component
A standalone payment calculator is now available as a page builder row. You can find it under the “Misc” category in the page builder Insert menu.
Bug fixes & Improvements
Added a disclaimer to the settings panel of the “Team 1” page builder row when no departments have been configured
Added the ability to customize the lead form CTA text and description to the “Site Settings” on the dashboard
Improved the behavior of the “Continue where you left off” toast. It will no longer show up on VDPs, and be overall less intrusive.
Fixed a bug where sharing a VDP via the mobile share sheet would send the link to the homepage of the dealership instead
Fixed a bug on the VDP where the “Vehicle Description” section was visible even when no description was provided in the inventory feed
Fixed a visual bug where the list view of dealership accounts would sometimes be displayed in the wrong order
Mar 3, 2023
2023 is ramping up, and we’ve been busy. This month we shipped a few exciting updates and squashed some bugs 🪲
What’s New
Improved VDP URL structure to include vehicle condition
Improved “Sync Activity” tab on the dashboard (faster loading, quick search, UI tweaks)
Redesigned VehicleFinder1 page builder row to be more versatile
Added a new CTA row to the page builder
Added background color options to CTA6
Added the ability to configure a percentage-based downpayment amount for the payment calculator
Added the ability to filter by Tags
Added support for Google Analytics 4 (dealers are encouraged to start thinking about switching over)
Added price estimates to owned vehicles in customer accounts
Minor improvements to various page builder components to further unify design consistency
Bugs
Minor visual bugs on dashboard settings
Jan 31, 2023
First product update of 2023, and it’s a good one! This month we shipped a few exciting updates and squashed some bugs 🪲
What’s New
Improved the home for user accounts, and greatly expanded the functionality
Added the ability for customers to add vehicles they own to their account
Added the ability for customers to submit owned vehicles as “trade-in”
Added the ability to see customer accounts stats and user details
Added “pick up where you left off” session continuity for returning users
Added weekly digest emails for dealers that have missed notifications
Added more vehicle models that can appear in Vehicle Highlight 3
Added a “recently viewed” override option to Vehicle Highlight 2
Added a disclaimer to the payment calculator
Removed ambiguity around removed users on the dealer dashboard
Decreased the amount of Javascript on websites, improving performance
Unified design of mobile titles across several page builder components
Bugs
Fixed a bug where the VIN Explorer would fail to decode a correct VIN
Fixed a bug where adding a hyperlink to the sitewide notification banner would cause it to be larger than it’s supposed to be
Fixed a visual bug on the “page details” screen inside of the page builder where long page URLs weren’t truncated
Fixed a visual bug where content was missing padding in component settings on the page builder
Dec 27, 2022
Final product update of 2022! This month we shipped a few exciting updates and squashed some bugs 🪲 Here’s what’s new:
Hero 5 row
Shipped a new Hero page builder component – perfect to switch things up going into the new year.
More dealer-configurable settings
We’ve given dealers more options to control how their site looks to shoppers. You can now customize dealer fees, payment calculator defaults, inventory display, and call-to-actions.
More
Added support for powersports vehicles
Added Window Stickers for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles
Added a new rolling Logo Cloud row to the page builder
Added a new Contact row to the page builder
Added support for more slides in CTA4 page builder row
Added the ability to search by any part of the VIN
Added the ability to filter inventory by monthly payment
Added a “Read All” button to dashboard notifications
Added the ability to customize what inventory segment applies to “commercial” vehicles. Contact us to set this up.
Added a toast message when updating a page that’s already published
Unified design across several page builder components
Improved bot traffic detection and filtering
Improved Schedule Service 1 page builder row UI
Improved the way social media links are displayed in dealer group footers
Bugs
Fixed a bug where the KBB trade-in form would sometimes overlap filters on the inventory
Fixed a bug where the “Key Features” section would show up on the VDP when it contained no content
Fixed a dashboard bug where employee bios would fail to save
Fixed a visual dashboard bug in activity history where the page title was crossed out instead of the row for row deletions
Fixed a dashboard bug where clicking on the page title in notifications would not clear the notification
Fixed a dashboard bug where clicking on a vehicle from activity history would lead to a 404 page
Fixed a dashboard bug where Hero1 images would sometimes fail to preview in the page builder
Fixed a dashboard bug where monthly dealership reports would be stuck on “generating”
Sep 30, 2022
Our team kept busy in September. This month we shipped a few exciting updates and squashed some bugs 🪲 Here’s what’s new:
Notifications
We launched notifications for every dealership to ensure that you always stay in the loop. Notifications include updates on pages and posts you collaborate on, as well as relevant performance metrics that will help paint a picture of your website's health.
Every DS user will also begin receiving a weekly round-up of missednotifications in their inbox (you can turn it off in settings).
Inventory Segments for Page Builder Rows
Vehicle Highlight page builder rows just got smarter! We rolled out the first version of inventory segmentation, which allows for basic refinements. We will be expanding on the number of filters and functionality over time, stay tuned.
More
Added the ability to re-send and revoke invites
Sitewide accessibility improvements
Added support for powersports vehicles
Improved skeleton loaders across dealership websites and dashboard
Performance improvements (upgraded to React 18)
Improvements to how actions by removed users are displayed
To learn more about the new settings, activity history, and managed services, read our mid-month release notes here
Bugs
Fixed a visual bug on the dashboard where it looked like an old inventory sync was still in progress even after it was complete
Fixed a bug with how percentage change was calculated on the 30-day graph on the dashboard
Fixed a bug where some search inputs would throw an error
Fixed a bug where autocomplete would sometimes not work on the trade-in form
Removed CTAs from dropdown menus on reserved vehicle cards on the SRP
Sep 16, 2022
We’ve had a productive start to our September here at Driverseat. Check out everything that’s new:
Activity History
The Activity History view has received some much-needed attention. Aside from better (more intuitive) organization, we’re now also tracking many more events. Check it out for yourself under “Team” > “Activity” in Settings.
New Settings UI
The entire Settings UI has been refreshed and reorganized for usability. It should now be easier to find the settings/configurations that you’re looking for.
Managed Services (SEM, SEO, SMM, Copywriting)
You might have noticed a couple of call-to-action banners sprinkled around your dashboard. Don’t worry, we’re not going to pester you – just remember that Driverseat is well equipped to help you with your unique content needs.
More
Added "Reports” settings that allow you to manage who gets to receive monthly performance reports for your dealership
Upgraded to React 18, which should translate to some overall performance improvements
Improved skeleton loaders on both dealership websites and dealership dashboard
Minor UI tweaks to a few page builder components to improve design language consistency (Image 2, LogoCloud)
Bugs
Fixed an issue where deleting a user would provide no feedback
Improved number formatting in various places across the dashboard
Fixed a bug where changing dealership nickname threw an error until a refresh
Aug 28, 2022
This month at Driverseat we squashed some bugs 🪲 and shipped a few exciting updates – here is what’s new:
Pre-Order Bank
Set up countdowns for vehicle pre-orders and keep your customers in the loop. This feature comes with 2 page-builder components that you can use throughout your website, as well as a smart Inventory CTA.
Team Page got more personal
You can now add short bios and Facebook page links for all of your team members.
Quick Actions from SRP Cards
With this new quick-action drop-down, your shoppers can do more without visiting the VDP.
More
Added the ability to add content sections below the inventory feed on the SRP
Bugs
Fixed a bug that would cause the Inventory page to sometimes become unresponsive
Fixed a bug where the “show cars” button in mobile filters was not always visible across all devices
Fixed a bug where the VIN Explorer would sometimes fail to decode vehicles
Aug 22, 2022
This month at Driverseat we shipped a few exciting updates, and squashed some bugs 🪲 Here’s what’s new:
FAQ Component
You asked, and we listened. The new FAQ component lets you answer your visitors’ most common questions with ease.
Go-Live Checklist
Dealership onboarding has received some love. Those joining Driverseat will now see a checklist of everything that needs to be done prior to going live – right from on their dashboard.
Spacer Component
Sometimes you need more space, we get that. That’s why we shipped a new customizable spacer component that lets you place a gap anywhere on the page to really fine-tune the look and feel of your design.
More
CTA 3, CTA 5, and Text 7 page-builder components received a fresh coat of paint to better match even more configurations
Above fold UI on the mobile inventory page was refreshed to better optimize for screen real estate and consistency
Added a shortcut to quickly clone and edit pages and blog posts
Many improvements to user accounts
Bugs
Fixed a bug with how “percentage change” was calculated on the 14-day graph on the dashboard
Fixed the bug where the “sessions / user” metric was rounded on dashboard grids
Removed the “warranty” tab on pre-owned vehicles with mileage higher than the OEM warranty
Fixed a page builder bug where the content blocks in the sidebar editor would disappear after saving in the large editor
Aug 16, 2022
Today we’re excited to announce that user accounts are here, and automatically enabled for every dealership 🎉
With accounts, dealerships can automatically offer a more personalized shopping experience to every visitor. Here’s what’s new:
For Everyone:
Can “like” up to 4 vehicles to save them for later
For Logged In Customers:
Can “like” an unlimited number of vehicles to save them for later
Can view their browsing history and pick up where they left off
Can see which of their liked or viewed vehicles have been sold
Can view their inquiry and trade in history
Can configure their ZIP code to personalize market-based pricing (for participating dealers)
Can configure their payment calculator with their preferred term, trade-in value, and down payment
Can submit inquiries without needing to fill out any lead capture forms
We’re very excited to launch accounts and continue helping your dealership increase customer engagement and satisfaction. We have a lot of additional functionality planned for upcoming releases, so keep your eyes peeled.
Aug 15, 2022
Today we’re excited to announce that our VIN Explorer tool is available to every dealership in Early Access 🎉
VIN Explorer allows you to decode any VIN and get the most accurate information on that vehicle from over 2 dozen sources.
Every dealership on the Driverseat platform should see a new tab on the sidebar called “VIN Explorer,” which will let you enter and decode any VIN. When a VIN has been decoded you will be able to view the vehicle’s original window sticker and see 7 categories of information for each vehicle:
1. Pricing
The pricing section includes the vehicle’s MSRP, as well as more pricing data sourced from KBB, JD Power, CarGurus, Edmunds, and third-party marketplaces like Vroom, Carvana, and Carmax.
This section should help your dealership price trade-ins, and see how you could compare to third-party marketplaces.
2. History
The history section includes odometer readings and estimates, ownership information, and a selection of the most relevant data from Carfax and Autocheck.
3. Recalls
This section is pretty self-explanatory – if this vehicle has any recalls, all of them along with their details will be listed here.
4. Basics
The “Basics” section includes all of the basic specs for this vehicle (down to the Sub Trim, if available).
5. Warranty
This section provides information on the manufacturer’s warranty.
6. Options & Equipment
These 2 sections go into much more depth than the “Basics,” – displaying all of the options and extras that are configured for this vehicle.
We’re very excited about this launch, and VIN Explorer will remain free for every dealership while in Early Access. We hope that it’s useful for your dealership, and are eager to learn about how we can continue to improve it.
Jun 28, 2022
This week at Driverseat we squashed some bugs 🪲 and shipped a few updates to the dealer dashboard – here is what’s new:
Dashboard Improvements
New, better organized sidebar (Improved grouping of actionable items, a better way to select a dealership for those with multiple accounts, and an easier way to get in touch with support)
New Video 3 component (support for 2 side by side videos)
New way to favourite a dealership for those with multiple accounts. To configure a favorite dealership, visit your Profile settings.
Added a setting for primary and accent dealership colors. Configuring these will unlock additional personalization options for sitewide notification banners and CTA 6.
Added the ability to send reports via email directly from the Reports tab
Added the ability to add a nickname to a dealership
Bugs
Fixed a bug where inquiry comments would have “false” added to the end of the message
Fixed a bug where saving a blog post would cause the title and image to disappear until a refresh
Fixed a bug that caused backdated blog posts to be off by 1 day
Fixed a bug where clicking on “Back to Results” on the VDP would clear previously selected filters
Jun 8, 2022
Today we’re excited to launch reports for every dealership 🎉
You will notice a new tab on your sidebar titled “Reports” where you can easily generate performance reports for any time period.
These reports are designed to deliver the most relevant information to your dealership, at a glance. This currently includes a breakdown of where your leads come from and their performance for the selected time period, as well as a summary of the most relevant website metrics.
We know you’re keeping busy, which is why Driverseat will automatically generate and email you a dealership performance report every month, so you can stay in the know.
May 16, 2022
This week at Driverseat we squashed some bugs 🪲 and shipped a few updates to the dealer dashboard – here is what’s new:
Dashboard
New Image 2 component (supports dynamic height, and multiple slides)
New iFrame component
Ability to move employees between dealerships
Improvements to the VIN explorer
Websites
Slight UI tweaks for the Hero 4 component (reduced height, increased readability, and added a more actionable CTA)
Improved the display of vehicles with an electric motor on the VDP
New row of tags for the VDP
Misc
Status page is now publically available (can monitor up-time of all Driverseat services live)
Fixed a bug where dealership address wouldn’t save on the dashboard
Fixed a bug where deleting footer links would delete the wrong one
Improved organization of page builder components
Fixed a bug where it was possible to publish a new page with an incorrect slug
Improved inquiry filter drop downs to be smarter across the different inquiry types
Fixed a bug where going back to the page list view after publishing a page would not show the new page until a refresh
Apr 22, 2022
Today we’re rolling out the ability for dealers to implement market-based pricing across their website.
This feature allows dealers to segment their site visitors into what they define as “In-Market” or “Out of Market” customers, and markup or discount accordingly. When configured, all visitors will be prompted to enter their zipcode to view vehicle pricing.
Once complete, customers will be told whether or not they fall into the “In-Market” category, and the pricing breakdown on the VDP will include a new line with the market adjustment.
Customer status, along with the modified price will be sent over to your CRM upon a lead submission.
We’re starting this week off by shipping a couple of new features and a few quality of life updates.
Here’s what’s new:
Driverseat now supports Facebook Feed Syndication. This means that dealers can now set up a new auto catalog through Facebook, which will remain in sync with their feeds. This is a great way to utilize your available inventory in FB’s Automotive Inventory Ads.
Caching improvements – page builder / site changes will reflect much faster than before.
New page builder component - Image 2 (full width image row with 2 style options - thin/thick)
Ability to request a new component. If there’s a component you think that we’re missing, you can make a suggestion right from the page builder (while we might not build everything, your suggestions help us improve driverseat for everyone)
Added the ability to update your dealership’s location settings.
As our component library continues to grow, we realized that there needs to be a better way to organize all of the available rows. Today, we shipped an update that does just that – check it out in your page editor.
Also, we’ve added a warning pop-up when trying to publish a page without updated meta details. This should help prevent any accidental publication of pages that aren’t quite finished.
Feb 27, 2022
Today we shipped an update that added more functionality to the dealership dashboard and squashed some annoying bugs 🐞
What’s new
Added ability to sort by lead type under inquiries
Linked up VDP view counts under vehicle interest
Improved analytics graphs readability
Added an intermediary step when enabling the sitewide banner
Added the ability to add social profile links in settings
Removed the ability to add meta keywords, since Google no longer considers this for SERP placement
Improved “no results” pages across all list views
Added a redirect for new users accepting a dealership invite to take them to the home page
Fixed a bug where the default analytics view appeared unselected in the UI
Fixed a bug where the page would sometimes crash when switching between time periods on the lead view
Fixed a bug where users would get an error when switching between dealerships
Fixed a bug where analytics graphs didn’t match Google Analytics due to dealer time zone
Feb 15, 2022
Today we’re excited to announce that we shipped yet another update to the page builder.
What’s new
Introduced an image size upload limit of 2MB to reduce page load times on custom pages
Introduced a 160 character limit to meta descriptions to match what is going to be displayed by search engines
The sidebar navigation is now hidden when editing a page, to allow for a bigger canvas to work with
Added an icon picker to page builder components with icon support
Improved Vehicle Highlight components
Added a new CTA row with different theming options
Added the ability to collapse nested children pages on the pages list view
Added a tool tip explainer to the “Sitewide announcement banner”
Improved the UI of the “Sitewide announcement banner” settings to better match the rest of the dashboard
Improved the way that rows without user-configurable settings are displayed
Added a warning when attempting to publish a page with incomplete metadata
Fixed an issue that prevented CTA2 from being edited or ordered
Jan 31, 2022
This month we’ve shipped many quality of life updates and performance improvements.
What’s New
Cleaned up the “Sync Activity” view in the dashboard to provide additional information
Added a new page builder component to display Google Reviews
Added a “you have reached the end” text to the bottom of SRP when no more vehicles are found
Added a monthly payment on hover to inventory vehicle cards
Added additional info to page details tab on the page builder
Added the ability to “clone and move” a page or blog post from one dealership to another
Improved validation on the inline lead capture form on the VDP
Improved the UI of the Trade-In Tool for small screens
Fixed the Privacy Policy component overflow issue on mobile
Fixed an issue that would cause an incorrect lead count to be displayed in the analytics charts on the home page of the dashboard
Fixed an issue that prevented analytics charts from loading on the home page of the dashboard
Fixed an issue that would prevent mobile modals from working properly at times