Focus on Business Scheduling Software Among Auto Service Franchises Up as Average Car Age Rises

May 23, 2012 - PRLog -- Scottsdale, AZ – Appointment-Plus, the worldwide expert in business scheduling software solutions and creator of the scheduling industry’s most flexible and feature-rich application, is seeing greater interest in its premier scheduling software among automotive services franchises, a direct reflection of survey results from Polk that show the average age of vehicles in the U.S. has reached record high.

According to the Polk survey, the average age of cars and light trucks currently in operation is 10.8 years. It goes on to state that the increasing age of these vehicles offers significant business growth opportunities for automotive service providers, as more and more vehicle owners will be in need for vehicle service.

These stats bode well for automotive service franchises such as AAMCO Transmissions and Total Car Care, Maaco, Lee Myles Transmission & AutoCare, and Valvoline Instant Oil Change, who can expect to see more visits from both current and new customers.

This increased need for automotive service translates into the necessity of a dependable enterprise scheduler that can quickly integrate with existing systems, adequately handle large number of appointments and customers seamlessly across multiple locations, and standardize the entire booking process.

“Aging vehicles always require regular maintenance, repair and service,” says Bob La Loggia, CEO of Appointment-Plus (Ihttp://www.appointment-plus.com).  “And as these typically require customer appointments, the need for a proven and reliable scheduling solution among automotive service franchises will become increasingly apparent as owners hang on to their vehicles longer.

“Our Scheduling Cloud™ Enterprise Solution is the number-one solution for franchised automotive services looking to streamline the scheduling process.”
As the leader of online appointment scheduling software solutions since 2001,

Appointment-Plus understands the unique needs businesses and organizations have for automating and improving their booking processes, especially franchise-level enterprises. Its Scheduling Cloud™ Enterprise Solution is geared specifically for these groups, along with large corporations and large and medium-sized businesses, and provides the unmatched services and functionality these groups count on for implementing Appointment-Plus into their existing processes, such as:

• Application programming interface (API) functionality and Web services that allow for seamless integration with existing software systems.
• A highly scalable system that allows organizations to easily accommodate increases in workload, users and growth across numerous locations.
• The most configurable scheduling software system available.
• 24-hour support from its headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz.
• Dedicated business and support contacts.
• “Turnkey”, existing solutions that are instantly ready to go live.
• Custom graphic user interface (GUI) development.   

Franchises that implement the Scheduling Cloud™ platform benefit from the standard features that make it the scheduler of choice among more than 5,000 clients in 16 countries worldwide. This include online self-scheduling, whereby customers can book their own service appointments online, 24 hours a day; automated e-mail and text messages sent prior to a scheduled appointment time; and robust record-keeping and reporting capabilities.

In addition to its premier functionality, features, services and customer support, Appointment-Plus business scheduling software also provides the scheduling industry’s most complete collection of plug-ins, integrations and modules to help franchised automotive service providers operate more efficiently and effectively. Among the items featured in its Marketplace are syncs with QuickBooks, Google Calendar and e-marketing service providers Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp and Vertical Response.

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About Appointment-Plus: Appointment-Plus (http://www.appointment-plus.com) is the worldwide leader in online scheduling solutions for growing businesses, franchises, enterprises, higher education, government and logistics.  With over 15 million end-users and 80 million appointments booked since its inception in 2001, Appointment-Plus is one of the fastest growing cloud-based services in the world. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., organizations ranging in size from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses use Appointment-Plus to book an average of 3 million appointments monthly.