Introducing VAN PACE™: Pipeline, Activity, Conversion, Execution
Where does your store stand against this month's acquisition goal right now: ahead, behind, or hoping? If you're behind, do you know which day it slipped, and what today has to look like to catch up? The old line says what gets measured gets managed. So if your street buying lives in a spreadsheet you see once a month, what exactly is being managed?
Most dealers can't answer those questions on the spot, and it isn't a lack of effort. Most acquisition reporting still lives in a spreadsheet that gets updated once a month. By the time the numbers are assembled, the month is over and there is nothing left to do about it.
"Champions know the score. Winners know what put it there."
David Long
We rebuilt the reporting inside VAN's vehicle acquisition platform from the ground up to answer a better question: are you ahead of goal right now, and what should you do today to stay there? It's called VAN PACE™ (Pipeline, Activity, Conversion, Execution): VAN's rebuilt acquisition reporting platform, live in beta on every VAN account.
Already on VAN? Request access and your Acquisition Coach™ will turn it on. New to VAN? Book a demo and see it against live listings from your market.
What does VAN PACE™ show you?
VAN PACE™ (Pipeline, Activity, Conversion, Execution) is the vehicle acquisition reporting platform from Vehicle Acquisition Network (VAN) that shows car dealerships their goal, pace, and projected finish for the month, updated daily. It is available on every VAN account and currently in beta. It also shows every active private-seller listing in your market, and your full acquisition funnel from first conversation to purchase, tracked automatically. Dealers request access at buywithvan.com/reporting-access, and their VAN Acquisition Coach™ turns it on.
Your goal, your pace, and where you'll land. One glance at the VAN PACE™ pace card tells you whether you're ahead or behind for the month, with a projected finish based on your current pace. If your goal is 20 cars and you've bought 19 by day 18 of a 22-business-day month, the card reads three ahead of pace, projected to finish at 23. No legal pad required.
Illustrative sample data.
Your whole market, worked like a pipeline. VAN PACE™ shows every active private-seller listing in your market, and where each one stands: untouched, contacted, appraised, or acquired. When thousands of listings are sitting untouched in your market, that's your pipeline.
Your full funnel, tracked automatically. Conversations, appraisals, appointments, purchases, and the conversion rate at each stage. No spreadsheets, no chasing your team for updates. If appraisals are strong but appointments lag, you can see exactly where the funnel narrows.
Illustrative sample data.
The day's plan. Reporting that stops at describing the past isn't much help at 8 a.m. VAN PACE™ tells you what today needs to hold your pace: plain pace math, already worked out, down to the appointments that keep you on track.
The cars you missed. VAN PACE™ tracks lost opportunities across your whole market: vehicles that left the market and showed up on a competing dealer's lot without your store ever making contact, including the ones that never touched your appraisal software. Most stores only count the deals somebody logged. This view shows the ones nobody logged, which is where the real number lives.
A real store's Lost Opportunities view: seven cars it never contacted, now listed at competing dealers.
Want to know how many cars your store missed last quarter? Already on VAN: request access and ask your Acquisition Coach™ for your Lost Opportunities view. Not on VAN yet: book a demo and we'll pull live private-seller listings from your market.
The map. Every contact, appointment, show, acquisition, and lost car, plotted on your market. When you can see where your cars actually come from, territory decisions stop being guesswork: expand where you're winning, pull back where you're not.
A real market: 90 days of activity around one Atlanta store.
Targets you set, not targets we guess. Goals in VAN PACE™ are set per buyer and per month, with VAN benchmarks as a starting point. A monthly acquisition goal backs into the attempts, contacts, and offers it actually takes. Set it once, copy it to the whole team, or tune each buyer individually.
Per-buyer, per-month goals, each stage chained by conversion rate. Sample buyer shown.
Pace Check™: your day, delivered three times
Pace Check™ is a set of three daily emails from VAN PACE™ that bring your numbers to your inbox, so you never have to remember to open a dashboard:
Check-In (morning). Where you stand: acquired month to date, goal remaining, business days left, and what today's plan needs to hold pace.
A Morning Check-In for a sample store: one car ahead of pace, and the exact activity today needs to stay there.
Check-Up (midday). Whether the morning's plan is happening, while there's still daylight to fix it.
Check-Out (end of day). What actually happened, and the answer to the two questions every manager asks: did we have a good day, and does my team know it.
Why did we rebuild acquisition reporting?
Because acquisition runs on pace. A store that finds out on the 31st that it missed by six cars lost that month on the 12th, one quiet day at a time. VAN PACE™ is built so a manager who logs in for ninety seconds knows where the store stands, whether that's on plan, and what to do next. It's the same discipline your Acquisition Coach™ already brings to your account, on screen every day in between.
This is not a new idea. Brian Benstock of Paragon Honda said it years ago in a conversation Dale Pollak published: "The used car business is really a business of math and metrics. If you have it all set up correctly and you execute, everything falls into line." The setup is the hard part. VAN PACE™ is the setup, done for you.
"I built VAN PACE because every dealer I talk to is asking the same question: am I going to hit my number this month? The answer was always buried in a spreadsheet somebody had to build by hand. Now it's on the screen the moment you log in, with what today needs to look like to stay on pace. That was the whole point: give a manager time to fix the month while it can still be fixed."
Tom Gregg, CEO, Vehicle Acquisition Network
How do I get access to VAN PACE™?
If you're a VAN customer: request access at Turn on VAN PACE™. Tell us who's signing in, your Acquisition Coach™ turns it on, and you sign in with a one-time code. No password to set. It's included on every VAN account, and there is nothing to install. Once your account is activated, you'll sign in at platform.buywithvan.com. One naming note while the beta rolls out: VAN PACE™, Enhanced Reporting, and Performance Platform are three names for the same product. You may still see the older names on some VAN pages and on the sign-in screen. They're all VAN PACE™.
If you're not on VAN yet: book a demo and we'll pull live private-seller listings from your market, then show you what your first month's dashboard could look like.
What's next for VAN PACE™?
VAN PACE™ is in beta, which means it's getting better every week. If there's a view you need that's missing, tell your Acquisition Coach™. That's the feedback that decides what we build next.
VAN PACE™ FAQ
What does PACE stand for?
Pipeline, Activity, Conversion, Execution: the four things VAN PACE™ tracks, from the private-seller listings in your market to the daily work that turns them into acquired cars.
Is VAN PACE™ included with my VAN subscription?
Yes. VAN PACE™ is available on every VAN account and is currently in beta.
How do I get access?
Current customers request access at buywithvan.com/reporting-access and your Acquisition Coach™ enables the login. Dealers not yet on VAN can see it in a live demo.
How do I sign in to VAN PACE™?
Sign in to VAN PACE™ at platform.buywithvan.com with a one-time code or sign-in link sent to your email. No password required. No password required.
How is VAN PACE™ different from the reporting in my appraisal or inventory tools?
Those tools report on the deals somebody logged. VAN PACE™ tracks your whole market, including the private-seller cars your team never touched and the ones that later showed up on a competitor's lot. The gap between the two is where most stores are losing cars without knowing it. See where VAN fits with your existing tools.
Can VAN PACE™ tell me why we missed goal last month?
Yes. The funnel view shows which stage narrowed, and because pace updates daily, you can see when the month fell behind. A missed month almost never happens on the last day, and VAN PACE™ shows you the day it actually started.
Does every buyer get their own goals?
Yes. Goals are set per buyer and per month, and a monthly acquisition target backs into the attempts, contacts, and offers it takes to get there. Set one plan for the team or tune each buyer individually.
What is Pace Check™?
Pace Check™ is the set of three daily emails from VAN PACE™: Check-In in the morning with the day's plan, Check-Up at midday while there is still time to adjust, and Check-Out at the end of the day with what actually happened.