Car parts site to save motor trade time and money

28 May 2010

An online system has been launched for buying and selling current, slow-moving and obsolete vehicle parts to help save the motor trade time and money.

It could potentially help reduce the millions of tons of waste produced by the motor industry each year.

D2DGateway.com is a wholly Irish-owned and operated company with a current database of more than €10m worth of parts and is growing daily; making the site the largest multi-franchise database in Ireland and the UK listing only genuine parts.

D2DGateway.com has Ireland’s largest dealer group, the Windsor Motor Group and Frank Keane BMW, among its vast and varied client list.

“In conjunction with the motor trade, we have spent a lot of time and resources in developing our service to suit their needs and to save them time and money,” explained managing director Tony Aherne.

“We have developed a system whereby any franchised motor dealer can have their parts stock automatically uploaded to our web server each day. We are providing a unique service that has not been seen in Ireland or the UK previously, it allows franchised motor dealers to advertise their parts stock not only to an initial target market of independent dealers but also to the wider network of ‘DIY’ mechanics and the general public.

“Searching for parts is completely free and with almost €10m worth of parts currently available at the touch of a button, users can be sure that they are searching the largest multi-franchise parts database in Ireland or the UK.”

All parts are automatically uploaded daily through secure encrypted FTP. So the info displayed is always up to date. D2Dgateway.com will refresh and upload the dealer’s parts list each evening.

The new site envisages it will help users save money and generates revenue for motor dealers. Franchise dealers can check each other’s stock to source a part and all independent motor dealers can check the availability of a part in a franchised outlet. Any retail customer can check the availability or source a part.

D2Dgateway.com says there will never be any spurious parts on the system. All parts are genuine.

Aherne added the service will potentially help reduce the millions of tons of waste produced by the motor industry each year.

“Teaming up with D2Dgateway.com gives us a unique, innovative and hassle-free resource for not only selling our parts stock to other motor dealers but also for sourcing much needed backlog or out of production parts,” Ian Moran, group financial controller for Windsor Motor Group said.

“We believe it will greatly assist in stock management and help reduce customer waiting time and the associated costs. We are excited with the progress to date and look forward to the implementation of D2Dgateway’s future plans”.

By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com