Siebel eService Administration Guide Addendum for Industry Applications > Siebel eService for Automotive > Features in User Interface for Siebel eService for Automotive >

Inventory Search for Vehicles

Potential customers can find exactly the vehicle that they want by using your Siebel eSales Web site, by looking at your marketing material, or in some other way. Then, because virtually all vehicle sales are through dealers, they can see whether any dealers near them have that vehicle in the current inventory. Both anonymous and registered users can click the Inventory Search global button to use the Inventory Search view. For more information about making a vehicle available in a dealer's inventory, see the information about Siebel Automotive Tools in Siebel Automotive Guide.

Customers enter the following information:

• Their location. If customers want the vehicle at the nearest dealer, then they can enter either their ZIP code or their city, state, and country.
• New/Used Type. Customers use the drop-down list to specify whether they want a new or used car.
• From/To Model Year. If customers want a used car, then they use these fields to specify the range of years for the car.
• Make. Customers use the drop-down list to specify the make of the car.
• Model. Customers use the drop-down list to specify the model of the car.
• Trim. Customers use the drop-down list to specify the trim of the car.
• MSRP Less Than. Customers enter the maximum price that they want to pay for the car. This field applies to both new and used cars. The price is taken from the MSRP field of the vehicle record.
• Mileage Less Than. If customers want a used car, then they can enter the maximum mileage for the car.
• Search Range. Customers use the Distance In (miles or kilometers) and Search Range fields to specify the acceptable distance from their location to the dealer location.

When the user clicks Search, the results include all vehicles that meet the entered criteria.

NOTE:  Inventory search functions properly when you enter only one location for each dealer in the Dealer Locator Administration view. If one dealer has multiple locations, then inventory search might not function properly because a vehicle is tied to a dealer, not to a dealer location.

Inventory search uses information that you enter in the Vehicle screen of Siebel Automotive. A vehicle is available in a dealer's inventory when the vehicle includes the following values in the designated fields of the Vehicle form:

• Available value in the Status field
• Dealer value in the Owned By field
• The dealer name in the Account field