New plans for dealer protection and profit

We sell Guidepoint through about 2,000 dealerships across the country these days, mostly as a product they can sell to consumers. Today, we're announcing a couple of new applications and plans that are aimed at helping the dealership protect their unsold inventory and loaner cars - while still giving them a profit opportunity.

Later today, we'll be announcing a new Loaner Car Protection Plan that will help dealers protect the vehicles they loan out to customers. Believe it or not, some customers don't return loaner cars in a timely manner and, occasionally, they don't return them at all. While the dealers can charge lates fees and fines, the reality is the dealership doesn't want to be penalizing its customers...it just wants the metal back. Our new loaner car plan gives the dealership the ability to remind the customer that the car is due back and, if things get really dicy, they can shut down the starter and use GPS to track the vehicle and send police to recover it.

We've also launched a new Lot Protection Plan that allows dealers to protect and monitor inventory vehicles. Cars do get stolen off dealer lots at times, and for mega-dealers, they sometimes get "misplaced." The lot protection plan will allow them to track the whereabouts of unsold vehicles and, in the case of a theft, use Guidepoint's award-winning stolen vehicle recovery service to get the car back quickly.

Here's the cool thing for the dealers: In addition to protecting the vehicle while the dealer still owns it, the Guidepoint unit can later be sold to the customer who purchases the vehicle. The consumer can then use the Guidepoint unit for a variety of services, from stolen vehicle recovery and emergency dispatch to turn-by-turn driving directions, tracking a teen driver or managing a business fleet.

Both the new plans use our state-of-the-art module and can be paired with an ODB-II connector for a fast and simple install. That should mean less time under the dash and, as always, time is money.

Our CEO, Rand, had this to say: "With the challenging economic climate, it’s more important than ever before for dealerships to reduce their losses and seek out new profit opportunities. These new services can help dealers cut losses from theft and vehicle misuse, but can also give them a unique and sought-after selling opportunity after the vehicle is sold.”

Both new plans utilize Guidepoint’s award-winning technology and services; including 24/7/365 call center support and an easy-to-use Web interface for tracking and controlling vehicles. We've really begun to use those assets to crank up the innovation in the past 18 months, and now deliver a range of services for vehicle owners, dealerships, lenders and business owners, including our award-winning stolen vehicle recovery, emergency dispatch, driver convenience, fleet management and vehicle tracking and control services.

Connectivity & services for new Visteon unit

Our creative geniuses in product development created a new Windows®-based application that will allow users of a new Visteon® Navigation System to access the Internet in their car or truck.

The product launch is still a few weeks off, but it's a touchscreen radio-nav head unit that Visteon is developing for the aftermarket.  We're going to provide connectivity and driver safety/convenience services by integrating the Visteon unit with a Guidepoint module.  Once they're tied together in the car, the integrated solution will allow users to surf the Web, track the car with GPS and access location-based services.

We are also going to be the exclusive provider of location-based content and services for the new radio-navigation unit, which is expected to be available in July 2009. Guidepoint will provide the following services through its 24/7/365 response centers and technology infrastructure:

• Emergency Services – customers will be able to access 24/7/365 emergency help to their pinpoint location with the touch of an icon on the radio-navigation unit’s touch-screen.
• Concierge Services – customers can access a variety of concierge services via a one-touch, Bluetooth-enabled connection to the Guidepoint 24/7/365 response center.
• Traffic – customers can get traffic reports within a 10-, 15- or 20-mile radius based on the current vehicle location.
• Weather – customers can get a current and future weather forecast based on the vehicle’s current location.
• Yellow Pages – customers can get comprehensive Yellow Page® listings, displayed on the head unit screen.

Here's what Jonathan Weisberg over at Visteon had to say:  “We’re pleased to work with Guidepoint, which has established itself as a leader in the consumer telematics industry over the past decade.  Their experience in consumer services and GPS-wireless technology, combined with Visteon’s vehicle systems expertise and overall automotive intellect, should help make this new product initiative successful.” 

Teen driver safety

Guidepoint has been doing vehicle tracking since 2002, but we've usually marketed that capability for a specific purpose. Our bread-and-butter has always been stolen vehicle recovery, because we grew up around the car security business and we know that customers aren't really buying a product from us -- they're buying a service that they need. And let's face it, when your car gets stolen, you don't just "want" help, you "need" help and pretty quickly.

That service orientation has been a guiding principle over the years, as we've added convenience services to make driving easier and safer, fleet services to make managing business vehicles more efficient, etc.

Today, we're announcing a new suite of services aimed at the teen driver market. We're calling it Vehicle Tracking and Control (VTAC), and it's designed to let a parent (you guessed it) track and control their young driver's vehicle. With a suite of protection features at the user’s fingertips, VTAC GPS owners can instantly view and track the speed and position of their vehicle from the Web browser of any Internet-enabled computer. In addition, they can set alerts to inform them when the vehicle has left a location or reached a destination, or travels outside a preset boundary. This is extremely useful for parents who want to ensure that young drivers travel safely. Every VTAC GPS system also includes Guidepoint’s award-winning stolen vehicle recovery service, plus other security and safety features including E-Call™ for emergency dispatch to the vehicle’s location.

In a lot of ways this is merely "old wine in new bottles" -- we've done tracking for a long time and parents have bought Guidepoint with the express purpose of tracking their teen drivers. What we've done is arranged the service offerings in a cost-competitive way that should really interest the market.

While we've primarily sold the Guidepoint stolen vehicle products through new car dealers in the past, the new VTAC GPS is going to be a branded product with the tagline "powered by Guidepoint" and we're going to sell it mostly through specialist retailers and mass merchants nationwide at a suggested retail price of $499, which includes one year of VTAC 200 service. Professional installation is recommended (at an additional cost.) For more information, visit http://www.vtacgps.com/ or call 877-GPS-FIND/877-477-3463.