Testing out a new kind of drive

SOUTH GLENDALE — As much as the “cash for clunkers” computer system annoyed local auto dealers with hours-long reporting delays and server crashes, it forced them to use technology that has some thinking about how to revolutionize the way they do business.

The Car Allowance Rebate System, which was set to stop accepting clunker submissions at 5 p.m. Tuesday, required dealers to scan and submit more than 10 documents into its website for each transaction they completed. The deadline was pushed back a second time from 9 a.m. Tuesday.

While the process still involved paperwork, it forced dealers to do more digital record keeping than ever before and exposed them to the potential advantages of putting more information into computers, managers said.

“It’s definitely the way of the future,” said Alexander Tissot, general manager of Colonial Honda in Glendale.

Although all local lots use some form of computer record keeping, they have stopped short of digitizing all transaction paperwork because some state agencies still require hard copies for specific contracts and documents, dealers said.

But the clunkers program required dealers to put together a computer file with all of a buyer’s documentation that was to be electronically submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

It was clumsy, but it gave managers a glimpse into the possibilities of more complete electronic records, they said.

Rich Smith, chief financial officer for Ellis Family Stores, which owns Glendale Dodge, found that the CARS reporting guidelines allowed him to create folders for each buyer that, if used for all transactions, could allow him to eliminate the countless boxes and file folders he currently keeps in storage rooms.

“I could put it on a thumb drive for Pete’s sake,” Smith said.

Glendale Dodge could cut down on expenses through digital record storage by keeping all its paperwork in computers, while making specific documents easily searchable within seconds.

Smith also took CARS instructions for scanning documents a step further by snapping digital photos of each car’s vehicle identification number, its license plate and a shot proving that the dealership indeed destroyed each gas-guzzling engine of the cars it accepted.