Dealership's DVR System is No Lemon

Mar 1, 2004 12:00 PM

With nearly $15 million in inventory sitting on the Allen Samuels Chevrolet lot in Waco, Texas, at any given time, one might assume that the car dealership's new digital video surveillance system was installed to help prevent theft and vandalism.

Certainly that's one use for the dealership's digital video recorder (DVR) system from March Networks, says president and general manager Bart Cooper. But the primary use for the system, says Cooper, is to record everything that is said and done in the business' Finance and Insurance (F&I) offices — the place where purchase prices are confirmed and financial agreements signed.

Like many other car dealerships, Allen Samuels originally relied on a VCR-based surveillance system. “It was hard to keep up with all the tapes and what was even worse was going back through those tapes to find a specific incident,” Cooper says.

Eventually, the dealership chose a March Networks 4000 Series DVR system after a demonstration by systems integrator A&A Telecom Group. Allen Samuels has 24 cameras connected to the DVR system to monitor and record activities in its new and used car lots, all property access points, the F&I offices and its new showroom. In some areas, the system is integrated with existing cameras from the older analog system, while in other cases the dealership opted to install higher-quality color cameras.

While the F&I offices are currently the only location where both video and audio are recorded, Martin says all the necessary wiring is in place to activate the audio capability in its service advisors' area as well.

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