When you first open the Manheim Market Report, you're brought to a screen where you can choose the manufacturer of the vehicle you're interested in. You can see the opening screen in Figure A.

FIGURE A

Choose the make of the vehicle on the opening screen.

In this example, we've chosen Chrysler. You're then taken to a screen where you can choose the model of the vehicle, as shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B

Choose the vehicle model.

Next you can choose the body styles and model-years that match the previous selections, as shown in Figure C.

FIGURE C

Display of body styles and model-years that match the previous selections.

Finally you're provided with the mean prices for clean, average, and rough conditions. You're also given the mean mileage for vehicles in Average condition as shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D

Mean prices for clean, average, and rough conditions.

The QuickChange buttons at the bottom of the screen allow you to change to another vehicle with a single tap. The Change Miles button allows you to adjust the mean prices for mileage using a numeric keyboard.

Become an auto expert
The information in these digital guidebooks is always changing, with new data coming in all the time from the auction lanes. Users of the software can get regular updates every time they synchronize their Palm handhelds to their Internet enabled desktop computers.

It's a relatively new service for the company, having been in full use only a month now and in beta for six months before that, so as yet, Luppino hasn't received much feedback from users regarding ROI (Return on Investment) since replacing paper guidebooks with the Manheim solution. However, as I learned from Mike Kelly, ROI comes in more than just financial terms.

True, Kelly says, since using the Palm handheld solution for accessing this guidebook data, he has saved considerable money in that he no longer needs to purchase the updated paper guides. However, there are even greater advantages. For one thing, he no longer has to wait for the new guidebooks to be published. Instead, he updates his data every few days when he returns to the office to HotSync his Palm Vx to his PC. For another, Kelly says having the guidebook data at his fingertips has made him an expert on every car.

In terms of building relationships with clients, this is a priceless commodity. Kelly can walk up to any car on the lot cold, and with a few quick taps through the easy-to-navigate software, he knows the car's history and what it's worth. This helps him make a better bid on the vehicle, which can save his customers money.

In the future, Kelly envisions a day when he'll be able to expand the utility of his Palm handheld even further. He can imagine a pervasive computing scenario in which the Palm handheld can sense through its infrared port what car Kelly is standing in front of and instantly bring the pertinent information to the screen. We may be close to a similar solution already, as all cars at auto auctions have corresponding bar codes. With a bar code scanner attached to his Palm handheld, Kelly could simply scan the car's bar code and let the handheld do the work of finding the data he needs.