Efficient processes and lower costs thanks to bezahl.de

As a family business, the Brandenburg car dealership has existed for over 50 years. Today, the founder's son, Ralf Brandenburg, runs the four branches together with Michael Niebel, his brother-in-law. The company sells new and used cars to end customers and dealers around Düsseldorf. The team has a particular passion for golf: They were one of the first sponsors of eventual major winner Martin Kaymer and they still support young athletes today.

Information about the company:

Founding: 1969 in Düsseldorf

Branches: 4 car dealerships in Düsseldorf, Hilden, Mettmann and Dormagen

Staff: 240

numbers: 5,000 new and used cars per year

brands: BMW, Mini, BMW i, BMW M, Kia

Time-intensive processes for bookkeeping in a B2B car dealership

The Brandenburg car dealership has two core businesses: Here, cars are not only sold to end customers, but are also auctioned off to dealers on a weekly basis. Through this trade, the company generates around ten to 15 percent of its total volume. However, this means a particularly high level of effort for internal administration.

The challenge in the auction business: The dealers want to pick up the cars as quickly as possible. However, the accounting department must ensure that the money has been irrevocably received in the correct account. This results in complex processes — after all, 20 to 50 cars are auctioned off every week — as a result of inquiries in the accounting department, which cost employees a lot of time.

If a payment is received by mistake on an incorrect account, for example in Hilden, even though the auctioned car is parked at the Düsseldorf branch, the processes are extremely delayed. In the past, employees spent a lot of time checking incoming payments and answering inquiries from retailers. Bureaucratic hurdles in simplifying bank account transactions have led to managing director Ralf Brandenburg looking for further ways to optimize processes.

Quick and easy collaboration with bezahl.de

Ralf Brandenburg found out about his wife, who knows the car dealership industry well herself, via bezahl.de. Simplifying the entire process related to car sales was important to the entrepreneur. With the know-how of bezahl.de, this goal was within reach. The collaboration was quickly concluded:”It was completely uncomplicated, as you would expect from a start-up,” Ralf Brandenburg tells enthusiastically. After a presentation by bezahl.de at the car dealership in front of Brandenburg and a few employees, they were able to get to know each other.

The new collaboration was pleasing right from the start: Thanks to the short distances, the teams from the car dealership and bezahl.de were able to respond to specific needs. The Zahl.de team was also able to learn a lot: The professionals from Autohaus Brandenburg provided the software experts with the most important information for implementation right from the start. Just around two months after getting to know each other for the first time, payment processing and process organization with bezahl.de was implemented in the Alpha Online software. So far, the car dealership has been using bezahl.de for B2B car sales to dealers. An introduction of the tool for selling cars to end customers is planned.

Encouraging customer feedback for digitized payment processes

Managing Director Ralf Brandenburg and his employees are raving about the change in processing: “It's a blessing for us. ” Brandenburg sees the fact that retailers have also accepted the new transaction quickly and without hesitation as confirmation of the benefits of the software.

The use of bezahl.de significantly reduces the workload for accounting, which has accelerated the entire business. Employees are now being deployed more effectively elsewhere. Retailers are pleased to be able to process payment transactions digitally quickly and easily. “It also looks more professional for the business partner,” Ralf Brandenburg summarizes with satisfaction. As a result, buyers will receive their cars around two days earlier than before. For the car dealership, costs are therefore also reduced due to downtime. Buyers receive their cars earlier, while the payment process for the car dealership is simplified — a win-win situation.

Expanding digital payment management to other business areas

In the future, bezahl.de will also be used to sell cars to private customers. Ralf Brandenburg is looking forward to tackling these challenges in order to speed up and simplify processes in private customer business as well.

All important facts at a glance

• Significant acceleration and simplification of manual processes in accounting
• Positive feedback for real-time digital payment process from car dealership customers
• Successful cooperation between bezahl.de and Alpha Online simplifies future project implementation