Dealer Specialties (DS) provides custom vehicle merchandising services such as interior and exterior photography, interactive 360° reports, videography, detailed vehicle condition reports, and inventory management Saas apps among other dealership services.

Dealer Specialties' Lot Technicians / Photographers (Users) rely on the C.A.R.Score app daily to capture vehicle photos, conduct inspections, generate 360° spins in tandem with the Spin360° app, and manage their daily workload. However, the app’s interface and user experience had remained unchanged for several years, becoming increasingly outdated. After years of focusing on other applications and business priorities, it was time to modernize the CARScore app.

To resolve key pain points, modernize the CARScore app’s light and dark mode interfaces, enhance account accessibility, and elevate the overall user experience. To achieve this, I conducted a comprehensive heuristic evaluation, and conducted a few user interviews alongside Product Management.

Every change shown on this page was designed for both iOS and Android; however, for the sake of brevity, I’m going to show mostly iOS examples.

Let’s see the main UI improvements first and then the specific UX improvements:

Users primarily rely on three key apps: C.A.R.Score (Mobile), VINMotion (Mobile), and RapidLot (Tablet View Only).

VINMotion and RapidLot are typically used in tandem while working across different dealerships, as they serve similar roles and functions. The choice between them depends on the specific use case and service.

C.A.R.Score, on the other hand, is used by specialized teams focused on dealership photography and inspection services.

These apps had outdated UIs that failed to meet accessibility standards, making them difficult to use in real-world conditions. Since users often rely on them outdoors (Navigating dealership lots under harsh sunlight and other environmental challenges) screen visibility was a major issue.

Other things like typography in all-caps was also optimized for readability.

Most elements lacked sufficient padding, didn’t pass contrast tests for accessibility, and didn’t follow overall UI best practices.

Here are some examples of both light and dark modes before and after the UI enhancements.

The vehicle cards represent each job that a Lot Tech needs to complete. They show important information such as the job date, location, vehicle and dealership information, job status and more.

The previous card design worked for our users, in fact they did not complain much about them; however there were lots of simple yet effective improvements to be made to improve their perceived usability as stated in the UX law of the Aesthetic Usability Effect.

I created detailed annotations, and relied on Figma variables, tokenized colors, instance swap properties, and other features that allowed me to create reusable and scalable vehicle card components.

At times, when users need assistance from support regarding bugs or issues with the C.A.R.Score app, we found that 20% of the time, it is because they haven't downloaded the latest version. There are other ways to manage this issue, but this tends to happen more often than expected.

Users need to make sure they're running the latest version of the app and the previous setup had unnecessary pages buried under “Settings” adding unnecessary time and friction, and also extra weight and bloated code that could be trimmed down. I redesigned the flow, cutting it down from 3 taps to just 1.

This was also true for changing between light and dark modes.

Users reported having issues with knowing which jobs they needed to complete throughout the day. They currently get emails from their managers with lists of jobs that they need to complete, and it is up to them to find the specific dealerships on the C.A.R.Score app that they need to cover that day, and then find the jobs under each dealer.

I fixed the need for so many unnecessary steps by introducing a bottom navigation option for a general “Dealerships” view, and a “My Scheduled Jobs” view.

To vIew a specific dealership, and then switch to another, users needed to tap 6 times. I cut this down to 3 by introducing very simple signifiers such as back buttons, and also a bottom navigation option for “Dealerships” specifically.

By leveraging the Aesthetic Usability Effect, and following good UX best practices, simple changes go a long way. Our users' time navigating the C.A.R.Score app is now reduced, and their interaction with it is now more pleasant and perceived as better according to a pos-launch survey we ran, simply by incorporating these simple updates.

By streamlining the app and improving the user experience, Lot Technicians can complete more jobs efficiently, boosting their commissions and enhancing company revenue.