Case Study: DriveTime achieves data-driven, scalable auction buying and reduced reconditioning costs with Microsoft Azure

Auto retailer transforms business processes and creates opportunity with custom app

DriveTime, a U.S. auto retailer that sells more than $2 billion in used cars annually, faced a costly, manual vehicle‑buying process: 65 buyers inspected tens of thousands of cars at auctions using paper notes, relying on experience and intuition with little real‑time office visibility. With no IT priority or budget for traditional development, the company needed a faster, more systematic way to capture expertise and make auction purchases more efficient and repeatable.

Using Microsoft PowerApps, Azure SQL Database and Microsoft Flow, DriveTime built the Online Buyer web app in about a week, connecting buyers to video feeds of up to four auctions, integrating mobile inspection reports, auction feeds and Kelly Blue Book values, and automating workflows. The result: buyers can buy three times more vehicles than in person, the company shifted to data‑driven decisions and better collaboration, and small per‑vehicle savings (e.g., $10) translate into large annual gains (about $1.6 million), while the app serves as a model for other teams to bypass IT backlogs.

DriveTime

Lisa Aguilera

Assistant Director, Business Intelligence