Jato Dynamics has announced the launch of its new solution, Car Mapper, designed to help speed up the process of used vehicle listings in the online marketplace.

An extension of Jato’s existing API solutions, Car Mapper has been developed for the digital marketplace to help improve the online purchase journey by providing customers with instant access to real-time second vehicle data.

The solution enables users to conduct a vehicle identification number (VIN) or vehicle registration mark (VRM) search.

Abel Leathem, product manager at Jato Dynamics, said: “We know there are currently several barriers preventing a seamless customer purchase journey across online platforms. Poor quality or inadequate data, reliance on outdated manual processes, and the mapping required from working with multiple suppliers are all inefficient and costly pain-points for dealers.

“That’s why we created Car Mapper, to plug this gap and accelerate the speed at which dealers can accurately describe and list used vehicles online.”

Jato said that with 86% of drivers wanting to complete at least one step of the buying process online, automotive digital marketplaces that do not provide access to up-to-date vehicle information could risk losing customers and sales.

The automotive retail sector’s used car shortages “will stick with us” for some time to come but it is not altogether bad news, Auto Trader commercial director Ian Plummer has told the AM News Show.

Cox Automotive customer insight and strategy director Philip Nothard has warned used car retailers to “remain cautious” as the sector heads into an in certain period of winter trading.