CDK Global has released a new service designed to help move dealers towards a paperless future.

Research by CDK Global, DMS and integrated IT systems provider, shows that UK dealers could save more than 130 million pieces of paper every year by digitalising new car sales documents – the equivalent of 16,000 trees.

With each new car sale generating an average of 50 sheets of paper and requirements for dealers to keep the records in some cases for seven years, it is estimated that well in excess of one billion pages of paper are being stored in the UK.

CDK Global has launched DigiDoc – a new cloud-based document management service that allows dealership staff to capture, manage, store and access electronic records from anywhere in the business and remotely, using a mobile device.

It is offering this service to work alongside its existing products, including Autoline Drive DMS.

Neil Packham, vice president and managing director, UK region for CDK Global, said: “When you consider the amount of documentation generated from all dealership functions, we estimate that, in total, UK car retailers are storing well in excess of a billion pages of information.

“Our innovative DigiDoc service can reduce waste and increase efficiency in dealership processes by storing confidential data digitally and securely, while cutting business expenditure on consumables and storage, as well as reducing a business’s environmental impact.”

The service also provides recognised industry standards of data security, which is increased with role-specific access permissions, while the chance of misfiling or losing documentation is significantly reduced with accurate and automated document storage.