Mobile Apps Add VIN Decoding for Even More Accuracy

ShowMeTheParts is excited to announce the availability of ShowMeTheFilters.com and ShowMeTheExhaust.com mobile apps with VIN decoding. Both can now be found in the Apple and Android stores.

“We started ShowMeTheParts over 15 years ago with a handful of manufacturers and a big idea. Today we have over 450 manufacturers, 1,000+ brands, and bumper-to-bumper part coverage. While we’re excited to offer all those brands under one roof, we also understand that some end-users may focus on a certain area of repair.’ says Director of Sales, Paul Scripp. “It’s for that reason we launched our new ShowMeTheFilters and ShowMeTheExhaust mobile apps. By targeting two of the most popular repair segments, Quick Lube and Exhaust, we’re able to help shops quickly identify the correct part simply by scanning the VIN.”

In addition to the VIN decoding, ShowMeTheFilters.com also features additional coverage for Power Sport, Medium Trucks, and other equipment. Did you know that each state has a unique emission standard? ShowMeTheExhaust has the ability to allow users to search by converter.

With accurate part information direct from the brands including images, attributes, cross-references, installation instructions, and 360 images ShowMeTheParts strives to be the best spot on the internet for your aftermarket needs. The “Buy Now” links will take you from the catalog to the part’s landing page to purchase from over 20 different websites with no additional searching required.

Here’re links for the ShowMeTheFilters & Exhaust mobile apps:

Exhaust:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/showmetheexhaust/id1576089066

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.showmetheparts.smte

Filters:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/showmethefilters-vin-scanner/id1576089011

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.showmetheparts.smtf

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Non Automotive Lookup

Your parts fit more than Cars, Trucks, and Powersport! That is why we provide “Non-Automotive” look up to aftermarket manufacturers like you. Let us show you why our proprietary, non-auto look up is trusted by the largest retailers and manufacturers across the country. 

Until recently, the industry standard Vehicle tables only covered Cars, Trucks, and Powersport vehicles. There are many parts that fit more than that. Many times, Year/Make/Model search simply doesn’t work for some part type segments. Our “Non-Automotive” search is customizable to your specifications and is easy to work with for you and the users. 

What is “Non-Automotive”? Under this category you can find replacement parts that fit Marine, Industrial, Recreational, and Lawn & Garden to name a few. By having this category available, it allows you to list parts from your warehouse in the all possible locations within the catalog. This allows users, novice and seasoned, to easily find what they are looking for.  

These parts are unique listings, but our category makes it easier to find them. By utilizing our “Non-Automotive” catalog category you can get your aftermarket parts in front of the right users. Contact Sales@VerticalDev.com to get started 

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Vertical Development Earns Mighty Distributing’s Excellence in Service and Support Award

vertical development receives mighty distributing award

Vertical Development earned Mighty Distributing’s “Excellence in Service and Support Award” for helping them provide better parts information to their franchisees and customers. This award represents efforts made through a partnership spanning over 15 years as Vertical Development has helped Mighty deliver unparalleled support for their franchisees and customers. ShowMeTheParts provides Mighty with multiple solutions to deliver detailed parts information to their customers.

When Mighty Distributing System of America needed help, they turned to Vertical Development to manage their catalog system. As Mighty has developed their business, Vertical Development has been with them each step of the way, helping them transition to the digital age and build their support network. To recognize this exemplary service, Mighty gave Vertical Development their 2016-2017 Excellence in Service Award.

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What Do Self-Driving Fleets Mean for the Future of Aftermarket Parts?

driven by technology

Self-Driving cars are getting a lot of press, whether it’s Google cars roaming the streets, GM’s purchase of Cruise Automation, or Uber’s plan to put a fleet of self-driving Ford Fusions to work carrying passengers around Pittsburgh. How will this shift to self-driving vehicles affect parts management for fleets when their use becomes widespread?

What makes a self-driving car or truck different from a regular vehicle? To make a car self-driving, a system is added that uses a series of sensors to make judgments about driving conditions and react accordingly. A lot of the interface is already in the modern vehicle with systems like throttle-by-wire, adaptive cruise control and the steer-by-wire system recently introduced in some Infinitis. In other words, from a purely functional perspective, this just adds another small set of electronics to today’s electronically complicated systems.

In practice, there should be a major difference in how and when parts fail. Replacing human drivers with electronics means a consistent driving style across the fleet, and that should lead to fairly consistent wear patterns. Parts like brake pads and suspension components may wear with such consistency that they can be put on a maintenance schedule just like oil and filter changes.

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microGreen Filters Launches New Searchable Catalog Powered by ShowMeTheParts

microgreen catalog

When SOMS Technologies wanted to create an online catalog for its line of microGreen Extended Performance Filters, its team turned to Vertical Development for help. Using the API from our ShowMeTheParts (SMTP) database, together we created a searchable catalog that integrates seamlessly into microGreenFilter.com.

microGreen filters are designed to help fleet managers and consumers reduce maintenance costs by providing higher filtration performance in a package that’s a drop-in replacement for conventional filters. This extends oil life, decreasing oil change intervals for material and labor costs over an engine’s life. microGreen filters are designed for a wide range of equipment from small engines to larger gas and diesel engines.

To help make the transition from conventional to microGreen filters as simple as possible, SOMS Technologies worked with us to develop a catalog based around the ShowMeTheParts database. This catalog allows customers to find compatible microGreen filters using either vehicle information or parts numbers. Using our APIs, SOMS Technologies was able to seamlessly integrate the catalog into their own website, giving customers access to parts information from computers and mobile devices.

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ShowMeTheParts Gets Server Upgrades

speed and stability

ShowMeTheParts.com started out as a stock 2006 Ford Mustang. Over the past ten years, we’ve made many improvements. One year, we swapped out that V6 for the V8 and added a hood scoop. Another year we threw on 19” rims and gave her a nice paint job. These improvements attracted more and more customers over the years; growing our client list and our database. However, expansion and innovation hasn’t come without a few growing pains.

Through the years, we’ve dealt with browser incompatibilities, database downtime, changing Apple and Android requirements — you name it, we’ve seen it. No matter the problem, we always worked hard to tackle them head on and remedy them as fast as possible. More importantly, we’ve learned from each problem we’ve faced.

It’s the knowledge of our past that drove us to our greatest upgrades to date.

The upgrades began with a new server infrastructure that is faster, more reliable, and easily scalable to keep up with demand. The new system has real-time monitoring; it tells us immediately if a server goes off-line so we can work on getting it back up and running as soon as possible. In an effort to be more transparent and accountable for our service reliability, we plan on releasing monthly uptime reports in the near future.

On the software side, we’ve upgraded our applications to use the latest web technology and allow for centralized roll outs. With new versions of browsers coming out almost daily, our team is constantly testing our software to make sure it works perfectly on all major platforms and browsers. By switching to a centralized release system, we can push changes to our customers immediately, so everyone using our products will always have the latest features. That means reliable results across the more than one million application lookups per month — no matter how end users are accessing the database.

To put it in car language, most novices are only concerned about making the engine fast. But if they don’t put the same time and money into the brakes, steering and suspension, they will have a car that is fast but unstable. Just like with the Internet, fast but unstable is likely to cause a crash. Our recent upgrades give you both speed and stability.

The added performance gives us room to grow, and we’re still able to roll out new product information in a matter of days ensuring that the information you and your customers use is always up-to-date. Simply put, ShowMeTheParts works even better now and will continue to work as we further expand our software’s capabilities.

Get the fastest, most reliable database in the aftermarket industry, contact Vertical Development today. Call us at (847) 609-9540 or email sales@verticaldev.com.

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Aftermarket Supplier Husky Spring Creatively Moves into e-Commerce with ShowMeTheParts

husky spring website

Recently, we shared a story with Aftermarket Business World’s Technology section about how Husky Spring, an aftermarket supplier of springs and suspension parts, used ShowMeTheParts to develop an online catalog and strong e-commerce presence.

It’s a fascinating story because like many companies, Husky Spring’s shift toward online access started with customer requests and the drive to fulfill those requests effectively and inexpensively. As we’ve shared in previous articles, the growth of online catalogs and sales in the Aftermarket industry has been tremendous in the last few years. However, many niche suppliers find that the wide-market tech solutions are simply cost prohibitive, which is what makes ShowMeTheParts, along with our partners at Fuse5 and Weblink, a viable option for so many.

Read the full story about how we worked with Husky Spring to create a thriving e-commerce presence.

Ready to get started on your e-commerce site? Call us at (847) 609-9540 or email sales@verticaldev.com.

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