Table Of Contents
- Dealership Key Control Policies: The Foundation
- Steps To Have A Key Control Policy
- 1. Identify The Gaps In The Current Policy
- 2. Invest In A Key Control Solution
- 3. Make A Master Key System
- 4. Define Access Permissions
- 5. Train All Employees
- 6. Built-In Reporting
- 7. Smart Key Control
- A New Solution For Dealership
How To Create Effective Key Control Policies For Your Dealership
In some businesses, it can be difficult to decide which assets are most valuable or vulnerable to attack.
With dealerships, this process is often a whole lot simpler – your vehicles are both the primary driver of value production and the most vulnerable assets to damage and theft that you own.
A massive part of managing these assets lies in effective key management. Here, we take a closer look at how you can create effective dealership key control policies that tick all the boxes and keep your business interests at the fore.
Dealership Key Control Policies: The Foundation
Before you get started, you want to make sure that you know exactly what it is you’re working with by taking a complete inventory. After all, it’s very tricky to protect all your assets if you’re not sure what needs protecting.
List not just the cars but also the keys, spare keys, and area access keys. Master sets should be stored in a separate location altogether and subject to stricter access controls if possible.
Steps To Have A Key Control Policy
It is time to invest in a heightened security and key control policy. The main purpose is to keep your property safe, private, and secure. Here is how you can create a key control policy.
1. Identify The Gaps In The Current Policy
Before you get into the key control procedures of the company, it is important that you identify the major faults and weaknesses in the locks. The major issues could be:
- They are easy to copy.
- There is no audit trail.
- They are always working.
When you are aware of these vulnerabilities, you will be able to make sure that there is no gap in the policy that you will be having.
2. Invest In A Key Control Solution
While it used to be commonplace that dealerships would just use pegs in a wooden board with paper labels, this is no longer a viable solution in most cases.
Invest in an advanced solution from somewhere like KEYPer Systems, which takes a lot of the legwork out of key control already.
These kinds of electronic lockers automatically log when the key is signed in or out, creating digital paper trails that make compliance a whole lot easier.
By providing access control for each individual key as well, instead of the whole key box, it makes it a lot easier to protect individual assets.
3. Make A Master Key System
If you have chosen a keying system, the person responsible will design a master key system. The system shows which key works with which door. The master key systems are helpful as they give you control over access.
This helps you assign and restrict access to employees to particular assets or areas. Moreover, the key control system comes with an electronic access control that needs a card, fingerprint, fob, or some other form of credential to open the lock.
The system restricts time depending on credentials, date, and time. Moreover, it provides an audit trail for every attempted opening. It is also an important tool to investigate loss and crime.
4. Define Access Permissions
It’s important to invest in advanced solutions, but they’re only effective if you use them properly. Make sure that you define who in your organisation needs to have which level of access control.
Not all employees will need to have the same kind of permissions, and removing the possibility of over-privilege helps to keep your business safe while also making it easier to trace accidents or other issues that do occur.
5. Train All Employees
Lastly, no matter what kind of policy you implement, the most important part is making sure that everyone involved knows exactly how the solution you’ve chosen to implement works.
After you’ve chosen a system and process, make sure that you take the time to put together some kind of training day for all employees. After that, it will also need to be integrated into your onboarding process, and any changes to the overall process will need to be taught as well.
6. Built-In Reporting
Apart from security, the security policy should have a reporting feature that offers dealership managers important informations. Vehicle history reports show how often cars are shown and by whom, while employee reports help with the accountability and productivity.
Inventory reports display everything. It shows which cars are stagnating and which are moving. This helps sales managers optimize their marketing strategies as well as test drive management strategies.
All of these tools together improve every aspect of the dealership key control policies, from sales to service.
7. Smart Key Control
The modern automotive key management system is specifically designed for auto dealerships which is scalable and secure. Moreover, it lets you manage every item in the inventory with real-time visibility, precision, and accountability.
These modern systems do not keep keys on outdated pegboards. Instead, they keep it in a secure key cabinet with every key attached to a locking ring and microchip.
Only authorized staff will be able to access these with the unique user codes. Moreover, it will provide complete audit trails for all transactions.
A New Solution For Dealership
Dealership Key control policies aren’t just some annoying box that you need to tick, and especially not if you’re running a dealership of some kind.
It’s important that you take it seriously from the get-go, implementing a policy that fully protects the assets under your control from the threats they’re facing. Do it well, and you’ll massively simplify the incidents you’ll end up facing over the years to come.
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