Transtar Industries is already known as a driver of digital applications that let repair shops order its products and services online. But its ecommerce site is about to go the way of the Studebaker and the Oldsmobile to make room for Transtar’s latest customer portal.

Transtar, a manufacturer and distributor of aftermarket auto parts, announced today the launch of Transend.us, a proprietary ecommerce platform equipped with a search tool designed to let buyers zero in on the right transmission and other driveline parts for each vehicle. Transend.us will soon replace Transtar’s legacy site, esource.transtar1.com.

The new ecommerce platform improves the online site search and ordering process, resulting in a 90% improvement in order accuracy and a 50% reduction in ordering time compared with traditional telephone orders, Transtar says. Buyers on Transend.us can search for parts for a particular vehicle by entering a vehicle’s license plate number, vehicle identification number, or a vehicle’s year, make, model and engine type.

Transtar says it designed the Transend search tool to better address the needs of repair shops today to search among hundreds of transmission types and accurately match the right parts to each individual vehicle in for transmission repairs. The new site also accesses web data on recorded repair work and parts sales, enabling buyers in repair shops to order the specific parts and brands used in repair work by other professionals.

Help for sales reps, too

Tom DeMille, vice president, sales and marketing, Transtar Industries

Transtar designed the new site to help its sales reps as well as its customers, Tom DeMille, vice president of sales and marketing, says. “By giving our customers immediate access to parts information online—all by simply entering the license plate of a car—we’ve enabled our sales team to develop more meaningful relationships with their customers,” he says. “The time that was spent matching part numbers to transmissions is now dedicated to working directly with shop owners to understand their needs with the goal of making them more profitable.”

Other technology and services Transtar makes available over the internet include its Remote Assisted Programming Kit, or RAP, for updating a vehicle’s built-in software programs. The RAP Kit, which Transtar offers in a partnership with Drew Technologies, includes a computer tablet that connects to a vehicle and downloads web-updated software programming.

The cost to repair shops of the latest Rap Kit, known as Rap 2, is a monthly subscription fee of $49.95 plus $125 per software download; Transtar waives the subscription fee in months when a repair shop uses the Rap 2 kit at least twice.

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