CarShots vs Dealer Specialties

Dealer Specialties is a business unit of Dominion Dealer Solutions, part of Dominion Enterprises. It sells vehicle merchandising services to US car dealers: photography, video, 360 tours and window stickers, done on your lot by its own field staff. It also sells VinMotion, its inventory and listing software, and your team can capture photos in the VinMotion Mobile app. AI background removal is an add-on.

CarShots covers one part of that job: listing photos and a short walkaround video, shot by your own team on any phone. So the first question is whether you want a vendor's staff on your lot or your own people on their phones.

A field service takes the work off your team. Dealer Specialties' local staff shoot the car on your lot, its videographers film LiveLot walkarounds, and the same company handles window stickers. You pay for that labor through a quote.

Shooting it yourself with CarShots takes some of a porter's or salesperson's time, but you decide when each car gets shot:

• On-screen outlines show where to stand for each angle, so anyone can shoot a car the same way.
• Each photo comes back on a clean backdrop in about 20 seconds, and photos process while you shoot the next angle.
• The same photos become a 15-second 360° walkaround video with voiceover and music, so there's nothing extra to film.
• There's no booth, lighting kit or turntable to buy. See how that compares with a photo booth.

Not necessarily. Dealer Specialties' field staff handle window stickers as part of the service. CarShots doesn't sell stickers, but its free tools cover the basics for used cars, with no signup:

• The window sticker maker prints a used car window sticker from the VIN, with your price, features and a QR code.
• The FTC Buyers Guide generator fills out the Buyers Guide for each used car, As Is or with a warranty.
• The window sticker lookup opens a car's original factory sticker on the manufacturer's site, where the manufacturer publishes one.