Matthews TradePro
  • Custom Web Application
  • Database Design
  • Mobile Field Forms
  • Workflow Automation
  • Website Integration
  • Hosting & Maintenance
Matthews TradePro

Matthews Buses has sold Thomas Built school buses to districts across New York State since 1967. When a district buys new buses, it usually trades in older ones, and those trade-ins are often what make the deal work. Every one of them has to be inspected, documented, priced by the used bus manager and, eventually, picked up.

TradePro is the custom web application we built to handle all of it: from the first walk-around in a district’s bus garage, to the trade allowance, to a live listing online before the bus ever reaches the Matthews lot.

The Inventory Was

Walking

Around in Pockets

Before TradePro, trade-in details lived wherever a salesperson happened to put them: a printed trade sheet, a spreadsheet on one laptop, notes folded into a jacket pocket. A single district might be trading ten or twenty buses, each with its own VIN, mileage, engine, equipment, title and pickup contact.

Getting a trade allowance meant tracking down the used bus manager and hoping the details were complete. Management had no easy way to see how many buses were coming in, when they would arrive or what had been promised for them.

And a bus that could have been sold the week it arrived often sat on the lot while the paperwork caught up.

A yellow school bus parked at a bus garage
A technician inspecting a school bus engine

We Followed

Every Bus

From Garage to Lot

We started with the spreadsheet Matthews had been using and the trade sheet every salesperson filled out by hand. Then we walked through everyone who touches a trade-in along the way: the salesperson in the district’s garage, the used bus manager setting the allowance, the managers planning the year and the buyers waiting for inventory.

Each of them needed something different. Salespeople needed something fast that works on a phone in a bus garage. The used bus manager needed every detail in one place to put a fair number on each bus. Management needed the big picture.

So TradePro gives every role its own view of the same live information, and only the people who should see allowance numbers ever see them.

From the Garage

to the Allowance

A salesperson opens TradePro on their phone, snaps a photo of the VIN plate and the app reads the VIN for them. They fill in the year, mileage, engine, fuel type, wheelchair lift, air conditioning and everything else on the old trade sheet, add photos, and group the district’s buses into one trade sheet.

Drafts save as they go, and a morning email reminds each salesperson of anything still unfinished. When a trade sheet is ready, they submit it, and the used bus manager knows it’s waiting.

Everyone Sees

the Same Picture

The used bus manager reviews each bus, sets its trade allowance and publishes it. The salesperson gets an email listing their priced buses, and requests for additional allowance go to the sales manager for approval the same way.

Management has a live dashboard: buses in the pipeline, allowance committed, upcoming pickups, buses waiting on a school board vote, drafts going stale and titles still needed. Every list can be filtered, sorted, bulk edited and exported to Excel in a click.

TradePro used bus report, bus inspection page and phone form
A row of Thomas Built school buses

Listed Online

Before

It Arrives

Matthews knows which buses are coming in and when, often months before pickup. With the flip of a switch in TradePro, a bus becomes a live listing on Used Bus World, Matthews’ used bus website, complete with photos, year, type and mileage. Allowances, contacts and internal notes never leave TradePro.

Buses can now be marketed and sold while they’re still in service at the district, instead of waiting on the lot to be noticed. Matthews can also share selected buses with their preferred used bus buyer, who sees only the buses offered to them.

Built Around

How Matthews Works

  • Custom Web Application
  • Workflow Planning
  • Database Design
  • Mobile-Friendly Field Forms
  • VIN Photo Recognition
  • Photo Management
  • Role-Based Permissions
  • Automated Email Reports
  • Management Dashboard
  • Excel Export
  • Website Listing Integration
  • Hosting & Maintenance
TradePro bus inspection form with VIN scanning on a phone

No More

Pocket Listings

Matthews couldn’t be happier with TradePro. Every trade-in bus is entered, tracked and priced in one place. Salespeople get their allowances faster, the used bus manager has everything needed to set a fair number, and management can see exactly what’s coming in and when. Buses that used to wait on the lot are on the market before they arrive.

Want to

See More?

The TradePro sign-in screen

Outgrown Your Spreadsheets?

We’ll Build

What You Need

If your team is juggling spreadsheets, paper forms and email chains to keep the business moving, a custom web application can tie it all together. We’ll learn how your people actually work, build a tool that fits, and stay with you to keep it running and growing.

Reach out today and let’s talk about what’s slowing you down.

Contact Us Today