Total key movements being tracked in UK car dealerships are now rising at a rate of 212,000 per week as managers seek more efficiency in working.

According to electronic key management firm Traka Automotive, the average monthly key movements – where a dealership employee requires the keys to a car for any particular task – have risen from 11,500 to 12,440 per site in the last six months.

Paul Smith, director of Traka Automotive, said: “The statistics tell a story not only of Traka Automotive rapidly increasing market share but also of near 100% adoption of the system by dealership staff who are seeing real value from using it to keep track of keys day in day out.”

Key movements can be tracked and measured to identify efficiency and security improvements, such as eliminating misplaced keys.

Access to keys is only given to authorised individuals using proximity access tokens or fingerprint biometric readers.  When a car arrives at a dealership, details are pulled from the DMS into eTag and the keys are allocated using an intelligent fob (iFob) which identifies the car during its life within the business.

Vehicle movements and users are tracked when the key is taken from, or returned to, a key cabinet.

From next year, Traka Automotive system users will also be able to access the system via Android and Apple iPhone or iPads smart devices, to find out which cabinet is holding relevant.