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Case Study: SEAT - Customs Declarations

Customer

SEAT Portugal (in partnership with T-Systems)

Sector

Import and Commerce of Vehicles

Country

Portugal

Context

SEAT Portugal began importing and selling directly SEAT branded vehicles, currently member of the Volkswagen group, using a network of dealers. The legalization and sale of the vehicles obey to complex legal procedures.

T-Systems, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Telecom Company, is a provider of information and communication technologies that, after the acquisition of Gedas – IT company belonging to the Volkswagen group – began to broke the purchase of IT services for the Volkswagen group.

Curiously, MoreData had began its activity, in the 80's, by developing and implementing IT systems in the area of customs declarations. MoreData automated all types of legally binding declarations, including customs declarations relating to vehicles.

Main Issues

The sale of any automotive vehicle requires the submission of a declaration to Direcção Geral das Alfândegas (DGA). There are many types of declarations: admission, import, export and settlement.

Only after completing all the proceedings with DGA, are the vehicle's documents issued, including the license plate and vehicle registration, making it then possible to circulate with the vehicle in national territory.

Customs declarations are currently carried out through the exchange of electronic files containing all information required by DGA.

The issue here however lays on the short deadlines for the declarations submission, being noted that vehicles can be transported in large batches (when arriving by sea, for example), which difficult the manual or semi-manual treatment. This problem became particularly critical when SEAT started to sell directly their vehicles.

Big car manufacturers like Volkswagen have highly evolved information systems, that allow to track the necessary information on each vehicle. However, for customs purpose, this information has to be retouched and placed in files with the appropriate format.

The batch processing, even if just part of it, needs to trigger an update on both the manufacturers systems (plant or local branch) from the dealers files so that end customers can move freely with the purchased vehicle.

In short, the time of statements processing time is very important: on admission, because the costs of staging the transports are very high and, in the settlement, because the client is often eager to receive the car. Everything has to function efficiently.

Our Solution

Due to the experience already gained, shared with several car importers, MoreData was selected – negotiations began with the aforementioned Gedas, and finished with T-Systems – to provide the information system for cars customs declarations management.

It should be noted that the MoreData implemented the system, including all the modifications, in an exceptionally low time of one month, which allowed SEAT to honor their commitments of time, both among its dealers and, above all, their customers.

Since the initial implementation, the system has been improved, allowing SEAT to work with increased efficiency and respond appropriately to the demands of its dealers and customers.

The Benefit

With the system for customs declarations for automobiles MoreData implemented, SEAT managed to respond quickly to the demands and growing expectations of customers and dealers.

As all information about the vehicles traded in Portugal is accumulated in databases, SEAT can look, plus, to the profiles of its customers.


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