Motor Dealer Management Software DMS

Motor Dealer Management Software DMS

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Hi,
I'm trying to identify an affordable software system for managing motor dealer sales, stockbook, VAT etc.
I'm aware of a couple of options used by franchised dealerships but they all seem to cost tens of thousands up front, plus annual fees.
My requirement is more for small, independent dealers and mostly related to sales, stockbook and VAT, rather than workshop/servicing.
Does anyone know of any affordable good options? Or have any tips on how best to manage motor sales accounts without incurring major expense?
Thanks.

Replies (11)

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By levelheaded1903
17th Jun 2015 07:52

Hi I use VT for a motor dealer that I work for. VT handles the book keeping and the final accounts. The dealership only sells about 600 cars a year and has a small workshop, I feel at this size VT can just cope. The only issues I have is with the matching up of vehicle debtors, just because of the many potential transactions within a sale. I just make sure that all input is vehicle registration based, then I download and sort the info in excel, which then means I can clear the transactions easily within VT. The dealership doesn't hold much parts stock, so during the year I expense the lot then just adjust at year end. Vat is as usual with VT, just with added complexity of the margin scheme but we calculate that off line and I just journal that in. It has worked ok for me, I can see how others may think my option is a bit messy, but for the extra few hours they have to pay me a month for my time, is, as you say, cheaper than buying a bespoke system.

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Replying to Wanderer:
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By evanbx
18th Jun 2015 02:44

Does the motor dealer make entries in VT / VTT+ ?

levelheaded1903 wrote:
Hi I use VT for a motor dealer that I work for. VT handles the book keeping and the final accounts. The dealership only sells about 600 cars a year and has a small workshop, I feel at this size VT can just cope. The only issues I have is with the matching up of vehicle debtors, just because of the many potential transactions within a sale. I just make sure that all input is vehicle registration based, then I download and sort the info in excel, which then means I can clear the transactions easily within VT. The dealership doesn't hold much parts stock, so during the year I expense the lot then just adjust at year end. Vat is as usual with VT, just with added complexity of the margin scheme but we calculate that off line and I just journal that in. It has worked ok for me, I can see how others may think my option is a bit messy, but for the extra few hours they have to pay me a month for my time, is, as you say, cheaper than buying a bespoke system.
Thanks for the detailed outline of how you deal with it. It's a help to hear how others approach it.Do the dealership staff process the paperwork and make entries in VT/VTT+? My ideal is to set something up that the dealer and sales assistant can use day-to-day to spread the workload and not be overly dependent on bookkeeper/accountant workarounds.I guess it's mainly the vehicle deals (buy-ins, sales, trade-ins and vat) which cause the problems, so a tailored stockbook / car-sales solution would be sufficient, without the bells and whistles of a full DMS.
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By rorydowney
17th Jun 2015 09:28

Ambition Forms

I have implemented Ambition forms in a Auto Dealership. they wanted the stock traceabilty on an item basis, it depends then on what exactly you need in terms of MI

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Replying to james589:
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By evanbx
18th Jun 2015 02:35

Ambition Forms + SAP Business One ?

rorydowney wrote:

I have implemented Ambition forms in a Auto Dealership. they wanted the stock traceabilty on an item basis, it depends then on what exactly you need in terms of MI

Thanks, that sounds vey interesting. I hadn't heard of Ambition Forms before. Is it this http://www.ambitionadvantage.com/AmbitionForms/index.html or are there other suppliers?Does that mean you're using SAP Business One for the underlying accounting? May I ask, what sort of cost level is involved (up-front and on-going)?Thanks again.

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
17th Jun 2015 09:50

Dealer Click

Is very good its about £80 per month. But it all links to websites etc so when cars entered into stock it automatically updates the company website and and auto trader adverts for the vehicle. Works well for stock scheme although the bookkeeping side is a little basic but you can CSV the output into other accounting data if you so wish.

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Replying to Sid123:
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By evanbx
18th Jun 2015 02:38

Dealer Click v Dragon 2000 ?

Glennzy wrote:

Is very good its about £80 per month. But it all links to websites etc so when cars entered into stock it automatically updates the company website and and auto trader adverts for the vehicle. Works well for stock scheme although the bookkeeping side is a little basic but you can CSV the output into other accounting data if you so wish.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of Dealer Click before. It looks comprehensive. I'll have to arrange a demo. Do you have any experience of Dragon2000 and how it compares?

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
18th Jun 2015 09:22

Not Heard of Dragon 2000

I only came across click dealer or dealer click (I forget which way around it is) last year when i set up a system for a used car dealer locally. The sales lads had used it before and arranged a demo for it. I thought it was very good and the fact it could populate all the vehicle details to the website and autotrader simply from the number plate would save a lot of time.

A big thing for them as they also ran car buying website was re conditioning costs for each vehicle which it deals with very well. To be honest the sales lads did most of the work in the software and all I had to do was post the expenses and reconcile the bank. So it worked quite well.

Most main dealers have their own bespoke software so not loads of options for independants but I thought this was very good for money and did a lot more from a business point of view than just do the accounts and maintain stock book.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By evanbx
19th Jun 2015 03:33

Thanks Glennzy,

The tagging of re-conditioning costs to the vehicle would be on my software wish-list. Thank you for your help and additional info and opinion. I'll check it out further via a demo.

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By rorydowney
18th Jun 2015 11:28

Ambition Forms + SAP Business One ? evanbx

It's on OEM licence from SAP, so it has Ambition Forms laid over the entire offering from Business One. I'm not sure about up front costs, but for the whole thing hosted was around £80/month

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Replying to pauljohnston:
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By evanbx
19th Jun 2015 03:35

Thanks rorydowney,

It's quite reasonably priced. I'll have to investigate it further. It could be useful for other applications also. Thanks for your help.

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By levelheaded1903
19th Jun 2015 14:56

Hi - sorry for late reply - yes, the book keeper has access to VT and she processes all the transactions through VT, vehicle sales invoices, purchase invoices etc. I then have to process some of the transactions via journal, the PXs to stock book etc. All the payments / receipts handled normally. Finance income etc journalled in. As I say, the only real pain is when reconciling vehicle debtors, so many transactions to look at, but VT has managed fairly well. Had 2 vat visits in the period and no problems at all with being able to produce info to back up the vat returns etc,

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