Dealer Management System Development

VIN-decoded vehicle records capturing make, model, variant, colour, engine, transmission, mileage, and optional equipment. VIN decoding is performed against the NHTSA VIN API, which returns the full vehicle specification from the 17-character VIN without manual data entry -- make, model, model year, trim, engine displacement, fuel type, transmission, and GVWR are populated automatically, with the sales team adding stock-specific fields like colour, odometer, and retail price. This is the same VIN decode approach used by CDK Global, Reynolds and Reynolds, and DealerSocket at the core of their inventory modules.

Stock status tracking from point of entry -- new, used, fleet, demo -- through preparation, available, reserved, and sold. OEM factory order integration allows new vehicle orders to appear in the inventory system at order placement, tracking through build scheduled, built, in transit, and arrived status as the OEM portal status updates. Multi-location stock management for dealer groups with stock transfers between sites and a single stock view across all locations. Vehicle age and days-in-stock reporting flags aged stock before it becomes a margin problem: a configurable threshold triggers an alert at 45, 60, and 90 days in stock, giving the sales manager visibility before the vehicle requires a price reduction to move. The inventory record that gives every department -- sales, service, and parts -- a consistent view of what is in stock.

Lead capture from web enquiries, phone calls, and walk-in traffic recorded against a customer record. Lead assignment and follow-up task sequences for sales executives, with configurable sequences: a web enquiry triggers a call task within 2 hours and an email follow-up at 24 hours if not contacted, with the sequence stopping once the lead is progressed to test drive. Test drive scheduling linked to vehicle availability so a sales executive cannot book a test drive on a vehicle that is reserved or off-road for preparation. OFAC check on the buyer is run at the deal stage -- the customer's name and address are verified against the Office of Foreign Assets Control consolidated sanctions list before finance submission, a compliance step required by FTC regulations for dealer financing arrangements.

Deal progression through a configurable sales pipeline -- enquiry, test drive, valued, offer made, accepted, finance submitted, handover booked -- with each stage transition captured with a timestamp and user record. Customer purchase history and service history visible to the sales team at the point of conversation: the sales executive can see every service visit, warranty claim, and previous vehicle the customer has bought through the dealer group without leaving the customer record. Pipeline value by stage and sales executive gives management a live view of deals likely to close this month and the revenue they represent, using the same gross profit data the F&I module tracks per deal. The CRM that keeps every lead followed up and every deal visible to management without requiring manual pipeline updates in a separate spreadsheet.

Finance proposal creation from deal data -- vehicle price, part-exchange value, deposit, finance term, and rate. The F&I module pulls the deal record from the sales CRM so vehicle price, trade-in allowance, and deposit are already populated without re-entry. Affordability and eligibility check integration with lender APIs submits the customer's financial data and receives approval decisions and conditional offers from multiple lenders in parallel, giving the finance manager a comparison of available finance options within a single interface.

FTC Rule 455 compliance for used vehicle sales is built into the deal workflow: the Buyers Guide disclosures for "As Is" or "Limited Warranty" are generated automatically from the vehicle record and presented to the customer as a required step before the deal documents are signed, with the signed acknowledgement retained against the deal record. F&I product presentation covers paint protection, gap insurance, extended warranty, and tyre and alloy insurance with retail price, cost, and commission rate tracked per product per lender -- some lenders pay different product commission rates than others, and the system surfaces this to the finance manager during the presentation. Document generation for finance agreements, part-exchange valuations, FTC disclosure forms, and vehicle handover packs is triggered from the approved deal record, producing the full document pack without manual assembly. Connected vehicle telematics data ingestion -- for dealers handling fleet or subscription vehicles -- allows the DMS to ingest OTA recall management updates from OEM portals and flag affected stock or customer vehicles for service notification. F&I commission reporting per deal and per finance manager feeds the payroll calculation and the finance manager's performance dashboard.

Service booking linked to the customer record and vehicle record, with technician skill-based assignment: each technician's competency profile lists the operations they are qualified to perform -- OEM-trained on specific model lines, licensed for air conditioning work, qualified for diagnostics -- and the booking system assigns incoming jobs to available technicians whose skill profile matches the required operation. This is the same assignment logic that enterprise DMS platforms like Reynolds and Reynolds Service module use to prevent jobs being booked to technicians who are not qualified for the work.

Job card creation from booking with work description, labour operations, and parts required. Technician labour time recording against each operation enables productive hours vs. available hours reporting, the efficiency metric used by service managers to identify whether their labour utilisation is meeting the target recovery rate. Work-in-progress tracking shows each job's status in real time so service advisors can give customers an accurate ETA without walking into the workshop. Warranty claim processing is integrated with OEM portal APIs where the manufacturer provides them: the job card data is formatted and submitted to the OEM warranty portal, the claim decision and payment amount are received back, and the transaction is recorded against the job for cost reconciliation. Customer communication at key stages -- vehicle received, work in progress, additional work identified, work completed, ready for collection -- reduces inbound calls to the service desk. Invoice generation from the completed job card with parts, labour, and warranty claim offset charges. The service workflow that connects every customer visit back to the same record the sales team can see, including service history visible at the next sales conversation.

Parts catalogue with manufacturer part numbers, descriptions, and supersession chains -- when a part number is superseded, the system automatically resolves the current part number rather than returning a not-found result that sends the parts advisor to a separate lookup. Parts stock levels per location with reorder points configured per part: the reorder point is calculated from average daily demand and supplier lead time, triggering a reorder suggestion when on-hand stock falls to the level where a replenishment order needs to be placed to avoid a stockout before the next delivery arrives.

Supplier ordering workflow with purchase order generation from suggested order quantities, goods receipt recording against the purchase order, and invoice matching for accounts payable. Core return management tracks exchange parts with core charge amounts and return deadlines per supplier, preventing cores being missed and core charges written off. Parts usage is linked to workshop job cards so every part fitted is invoiced correctly -- the parts pick for a job card reduces stock on hand in real time, and the job card cannot be invoiced without all parts accounted for. OEM parts catalogue and pricing feed integration keeps the local catalogue current with manufacturer part number updates and list price changes without manual catalogue maintenance. Slow-moving and obsolete stock reporting flags parts with no usage in the past 180 days, giving the parts manager visibility to return or discount stock before it becomes a write-off. The parts operation that keeps workshop first-time fix rates high and parts write-offs low.

Sales pipeline reporting showing leads by source, conversion rates by sales executive, and deal count and gross profit by period. Lead source analysis identifies which channels -- website, walk-in, phone, referral, manufacturer lead programme -- produce the most deals and the highest gross profit per deal, informing where the marketing budget should go. Aged stock report flagging vehicles by days in stock with a configurable threshold: vehicles at 30 days receive an advisory flag, vehicles at 60 days appear on the sales manager's action list, vehicles at 90 days trigger a pricing review recommendation with the current retail price vs. book value comparison displayed.

Workshop utilisation showing productive hours vs. available hours by technician, which is the efficiency ratio service managers track against a target of 85-100% labour recovery. Technicians below target trigger a review of job allocation and booking density rather than remaining invisible until a month-end payroll reconciliation. Gross profit by deal across vehicle margin, F&I product income, and part-exchange back-end margin gives the principal a full deal profitability view rather than just front-end vehicle gross. Service revenue by operation type and labour category. Parts margin by supplier and product line. The reporting layer is designed to replace the dealership's reliance on exporting data from separate CDK, DealerSocket, or Reynolds and Reynolds modules into a shared spreadsheet -- one reporting layer across sales, service, and parts with live data rather than last-month exports.