How to add a vehicle to your inventory and decode its VIN

Before you start

Have the VIN ready. Read it from the dashboard plate or the door sticker, not only from paperwork, so a typo does not become the record.

The VIN lookup sends only the VIN to the public NHTSA service. No customer or deal information is sent, and everything you save stays on your computer.

Steps

1. Open Inventory and choose to add a vehicle.
2. Enter the 17-character VIN. Letters I, O and Q never appear in a VIN.
3. Choose decode. Year, make, model, trim and other details are filled in.
4. Compare the decoded year and make with the car and the registration, and check trim and engine against the window sticker or the options on the car.
5. Correct anything the decoder left blank or generic.
6. Add photographs, the status (for example In stock), the purchase cost and your asking price, then save.

Check that it worked

The vehicle appears in your stock list with the details you entered. Search for it by VIN or stock number to confirm.

If something goes wrong

• The VIN does not decode. Check each character, make sure you are online, or enter the details by hand and decode later.
• Trim is generic. Some trims and packages are not in public data; fill them in from the window sticker.
• Very old or imported vehicle. Vehicles before 1981 do not have standard VINs and imports may decode partly; enter details manually.

What to do next

Record every cost with the cost tracking how-to and print a window sticker.

Good habits when adding stock

• Add the vehicle the day it arrives, even if details are incomplete.
• Use a consistent stock number scheme, such as year and sequence.
• Photograph before you recondition, then again after.
• Record the purchase cost immediately, with the vendor.
• Set the status honestly: In stock, Pending, Sold.

A worked example

A dealer picks up a 2018 crossover from an auction. At the lot she enters the VIN, decodes it and corrects the trim from the window sticker. She adds the auction fee and transport as cost lines and sets the asking price. When the detailer finishes, she adds the invoice. Two weeks later, the car sells and the profit is already on the screen, because every cost was entered as it happened.