Open the vehicle, add a cost line with a description, vendor and amount, and repeat as work happens. Dealer Garage totals the costs and shows gross at list price, so you can price a car knowing what is in it and see what you made after the sale. Vehicle cost tracking and vendor tracking are in the free plan.
Before you start
Decide what counts as a cost: the purchase price, auction and transport fees, repairs, detailing, safety inspection, parts and any fees. Consistency matters more than precision.
Add your usual vendors (auctions, wholesalers, mechanics, detailers, lenders) once so you can pick them from a list.
Steps
- Open the vehicle in Inventory.
- Add a cost line. Give it a short description, choose the vendor and enter the amount.
- Repeat each time money is spent on the car, ideally the same day, with the receipt in hand.
- Check the total cost and the gross at list price that Dealer Garage shows.
- Adjust the asking price if the margin is thinner than you want.
- When the car sells, review the final figures and note what you learn.
Check that it worked
The vehicle's total should equal the sum of its cost lines. Compare it with your receipts for one car.
The dashboard should show the car in your reports once it is sold.
If something goes wrong
- Costs arrive late. Keep a folder for receipts per stock number and enter them weekly.
- Shared costs. For a cost covering several cars, split it and enter a line on each.
- You forgot to track a cost. Add it later; the totals update.
What to do next
Read the feature pages vehicle cost tracking and vendor tracking, and the guide how to calculate gross profit on a used car.
A worked example
A dealer buys a sedan for 7,800, pays 150 in auction fees, 400 for brakes, 120 for detailing and 60 for a safety inspection. Total cost: 8,530. At an asking price of 9,995, the gross at list is 1,465. If she sells at 9,500 the gross is 970. Seeing both numbers while she negotiates, she knows exactly how far she can move.
Reviewing the numbers monthly
- Which vendors cost the most per car?
- Which kinds of cars carry the highest repair costs?
- How often does the real gross differ from your estimate?
- Which vehicles sold fastest and at what margin?
Use the answers to decide what to buy, and what to leave at the auction.
Questions people ask
Can I track which vendor costs me most?
Yes. Attach vendors to cost lines to see what each source has cost.
Does it import bank data?
No. You enter costs yourself.
Try Dealer Garage
Dealer Garage is installable dealer management software for independent used-car dealers in the US and Canada: inventory, leads, deals, dealer paperwork, Facebook Marketplace posting and email campaigns, with records stored on the dealership's own computer..