How Car Dealers Can Track Vehicle Sales and Purchases
Record the purchase properly, at the time
The moment a car comes in, capture what you paid, who you bought it from, and the date. Then, as reconditioning happens — paint, tyres, a service — add each cost against that specific car. If you leave this to memory, the margin you calculate later will be wrong, usually in the optimistic direction.
Tie every cost to the vehicle, not a general expense pool
A common mistake is booking reconditioning as a lump monthly expense. Attach it to the car instead. Then, at any asking price, you can see the real margin that sale would leave, and you know your floor before you start negotiating.
Record the sale with the details that matter
Final negotiated price, payment type (cash or instalment), the salesperson, and the customer. This is what lets you see later which salespeople are discounting hardest, which stock is selling near asking, and which customers are worth following up.
Keep sold cars in the record
Do not delete a car when it sells — move it to sold. The history of what you bought and sold, at what margin and how fast, is one of the most useful things you own when deciding what to buy next.
Let the system do the maths
In Motrade's Showroom ERP, purchase cost, reconditioning and sale price sit on the vehicle, and the margin and reporting fall out automatically. The job is to record accurately as you go; the numbers take care of themselves.
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