5 Common Car Dealer Stock Management Mistakes and How Your Dealership Can Avoid Them

05 Jul 2022 Helpful Tips

 

Stock Management, it’s a word that is used all to often in the Australian Automotive Inventory. Having a strong vehicle stock management is the key to success for Motor Dealers in 2022. A strong stock management process should put your dealership in a good position to grow.

In saying that, many Motor Dealerships make simple and expensive stock management mistakes that increase both the risk of customer loss and worse, insolvency.

Here are 5 Common Car Dealer Stock Management Mistakes and How Your Dealership Can Avoid Them.

1. Incorrect Vehicle Stock

The biggest mistake car dealerships make in 2022 is having the wrong vehicle stock. To be successful buying and selling cars, motor dealers need to source cars that customers are looking for. The best way to do this is by researching the latest trends and analysing recent sales data.

As a dealer, your number one priority is to sell cars as fast as you can, the longer a car sits around, the more you have to pay, it’s that simple. To avoid experiencing this issue, dealers need to look at recent sales figures, find out what types of cars are popular, and most importantly try to find ways to source those vehicles. The more you understand what your customer wants, the less likely you are to have a vehicle sit in stock for long periods of time.

Related Article: Australia’s Most Popular Used Car Models.

2. Wrong Pricing Strategy

Customers are becoming more and more price sensitive, if you have an outrages price attached to your cars, you will scare customers away. To maximise sales, it is so important your dealership has an appropriate and competitive pricing strategy that meets industry standards.

Before your dealership advertises cars for sale, it is important that you research what similar vehicles are selling for. Make sure your prices align with others in the market. Of course, there is some wriggle room you can worth with, either being slightly under competitors or slightly higher, but if your price is so far away from others in the market, you may spook potential car buyers. Pricing will often make or breaks a sale, so it is so important that you get it right!

Related Article: Reasons Why Car Dealerships Fail – How Your Dealership Can Avoid Them.

3. Advertising Vehicles for Sale that are no longer available

One of the most frustrating things as a Car Buyer is enquiring on a vehicle you are interested in only to find out that it is no longer available. When this happens, you never want to deal with that dealership again. When managing vehicle stock, it is so important that you update your online records as soon as you sell a car!

Many dealerships make the mistake of updating their online vehicle records once a week or even longer. The problem with this is you run the risk of upsetting potential car buyers who may be interested in buying from you. For dealers, it is important to introduce a system that automatically updates your online listings as you buy and sell. It will ultimately save you time, money, and reputation.

Related Article: 5 Common Vehicle Advertising Mistakes Motor Dealers Make in 2022.

4. No Reporting

Reporting is by far the most important part of the vehicle stock management process. If your Dealership doesn’t report on vehicle stock, you could be losing money! How would you know how long cars have been sitting around for?

For the longevity of your dealership, it is so important to frequently report on your vehicle stock. Find out how long vehicle stock has been sitting around for, report on how many enquiries each vehicle stock has received and based on the data, tweak your offering to get the car to sell. The stronger your dealerships reporting is, the better position you will be in.

Related Article: How Motor Dealerships Can Improve Reporting.

5. Managing Stock Manually

One of the most time-consuming things you can do as a motor dealer is manage stock manually. Think about it, you need to manually record, calculate, and report on each individual car you have in stock. The more stock you have, the longer the process is! One of the biggest problems with managing vehicle stock manually is it is extremely prone to error. Making one slight mistake can cause major issues that could take hours to fix.

To streamline the vehicle stock management process, dealers need to implement a dealer management system (DMS). Using a dealer management system like EasyCars, stock reports automatically update as you buy and sell. In the click of a button, dealers can export management reports that show you how long a vehicle has sat in stock and what vehicles have sold, without you needing to do any of the heavy lifting. The less time your dealership spends on stock management, the more time you have to focus on your primary role of buying and selling cars.

Related Article: How Using a Dealer Management System Helps Customers.

Final Word,

Vehicle stock management is a vital task for all Motor Dealerships. If done correctly, your stock management process should put your position in a great position to grow. If done incorrectly you could hemorrhage money and risk customer loss. The 5 mistakes mentioned above are common in the Automotive Industry and can be avoided through the solutions presented.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To read more articles like this, please visit the EasyCars latest news page here.

About EasyCars

EasyCars by Jeal is an Australian, web-based, dealer management system that automates the buying and selling of motor vehicles. Using the latest technologies, EasyCars removes frustrations experienced at the dealership and opens your doors for greater growth.

EasyCars features include Simple Stock Management, Automated Advertising, Integrated Accounting, Government Compliance, Business Reporting, Reviews Management, Dealership Websites and more.

To learn more about EasyCars Dealer Management System or to arrange a no-obligation free demo, contact us today on 1300 473 744 or submit the form below.

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