A big UK dealer group successfully tracked down a brand new automobile that had been lost in its group stock for over a yr after using inventory review technology.
The vehicle was uncovered when senior managers carried out a routine review of overage stock across the group using Autofinity’s ViHUB vehicle inventory management and publishing platform.
The automobile had been ordered for a customer, however the sale was never accomplished, and the vehicle remained in group stock for greater than a yr.
The incident highlights how gaps in inventory visibility can affect dealer profitability, particularly as vehicles are depreciating assets.
Autofinity said an absence of an entire, accurate overview of group stock makes such situations more likely, especially for giant dealer groups operating across multiple sites with hundreds of vehicles to trace.
Losing vehicles isn’t unusual
Andy Whitehair said: “Unfortunately, this type of situation isn’t unusual. It is extremely difficult for giant dealer groups with multiple sites that retail hundreds of units per yr to trace every vehicle.
“Apparently, the vehicle, which was value greater than £40k, was literally sitting in group stock where it had been for 400 days after it was ordered on behalf of a customer, but for one reason or one other, the sale was never accomplished.”
Whitehair said that while it’s normal practice to remarket a vehicle quickly when a deal falls through, this will fail if internal systems should not updated appropriately.
He said: “Obviously, it’s common practice that when a sale falls through, the dealership or group offloads the vehicle in one other sale as quickly as possible prior to the receipt of the manufacturer’s invoice.
“Nonetheless, on this case, the vehicle was ignored and remained in stock for over a yr, which sounds ridiculous but can easily occur.”
Autofinity said vehicles can turn into effectively hidden when a sale collapses, and the vehicle status isn’t updated within the dealer management system.
In such cases, the vehicle should be recorded as sold, meaning it doesn’t appear on standard stock or retail reports.
Whitehair added: “The dealer management system (DMS) is basically an accounting system that keeps track of assets.
“When deals fall away from bed, if the status of the vehicle isn’t updated, it doesn’t appear on reports of actively retailed vehicles and unless someone is trying to find erroneous vehicles, it is probably going that it should remain ‘hidden’.
“While the automobile can have a physical existence at a compound, employees will work off lists which is able to not generate a vehicle which has been ‘lost’ in such a way and there it should stay.
“That’s exactly what happened on this case.
“It wasn’t until a report went through our platform to flag overaged group stock that the vehicle was ‘found’. It had been parked on the compound for an unbelievable 400 days.”
He added that while the case was extreme, prolonged stock holding periods increase costs and erode margins, making accurate and up-to-date stock visibility increasingly vital for dealer groups.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
