The monthly stock meeting that is always too late
Once a month the used car manager and the dealer principal go through the stock list. Days in stock, price, what the car cost. The same few cars are near the top again. One has been in for longer than anyone realised. Someone asks whether it has had any enquiries, and nobody knows without checking three systems.
Decisions get made on the spot, based on age alone. Meanwhile other cars that will be a problem next month are not discussed, because they are not old enough yet.
Age alone does not tell you enough
Most dealerships track days in stock in their DMS. What they rarely see beside it is whether the car is attracting interest, which is what tells you whether age is a problem or just a wait.
- Advert views and search appearances are in the advertising platform's dashboard.
- Enquiries are in the CRM or an inbox.
- Test drives are in a diary or not recorded at all.
- Days in stock is in the DMS, sometimes counted from the wrong date.
Putting those together by hand for every car is too slow to do weekly, so it is not done.
The cost of noticing late
The longer a car sits without interest, the fewer options there are. Early on, better photos, a corrected specification or a move to another site might be enough. Later, the choices narrow.
Aged stock also ties up space and attention, and makes it harder to take in the part exchanges that new deals need.
There is a hidden cost in the meetings themselves. When every discussion starts from age alone, the conversation turns to price by default, because it is the only lever on the table. Cars that needed a better advert or a follow-up call get treated the same as cars nobody wants.
Pricing decisions are yours, and we do not make them. What helps is making them with the full picture, at the time they can still make a difference.
How we build the daily stock view
- Stock, days in stock and status are read from your DMS each night.
- Advert performance, such as views and search appearances, is read from your advertising platforms where they provide a feed or API, including Auto Trader's where your subscription allows.
- Enquiries and test drives are counted per car from your CRM or lead queue.
- Each car is shown with its age, interest and activity side by side, and a simple trend for the last two weeks.
- Cars ageing with little interest are flagged, based on thresholds your used car manager sets.
- A short weekly summary is sent to the used car manager and dealer principal, listing flagged cars and the reason each was flagged.
| Pattern | What it may suggest | Who looks at it |
|---|---|---|
| Low views | Listing, photos or price visibility | Marketing, used car manager |
| Views but no enquiries | Advert content or price | Used car manager |
| Enquiries but no test drives | Follow-up | Sales manager |
| Test drives but no sale | The car itself or the deal | Sales manager |
The view points to where to look. The decision about what to do with each car stays with your team.
Decisions made while there are still choices
Stock meetings start with the flagged list and the reason for each flag. Problems are caught in the first weeks rather than at the monthly review. The sales manager sees cars with enquiries but no test drives, which is a follow-up conversation, not a pricing one.
Does this match your stock meetings?
- Aged stock is discussed monthly, based on age alone.
- Nobody can say quickly how much interest a car has had.
- Advert data, enquiries and test drives are in separate places.
- The same cars come up at every meeting.