The Vehicle Details area has a number of useful fields that can be populated either by selecting from the pull-down menus or by just typing into a field. To add data to any of the pull-down menus, find that menu’s category in the DeskManager Setup tool found under File – Setup – Inventory Setup. DeskManager allows you to collect as much or as little data as you need for working with your vehicles. Just because there is a field available for entering information, if the information is not of use to you, feel free to ignore the field. The only thing that DeskManager requires for each vehicle is a unique Stock Number.
Fields
- VIN: The numbers and letters generally assigned to a vehicle by the manufacturer for the purpose of titling and registration. Short for Vehicle Identification Number.
- Stock No: An Identification assigned to a vehicle when it is added to inventory. Each Vehicle (record) must have a unique stock number. The program has many ways to handle stock numbers, please refer to the Stock Number section of the DeskManager Setup tool to design how you wish to work with stock numbers.
- Year: Vehicle’s year of production.
- Make: Vehicle’s make. (Ford, Chevrolet, BMW, etc.)
- Model: Vehicle’s make model. (Mustang, Charger, Accord, etc.)
- Series: Vehicle’s model series. (GT, LS, STS, Base, etc.)
- Body Style: Vehicle’s series body style. (Sedan, Coupe, Convertible, etc.)
- Engine Size: Vehicle’s engine. (3.6L V6, 302ci V8, 1.5L I-4, etc.)
- Color Exterior: Vehicle’s exterior color.
- Color Interior: Vehicle’s interior color.
- Transmission: Vehicle’s transmission type.
- Vehicle Type: Type of vehicle.
- Fuel Type: Vehicle’s fuel type. (Gas, Diesel, Hybrid, etc.)
- Cylinders: Number of engine’s cylinders.
- Drive Train: Is the car front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, four wheel drive, or all wheel drive.
- Date In: Date that the vehicle was entered into inventory or the purchased date.
- Asking Price*: The desired selling price of the vehicle. The amount entered into the Asking Price field will be used as the Cash Price when a new deal is created for this vehicle. This information can be manually entered or calculated using a formula based on your total costs. To use the asking price calculator, click the small button next to Asking Price. A form will open asking for information that will be used to calculate the asking price using a formula. By clicking on the button next to the asking price, you will get a pop-up that allows you to access the following:
- Select between using a New Car Pack or a Used Car Pack.
- New/Used Car Pack Amount can be used to review the default pack assigned to the vehicle as created in setup, or to manually edit the Pack Amount for this specific vehicle.
- Calculate (New/Used) Car Asking Price Using This Formula: By entering values into the fields for % of Total Cost, % of Pack Amount and Max Profit Limit the program will calculate an asking price for you. This formula will start with your total cost (all expenses listed on the Costs tab), add to it the % of Total Cost as calculated by the percentage you entered in to this field, add to it a percentage of your Pack Amount according to the % of Pack Amount value you specify. It will round up or down to the nearest hundred dollars. More simply, if the tens position is less than $50 it will round down, if the tens position is $50 or more it will round up. Entering a value into the Max Profit Field will limit the sale price of the vehicle to a maximum of the value entered over and above your total costs into the vehicle.
- For example, if the total cost is $5250, and you enter 4.0 (or 4 percent) in the % of Total Cost field, the asking price will be $5500 ($5450, rounded up to $5500).
- The Maximum Profit Limit field, however, will limit the pricing. If, for example the same vehicle with a total cost of $5250 and you put $1 in the Max Profit Limit field, instead of a price of $5251, it will round up to $5300.
- Internet Price: This price will transfer to WebManager. It can be different than the showroom price if your state laws allow.
- Whole Sale Book**: Enter the wholesale value of the vehicle here.. This value will be used if you start a wholesale deal for this vehicle.
- Retail Book**: Enter the retail value of the vehicle here.
- Trade Book**: Enter the trade value of the vehicle here.
- New/Used: Select from New, Used or Demo.
- Key Number: Car key number (if any available).
- License Plate: Enter License plate number in this field.
- Mileage: Enter the mileage of the vehicle here. For customers outside of America this field can be hidden so only kilometers is displayed. This option is found in the System Setup section of the DeskManager Setup tool. When the mileage is entered the program will calculate kilometers for customers who wish to refer to both values.
- Kilometers: Enter the kilometers value for the vehicle here. For American customers who do not need to track this value it can be hidden. This option is found in the System Setup section of the DeskManager Setup tool. For customers who wish to refer to both values, the kilometers may be entered and the mileage will be calculated by the program.
- State Registered: Enter the state where this vehicle was last registered.
- MC Engine No: This field is normally used for motorcycle engines. However, if you do not sell motorcycles and you need an extra field, you can change the description. Simply click in the box and backspace to delete the description and add your own. The accompanying field will accept up to 20 alpha and/or number characters.
- Sub-Status: This field can be used to keep track of a vehicle’s status as needed. This field is pre-loaded with options of Body Shop, Detail, Garage, Service and Transport, but the user can add other selections to the drop down box as needed through the DeskManager Setup tool. The program will keep track of the history of the options selected in this field, when it was last changed and which user made that change.
- Lot: This field is used for customers who require the ability to sell cars in more than one state or if they have more than one business name they need to work with. This allows the user to tell the system which profile currently has the vehicle. The program will keep track of the history of the options selected in this field, when it was last changed and which user made that change.
- Location: This field allows you to specify where the vehicle is located. The values in this field are set up in the Inventory Setup – Locations. The program will keep track of the history of the options selected in this field, when it was last changed and which user made that change.
- Axles: Here you can record the number of axles the vehicle has if necessary.
- Gross Wght: Enter the weight of the vehicle without load.
- Doors: Enter the number of doors on the vehicle.
- Passengers: Enter the number of passengers the vehicle was designed to carry legally.
Check-boxes
The check boxes above the photos are there should you wish to use them as a quick visual reminder about common things that most dealers want have done to a vehicle before they sell it.
- Detailed – Has the vehicle been detailed yet?
- Safety – Has the vehicle received a safety inspection yet?
- Smog – Has a smog certificate been issued for this vehicle yet? (Note: Not all states have Smog requirements.)
- Display this vehicle on my Website – Customers using the free WebLite will see this option. The customer must maintain their subscription for technical support to have access to the free WebLite. Marking this box will tell the DeskManager program that the user wants to see this vehicle on the free web site that comes with the DeskManager program as long as the customer is maintaining their tech support subscription.
- Visible on Website during Staging – Only customers who use the subscription version of the WebManager program will see this option. When a vehicle is uploaded to WebManager either manually or using the automatic option found in the DeskManager Setup Tool, the vehicle will be placed into the Staging area. This is where the user is expected to clean up the vehicle before making it Live so it can then be exported to the various advertising sites. By default, any vehicle in the Live area is automatically visible on the customer’s web site. WebManager has an option to allow vehicles that are in the Staging area to be visible on the user’s web site while they remain in this staging area. Marking this box tells WebManager you wish this vehicle to be displayed on your web site while it is being processed in the WebManager’s Staging area.
Remember: Just because there is a field for something, if it is not useful to you, feel free to ignore that field. The DeskManager program has a single requirement from one vehicle to the next, and that is: each vehicle must have a unique stock number. Please be aware of your state’s laws, regulations and requirements as there may be information you legally need to record and track.
* The Asking Price will export as the ‘Showroom’ price when working with the subscription version of our WebManager program. For users of WebManager Lite, the asking price will be displayed as ‘Price’ for this vehicle.
** The three book values above can be filled in automatically if you subscribe to either the optional NADA or KBB interface.
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