A dealer management system (DMS) for UK used car dealers

A dealer management system (DMS) is software that runs the day-to-day of a car dealership: the stock list with photos, prices and costs; the customers and their enquiries; the sales process from deposit to invoice to handover; the VAT and reporting an accountant needs; and, increasingly, the dealer's own website and its feeds to AutoTrader and the other marketplaces. Older systems were installed on an office PC; modern ones run in the browser and on a phone, so a car can be added from the forecourt and a lead answered from home.

In our experience of building one with dealers, eight things cover almost every day:

• Add a car by registration (a VRM lookup fills make, model, spec and MOT history) and publish it with photos in minutes.
• Push stock to AutoTrader and the other marketplaces once, and keep prices and sold cars in sync.
• A website on your own domain that shows the same stock, takes enquiries and reservations, and ranks for your town.
• Every lead in one inbox, whatever it came from, matched to the car.
• Invoices that handle the VAT margin scheme correctly, with the figures an accountant needs for the VAT return.
• Costs against each car, so you know the real margin when it sells.
• Deposits and reservations taken online and reconciled.
• If you service cars: jobs, parts and bookings in the same system, not a second one.

Every plan has the website on your own domain, the lead inbox and live chat, and feeds to AutoTrader, CarGurus (including PistonHeads), AA Cars, Carwow and Cazoo (including Motors, eBay Motors and Gumtree). Professional adds contacts, calendar, test drives, reservations and the full sales process with VAT margin scheme invoicing. Premium adds the AI tools: vehicle descriptions, 24-hour customer chat on your live stock, and background and number-plate removal on photos. The workshop module is £99 on top of any plan, or £99 on its own.

Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Your card is taken at signup and the first charge is on day 15; cancel before then and you pay nothing. The full list is on the features page and prices on the pricing page.

Each car carries its purchase price and VAT status. On a margin-scheme sale the invoice shows no VAT line, the VAT due is worked out as one sixth of the margin, and the VAT page totals the boxes for the return. VAT-qualifying stock is invoiced with VAT shown. Reservation fees are receipted and set against the final invoice, and refunds raise a credit note. The rules themselves are explained in our margin scheme guide.

Yes, on every plan. The website is generated from your stock with a choice of templates, your own domain and SSL, built and maintained to a professional grade for search engines and AI searches. The AutoTrader feed uses AutoTrader Connect; you still need your own AutoTrader advertising package, which is a separate AutoTrader contract on any system. Details are on the integrations page.

Export your stock from the current system as a spreadsheet and import it; photos and the VRM lookup fill the gaps. Point your domain at the new site and reconnect your feeds. Most dealers run both for a week. We help with the import on request, and there is no contract holding you here afterwards. How we compare with MotorDesk, Click Dealer, Dragon2000 and Cardealer5 is on the comparison pages.

It is built for independent and small-to-medium UK used car dealers: a first forecourt, a 20-car pitch, a dealer with a workshop, or a small group. It is not an enterprise system for a franchise group with hundreds of cars per site and a manufacturer integration; those dealers are better served by the long-established suppliers we compare ourselves with.