The Vehicle Price List within the system is designed to retain details relating to the Makes, Models and Specifications of vehicles that a dealership will supply as new vehicles to customers. This area of the system also stores full details of options and colours available for each new vehicle specification.
Whenever possible, the Vehicle Price List should reflect the manufacturer's price list and will need to be maintained in line with manufacturer price changes, as well as the launch of new models and specifications.
Vehicles > Price List > New
Once the price list has been selected, users can begin to configure vehicles by Make, Model and Specification. Different pieces of information relating to the vehicles are stored at different levels of the Price List. Information stored on the price list is used when supplier orders for new vehicles are created, as well as when vehicles are brought into stock and costs confirmed. This data will later populate fields on vehicle invoices and CRM records.
Once a user has selected the Price List, the screen displays as below:
Adding a Manufacturer
Any franchises that have already a price list created for them appear at the top left-hand side of the screen under the heading 'Franchises'. As you can see in the image above, it is possible to have price lists for numerous different franchises created under one company on the company structure.
To begin creating a price list, click on the 'New Make' button on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. Once this has been selected, the screen will require specific information for the manufacturer:
- Description: Enter the name of the manufacturer
- Friendly Description: If data is entered in here it will be used on all customer-facing documents when viewing a vehicle - for example, Volkswagen may be entered in as VW here
- Days before delivery to Prevent Amendment of Specifications: Enter the number of days after which a manufacturer cannot amend a supplier order
- Delivery: If the manufacturer charges a set delivery rate for each vehicle, it can be entered here, or at the specification level
- Service Interval Miles: Enter the Service Interval Miles here or at the specification level. This will populate the CRM Aftersales Diary
- Service Interval Weeks: Enter the Service Interval Weeks here or at the specification level. This will also populate the CRM Aftersales Diary
Once this information has been entered successfully, select 'Save' to confirm the changes and add the manufacturer to the Vehicle Price List.
Adding a Model
Once the manufacturer has been successfully created, the next step to completing the vehicle price list is to begin creating models. Select the manufacturer to attach a model to by clicking on it. A button for 'New Model' will appear. Once this has been selected the following window will display:
Complete the information on the model, including a description, model codes if applicable and a delivery cost. A dealer discount can be entered at this stage, although this can also be specified against individual vehicle specifications. The final field to complete is the Initial MOT Period. This is usually completed as 36 months for new vehicles in the UK. Click on 'Save' to store the Model details.
Adding a Specification
Once a Make and Model have been created, select the model from the price list on the left-hand side of the screen and click on 'New Spec'. Once you've selected this, the below will appear:
Specification
- Description: This combines with the Make and Model field to populate the vehicle detail on the stock record, and later on both the invoice and the CRM record
- Friendly Description: If data is entered in here it will be used on all customer-facing documents when viewing a vehicle - for example, Volkswagen may be entered in as VW here
- Manufacturer Code: This can be completed with the details of a particular code used by a manufacturer to relate to a particular combination of model and specification where applicable
- Model Year: This field is split into two where the first field is to be populated with the year and the second field to specify the model year version. Up to three characters can be entered in the second field
- Suppressed: This option would be used if you want the specification to no longer be available to select when creating a supplier order however, it will retain the details in the price list
- Introduced Year: The year the model was introduced can be entered in here
- CAP Code: You will be able to use the 'CAP' button located next to the field to display a CAP Code Lookup window
Financial Details
- Retail Price: The basic Pre-VAT retail price of the vehicle should be entered here as well as the delivery retail price
- Cost Price: The basic price is automatically calculated using the Basic Retail Price and the discount percentage entered in this section. The discount percentage is the margin percentage applied to the vehicle by the manufacturer. The delivery cost of the vehicle should also be entered
- Selling Price: The basic price is automatically calculated using the Basic Retail price and the discount percentage applied in this section
The values that have been entered will be applied when confirming the costs of the vehicle and the discount percentage must be entered in order for the discount to be applied. If a discount is not entered, the system will use the retail price when purchasing the vehicle.
The Retail Price details will also be applied when a customer order is created.
Physical Details
All information stored here will default when a supplier order is created for a new vehicle of this specification. Therefore, the correct completion of this information saves time for vehicle admin staff, reduces the number of user errors and also encourages consistency of data entry.
Service Interval Details
Completing the details in here allows this information to default on the vehicle invoicing screen, and will then feed the Aftersales Diary within the CRM module, allowing for timely service reminders to the customer.
Once all of the required fields have been completed, click on the 'Save' button to confirm the changes made. Once you have clicked save, the system gives you the option to update the discount:
Once the save has been completed, the system will display four buttons at the bottom of the screen:
Clicking on 'New Spec' will enable a user to repeat the process above for another vehicle specification, which 'Amend' enables changes to be made to the specification displayed. The 'Remove' button is used to remove the specification from the price list.
Use the 'Options' button to begin selecting manufacturer options that are available on the specifications created. In order for the options required to appear at this stage, they need to have been previously created against the relevant model that the specification is attached to this process is explained below (Creating Options and Colours).
By using the tabs at the top of the screen, users can select whether to add Manufacturer Options or Colours to the vehicle specification. Once the required option has been located, it can be made available for selection against the specification by checking the tick box against the relevant line:
Click on the 'Save' button to store the option against the specification.
Please Note: A vehicle specification will need to have at least one colour stored against it as a minimum before it will appear on the price list used to create new vehicle supplier orders.
Creating Options and Colours
Options and Colours are created and held at Model level and then need to be made available or unavailable for each specification, as explained above.
Select the model from the price list on the left-hand side. This will populate the second half of the screen when users will be able to record the details of colours and options that are available on a model by selecting the relevant tab from the top of the screen:
By completing the fields at the top of the screen and clicking the 'Add' button, the option will be stored against the vehicle model.
- Description: Enter a name or description information for the Option/Colour/Accessory. This field dictates how the option will appear on a customer order
- Retail Price: Enter the pre-VAT Retail Price of the option here. This price will then default if this option is selected on a customer order
- Cost: This field will be pre-populated once the Retail Price has been entered in
- Selling Price: This field will be pre-populated once the Retail Price has been entered in
- Option Group: Select a relevant option group for the option by selecting an item from the drop-down menu
- Discount Amount: There are two 'Discount Amount' fields one for the 'Cost' and one for the 'Selling Price'. A discount value entered here will automatically calculate the discount percentage and calculate the cost and selling price for this option. This field can be left blank as entering a discount percentage will also automatically calculate the value in this field
- Manufacturer ID: An option code provided by a manufacturer can be entered in this field. This will appear on the supplier order page and can be useful when confirming vehicle costs
- Discount %: Entering a discount percentage will automatically populate the discount amounts- as mentioned above
Completing all of these fields as accurately as possible will bring three key benefits:
- Costs will be easier to confirm when vehicles are being brought into stock and having costs confirmed. This is because the costs on the screen will match those on a supplier invoice if the price list is accurate
- Retail prices for vehicles will appear more accurately on the vehicle stock lists used by the sales team
- Invoices and customer orders generated via the vehicles module will appear more neatly and better organised if a consistent format for options and colours is formulated and adhered to within the Price List
Once you have clicked 'Update' to store the changes, you will receive the following message:
If 'Yes' is selected here, the option, colour or accessory along with its pricing details will be available for all specifications linked to the model. If 'No' is selected, the item will be saved but the specification will need to be updated to make that item available.
An item can be amended or deleted by double-clicking the relevant line and amending or deleting as appropriate.
Selecting 'Remove' will remove the vehicle from the price list after a prompt has been completed.