The Situation
Dan's forecourt takes a lot of part-exchanges. Trade-ins are the lifeblood of the business — but they were also where cash went to sleep. A part-ex would come in, sit in the compound waiting for prep, then wait again for photos and an advert, and by the time it was live it had already been on site for three weeks doing nothing. Some cars aged past 90 days before anyone noticed.
There was no vehicle sales management view of stock age. Dan knew his best sellers by instinct, but he had no system flagging the vehicles quietly tying up capital and depreciating on the forecourt.
The Trigger
A cashflow squeeze. Dan wanted to buy a clean batch of part-exchanges from a contact but didn't have the funds free — because roughly £60,000 was tied up in vehicles that had been on site for over 60 days. The money existed; it was just parked in slow stock he couldn't see.
What Changed — Stock Age on Every Vehicle
Every vehicle now carries a live days-in-stock counter in the car sales management system, from the moment it arrives as a part-exchange. Prep and photography are tracked as steps, so nothing stalls silently between intake and advert. A simple ageing report flags anything past 45, 60 and 90 days, and Dan reviews it every Monday.
Days to Sell — Before and After
Average days from intake to sold
Average intake-to-sold fell from around 63 days to 35 — not by selling harder, but by getting vehicles prepped, photographed and advertised days sooner, and by pricing ageing stock to move before it hit 90 days.
Where the capital was tied up
Forecourt stock by age — before vs after
Before and After
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avg days intake-to-sold | 63 | 35 | −44% |
| Stock over 60 days old | 34% | 11% | −23 pts |
| Capital tied in slow stock | ~£90k | ~£29k | −£61k |
| Vehicles aged past 90 days | common | rare | |
| Stock turns / year | ~5.8 | ~9.1 | +57% |
Key Takeaways
- Slow stock is invisible until you count the days. A live days-in-stock counter on every vehicle turned a vague worry into a weekly action list.
- Prep delays are stock-age delays. Tracking prep and photography as steps stopped vehicles stalling silently between intake and advert.
- Freed capital compounds. The £61k released didn't just sit there — it bought the next batch of part-exchanges, which sold, which funded the next.
- Turnover beats margin-per-car for cashflow. Selling a car in 35 days at a slightly keener price beats holding out 63 days for an extra hundred pounds.
