In the auto industry, there are many pieces that make up the whole market -  from manufacturers to dealers to parts suppliers to distribution and transport to the financing of all these operations on many different levels. I come from the banking side of the industry. Specifically, how new car franchises and private dealers "floor plan" both new units from manufacturers or used units from auctions, dealer trades or trade ins.

One of the biggest inefficiencies in a dealerships operations is the disconnect between salespeople and the office manager as it pertains to where vehicles and if they have been sold, swapped out, on a test drive, etc. 

Automotive salespeople want to get as many vehicles sold, but deals cannot paid off unless all the paperwork associated with the deal are in hand and signed by the buyer and the dealer. Any delays in paperwork can delay the pay off to the floor planning entity Depending on what state your dealership is located in, this includes signatures and dates on all documents, finance contracts, lien releases, titles in hand from trades and signed over to the dealer, and more.

As dealers know already, the release period is extremely important for you and for your salespeople. But most salespeople that I have run across have no idea what that is, which sometimes leads to sales staff handing in incomplete deal jackets or even forgetting to hand them at all.

If your salespeople or even your sales manager know what the release period was and how important it is for the dealer to abide by, dealers would probably have less delay. .  By handing the deal jacket to your back office staff when the deal has been completed and signed by the customer, this gives the back office staff the full use of the your dealers assigned release period to pay the vehicle off on the floor plan. Any delays in pay offs can result in penalties to your dealership.

More importantly sales people need to understand that they would have no vehicles to sell if not for floor plan financing. Seasoned and new sales people alike need to understand what the rules are for the dealers floor plan. 

Some important reminders:

1. All dates should be the same on the bill of sale, finance contract, cash receipt, vehicle registration, title application, etc. These dates are what you and the lender go by in order to have the unit paid off on time.

2. Ideally, for trade-ins, the title must be in hand and signed over upon transfer of ownership. I realize this is difficult sometimes but have your salespeople inform the buyer that it's important that the title be ready to sign over to the dealer. Waiting for lien releases or titles coming from auction purchases are more common than I care to admit but stay on top of their progress and get the titles in-house ASAP.

3.  If the buyer is going to be delayed in picking up the vehicle and completing the transaction, then make the the dates on paperwork correspond with the actual delivery date. This protects you when you have your surprise floor plan checks. 

4. If you are going to lend a vehicle to customer either as a test drive or service loaner, document it. Have dealer personnel fill out a test drive form or a service loaner agreement along with the repair order number. Make sure the vehicle is a used vehicle if possible, not a new vehicle.  This is another common mistake that sales people make and can cause office managers to not know where vehicles are during a floor plan check or otherwise. 

This all leads to keeping the dealership running smoothly and selling more cars.