Car Dealer App: Inventory can be so easy - a success story

Vehicle inventory is a recurring challenge for car dealerships. The manual effort is high, handwritten lists and decentralised Excel spreadsheets require a lot of time-consuming post-processing after the vehicles have been recorded. EXCON has been providing car dealers with a digital inventory solution for a number of years - with the completely new vehicle inventory application ex:stock, which was launched last autumn, car dealers can now carry out their inventory even more easily.

The modern web application consists of two components - a management platform for computer-based users of planning, accounting and inventory management, and a highly user-friendly and streamlined smartphone web application for the counters. This combination enables collaborative stocktaking in real time - even with hundreds of users in multiple locations at the same time.

The first figures show the added value: By the end of January 2025, more than 80,000 vehicles had been inventoried in a fraction of the usual time. Dealerships of all sizes can benefit - from individual sites with a few hundred vehicles to dealer groups with many dozens of branches and over 10,000 vehicles in stock.

International use

The new version of the inventory software is also being used internationally. It has been introduced by a French dealer group with around 20 sites and by a company based in Austria. The administration platform on the computer and the recording application for the counters are available in many languages and facilitate the inventory and its subsequent evaluation and post-processing.

Weeks of rework time saved

With ex:stock, vehicle inventories are recorded completely digitally. After uploading the inventory list, the inventory team can immediately start recording with a smartphone or tablet. Login is done by scanning a QR code or via an invitation link and can be used for any number of counters.

Automatic synchronisation of captured vehicles ensures a consistent and accurate database in real time, eliminating the need for time-consuming post-processing of handwritten VIN lists. The four-eye principle previously required to confirm vehicle registrations is replaced by digital logging mechanisms, as the name of the person entering the data, a time and date stamp, the exact GPS position and, if required, a photograph are stored in a tamper-proof manner for each vehicle entered. Of course, the system also works offline, for example in an underground car park or a remote storage location where no data connection is possible. The recorded vehicles are automatically transmitted the next time an Internet connection is established.

Especially for large dealer groups with many locations, the central and digital processing of data in real time offers a decisive time advantage: many weeks of accounting work can be saved.

There is no need for extensive training to use the application - the system is intuitive and quick to learn.

Outlook: Extensions and improvements planned

Sebastian Lammel, Head of Digital Solutions at EXCON, draws a positive conclusion from the launch of the new app: "The introduction of the completely new inventory solution was an important step towards more efficient inventory management for car dealers. Our experience so far shows that the time required and the error rate can be significantly reduced. Future planned enhancements to the application will further improve inventory processes for car dealers, especially when dealing with inventoried vehicles that have not yet been added to the inventory".

Exciting developments for dealers: With the planned enhancements, ex:stock will further improve digital inventory and help car dealerships make their processes more efficient.

We would be happy to show you the ex:stock inventory application in person. Arrange a free online demo.