What your stock
numbers
aren't telling you

Most dealer groups reconcile two sources of stock data every month: the DMS and the floorplan funder's statement. The third source, the lot itself, goes unchecked between formal audits. LotCount reconciles all three at VIN level, across every site, in a single day.
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Group-wide stock audit. Defensible, VIN-level, and done before the numbers go stale.

Three sources. 
Three stories. 

The gap between them is where the money sits.

Every multi-site group has three records of the same stock. They rarely agree.

The DMS is what the system has been told

The DMS records what staff have entered. Sold units still showing as stock because the invoice was never raised. Vehicles marked at one site that were moved to another. In-transit stock that never arrived. The system is only as accurate as the last person to update it.

The funder statement is what the bank is charging you for

Your floorplan funder invoices interest on every VIN on its statement. If a vehicle was sold three weeks ago and the invoice has not cleared, the funder is still charging. If a vehicle has been moved off-book informally, the funder will not know. Every discrepancy is a cash line item.

The lot is the one record nobody has time to read

A manual count takes five weeks across a multi-site group. The data is stale before the last site is finished. Most groups have never had a same-day physical read of every VIN on every lot. The lot is the source the other two are supposed to describe, and it is the one nobody checks in real time.

Reconcile any two of these three and you will miss the gap that costs the most money. The three-way reconciliation is the only one that closes it.

The numbers you sign off on every month, and the ones nobody puts in front of you.

Stock is the largest line on most dealer group balance sheets. It is also the line that fewest CFOs would defend, hand on heart, to the vehicle. Not because anyone is doing anything wrong, but because the data feeding it lives in three places that have never been reconciled to each other on the same day. These are the things that arrive on a CFO's desk every month, and the bleed they represent.

A vehicle has been invoiced and the customer has been billed. The DMS shows the sale. The general ledger shows the receivable. The car is still on the forecourt. Or worse, the car was handed over three weeks ago and the delivery note never came back.

Either way, the finance team is in a meeting working out which "paid-not-cleared" debtors are real customers and which are paperwork ghosts. Every group has this meeting. Most have it monthly. None of them want to.

"We could have the best systems in the world, but if they're not being used properly and the processes aren't being followed, you're at risk."

— Group Accountant, multi-site Mercedes-Benz dealer (UK)

Nobody funded them. They sat on a customer's driveway, then on the forecourt, then in a compound at the back of the site. The longer they sit, the more they are worth less than they were when they came in. The DMS records the acquisition. Nobody records the ageing.

Trade stock is the line on the balance sheet that quietly walks itself down.

"The old-fashioned sales managers knew that their stock was cash, that it was an investment. The newer, younger sales guys don't make the connection that that's four million worth of cash they have responsibility for."

— Independent Operations Consultant, motor trade Ireland

Across every audit we have ever run, in every market, on every brand, on every size of group, the figure is consistent. Around 11% of the vehicles on the DMS are inaccurate in their location, their status, or their existence.

Vehicles invoiced and not delivered.

Vehicles delivered and not invoiced.

Vehicles on the lot that nobody put in the system.

Vehicles in the system that nobody can find.

Most groups have normalised this, but it does not mean it is normal.

None of these are caused by the system. They are caused by the gap between systems — the DMS, the funder, and the lot. That gap is the one nobody has had a way of closing in real time. That is what the next section is about.

TripleMatch: three sources, one reconciled truth, one day

TripleMatch is the LotCount stock audit process. It matches your physical stock, your DMS records, and your floorplan funder's statement at VIN level, across every site, in a single day. Simple enough for a staff briefing on a Monday morning. Rigorous enough to be accepted by funders as audit evidence.

Scan

Team members photograph every VIN on every lot using the smartphones already in their pockets. No tags, handheld scanners, or specialist hardware required. Multiple people can audit in parallel across every site.

Match

Every scanned VIN is matched automatically against the DMS stock record and the funder's statement. Each vehicle is categorised as matched, discrepancy, or missing, with photo evidence attached to every line.

Report

A timestamped, VIN-traceable audit report is delivered within 48 hours. Discrepancies are grouped by type and exportable, and funders accept the report as audit evidence.

Every discrepancy. Categorised. At VIN level.

These are the categories TripleMatch surfaces on a typical first audit.
Category 01

Sold-not-invoiced vehicles

Vehicles sold to customers but still showing in the DMS as live stock, still accruing floorplan interest.
Category 02

Ghost vehicles

Units on the funder's statement with no corresponding DMS record and no physical presence on any lot.
Category 03

Location confusion

Vehicles physically present at one site but recorded at another. Invisible to the branch that needs them.
Category 04

Funded-not-located

Stock the funder is charging interest on that cannot be located at any site on audit day.
Category 05

Aged stock

Vehicles past their planned sale date, still funded, still accruing interest, often unnoticed until the quarterly floorplan review.
Category 06

Fraud indicators

Patterns that suggest theft, unauthorised off-site movement, or documentary irregularity. Flagged for management action.

Every discrepancy comes with a timestamp, a site, a VIN, and photo evidence. Nothing is on trust.

See what TripleMatch finds in your group

The first site audit is free. Your team runs the scan on their own phones, alongside normal trading. We return a VIN-level reconciliation report within forty-eight hours. You see the findings first. You decide what happens next.
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Built in the trade. Validated outside it.

13 yrs

In automotive inventory technology, built inside the trade.

€1bn

In vehicle assets currently managed across European dealer groups.

Bureau Veritas

Validated. Output accepted by floorplan funders as audit evidence.

ISO 27001

Certified for data security.

ISO 9001

Certified for quality management.

Deloitte + IAFN

Award winner. International Automotive Finance Network member.

FAQs

These are the questions CFOs and group accountants ask most before their first TripleMatch audit.

How do you audit dealership inventory in a day?

Every scanned VIN is checked against both the DMS stock record and the funder's statement simultaneously. Each vehicle is placed into one of three categories: matched, discrepancy, or missing. Discrepancies are grouped by type, for example sold-not-invoiced, ghost vehicles, or location confusion, with photo evidence attached to every line.

How do you reconcile DMS records against the floorplan funder statement?

TripleMatch reconciles physical stock, DMS records and floorplan funder statements at VIN level. Staff photograph every VIN on every lot using their own smartphones, with multiple people auditing in parallel across sites. The reconciliation engine matches all three sources automatically and returns a timestamped, VIN-traceable report within 48 hours, work that would otherwise take a multi-site group around five weeks to complete manually.

What is a ghost vehicle?

A ghost vehicle is a unit that appears on the floorplan funder's statement, meaning the dealer is being charged interest on it, but has no corresponding DMS record and no physical presence on any lot.

What is a "sold-not-invoiced" vehicle?

It's a vehicle that has been sold to a customer but is still showing in the DMS as live stock, so it continues accruing floorplan interest after the sale.

How accurate is dealer inventory data typically?

Across every TripleMatch audit run to date, around 11% of vehicles on the DMS are inaccurate in their location, status, or existence, covering vehicles invoiced but not delivered, delivered but not invoiced, or present on a lot with no system record at all.

Is a TripleMatch audit report accepted as evidence by floorplan funders?

Yes. The report is defensible and VIN-traceable, and its output has been validated by Bureau Veritas and is accepted by floorplan funders as audit evidence.
259

Sold-not-invoiced vehicles · 48 hours · $300k recovered

One audit. 37 sites. $300,000 revenue returned to the business.

A 37-site European dealer group ran their first TripleMatch audit and surfaced 259 sold-not-invoiced vehicles. Close to $300,000 in revenue returned to the business within forty-eight hours, recovered from stock that had already left the forecourts and was still accruing floorplan interest.

Every vehicle was on the DMS as live stock. None of them were on the lot.

Discover the power of LotCount TripleMarch - schedule your personal demo with a product expert today and see for yourself how our platform can benefit your dealership.

To receive your personal 20-minute demo of the LotCount system or discuss any questions you may have, simply fill in your contact details and one of our team will get back to you by the next working day.
“What used to take over 5 weeks and filled me with dread, now takes a day and I look forward to it”
Group Financial Controller
Franchise Dealer Group
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