The problem
Between auction and forecourt, a car needs an inspection, a service, maybe an MOT, a valet, a smart repair and photos, often from outside suppliers. When that lives on a whiteboard and in text messages, cars wait for jobs nobody chased. If 15 cars a month each spend 3 days longer in prep than they need to, at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 a day per car, that's $898£675€803A$1,296C$1,269 a month.
What the AI does
MotorDesk's reconditioning tools let you build reusable job boards, checklists or workflows for each car, assign tasks to staff and outside suppliers, and notify them by SMS, push notification or email when a job is ready for them. Suppliers can see their tasks through your website and send back photos, invoices and condition reports. Printable QR codes on each car open its jobs from a phone. Everyone can see which car is stuck and why.
A worked example
A 25-car dealer in Leicester uses a mobile valeter, a smart repairer and a local garage for MOTs, and prep averages 9 days. They set up one job board template on MotorDesk Growth: inspection, service, MOT, smart repair, valet, photos, advert.
Before
15 cars a month averaging 9 days from arrival to advert, chased by text
After
Average prep down to 6 days, with suppliers notified the moment a car is ready for them
What it's worth
About $898£675€803A$1,296C$1,269 a month, if prep falls by 3 days on 15 cars a month (an assumption): 45 car-days at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 a day each in stocking finance and depreciation. That is against $198£149€177A$286C$280 a month plus VAT for MotorDesk Growth.
How to set it up
- Write down your current prep steps and who does each one, including outside suppliers.
- Build a reusable job board template in MotorDesk with those steps, and adjust it for each car.
- Add your suppliers so they get a text or email when their job is ready and can upload photos and invoices.
- Print a QR code for each car's windscreen card so staff can open its jobs from a phone.
- Every Monday, look at the cars that have been in prep longest and chase the stuck step.
What goes wrong
- It only works if every car goes on the board the day it arrives. The one car kept off the system is the one that gets forgotten.
- Suppliers may not want another log-in. Start with the texts and emails, and agree what they must send back.
- Faster prep only pays if the advert goes up straight away. Make the advert the last step on the board.