Dealer glossary
Dealer management system (DMS)
The core software a dealership runs its operations on: inventory, sales, deal paperwork and accounting in one system of record.
Definition
Also called DMS, dealership management system
A dealer management system is the system of record for a dealership. At minimum it holds the inventory, structures the deal, prints the paperwork and posts the result to the books. Everything else a store runs - the website, the CRM, the marketplace feeds, the phone system - is either part of it or plugged into it.
The distinction that matters for an independent store is how much of that is one system versus several. When the DMS, the CRM and the accounting are separate products, the same customer and the same vehicle exist in three places, and somebody spends their week keeping them in agreement. When they are one system, the deal that gets written is the deal that gets posted.
Franchise dealerships and independent dealerships want different things from a DMS. A franchise store needs manufacturer reporting and warranty claims; an independent store needs floor plan, in-house financing and fast merchandising. Software built for one rarely fits the other well.
Related terms.
Floor plan →
A revolving line of credit a dealership uses to buy inventory, secured by the vehicles themselves and paid off when each unit sells.
Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) →
A dealership model where the store finances the customer itself and collects the payments, instead of selling the loan to an outside lender.
Desking →
Structuring a deal - price, trade, down payment, term and rate - into payment options a customer can choose from.
See how this works in one system.
DealersCloud runs inventory, the CRM, desking, the books and your dealer website on the same records - so the things in this glossary stop living in separate places.
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