Most indie used car dealers I talk to have the same problem: they don't actually know what their lot is costing them per day.

Here's the math that nobody does:

Take your average vehicle purchase price. Add transport, reconditioning, detail, and photo costs. Now divide by the number of days that unit sits on your lot before it sells.

That's your daily carry cost per vehicle.

The average independent dealer holds a car for 45-60 days. At a $12,000 average purchase price with a $200/mo floorplan rate, that's $6-8/day per car just in financing — before rent, insurance, or your time.

Multiply that across 30-50 units and you're burning $200-400/day on cars that aren't selling.

The dealers who crush it do three things differently:

• Track days-on-lot religiously — if a unit hits 45 days, it gets a price cut. Period.

• Know their true cost per unit — not just what they paid, but total all-in cost including reconditioning

• Price to move, not to maximize — volume at thin margins beats sitting on fat margins that never close

Most DMS platforms charge $500-2,000/mo and require a 6-month contract before you even figure out how to log in.

We built DealerDesk for dealers who want the data without the bloat. Real-time inventory tracking, POS integration, and daily carry cost alerts — all in one clean dashboard.

If you're running an independent lot, come check it out.