Create and Close a Transaction
Start with the deal information you have, then add buyers, managers, terms, taxes, and documents before a reviewed completion.
Create a transaction when the deal begins. You can start without a buyer or vehicle, then add the missing information as the sale moves forward.
Create the initial record
- Open Transactions.
- Select Add Transaction.
- Optionally choose a vehicle and contact.
- Choose a branch when the dealership has multiple branches.
- Create the transaction.
The new transaction starts as Pending with Cash selected. You become the primary manager. The transaction date starts with today's date unless you change it.
Vehicle and buyer are optional at creation. At least one contact becomes required only when you complete the transaction.
Start from a vehicle
From a vehicle, select Vehicle Sale to create a transaction with that vehicle already attached. You can also select Mark as Sold when you only need to change the vehicle status.
Add people and the vehicle
Use General to add the people and vehicle involved in the deal.
Contacts
A transaction can have more than one contact. Choose a primary contact for the main buyer name and address used on forms. The buyer and transaction should belong to the same branch.
When you complete the deal, DealerSpot tries to change every attached contact to Customer. Check their contact statuses after closing.
Managers
A transaction can have more than one manager. Add or remove managers as the deal changes hands. DealerSpot sends the affected person a notification when they are added or removed.
Vehicle
Attach the vehicle being sold when it is known. The vehicle and transaction should belong to the same branch.
Complete the Details sections
| Section | What to record |
|---|---|
| General | Transaction date, location source, and transaction location |
| Payment | Sale price, purchase method, cash or financing terms, and discount |
| Taxes & Fees | Automatic or manual tax plus doc, title/license, and other fees |
| Exemption | Claimed status and supporting destination or invoice details |
| Odometer | Reading and actual, exceeds-limits, or not-actual status |
| Trade-In | Trade-in vehicle, allowance, payoff, and trade-in lien |
| Lien | Primary and optional second lienholder details |
| Warranty | As-Is, Full, or Limited terms and related options |
| Title & Registration | New, Duplicate, or None action and supporting details |
| Power of Attorney | Attorney-in-fact, grantor, and allowed actions |
| Custom Fields | Dealership-specific values on this transaction |
Leave a section off when it does not apply. Enter only information your team has checked.
Review the price summary
The displayed transaction summary uses:
Sale price
+ Document fee
+ Title and license fee
+ Other fee
+ Current calculated or entered tax total
- Discount
- Active trade-in allowance
= Displayed transaction totalDown payment, trade-in payoff, finance charge, and total financed are kept separately. They are not all included in this total.
Complete the transaction
- Confirm that at least one contact is attached.
- Save every pending change in Details.
- Review the vehicle, buyers, managers, price summary, tax result, and needed documents.
- Choose Complete from the transaction status action.
- If a vehicle is linked, review Mark vehicle as sold. Clear it when the vehicle should keep its current status.
- Confirm completion.
DealerSpot then:
- Changes the transaction to Complete.
- Refreshes tax using the deal information you already saved.
- Attempts to promote every attached contact to Customer.
- Changes the vehicle to Sold only when the completion option remains selected.
- Prevents changes to many important deal fields.
Complete does not stop every possible change. Reopen the transaction before correcting any deal information.
Changes after completion can leave tax out of date
A Complete transaction may still let you change the branch or vehicle. Tax does not refresh after those changes. Reopen the deal, review and save the tax, then complete it again.
Reopen or cancel
Change a Complete transaction back to Pending before editing its locked fields. Reopening does not automatically reverse the contacts' Customer status or restore the vehicle's previous status.
Changing a transaction to Cancelled changes its linked vehicle to Listed. Review that side effect before canceling, especially when the vehicle should remain Draft or Sold for another reason.
Check connected records after a status change
Completing or canceling a deal can also change the attached contacts and vehicle. Check those records afterward and make sure their statuses are correct.
Keep branches together
Keep the transaction, buyers, vehicle, and trade-in in the same branch. Moving one record later does not move the others. Check every connected record after a branch move.