Add a vehicle
Decode the VIN to auto-fill specs, add a unique stock number, price, and photos, then publish the car to your storefront and marketplace feeds.
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Adding a vehicle is where everything starts. It feeds your storefront, your marketplace feeds, and your deals.
Add the vehicle
- Go to Inventory and click Add vehicle.
- Enter the VIN and decode it. This auto-fills engine, transmission, drivetrain, fuel, cylinders, and doors. You can still edit any field by hand. On a phone, tap Scan VIN and photograph the label on the driver's door jamb (or the plate at the bottom of the windshield): the VIN is read off the photo and decoded for you. Most door-jamb labels carry the VIN as a barcode too; when the photo shows it, the barcode is read first, which is exact and uses none of your AI allowance. A VIN that doesn't pass its check digit is never filled in; retake the photo or type it.
- Add a stock number (must be unique in your inventory) and the year/make/model if not already filled.
- Set the price and record your acquisition cost and source (costs stay private: they never appear on your public site). Don't have the cost yet, say the auction invoice hasn't arrived? Tick Later under the cost, or pick Later as the source. For a car from an auction, pick the auction; one that is not on the list yet can be added right there with Add an auction, the last option. The car is added and shows Cost missing until you enter it on the car's Edit page.
- If you have more than one lot, pick the Location where the car is parked (it starts on your primary lot). The vehicle's page in your dashboard shows it under Details, and its page on your website names that lot, gives its address with Get directions, and its Call and Text buttons dial that lot's number.
- Check the Acquired on date. It defaults to today, but if you're entering last week's auction run, set the real date: days-in-stock, aging reports and the QuickBooks export all key off it. Future dates are refused. You can correct it later from the vehicle's Edit page.
- Save. You're taken to the photo step.
Add photos
Shooting the car? Shoot a car for the 360 shows the eight stops that make both a clean listing and the car's 360 view. On a phone, Shoot a car on the Inventory page walks you through them one photo at a time, starting with the VIN, and adds the car from what you shot (Let the app walk you around).
- Upload photos - they go straight to our image CDN, so large files are fine.
- Tag and reorder them; the first photo becomes the listing photo.
- Rotate any sideways shots in place if needed.
Want a description fast? Once the car is saved, open its Edit page and click Write with AI to have the AI write a listing from the specs and options, then tweak it and save.
Publish it
When the car is ready, set its status to Available (or add a listing badge like Coming soon) to show it on your storefront and include it in marketplace feeds.
If you see You have reached your vehicle limit, you're holding as many cars as your plan includes. Only cars in stock count: once a car is marked Sold, Wholesaled or Disposed it stops counting, so marking a car sold frees a slot. Deleting a vehicle (owners and admin managers only) frees one too. To hold more cars at once, upgrade under Settings → Billing.
FAQ
How is the car's name capitalized?
A car is saved with a standard name: a capital first letter on the make, the model and the trim, like "2019 Toyota Camry SE". The VIN decode answers a make in capitals ("TOYOTA") and that is fixed for you. Initials stay in capitals (BMW, GMC, SE, XLE, CR-V), and a name you typed in mixed case, like "xDrive40i", is kept exactly as you typed it. Cars added before this was introduced are renamed for you the first time someone opens your Inventory page. Each one's History shows its old and new name.
The VIN decode didn't fill everything in.
Decoding covers the common drivetrain/engine fields; trim-specific options and condition are yours to add. Just fill the blanks manually - nothing is locked.
Some VINs fit more than one trim: a 2017 Prius VIN fits the Two Eco, Three, Three Touring, Four and Four Touring. The decode can't tell which one your car is, so it leaves Trim empty and offers those trims as you type. Pick the one on your car.
Can I add a car without a VIN?
No. A VIN is always required to create a vehicle. It's what populates the specs via decode, and it's also what makes marketplace feeds and vehicle-history buttons (Carfax/AutoCheck) work. You can edit decoded fields manually, but the VIN itself is mandatory.
Do my costs ever show publicly?
No. Acquisition cost, recon costs, and floor-plan details are internal only and are never included in your storefront or any feed.
Saving says "Location not found."
The lot you picked was removed after you opened the form. Reload the page and pick one of the lots you still have. We don't move the car to your primary lot on our own, so it never ends up somewhere you didn't choose.