Write a purchase order for a shopper's bank
Print a purchase order from a car's page: a price quote with the car, the buyer, every fee and the balance to finance, for the shopper's bank.
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A shopper who finances through their own bank or credit union is asked to bring a purchase order: one page with the car, the price, each fee, the tax and the balance to finance. You write it from the car's page in under a minute, with no deal started.
A purchase order here is a price quote. It is not a contract, it takes no money and it does not hold the car. The dealership signs it and the buyer does not. To take a deposit or hold the car, start a deal.
Write one
- Open the car from Inventory.
- Click Print, then Purchase order.
- Pick the Buyer. Add a Co-buyer if there is one. The name and address print as they are on the customer's record, so fix the record first if the address is missing.
- Check the Price card. It is already filled in: the car's asking price, your standing fees from Settings, then Deal defaults, and the sales tax from your tax schedule. Change anything. A figure left at zero or empty does not print.
- Add any Add-ons on their own lines: a service contract, GAP, an accessory.
- If the buyer has a trade-in, tick the box and enter the allowance and the payoff. Enter the Cash down they plan to bring.
- If the buyer already knows their lender, enter it under Lender. It prints as the lender to list on the title.
- Check the Valid through date. Then click Create and print. The page opens in a new tab. Print it and sign it.
The card on the right, What will print, shows every line and the Balance due as you type. That is the number the bank finances.
Once created, a purchase order is not edited, because the bank may hold a copy. To change one, void it and write a new one.
What prints
One letter page, top to bottom:
- Your dealership's name, address and phone, with your logo when you have one, and the heading, the number, the date and the valid-through date.
- The buyer and co-buyer, and the car: year, make, model, VIN, stock number, mileage and color. A title brand prints when the title is not clean.
- The price, one line each: vehicle price, each add-on, your dealer fee, other dealer fees, a subtotal, each sales tax line, tag title and registration, and the total.
- The trade-in allowance, the trade-in payoff and the cash down.
- Balance due, the amount to finance, in a box.
- The lender, when you entered one, and who prepared the page.
- A line for the dealership's signature and the date.
- The disclaimer at the foot.
There is no line for the buyer's signature, no payment or APR, and no dealer license number. What your car cost never prints.
How the numbers add up
| Line | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Subtotal | Vehicle price, plus add-ons, plus your dealer fee and other dealer fees |
| Sales tax | Your tax schedule on the vehicle price, less the trade-in where your state allows. Type a different amount to override it. |
| Total | Subtotal, plus sales tax, plus tag title and registration |
| Balance due | Total, less the trade-in allowance, plus the trade-in payoff, less the cash down |
The tax is worked out the same way a deal works it out, so a deal you start later for the same figures agrees with the purchase order to the cent.
After it is printed
The car's page lists every purchase order written on it in the Paperwork for this car card: the number, the buyer, the balance due, who wrote it and how long it holds.
- Print opens the page again, exactly as it first printed, even if the car's price or your settings have changed since.
- Start deal opens the new deal form with the buyer, the car and the quoted figures filled in. See below.
- Void withdraws an open purchase order. It stays in the list, marked void.
- A purchase order past its valid-through date reads Past its date. Its figures no longer hold, though you can still start a deal from it.
- When the car is sold to someone else, its other open purchase orders read Vehicle sold.
You can write purchase orders for several shoppers on the same car. A customer's own page lists the purchase orders written for them, each with its car.
Start a deal from a purchase order
When the shopper comes back with their financing, click Start deal on their purchase order. The new deal form opens with the customer, the co-buyer, the car, the price, the fees, the sales tax and the trade-in as quoted. Change anything that changed, pick the deal type and create the deal.
- The purchase order then reads Became a deal, with a button to open the deal.
- Add-ons on the purchase order are not copied. The form names them so you can add them on the deal.
- Start deal shows while the car is Available, which is the status a deal starts on.
- Taking a deposit and holding the car happen on the deal, as always.
Set your defaults
Owners and admin managers set these in Settings, then Car paperwork, under Purchase order:
- Heading: what the page is called. Left empty, it uses the usual name in your state, such as Purchase Order or Buyer's Order.
- Days a purchase order stays valid: 7 to start.
- Disclaimer at the foot: left empty, the standard text prints. Write your own to replace it.
- Print the dealership logo: the logo from your website settings.
What your state adds
Several states fix a notice that goes with the dealer's own fee. It prints under that fee line, word for word as the state's law gives it, whenever the fee is on the page. The fee line is also named the way that state's notice names it.
| State | The fee line is called | What prints under it |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | Dealer fee | The sentence that the charge represents costs and profit to the dealer. It also prints for other dealer fees. |
| Texas | Documentary fee | The documentary fee notice, in bold capitals |
| Iowa | Documentary fee | The documentary fee notice, in bold capitals |
| Illinois | Documentary fee | The documentary fee notice, in bold capitals |
| Missouri | Administrative fee | The administrative fee notice, in bold capitals |
| Arkansas | Service and handling fee | The service and handling fee notice, in bold capitals |
| Wisconsin | Service fee | The service fee disclosure, in bold |
| Louisiana | Documentation and compliance fee | The statements about the fee, in bold |
| Maryland | Dealer processing charge (not required by law) | Nothing more. Those words are the notice. |
The same notices print on the forms of a deal in those states, such as the Bill of Sale, when the deal charges the fee.
New York and Mississippi also fix wording for this fee, and it is not printed yet. The sheet says so for a dealership there. The purchase order is a quote and not your state's sales contract: use your own approved contract to close the sale.