When to move an aging car off your lot.

Start the clock when the car comes to you, not when it is finished with recon or listed online. A car that waits two weeks for a part is still costing you money for those two weeks.

Write the arrival date on the car's record and calculate days in stock from it. Do not restart the count when you change the price, take new photos or move the car to another part of the lot.

If you track more than one date, such as the day it was listed, keep them separate. Use the arrival date for the age of the car.

A car on the lot costs you something every day it stays, even when nothing seems to be happening.

• Floor plan interest: if the car is financed on a floor plan line, interest runs every day until it sells. Your lender's statement shows the rate and the amount.
• Lot space: a parking spot holds one car. An old car in it is a spot that a fresher car could use. Add rent, insurance or upkeep if you can attribute them to the car.
• Depreciation: used cars lose value as they age and as the model year turns over. You will see it when the next auction price comes in lower than you hoped.
• The money tied up: the cash you spent on the car is not available to buy another one. If you own the car outright, there is no interest bill, but the money is still sitting on your lot.

Your accountant can tell you which costs belong in your own figures. Choose a daily number you can defend and use it for every car.

These round numbers are invented to show the arithmetic. Replace them with your own.

Example only. Round numbers made up for illustration.

Floor plan interest      $3 a day
Lot space and upkeep     $5 a day
Depreciation             $4 a day
Cost of holding          $12 a day

After 30 days            $360
After 60 days            $720
After 90 days          $1,080

In this example, a car that sits for 60 days has used up $720 of its gross before anyone has made an offer. A price drop that sells the car this month can cost you less than another month of waiting.

Pick one day and one person. Sort your cars by days in stock, oldest first, and look at the top of the list. Ten minutes on the same day each week is enough to catch cars before they become a problem.

• List the oldest cars: the stock number, days in stock, the asking price and what you have done about it so far.
• Check each one against your limits: see the section below on setting them.
• Pick one action per car: write down what you will do and by what day.
• Look at last week's list: did the action happen, and did it change anything?

Each step is cheaper and quicker than the next. Give a change time to show up before you move on, and write down what you changed and when.

1. Check the photos, price and listing: are the photos clear and complete, is the mileage right, is the description accurate and does it match what the car is? A car with a poor listing may not have a price problem.
2. Adjust the price: compare the car with similar cars near you. If you need to move it, make a change that is large enough to be noticed rather than a small one that changes nothing.
3. Promote it: feature it in your own channels, mention it to buyers who asked about something similar and check that it is listed everywhere you list your cars.
4. Wholesale it: if the steps above have not worked and the daily cost keeps adding up, selling it to another dealer or at auction turns it into cash you can use on a car that will sell.

Selling wholesale can feel like a loss. Compare it with what you expect the car to cost you if it stays another month.

There is no right number of days that works on every lot. A cheap commuter car, a truck and a luxury car do not sell at the same pace, and your area and your buyers set the rest.

Look at your own sold cars. How many days did your quick sellers take, and how many days did the slow ones take? Choose a first limit at which you look closely at a car and a second at which you decide to wholesale it. You may want different limits by price range.

Write the limits down where your team can see them. Revisit them every few months, and change them when your lot changes.

Motorvar shows days in stock and holding cost on each car, and flags a car that has sat in one status past your stuck threshold, 30 days unless you change it. Only owners and managers see the cost figures.

• How to track reconditioning costs on each car
• Moving your lot off spreadsheets