4. Vehicle sales: a PDI on every unit
With Dealer Management, every stock unit can open its own PDI job. Its cost lands on the unit, the deal shows whether it passed, and Complete sale asks before a car goes without one.
Where it is
- Dealer Management → Stock — New PDI job, Pull costs, Ready to sell
- Dealer Management → Vehicle Sales — Before signing, Complete sale
Who this is for: vehicle salespeople, sales managers, and the workshop managers who book PDIs. This lesson needs the Dealer Management add-on.
Where to find it
Sidebar Service › Dealer Management. Stock has every unit; Vehicle Sales has every deal.
Step by step: book the PDI on the unit
- Open Stock and click the unit (such as STK-0015).
- In the Workshop jobs section, press New PDI job.
- BuildTrack makes the job and opens it:
- Job Type: Pre-delivery inspection, so it uses your PDI lists (lesson 1);
- Title: "Pre-delivery — STK-0015";
- Priority: High;
- No customer. The dealer pays for a PDI, not the buyer;
- Linked to the unit, with its vehicle.
- It's a Draft. Give it a Scheduled Start to book it in, like any job (Workshop course, lesson 2).
- Back on the unit, it's listed under Workshop jobs with a PDI chip and its status.
New PDI job isn't there on a customer's own vehicle (the unit shows Customer's vehicle), or once the unit is sold.
Book it early. Book the PDI when the deal is signed, not on delivery day, so there's time to fix what it finds.
What it costs, and where that goes
- The labour clocked on the PDI job and the parts on it roll into the unit's cost by themselves when the job is Ready, Delivered or Closed. They show as Recon labour and Recon parts.
- Parts fitted (their Installed count on the Parts tab) leave stock when the job is Delivered or Closed, once each, even if it's reopened and closed again.
- Pull costs in the Workshop jobs section does the same on demand (also under the unit's menu as Pull job costs). Use it once the PDI is done, so the margin on the deal is honest.
- Only people whose role can see costs see the figures. Technicians see the job, not the money.
- Once the unit is sold, the Workshop jobs buttons go. Pull the costs before you complete the sale.
Ready to sell is not ready to deliver
The unit's right-hand panel, Ready to sell, lists what a car needs before you list it:
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Asking price set | A listed car needs a price |
| Photos | Photos are what sells it |
| PPSR certificate | The encumbrance risk sits with the dealer |
| Roadworthy / safety | Needed to transfer registration in most states |
| Reconditioned (not on consignment) | Recon costs belong on the unit before you read the margin |
When they're all done it says Everything's on file. That means you can sell it. It doesn't mean you can hand it over: that's the PDI, and it shows on the deal.
On the deal: Before signing
Open the deal (Vehicle Sales, then the deal). The Before signing list on the right shows what's still missing, with a count. Among the purchaser, price, stamp duty and licence checks, there's one line for the PDI:
| It says | It means |
|---|---|
| Pre-delivery inspection passed | A PDI job on this unit has passed its QC. Moving the job to Ready without its QC doesn't count |
| Pre-delivery inspection not passed yet | There's a PDI job, but it hasn't passed |
| No pre-delivery inspection yet | Nobody has pressed New PDI job on the unit (cancelled ones don't count) |
The line goes once the deal is delivered, settled or cancelled.
Complete sale
On a deal that's a contract (press Convert to contract first), the green button reads Complete sale.
- If a deposit invoice is unpaid, it asks about that first.
- If the PDI hasn't passed, it asks:
- "The pre-delivery inspection hasn't passed QC yet. Hand the vehicle over anyway?", or
- "There's no pre-delivery inspection on this vehicle (New PDI job on the stock unit). Hand it over anyway?"
- Cancel stops, so you can finish the PDI. OK carries on. It's a question, not a block: some vehicles do go without one, but someone has decided that on purpose.
When it completes ("Sale completed — the unit is marked sold and the vehicle now belongs to the buyer"):
- the stock unit is Sold, dated today, to the buyer;
- the vehicle's owner becomes the buyer (and their business, if they have one), so its service history follows the car;
- the deal is Delivered, dated today.
A car that's still on order or in transit can't be completed: receive it first.
More › Move this deal › Mark delivered does the same as Complete sale on an open deal: the same questions, the same handover.
A good order of things
| When | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| The deal is signed | Sales | New PDI job on the unit, booked in |
| Before delivery day | Workshop | The PDI's 1 · QC passed (lesson 2), Mark ready |
| Before delivery day | Sales | Before signing shows Pre-delivery inspection passed; Pull costs |
| Delivery day | Sales and workshop | 2 · Delivery with the buyer (lesson 3), then Complete sale on the deal |
| After | Workshop | Mark Delivered ✓ and Close job on the PDI job |
Where it ends
The PDI passed, its cost is on the unit, and Complete sale went through without a question.
Lesson 4 of 5 in Pre-delivery and handover. Previous: 3. Delivery and handover with the customer. Next: 5. Proof, and what happens after.