Dealership software / VIN scan and inventory
VIN scan and inventory software for independent car dealers
Open Lead Friendly’s scan-in page on a phone, point the camera at the barcode on the driver’s door sticker, and the year, make, model and trim fill in from the free NHTSA VIN decode. Add photos, a price and your cost, press save, and the car is on your Lead Friendly website, if your store has one, and your AI agent can quote it. From there the inventory carries cost, reconditioning and days in stock, and it is the record your marketplace feeds are built from.
Claims on this page were read against the code on October 18, 2026. Two independent stores in Kent, WA run their leads and inventory on Lead Friendly. Read the case study.
Scan-in, on the phone
Scan the door sticker
The camera reads the Code 39 or Code 128 barcode on the driver’s door certification label, and Data Matrix, PDF417 and QR codes too. A read is accepted automatically only when it passes the VIN check digit. A code that looks like a VIN but fails the check is offered to you to confirm, and phones that expose a torch get a torch button for bad light.
Or type or paste it
No barcode, a scuffed sticker, or a VIN from a bill of sale: type or paste the 17 characters and carry on the same way.
The specs fill themselves
Year, make, model and trim, plus body type, drivetrain, fuel, transmission and engine, come from the free NHTSA vPIC decode and ride along into the saved record. If the decode returns nothing, you fill in year, make and model by hand.
Photos from the same screen
Snap the walkaround with the phone camera or pick from the gallery. Photos upload in the background, so the camera is free the moment the shutter closes. The save waits until the last one has landed.
One save and it is live
Save, and the car is on your Lead Friendly website if your store has one, and your AI agent can quote it. Your marketplace feeds pick it up at their next run, and the confirmation screen offers Scan next vehicle for the next car in the row.
iPhone and Android
It runs in the phone’s browser. It uses the browser’s built-in barcode reader where the browser offers one for these codes, and a software decoder where it does not, so the same page reads the sticker on an iPhone or an Android phone. Nothing to install from an app store.
The inventory behind the scan
Every dollar you have in the car
A reconditioning ledger per vehicle. Once a purchase cost is recorded, recon rolls into the cost basis, so the gross the desk shows is the gross after the detailer and the tires. Recon on its own is not treated as a cost basis: with no purchase cost the desk says the basis is unknown. Cost sits behind its own permission and never appears on a customer document.
Days in stock and aging
Days in stock on every unit, with aging buckets and averages in the lot report, next to what reconditioning is costing you and how long a car takes to sell.
A trade becomes a unit
A trade you have just taken in can be posted straight to the lot as a live unit instead of being typed in again.
One record, every surface
The page for the car on a Lead Friendly website, the AI agent’s answer when a shopper asks what you have, and the marketplace feeds all read the same inventory record. If your stock lives in DealerCenter, it comes in by file feed instead.
What it does not do
- The scan reads the VIN and nothing else. Price, mileage, condition and cost are yours to enter.
- The decode is the federal NHTSA database. It does not pull a book value: no KBB, Black Book, NADA or Manheim feed.
- Pre-1981 and some import VINs have no check digit, so a read of one is offered as Use anyway rather than accepted by itself.
- Adding a unit needs an admin login, and adding it at a price needs the price permission.
- It is the inventory for the store, not a DMS. There is no general ledger, and nothing is written back to DealerCenter.
What it costs
Scan-in and the inventory manager come with Lead Friendly for Dealers. That plan is $349/month, or $279/month billed annually ($3,348 a year), plus a one-time $500 setup fee. The NHTSA decode is free, and there is no per-scan charge. AI photo cleanup on the photos you take is billed separately, per photo, as the photo studio page explains. The plan does not include a website: a dealer website is a separate done-for-you build, scoped and quoted per project.
Frequently asked
Can I scan a VIN with my phone camera?
Yes. Lead Friendly’s scan-in page reads the barcode on the driver’s door sticker with the phone camera, checks it is a valid VIN, and decodes year, make, model and trim. If the barcode will not read, type or paste the VIN instead.
Does VIN scanning work on an iPhone?
Yes. The page uses the browser’s own barcode reader where the browser offers one for these codes, and a software decoder where it does not, so the same page works on iPhone and Android with nothing to install.
What does the VIN decode fill in?
Year, make, model and trim, plus body type, drivetrain, fuel type, transmission and engine, from the free NHTSA vPIC database. Price, mileage, cost and stock number are entered by you.
Where does the car show up after I save it?
On your Lead Friendly website, if your store has one (the website is a separate build, not part of the dealer plan), and in what your AI agent can quote. Your marketplace feeds carry it at their next run: CarGurus is pushed twice a day, with a Push now button between runs, and feeds are read on the schedule of whoever pulls them.
Does it track reconditioning cost and days in stock?
Yes. Each vehicle has a reconditioning ledger that rolls into its cost basis once a purchase cost is recorded, and the lot report shows days in stock, aging buckets and what recon is costing. Cost is behind its own permission and never appears on a customer document.
Can I bring my existing inventory over?
If your inventory lives in DealerCenter, it comes into Lead Friendly as a file feed. Otherwise add cars by scanning or in the inventory editor. Nothing is written back to DealerCenter.
Is this a DMS inventory module?
No. It is the inventory for a store that runs its phones and its desk on Lead Friendly, and its Lead Friendly website too, if your store has one. There is no general ledger and no electronic titling, so a store that needs those keeps a DMS for them.
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