Holding Cost Calculator

Holding cost is every dollar your unsold inventory costs you per day it's not generating revenue. It includes financing interest, insurance premiums, lot rent, utilities, and opportunity cost of tied-up capital. Most dealers underestimate it by 40-60%.

Floor plan financing is a revolving line of credit dealers use to buy inventory. You pay interest daily on the outstanding balance. Typical rates range from prime + 2% to 8-12% APR for independent dealers. A $10,000 car at 10% APR costs about $2.74/day in interest alone.

Absolutely. Dealer lot insurance, garage liability, and inventory coverage all scale with the number of vehicles you carry. If your policy runs $2,400/month for 30 cars, that's $80 per car per month sitting on your lot — whether it sells or not.

If you pay $3,600/month for a 30-car lot, every slot costs $120/month. That car sitting in spot #7 for 45 days just cost you $180 in rent. Add electricity for lighting, water for detailing, and security systems — it adds up faster than most dealers track.

Three levers: (1) Buy faster — negotiate transport and recon before the car arrives. (2) Recon faster — schedule detail, photos, and listing the day the car hits your lot. (3) List faster — the single biggest delay for most dealers is waiting on clean photos. That's exactly what Autowalk solves: turn damaged auction photos into clean listing images same-day, so you list before the car is even reconditioned.