Odometric is car showroom software that does the per-vehicle accounting a general accounting package does not: total cost per car, profit per car, investor shares, instalment balances and cash against profit. It is not a general ledger and it does not produce a tax return. Most showrooms that run well use it beside an accountant's own tools, not instead of them.
Two sets of books, two jobs
Search for car showroom accounting software and most results are general accounting or billing packages with a vehicle template. They answer a question the accountant asks: do the debits and credits balance, and what is owed to the tax office.
The showroom owner asks a different question: what did this car actually make? A general ledger records that a repair bill was paid. It does not know the repair belongs to the white Corolla, that the Corolla was bought with an investor's money on a 60/40 split, or that the buyer has paid three of twelve instalments.
Both books are needed. They are rarely the same software, and the failures happen when one is expected to do the other's job.
What per-car accounting has to record
| What the book must hold | Why the showroom needs it |
|---|---|
| Total cost: purchase price plus every itemised expense on that car | Profit is only true if the dent repair, the transfer fee and the broker commission are on the car that caused them. |
| Unpaid expenses counted as cost | An authorised bill not yet paid is still a cost of the car. Leaving it out makes the car look better than it was. |
| Token tax held apart from cost | Money owed to the authority on a car is a liability to clear, not part of what the car cost. |
| Investor capital and each person's share per car | Partners are paid when a specific car sells, so the split has to be computed per vehicle. See investor profit sharing. |
| Instalment balance on the sold car | A car sold on qist is revenue booked and cash not yet received. See instalment management. |
| Broker commission as an expense | It belongs inside the car's cost, not in a separate list nobody reconciles. |
The method behind the first row is worked through in how to work out what a car actually made, and the costs that most often go missing are in the costs that vanish from a car's file.
Profit is not cash
A showroom can book a good month and still be unable to pay a supplier, because the profit is sitting in open instalment files. Per-car accounting makes the gap visible: profit on cars sold, cash actually received, and what is still receivable, side by side. The reasoning is in why a profitable showroom runs out of cash and the weekly check in the four numbers to check every week.
What Odometric does not do
Stated plainly, because accounting software pages rarely do.
- It is not a general ledger. There is no chart of accounts and no double-entry journal for the whole business.
- It does not produce a tax return or file anything with the tax authorities.
- It is not a payroll or HR system for the wider business.
If a package that does those things is what you are shopping for, a general accounting product is the right tool, and the options sold in Pakistan are set beside Odometric in car showroom software in Pakistan, compared. For how sales tax applies to a used car, read the FBR sales tax post, and check the current rule with your tax adviser.
Working with your accountant
The practical arrangement is simple. The showroom keeps the per-car record in Odometric as cars are bought, repaired and sold. At month end the accountant takes the totals they need from it: what was sold, what it cost, what was received. The steps are in month end in a car showroom, in six steps. The accountant no longer reconstructs profit from bank statements and a drawer of receipts, and the owner no longer waits for the accountant to learn what a car made.
Common questions
What is car showroom accounting software?
It can mean two things. A general accounting package keeps the ledger an accountant needs for the tax return. Showroom software of the Odometric kind keeps the per-vehicle record: what each car cost, what it made, who funded it and what the buyer still owes. Most showrooms need the second for daily decisions and an accountant's tool for the first.
Can Odometric replace my accountant's software?
No. Odometric is not a general ledger and does not produce a tax return. It gives the accountant clean per-car totals to work from, which is usually the part that took the longest to reconstruct.
How does Odometric calculate profit on a car?
Total cost is the purchase price plus every itemised expense booked against that car, including authorised bills not yet paid. Profit is the sale price less that total cost, and where investors funded the car, their shares are worked out from that profit per car.
Does it show cash as well as profit?
Yes. Money in, money out and the receivable on open instalment files are kept separately from profit, so a car sold on qist shows as sold with a balance still to collect rather than as cash in hand.
See what your last five cars really made
Bring five cars you sold recently. We enter them and show the total cost and profit on each. It takes about twenty minutes.
Request a demo How a car's profit is worked out