How to Edit Vehicle Photos in Inventory Link

Photos sell the car long before anyone picks up the phone. Here is how to get your own shots onto a unit in the Inventory Link portal and see them everywhere that vehicle shows.

1. Open the inventory list

   Sign in to the Inventory Link dealer portal, or open it from the My Inventory button on the dock at the bottom of LeadLocate CRM. The inventory list shows every unit you carry with a Photo column, so one look tells you which cars are still running on stand in imagery.

2. Find the unit

   Use the search box above the list. It takes a year, a make, a model, a trim, a VIN or a stock number, so whatever the key tag says will get you there. If the car is not in the list yet, click Add vehicle and enter the Vehicle identification number first, so the decode fills the build before you start uploading.

3. Open the vehicle and its photos

   Open the unit and go to its edit screen. Photos, mileage and the asking price all live there. On a phone the same screen is in the Inventory Link app, which is how a porter shoots and saves standing next to the car rather than back at a desk two hours later.

4. Upload your own shots

   Add the store standard set: front three quarter, rear three quarter, both sides, interior, dash, odometer, engine bay, tires, and anything a shopper is going to ask about. Your pictures take the lead as soon as they are on the record, so the promo and stock imagery the unit arrived with steps out of the way.

5. Set the order and clear out the rest

   Drag the shot you want first into the first slot. That one image is what appears in the inventory list, on the inventory site, inside the widget on your own website and on the vehicle card in a text message. Delete the duplicate frames, the blurry one and the picture of the key tag.

6. Save and look at the result

   Save the vehicle, then open that listing the way a customer would, on a phone. You want the lead photo, the decoded build under it and the price all reading correctly on a small screen before you walk away from the car.

You need a sign in to the Inventory Link dealer portal with rights to edit vehicles, and the unit has to be in your inventory. The portal opens from the My Inventory button on the dock at the bottom of LeadLocate CRM with single sign on, so there is no second password to keep. Team roles decide who can do this: a porter can be set up to shoot and save photos on a unit without being able to move the price, and a manager can do both.

Have the pictures on the device you are working from. If you are shooting the car right now, work from the phone, because the same edit screen is in the Inventory Link app and the shots go straight onto the record without anyone emailing a folder to the office. The lot walk and photo intake guide covers the whole walk around, VIN scan included.

One thing to know before you upload. Every unit that arrives without pictures already carries promo photos and stock imagery so the listing is never a blank grey box, as the stock photos for listings page explains. Your own shots take the lead the moment they are on the record, so you are replacing a stand in, not starting from nothing.

The unit in the inventory list now shows your first shot in the Photo column instead of the stand in. Open the vehicle and the whole set is there in the order you put it in, with the decoded year, make, model and trim beside it.

Everywhere the platform shows that vehicle picks the same images up. The listing on the inventory site the portal publishes carries them, the embeddable inventory widget on the website your web vendor runs carries them, the Inventory menu in the CRM shows them, and the vehicle card a salesperson sends in a text or an email goes out with your lead photo, the mileage and the price on it. When a shopper asks about that unit, the lead detail in the portal names it under Vehicle so the rep answering knows exactly which car is on the table.

Because every one of those surfaces reads the same inventory record, there is only one set of pictures to keep current. Change the order once and the change is on the site, in the widget and in the next text without anyone touching a second system.

Leave your number and a lead specialist calls you back to answer your questions about pricing, coverage, and setup. Mon - Sat, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM Pacific.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.

The site still shows the old picture. The published site regenerates as the lot changes, so give it the regenerate and reload the page with a fresh query string. The vehicle record itself is the place to check first: if the new shot is on the record and in the first slot, the page will catch up.

A stock image is still leading. Your photo uploaded but it is not first. Open the vehicle, drag your best exterior shot into the first slot and save. Only the first image is used as the lead photo in the list, in the widget and on the vehicle card in a text.

There is no edit option on the vehicle. Your role does not include editing vehicles. A manager changes that on the team page in the portal, then sign out and back in.

The photo will not upload. Almost always the file is enormous straight off a camera or the connection dropped partway. Shoot on the phone through the Inventory Link app, which sizes the image on the way in, or upload again on a better signal.

The vehicle is not in the list at all. It has not reached the portal yet. Click Add vehicle, put in the Vehicle identification number, let the decode fill the build, then add the photos. Units that arrive by feed or by an import of your own dealership website land on their own.

Shoot the same set on every unit and your listings start to look like a store instead of a scrapbook: front three quarter, rear three quarter, both sides, interior from the driver door, dash with the screen on, odometer, engine bay, all four tires, and one close shot of whatever the unit is known for. Park the car so the sun is behind you and the lot line is not cutting through the roof.

Lead with the front three quarter. It is the shot a shopper decides on in the list and the one that rides along in the text your salesperson sends. Then shoot the flaw on a used unit and put it in the set on purpose, because the customer who sees the curb rash online does not drive across town to be surprised by it, and the one who does not see it leaves angry. Finish the walk before you leave the car, save, and open the listing on your phone to see what the shopper will see.

The feature behind the stand in images is on the stock photos for listings page, and the walk around that gets a fresh trade on the site the same afternoon is on lot walk and photo intake. Where the finished listing goes is covered by the inventory website builder and the embeddable inventory widget.

Once the pictures are right, use them. Send vehicles by text covers the button that drops the unit into a message with its photo and price, which is the fastest way to answer a shopper who asked about that exact car. The LeadLocate Help Center has the rest of the Inventory Link tasks, from publishing a site to handling a visit request. A photo workflow your store wants that the edit screen does not offer is available on request, and our team puts it in production for your dealership.

How many photos should a used vehicle have?

Shoot the same set on every unit rather than chasing a number. Exteriors from all four corners, the interior, the dash, the odometer, the engine bay, the tires and a close shot of any flaw will answer most of the questions a shopper would otherwise call about.

Can I edit vehicle photos from my phone?

Yes. The Inventory Link app opens the same vehicle screen, so you shoot, upload, order and save standing next to the car. That is the whole point of the lot walk: the unit is live before you reach the next row.

What happens to the stock image after I upload real photos?

It steps aside. Stand in imagery only ever holds the place of a picture, so once your own shot is in the first slot it is the one that shows in the list, on the site, in the widget and in a text.

Do the photos update on my dealership website too?

If your website shows inventory through the embeddable widget, yes, because the widget reads the same record you just edited. There is one set of pictures per unit, not a copy on every surface.

Inventory Link keeps one set of pictures per vehicle and uses it on your inventory site, in the widget on your own website, in the CRM and in every text. See it in the pre-recorded demo or start month to month.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.