How to Use the Vehicle Finder in Inventory Link

The finder is the search box shoppers actually use, the one where they type what they mean. Here is how it works, what it matches on, and what to do with the request it produces.

1. Get the inventory in first

   The finder searches what the portal holds, so connect the feed, run the website import, or add units yourself. A vehicle added by hand starts with Add vehicle and its Vehicle identification number, so the decode fills the trim, the drivetrain and the equipment the finder will match on.

2. Open the finder where shoppers meet it

   Go to your dealer page or to an inventory site you published from Builder and find the search box on the front. That is the same finder a customer uses. Run it yourself before you point advertising at it, because whatever it returns for you is what it will return for them.

3. Describe the vehicle the way a customer would

   Work through it in plain words: the kind of vehicle, a make or no make at all, the model year range, the budget, how the buyer plans to pay, and What will you use it for? Add the two or three things the car has to have. A shopper who already has the car in mind can enter a Vehicle identification number instead and go straight to it.

4. Read what comes back

   The finder returns the units in your inventory that fit, with photos, decoded build, mileage and price. This is the moment that tells you whether your records are in shape, because a thin record is a car that does not come back when a customer asks for exactly it.

5. Send the request

   Pick a vehicle and the request sheet rises from the bottom of the screen on a phone. The shopper adds their name, how to reach them and whatever they want to ask, and sends it. That request travels with the vehicle they chose, so nobody has to ask which car they meant.

6. Work it on the dealer side

   The request is in the portal under Requests and in the CRM as a lead. Find it with the leads search box, Name, email, phone or vehicle, open it, and read the unit under Vehicle. Reply with the car attached rather than a paragraph about it, and set the appointment in the same thread.

The finder searches your inventory, so the inventory comes first. Vehicles reach Inventory Link from a provider feed connected under Feeds, from an import that reads the cars off your own dealership website, or from units added by hand in the portal. A broker with no lot switches on auto broker inventory mode. An inventory feed and DMS access are not required.

On the dealer side you need a sign in to the portal. It opens from the My Inventory button on the dock at the bottom of LeadLocate CRM with single sign on, and on a device where you have set one up you can Use a passkey instead of typing a password. On the shopper side nobody needs anything: the finder is on your dealer page and on any inventory site the portal publishes, and a customer uses it without signing in to anything.

Walk it yourself once before you send anybody to it. Five minutes answering the finder as if you were a customer tells you more about your own inventory records than an afternoon of reports.

The finder is built for the way shoppers actually describe a car, which is not the way a database stores one. A customer says roughly what they want, in the order it occurs to them: the kind of vehicle, a make or no make at all, a model year range, what they can spend a month or in total, how they plan to pay, what they need it to do and the two or three things it has to have. What will you use it for? is the question that does the most work, because a school run, a long commute and towing a trailer send the search in three different directions.

What it matches on is the part that matters. Every vehicle in the portal has been through VIN decode and the automotive database, so the finder is searching real trims, real drivetrains and real equipment rather than whatever text a feed happened to carry. A shopper asking for a third row and a tow package gets the units that have them. The VIN decode and vehicle database page covers where those specifications come from.

There is a direct path too. A shopper who already knows the car can enter the Vehicle identification number and the decode names the unit outright, which is how somebody who saw a car on another site checks whether you have that exact one.

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On the shopper side, the units in your inventory that fit, each with its photos, decoded build, mileage and price. The shopper picks one and the request sheet rises from the bottom of the screen on a phone rather than pushing the page away, and they ask their question and send it.

On your side, that request arrives in two places at once. The dealer portal holds it under Requests and in the inbox, and LeadLocate CRM receives it as a lead with the vehicle attached. Search the leads list with Name, email, phone or vehicle to pull it up by the customer name or by the car they were looking at, and the lead detail names the unit under Vehicle with its trim, mileage and price.

Answer it with the car. The vehicle insert button in the text and email composers drops that unit into your reply as a card with a photo and a price, which is a better answer than a paragraph describing it, and the send vehicles by text page covers how that works.

The finder came back with nothing. Usually the unit is not in the portal yet. Open the inventory list and look; if it is not there, click Add vehicle, enter the Vehicle identification number and let the decode fill the build. Newly added units become searchable as the lookup index rebuilds on its own schedule.

It came back with the wrong cars. The records behind them are thin. A unit added by hand with no trim, or a feed line with a description that stops at the color, gives the finder little to match on. Open those vehicles and let the decode fill the build, then search again.

A shopper says they used it and you never got anything. They found the car and closed the tab without sending the request, which happens. Check the leads list anyway, and check your notification preferences in the CRM so the next one reaches a phone rather than a screen nobody is watching.

The car exists but not in that trim. That is the finder telling you the truth. It matches on the equipment the VIN says the unit carries, which is the whole point, because a customer who drives across town for a package that is not on the truck has a fair complaint.

The product page for this tool is vehicle finder, which covers where it sits and what search costs elsewhere. Where it appears is the other half: the inventory website builder publishes sites that carry it on the front page, and the embeddable inventory widget puts the same inventory on the site your web vendor runs.

The rest of the loop has guides in the LeadLocate Help Center: handling the Schedule a Visit request that follows a good search, editing vehicle photos so the unit the finder returns is worth stopping on, and publishing the site the finder lives on. If your store wants the finder to ask a question the standard set does not ask, that is available on request, and our team puts it in production for your dealership.

Does a shopper need an account to use the vehicle finder?

No. The finder is on your public dealer page and on any inventory site you publish, and a customer uses it without signing in. They only give you contact details when they choose a vehicle and send the request.

What does the finder search when a shopper types in plain words?

The decoded inventory record: the real trim, drivetrain and equipment from the VIN, plus the mileage and price on the unit. That is why a search for a third row and a tow package returns the trucks that actually have them.

How fast does a new vehicle become searchable?

The lookup index rebuilds on its own schedule, so a unit added this morning is searchable without anyone doing anything else to it. Adding the VIN rather than typing the build by hand gets it there in better shape.

Where does a finder request end up?

In the dealer portal under Requests and in LeadLocate CRM as a lead with the vehicle attached. Search the leads list by name, email, phone or vehicle to pull it up and reply with the unit in the message.

The finder reads your decoded inventory, locates the unit and hands your team the request with the vehicle on it. See it in the pre-recorded demo or start month to month.

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