Lot Walk and Photo Intake From Your Phone

A unit came off the truck this morning and is not online yet. One person walks the lot with a phone, scans the VIN, shoots the photos, and the vehicle is on the store's inventory site and in the texting composer before lunch.

The trigger is a unit that exists on the lot and nowhere else. It came off the transport this morning, or it was traded in on Saturday, or the auction run list landed it on Tuesday, and right now the only record of it is a key tag and a stock number on a windshield. A customer who texted last night asking about exactly that vehicle is going to get an answer typed from memory, with no photo, because the unit is not in any system a salesperson can attach.

Lot walks stall for a reason that has nothing to do with effort. The photos live on somebody's phone, the VIN gets typed into a spreadsheet, the description gets written at a desk two days later, and the listing goes live after the customer who wanted it has bought somewhere else. This page walks a single unit from the lot to the listing through Inventory Link and the CRM, step by step, with the screen names you will see. The dealership lot walk app page covers why a phone beats a clipboard; this page is the product side, in order.

Step one is the VIN, and it happens standing next to the vehicle. The Inventory Link app, listed in the app stores as MyInventory.Link, opens to add a vehicle. Scan the VIN from the door jamb or the windshield with the phone's camera, or type it. VIN decode fills the year, make, model, trim and the rest of the build from the automotive database, which also carries government safety and efficiency data for the listing, so the description starts from facts rather than from what the last salesperson remembered. If the store runs its own stock numbers, a stock number override sets the number the store uses rather than the one the feed assigned.

The same decoder runs in the CRM. The LeadLocate app has a VIN lookup on the phone, the Document AI pipeline reads a VIN from a photo, and My Office carries a VIN decode widget on the desktop, so whichever screen the person is holding, the number they scanned turns into a vehicle record. Vehicle text parsing takes a line like the one on an auction sheet and pulls the year, make and model out of it when there is no VIN to scan yet.

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Step two is the walk around, still on the phone. In the Inventory Link portal, edit vehicle and photos is where the shots land: front three quarter, rear, interior, dash, the odometer, the tires, whatever the store's standard set is. They are taken on the phone and saved to the unit, so nobody emails a folder to the office later. Mileage and the asking price go in on the same screen, and the record is complete before the person walks to the next unit.

A store without a photographer, or a unit that is not detailed yet, does not have to sit offline. Promo photos and stock imagery give a listing a presentable image until the real photos are shot, and the real photos replace them when the walk around happens. For a trade, the same intake starts on the deal side: the trade-in form in the CRM takes photos and a trade VIN scan while the customer is still at the desk, so the unit that will be on the lot Monday already has a record on Saturday. The Deal Jacket's QR intake takes photos from any phone camera straight into a deal, which covers the title and the odometer statement at the same time.

Step three is the part that happens without anyone doing it. The saved unit is on the store's inventory site built with the inventory website builder, which publishes and regenerates from the inventory record, and in the embeddable inventory widget on any website the store already runs. A shopper who describes what they want to the vehicle finder gets that unit back if it matches. Per salesperson inventory sites built from the template show it under each rep's own name.

Inside the CRM, the unit is on the Inventory menu on the desktop and in the inventory list with a detail sheet on the LeadLocate app. More to the point for the customer who texted last night, it is now behind the vehicle button in every text and email composer, so the salesperson answering that thread attaches the actual unit, with the photos just taken and the price just entered, as MMS. The send vehicles by text page shows what the customer receives. A store that also runs a feed sees the unit alongside the feed's units, and the feed editor and the feed request-change form handle the cases where the feed and the lot disagree.

The customer who texted last night gets a reply with real photos of the real unit, its mileage and its price, from the store's own number, with delivery status on the bubble so the salesperson knows it landed. The customer browsing the store's site sees the unit with the same photos, the decoded build, and the safety and efficiency data from the automotive database, on a page the store did not have to write. On a phone, a Schedule a Visit sheet rises from the bottom of the listing so the customer books a time to see the unit without calling, and the request lands in the Inventory Link inbox and the CRM.

What the customer does not see is the gap between the truck and the listing, because there is not one. A unit photographed at 10:15 is answerable at 10:20, and the shopper who asked about it gets the impression the store is organized, which is the impression a lot walk done on a phone is meant to give. Whether the customer's budget matches the unit is a separate question, and the what to expect page explains why a customer asking about a vehicle above their budget is still a real customer.

The Inventory Link dashboard and inventory list show every unit, with photos or without, so the used car manager can see at a glance which units came in this week and still have no photos, and send someone back out with a phone. Team management with invites and roles decides who can add and edit vehicles, so the porter can shoot photos on a unit without being able to change the price, and the manager can. The inbox and requests screens show the Schedule a Visit and offer requests that units are generating, which is the earliest read on which vehicles the market is asking about.

On the CRM side, the communications log on each lead shows which units were sent to which customers and whether the customer opened the trackable link, and the Reports dashboard on the dock rolls up activity by rep. For a trade, deal history and the visit log on the deal record how the unit came in and what was documented at the desk. None of this replaces the DMS inventory ledger; the DMS keeps the cost and the accounting, and Inventory Link keeps the merchandising record the customer sees.

A lot walk is mostly about the vehicle, but a trade intake is about a person too, and the record handles both. When the trade comes with a customer, the identity scanner reads the driver license into a customer record and the Customer Profile stores that personal information encrypted, co-buyer included. Photos of a title or an odometer statement taken through the Deal Jacket's QR intake land on the deal rather than in a camera roll, and the file library's secure sharing with tracking is how those documents leave the building when they need to, with a record of who opened them.

Roles hold on both sides: Inventory Link team roles decide who edits a unit, and CRM roles, User, Manager or Master Administrator, decide who sees the deal, with a Quick Access PIN per user on the phone. Before the unit is texted to anyone, the DNC Blacklist is in play, blocking a number in both directions with a live do not call lookup available. Every MMS carries delivery status and lands in the communications log. The safety and efficiency data on the listing comes from the automotive database rather than from a salesperson's memory, which is the kind of detail a store would rather have right.

Start with one unit. Install the Inventory Link app on the phone of whoever walks the lot, add a vehicle, scan the VIN, shoot the standard photo set, enter mileage and price, and save. Open the store's inventory site and the CRM Inventory menu and confirm the unit is there. Then answer one lead with the vehicle button. If the store already has a feed, connect it through the feeds screen and use the lot walk for the units the feed has not caught up with; if there is no feed, Inventory Link can import inventory from your website and the lot walk fills in the rest.

Inventory Link opens from the LeadLocate CRM dock under the same login, month to month, with no long term contract, and current plans are on the pricing page. An inventory feed and DMS access are not required, which is exactly why a lot walk on a phone is enough to get a store's units online. The platform is built so your store keeps selling: each product is its own application under one login, and every unit added on a lot walk, every photo in the set, every price change and every description is written the moment you press save and stays safe there, out on your inventory site, in the embeddable widget and on the CRM Inventory menu, while your DMS, your main phone line and your own website stay the store's own. Watch the recorded demo, or reach a person on the contact page. The trade-in offer request workflow picks up where a trade intake ends, and more workflows are on the solutions hub.

Do I need an inventory feed or DMS access to do this?

No. Neither is required. A person with the Inventory Link app can add a vehicle by scanning the VIN and shooting photos, and Inventory Link can also import inventory from the store's own website. When the store does have a feed, the lot walk covers the units the feed has not caught up with.

What fills in the year, make, model and trim?

VIN decode against the automotive database, which also supplies government safety and efficiency data for the listing. Vehicle text parsing handles a line from an auction sheet when there is no VIN to scan yet, and a stock number override sets the number the store actually uses.

Where does the unit appear after I save it?

On the store's inventory site built with the inventory website builder, in the embeddable widget on any site the store runs, in the vehicle finder, on per salesperson inventory sites, in the CRM Inventory menu and the LeadLocate app, and behind the vehicle button in every text and email composer.

What if the unit is not detailed yet or nobody shot photos?

Promo photos and stock imagery give the listing a presentable image until the walk around happens, and the real photos replace them when they are taken. The unit is answerable in a text in the meantime.

Can a porter add photos without being able to change prices?

Yes. Inventory Link team roles decide who can add and edit vehicles and who can change what, so the person shooting photos does not need the manager's access to the price.

Where do the units and the photos live once I save them?

On the store's own inventory record. A unit added on a lot walk publishes to your inventory site, the embeddable widget and the CRM Inventory menu, and every photo, price, mileage and description you saved stays attached to it. Your DMS, your main phone line and your website stay the store's own.

Watch the recorded demo or book a walkthrough on your own lot. Month to month, no long term contract, and no feed or DMS access required to get a unit online.

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