ANPR cameras watch a site's entry and exit points and log number plates as they pass; LotCount audits every vehicle where it sits and reconciles the result against the DMS and the floorplan funder's statement. Cameras answer "what drove past this point?"; an audit answers "what do we actually own, where is it, and what is the funder charging us for?". They are different tools, and this page explains where each fits.
| ANPR / fixed cameras | LotCount | |
|---|---|---|
| What is identified | Registration plate at a fixed point | VIN, anywhere on any site |
| Coverage | Vehicles passing camera positions; compounds and rear lots often uncovered | Every vehicle on every lot, including compounds and off-site storage |
| Installation | Cameras per entrance, per site, plus networking and maintenance | None; staff smartphones |
| Identifier reliability | Plates are removable, transferable and absent on some trade stock | The VIN is permanent to the vehicle |
| Sales-status awareness | None; a sold car and a stock car look identical to a camera | Every VIN matched to DMS status and funder statement |
| Finds sold-not-invoiced units | No | Yes, categorised with photo evidence |
| Finds ghost vehicles on the funder statement | No | Yes |
| Funder-accepted audit evidence | Not typically | Yes; output validated by Bureau Veritas |
| Cost model | Capital cost scales with sites and entrances | Subscription; not per asset, audit or user; first site audit free |
ANPR earns its keep on security questions: a vehicle leaving without authorisation, a trade car arriving unbooked, overnight movement. What it cannot see is paperwork, and paperwork is where dealer groups bleed money. Across LotCount audits, around 11% of DMS records are inaccurate in location, status or existence, and the expensive categories are administrative: vehicles sold but not invoiced, units on the funder's statement with no physical presence, stock aged past its sale date and still funded. None of those events involves a vehicle driving past a camera.
Plate recognition also inherits a weaker identifier. Plates are designed to be removed and transferred; trade plates circulate; some stock carries no plate at all. The VIN is stamped into the vehicle, which is why funders and auditors treat VIN-level evidence as the standard.
LotCount's TripleMatch audit photographs every VIN on every lot using staff smartphones, validates each image with AI for OCR accuracy, GPS location, time and context, then matches all three records: physical stock, DMS and funder statement. Discrepancies come back within 48 hours, grouped into sold-not-invoiced, ghost vehicles, location confusion, funded-not-located, aged stock and fraud indicators, each with a timestamp, site, VIN and photo. A whole group is covered in a single day, with no installation at any site.
If your priority is live perimeter security, theft deterrence, or automated gate logging at a high-traffic site, ANPR does that job and LotCount does not attempt to. The two are complementary: cameras watch movement in real time, while a regular VIN-level audit proves the portfolio to management and funders. Groups that already run ANPR still surface the 11% when they run their first three-way reconciliation, because the camera never looked at the DMS or the funder statement.
Your team runs the first site audit free, on their own phones, alongside normal trading. Findings within 48 hours.
Book a demoNot on their own. ANPR logs plates passing fixed points, so it builds a movement record rather than a stock verification. It cannot confirm vehicles that never move, does not check VINs, and reconciles against neither the DMS nor the floorplan funder's statement.
Plates are removable and transferable, and some trade stock carries none. The VIN is permanent to the vehicle and is the identifier on the DMS record and the funder's statement, so VIN-level evidence is what auditors and funders accept.
They solve different problems. ANPR provides live gate security; LotCount provides audit-grade stock verification and three-way reconciliation. Some groups run both, but only the audit surfaces financial discrepancies such as sold-not-invoiced units and ghost vehicles.
