A floorplan funder's audit protects the funder; it verifies their collateral, on their schedule, to their scope. A dealer self-audit protects the dealer: it finds the sold-not-invoiced units tying up cash, the ghost vehicles still accruing interest, and the aged stock nobody flagged, before the funder's auditor does. Relying only on funder audits means your stock accuracy is checked a few times a year, by someone whose findings can affect your credit line.
| Funder audit only | LotCount self-audit | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose interest it serves | The funder's collateral position | Your cash flow, stock accuracy and audit readiness |
| Frequency | Periodic, at the funder's discretion; often quarterly or less | Whenever you choose; group-wide in a single day |
| Scope | The vehicles that funder finances | Every vehicle on every lot: funded, trade, demo and unexpected stock |
| Timing of discovery | Discrepancies found weeks or months after the event | Discrepancies surfaced within 48 hours of the scan |
| Consequence of findings | Queries, fees, and pressure on credit terms | Internal action on your schedule; issues resolved before they are findings |
| Cash recovery | None; interest already paid stays paid | Sold-not-invoiced and funded-not-located units identified while recoverable |
| Evidence you hold | The funder's report, written for the funder | Your own VIN-level, photo-evidenced, Bureau Veritas-validated report, shareable via LotShare |
| Relationship effect | Reactive; trust depends on their findings | Proactive; validated results build funder confidence and support credit lines |
Floorplan interest accrues daily, and the expensive discrepancies are time-sensitive. On average, 22% of vehicles that come up "expected but not found" in an audit are still being financed, which means interest and potential penalty fees on stock that has already gone. When groups move from occasional external checks to routine digital self-audits, they typically discover almost 2.5% of assets are sold but not invoiced at any given time: sales made, cash uncollected, interest still running. A quarterly funder audit catches these up to three months late. A one-day self-audit catches them this week.
There is also the audit-day experience itself. An unprepared funder audit means days of disruption, staff pulled from sales, and awkward queries on units nobody can immediately locate. As one group financial controller put it after switching: "What used to take over 5 weeks and filled me with dread, now takes a day and I look forward to it."
Funders are not the adversary here; they price risk. A group that can hand over a timestamped, VIN-traceable, photo-evidenced reconciliation of its whole portfolio is a lower risk than one that cannot, and LotCount reports are accepted by floorplan funders as audit evidence. Through LotShare, validated results can be shared with funding and insurance partners automatically, which in practice means fewer queries, smoother audits, and a stronger case on credit terms and costs. Some funders now actively ask dealers to self-audit; LotCount is how groups answer that request with evidence rather than a spreadsheet.
If your group is small, unfunded or single-site with tight informal control, the funder's periodic check may cover your risk. For any funded multi-site group, the mathematics rarely work: the cost of undiscovered discrepancies between audits is continuous, while the audit that would surface them takes one day and the first site is free.
Run a free first site audit and see your discrepancy report within 48 hours. You see the findings first. You decide what happens next.
Book a demoYour staff photograph every VIN on every lot using their own smartphones. The system validates each image with AI, matches every vehicle against your DMS and the funder's statement, and produces a VIN-traceable report within 48 hours that funders accept as audit evidence. Validated results can be shared with the funder automatically via LotShare.
Yes, when the evidence is defensible. LotCount reports carry a VIN, timestamp, GPS location and photograph for every vehicle, and the output has been validated by Bureau Veritas. Funders accept these reports as audit evidence.
Because a LotCount audit takes a day and runs alongside normal trading, many groups audit monthly, with sample or risk-based audits in between. The right frequency depends on stock turnover and funding exposure, but anything is an improvement on discovering discrepancies at the funder's next visit.
Staff time, sales disruption, and the discrepancies discovered late: interest on sold-but-not-cleared units, penalty fees, and pressure on advance rates if accuracy looks poor. Self-auditing converts those costs into a one-day internal process.
