FoxThe 12 must-have features for wholesale dealer software are: per-vehicle cost tracking, automatic floor plan interest, expense tracking, real profit per deal, title document generation, deal/buyer records, cloud access, mobile-friendly interface, free trial, no per-form fees, multi-user access, and floor plan payoff tracking. Of the major platforms — Frazer, DealerCenter, DeskManager, AutoManager, and FoxDMS — only FoxDMS checks all 12 boxes.
In This Checklist
If you're a wholesale auto dealer — buying at auction, buying from private sellers, or moving cars dealer-to-dealer — you've probably spent hours researching Frazer, DealerCenter, DeskManager, AutoManager, and maybe a few others. And you've probably noticed that none of them were built with a wholesale operation in mind.
Retail DMS platforms are loaded with F&I menus, consumer CRM, website builders, window sticker generators, and BHPH payment tracking. Useful tools — for retail dealers. Wholesale dealers pay for all of it and use almost none of it.
This checklist cuts through the noise. Below are the 12 features that actually move the needle for a wholesale dealer. Use them to evaluate every platform you're considering: Frazer, DealerCenter, DeskManager, AutoManager, FoxDMS, or anything else.
The 12-Feature Checklist
Short answer: The features below are not nice-to-haves. They are the difference between knowing your true profit on every deal and guessing. Miss even one and you're leaving money on the table.
Every vehicle should have a running total of all money invested: purchase price, auction fees, transport, recon, and more. Not a spreadsheet estimate — a live running total per VIN.
If your floor plan line is through NextGear, AFC, Kinetic, or a bank, interest accrues every single day. Your DMS should calculate this automatically and add it to each vehicle's cost — not wait for your monthly statement.
Every dollar spent on a vehicle should be logged against that VIN. Mechanical work, transport to Manheim, detailing, keys cut — all tracked per car so your all-in cost is always accurate.
When you close a deal, you should see your true gross profit: sale price minus the complete all-in cost including floor plan interest and every expense. Not just sale price minus purchase price.
Auto-populated title applications, reassignment forms, and dealer-to-dealer paperwork save hours every week and reduce errors on state forms. This is especially critical in Texas (Form 130-U, VTR-41-A).
Every deal should be stored with the buyer's name, dealership, contact info, and all deal terms. This is your audit trail, your 1099 source, and your repeat-buyer history.
A cloud-based DMS works on any device, anywhere — at the auction, at home, on a tablet at the lot. Desktop-only software like Frazer ties you to a single machine and creates backup headaches.
Your buyers need to check costs at the auction lane before bidding. Your manager needs to see the inventory report from the road. If the platform isn't usable on a phone, it's already behind.
Any DMS that won't let you test-drive the actual product before charging you is hiding something. A 14-day free trial with full access — no credit card required — is the minimum standard.
Some platforms charge extra every time you print a title application or buyer's order. At volume, this adds up fast. Your monthly subscription should include unlimited document generation.
Your buyer at the auction, your bookkeeper, your manager, and you all need access with appropriate permissions. Role-based access without per-seat charges that penalize growth is the right model.
When you sell a car, you need to know the exact payoff amount owed to your floor plan lender. This should be calculated automatically from purchase price, interest rate, and days outstanding — not looked up on a lender website.
Feature Comparison Table
Short answer: FoxDMS is the only platform that checks all 12 boxes. Frazer misses automatic floor plan tracking, cloud access, mobile, and free trial. DealerCenter and DeskManager cover retail but fall short on wholesale-specific cost tracking. AutoManager is cloud-based but lacks floor plan automation.
| Feature | FoxDMS | Frazer | DealerCenter | DeskManager | AutoManager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Per-vehicle cost tracking | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | ✓ | Partial |
| 2. Automatic floor plan interest (per day, per vehicle) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 3. Expense tracking (repairs, transport, detail) | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | ✓ | Partial |
| 4. Real profit per deal (after all costs) | ✓ | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| 5. Title document generation (state forms) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 6. Deal & buyer records | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 7. Cloud-based (no Windows required) | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 8. Mobile-friendly | ✓ | ✗ | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| 9. Free trial available | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 10. No per-form fees | ✓ | Partial | Partial | ✓ | ✓ |
| 11. Multi-user access | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 12. Floor plan payoff tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Total features checked | 12 / 12 | 6 / 12 | 7 / 12 | 8 / 12 | 7 / 12 |
✓ = fully supported • ✗ = not supported • Partial = feature exists but requires manual input or is limited in scope. Last verified March 2026.
Red Flags When Evaluating a DMS
Not all DMS platforms are upfront about what they lack. Here are four warning signs that should give you pause before signing up — regardless of which platform you're evaluating.
5 Questions to Ask Any DMS Vendor Before Signing Up
Use these questions on every sales call. The answers will tell you more than any feature list.
If the vendor hesitates, redirects, or says "let me find out" on any of these questions, you have your answer. A platform built for wholesale dealers will answer all five without pausing.
The Bottom Line
What matters most: floor plan tracking + real profit visibility
Most wholesale dealers who are losing money on deals they thought were profitable have the same problem: their DMS — or their spreadsheet — doesn't show them their true per-vehicle cost. Floor plan interest accrues silently, day after day, and never shows up until the monthly statement. By then the car is already sold at what felt like a profit but was actually a loss.
FoxDMS was built specifically to solve this. Every vehicle tracks floor plan interest automatically from the day it's floored. Every expense — transport, recon, detail — is logged per VIN. When you close a deal, the profit number you see is the real number: sale price minus everything. If you're evaluating Frazer, DealerCenter, DeskManager, AutoManager, or any other platform, run it through this 12-item checklist first. The score tells you everything you need to know.
Check Every Box — Try FoxDMS Free
14-day free trial. No credit card. No sales call required. Set up your inventory in under 10 minutes and see your true cost on every vehicle from day one.
Start Free Trial →Frequently Asked Questions
Must-have features include: per-vehicle cost tracking, automatic floor plan interest calculation per vehicle per day, expense tracking for repairs and transport, real profit per deal after all costs, and title document generation for state forms. Nice-to-have features include buyer and seller CRM, inventory aging reports, mobile access for buyers at auction, and multi-user support with role-based permissions. Wholesale dealers should avoid paying for retail features like consumer CRM, F&I menus, window sticker generators, and BHPH payment management.
No. Frazer does not automatically track floor plan interest per vehicle per day. Dealers using Frazer with a floor plan line through NextGear, AFC, Kinetic, or a bank must track floor plan fees manually — typically in a separate spreadsheet. This means most Frazer users do not know their true per-vehicle cost until they reconcile their floor plan statement at month's end, by which point many of those vehicles have already been sold. This is the most commonly cited reason Frazer users switch to alternatives built for wholesale operations.
DealerCenter is primarily built for retail dealerships. Wholesale dealers can use it, but they end up paying for retail listing features, consumer CRM, and F&I menus that wholesale operations never use. Floor plan tracking in DealerCenter is not automatic — dealers must manually enter interest charges. Wholesale dealers on DealerCenter typically pay for 40–60% of features that don't apply to their business model. If you do both retail and wholesale, DealerCenter is a reasonable all-in-one. If you're wholesale-only, it's oversized and overpriced for your actual needs.
Automatic floor plan interest tracking is the most important feature for a wholesale dealer's DMS. This is the feature that most directly impacts profit visibility. Many dealers using Frazer, spreadsheets, or retail DMS platforms don't know their true per-vehicle cost because floor plan fees aren't tracked per vehicle per day. A $12,000 vehicle held for 60 days at 18% APR costs roughly $355 in interest alone — that's money that silently disappears from your gross profit if your DMS doesn't track it automatically.
To switch from spreadsheets to a DMS: first export your current inventory list and identify which vehicles have open floor plan balances. Import or manually enter open-floor-plan vehicles first so interest tracking begins immediately. Then add historical closed deals for reporting purposes. FoxDMS has guided onboarding and most dealers are fully set up within one business day. See also: FoxDMS vs Spreadsheets and the Switch from Frazer to FoxDMS guide.