Skip to content
Docs/Deals & closing

Deal info: price, fees, taxes, and trade-in

Set the selling price, fees, sales tax, and a trade-in on a new deal — and how your deal defaults pre-fill them.

Who: Owner, Manager, or SalesPlan: All plans

The money on a deal — selling price, sales tax, fees, and any trade-in — is entered on the New deal form. The fees and tax pre-fill from your saved deal defaults, so most of the time you just confirm the numbers.

The core money fields (Selling price, Tax, Doc fee, Other fees) are set when you create the deal. There is no separate edit screen for them afterward, so get them right up front. (The trade-in is the exception — you can edit it later from the deal page.)

Enter the price, tax, and fees

  1. Go to Deals and click New deal (or start one from a converted lead's page).
  2. Pick the Customer, the Vehicle (must be available), and the Deal type (Cash, Finance, Wholesale, or In-house (BHPH)).
  3. In Selling price, type the agreed price (e.g. 12000 or 12000.00). This field is required.
  4. Check Tax (optional) — it auto-fills from your sales tax rate. The hint reads "Auto at <your rate>%" (and adds "(less trade)" if your defaults credit trade-ins). Type a different number to override it.
  5. Confirm Doc fee (optional) and Other fees (optional). Both pre-fill from your deal defaults; edit either if this deal is different.
  6. Add a trade-in if there is one (next section), then click Create deal.

Selling price, tax, doc fee, and other fees are the four numbers that make up the deal total. Tax, doc fee, and other fees are optional — leave one blank and it saves as 0.00. Only the selling price is required.

How the sales tax is calculated

The Tax field fills in automatically from the rate in your deal defaults (only when that rate is set above 0). The math is simple:

  1. Taxable amount = selling price − trade-in allowance (the trade is subtracted only if Trade-in reduces taxable amount is on in your defaults). It never goes below zero.
  2. Tax = taxable amount × your sales tax rate.

So a $12,000 car at a 7.5% rate auto-fills $900.00 tax — or less if a trade-in reduces the taxable amount.

Tax only auto-fills when your Sales tax rate is set above 0% in Settings → Deal defaults. If the field stays blank, set the rate there — or just type the tax amount in by hand on the deal.

Add a trade-in

  1. On the New deal form, check Customer has a trade-in.
  2. Fill in the trade vehicle: Year, Make, Model, Mileage, and VIN.
  3. Enter the Allowance (what you're giving the customer for the trade) and the Payoff (what they still owe on it).
  4. If the payoff is above $0, fill in Trade lienholder (if payoff > 0) to record who holds the lien.
  5. Add Trade notes if needed, then create the deal.

The trade allowance always lowers what the buyer owes, regardless of tax. Whether it also lowers the taxable amount depends on your Trade-in reduces taxable amount setting.

The trade-in is saved with the deal, and you can edit it later from the deal's detail page. You can also promote the trade into your inventory from there (it creates a new vehicle row from the trade's year/make/model/VIN) — it is not added to inventory automatically.

Set your deal defaults (pre-fills every new deal)

Deal defaults save you from re-typing fees and tax on every sale. They live at Settings → Deal defaults.

  1. Go to Settings → Deal defaults.
  2. Set Default doc fee and Default other fees — these pre-fill the matching fields on every new deal.
  3. Set Sales tax rate (%) — your combined state + local rate, applied to the selling price.
  4. Turn on Trade-in reduces taxable amount if your state grants a trade-in tax credit. (Most do; CA, VA, HI, and DC don't.)
  5. Optionally pick a Default issuing state under Title issuing state, then click Save defaults.

Saving deal defaults is Owner or Manager only. A Sales user can still enter and override every fee and tax on an individual deal, but the Save defaults action is rejected for them.

Changing your defaults only affects future deals. It does not re-price deals you already created.

FAQ

Can I change the selling price or fees after the deal is created?

No. Selling price, tax, doc fee, and other fees are set at create time and pre-fill from your deal defaults. There's no separate edit path for them, so confirm them before you click Create deal.

Can I still edit the trade-in after creating the deal?

Yes. The trade-in is the one money-related item you can update later — open the deal and edit the trade-in there. You can also promote the trade into inventory from the deal page.

Why is the Tax field blank or showing $0?

Tax only auto-calculates when your Sales tax rate is set above 0% in Settings → Deal defaults. If the rate is 0 (or unset), the field stays blank — set the rate, or type the tax amount in manually on the deal.

Does a trade-in lower the sales tax?

Only if Trade-in reduces taxable amount is turned on in your deal defaults. When it's on, the trade allowance is subtracted from the price before tax is figured. Either way, the full trade allowance reduces what the buyer owes.

I changed my deal defaults — why didn't an existing deal update?

Defaults only pre-fill new deals. Existing deals keep the numbers they were created with.

Who can change the dealership's deal defaults?

Owners and Managers. Salespeople can override fees and tax on a specific deal, but only Owners and Managers can save the dealership-wide defaults that pre-fill every deal.