Glossary

Car dealer terms, explained

52 terms from Nordic car retail, defined without marketing language.

Sales and leads

Sales contract (slutseddel)

A slutseddel is the binding purchase agreement between a car dealer and a buyer. It states the vehicle, the price, any trade-in, financing, delivery date and add-ons such as a service agreement. Both parties sign it, and it documents the transaction towards the customer, the lender and the authorities.

Test drive

A test drive is a scheduled drive where a prospective buyer tries a car before purchase. The dealer books a slot, verifies the driving licence, records a short-term loan agreement with insurance cover and follows up afterwards. The test drive is the single step with the largest effect on conversion.

Lead

A lead is an identified prospective customer who has shown interest in buying or leasing a car. It typically arrives from a portal such as Bilbasen, from the dealer's own website, by phone, email or a showroom visit. A lead only becomes a sales opportunity once it is recorded, assigned to a salesperson and answered.

Lead management

Lead management is the full process from an enquiry landing until it is either won or closed. It covers collection from every source, automatic assignment to a responsible salesperson, a reply within an agreed deadline, follow-up at fixed intervals, and measurement of conversion per source and per salesperson.

Trade-in

A trade-in is the customer's current car, taken by the dealer as part payment for the new one. The dealer assesses condition, mileage, history and market price, sets a trade-in value and offsets it in the deal. The trade-in immediately becomes the dealer's next stock unit.

Finance commission

Finance commission is the fee a car dealer receives from a finance provider for arranging a car loan or a leasing agreement. It is normally calculated on the financed amount or on the interest margin, and paid once the agreement is approved and the car delivered.

Add-ons

Add-ons are the options sold on top of the car itself: tow bars, tyre sets, paint protection, alarms, insurance, warranty and service agreements. They usually carry a higher margin than the car, and in practice they decide whether a deal is profitable or only looks profitable.

Prospect

A prospect is a person who has not yet shown concrete buying interest but matches the dealer's target group: a previous customer, a lease customer expiring in a year, or the owner of a car the dealer wants to buy. A lead is a prospect who has reached out.

Customer wish

A customer wish is a structured record of the car a customer is looking for: model, year, mileage cap, colour, equipment and price range. It lives on the customer record and is matched automatically against stock and incoming purchases, instead of sitting in a salesperson's memory or a note.

Customer wish register

A wish register is the combined list of every registered customer wish across the dealership, spanning customers and salespeople. It is used both to match customers against stock in real time and as a purchasing input: which models, price levels and specs are genuinely in demand right now.

Archived lead

An archived lead is a lost lead saved in a structured way with vehicle type, budget and loss reason, instead of being closed and forgotten. The archive is used actively: when a matching car arrives in stock, it is matched automatically against the archive, and purchasing can see which vehicle types are genuinely in demand.

AI ad copy

AI ad copy is a vehicle listing description generated automatically from the car's own data: model, year, mileage, equipment, history and price. The salesperson edits and approves the text before publishing, so every listing reaches the same level of detail regardless of who created the car.

AI photo clean-up

Photo clean-up is automatic image processing of vehicle photos where background, light and cropping are standardised, so every listing looks shot in the same place. The photo is taken on a phone, a style is picked, and a new photo is saved. The original is always kept.

Digital showroom

A digital showroom is a shareable page with a selected set of cars that a dealer sends to a specific customer, campaign or channel. It is not the full stock, but a curated list with photos, price and a call to action, where the dealer can see who opens and clicks.

Lead scoring

Lead scoring is a systematic prioritisation of incoming leads by their likelihood of ending in a sale. The score is built from behaviour and data: which car, which channel, whether the customer has bought before, whether there is a trade-in, and how quickly they respond. The point is that salespeople call the right ones first.

Lead source

A lead source is the channel an enquiry arrives through: a car portal, your own website, phone, Google Ads, Facebook, a referral or an existing customer. The source is recorded on the lead so the dealer can measure volume, quality and cost per channel instead of guessing where sales come from.

Lead response time

Response time is the time from a customer submitting an enquiry to that customer receiving a real reply from a person or a relevant automated response. It is measured per lead and per salesperson, and it is the single number that most often explains the conversion gap between two otherwise similar dealers.

Sales pipeline (car sales)

A sales pipeline is the fixed sequence of stages a deal moves through: lead, qualified, test drive, offer, signed order and delivered. Each stage has an owner and a next action, making it visible how many deals are genuinely live and what they are worth.

Owned demand

Owned demand is the demand a car dealer already owns: customers in its own base with a registered wish, expiring leasing contracts, or service history pointing to a replacement purchase. The demand is known, consent exists and the contact route is established — unlike bought demand from listing portals.

Car-to-customer match

A car-to-customer match is the automatic comparison between a specific car and the dealership's registered customer wishes. The match is triggered when the car is registered at purchase, return or expected availability, and produces a ranked list of customers a salesperson can contact immediately.

Release deadline

A release deadline is the agreed period during which a car only works internally against the dealership's own customer base before it is released to listing portals. The deadline turns the sequence between owned and bought demand into a measurable decision rather than an accident of preparation and memory.

Replacement window

A replacement window is the period in which an existing customer is reasonably likely to change car, estimated from ownership time, mileage development, service history and — for leasing — the agreed expiry date. The window is used to prioritise which customers are contacted when, instead of contacting the whole base.

Leasing

Leasing CRM

A leasing CRM is a customer system where the leasing contract, not the sale, is the central object. It tracks term, residual value, mileage, expiry date and the return flow, and triggers customer contact well before the contract ends so the car can be re-leased or sold.

Operating lease

An operating lease is the rental of a car for an agreed period, where the leasing company retains ownership and carries the residual value risk. The customer pays a fixed monthly amount for use, often including service and insurance, and returns the car at the end of the term with no obligation to buy.

Finance lease

A finance lease is a financing arrangement where the customer effectively carries the risk on the car's value, even though the leasing company is the registered owner. The contract typically runs to an agreed residual value, and at the end the customer either must or may name a buyer or take over the car.

Residual value

Residual value is the value a car is expected to have when the leasing contract ends. It is set at contract signing and, together with the purchase price, determines the monthly payment. Set it too high and a loss appears at return; set it too low and the payment is uncompetitive.

Renewal / repurchase

Renewal is when an existing customer buys or leases a new car from the same dealer, typically as a leasing or finance contract expires. It requires contact well before expiry, a concrete offer on a new car and an agreement on the current one.

Ex-lease car

An ex-lease car is a vehicle returning from a leasing contract that must be sold on the used market. It typically has known service history and high mileage, and it must be assessed for condition, settled for excess mileage and damage, and priced against a residual value set three years earlier.

Lease transfer

A lease transfer is when a running lease is taken over by a new lessee before expiry. The leasing company credit-approves the new customer, the agreement is rewritten with the same car and remaining term, and a condition report is made at handover. The dealer usually brokers the deal.

Vehicle return

Vehicle return is the end of a lease, where the car is handed back and settled. A condition report is made, mileage is settled against the contract, abnormal wear is assessed and any additional charges are calculated. The car then moves on as an ex-lease unit for sale or re-leasing.

Lease expiry

Lease expiry is the point where a leasing contract's agreed term ends and the car must be returned, renewed or replaced by a new agreement. A well-run leasing flow works backwards from the expiry date with automatic contact, typically 90 days out, so the customer hears from the dealer before a competitor does.

Re-leasing

Re-leasing is when a leasing customer signs a new lease at the end of the existing one, either on the same car or a new one. It is the leasing equivalent of a repurchase, and the rate is measured as the share of expiring contracts renewed instead of ending in a return.

Mileage overage

Mileage overage is when a leased car has been driven more kilometres than the contract allows at the point of return. The excess is billed at a fixed price per kilometre and, together with damage, is the most common source of disagreement between customer and lessor at the end of a contract.

Lease contract management

Lease contract management is the end-to-end handling of an agreement's lifecycle: creation, signature, mid-term changes, mileage, payments, expiry and return. The goal is that every agreement has a status, an owner and a next date, no matter how many agreements the business holds.

Aftersales

Service agreement

A service agreement is a recurring arrangement where the customer pays a fixed monthly amount for planned maintenance of the car, typically servicing, oil changes and wear parts to the manufacturer's schedule. It gives the dealer predictable workshop revenue and a standing reason for contact throughout the ownership period.

Attach rate

Attach rate is the share of sold cars that leave with an attached product, typically a service agreement, warranty or finance. It is calculated as attached products divided by cars sold in the same period, and is used as the key metric for how well the aftersales opportunity is captured.

Reconditioning

Reconditioning is the work done on a used car between purchase and sale: technical inspection, repairs, servicing, cleaning, inspection where required, and photography for the listing. Reconditioning time is the period where the car costs money without being sellable, and it directly affects days in stock.

Preparation lead time

Preparation lead time is the number of days from a car arriving in stock until it is advertised and ready to sell. It covers appraisal, workshop work, cosmetic preparation, inspection, photography and listing. Every day in preparation is a day the car ties up capital without being sellable.

Tyre hotel

A tyre hotel is a paid storage service where the workshop keeps the customer's seasonal tyres between changes. It covers removal, cleaning, tread-depth measurement, storage in a registered slot and the reminder for the next change. It brings the customer back twice a year.

Data and registries

Bilbasen

Bilbasen is Denmark's largest car portal and the channel where most Danish used-car buyers search. Dealers advertise through Bilinfo, the professional listing and administration platform behind the portal. Bilbasen delivers leads, but it is an advertising channel, not a business system.

Bilinfo

Bilinfo is the professional platform Danish dealers use to list cars on Bilbasen and receive enquiries from it. Bilinfo handles advertising and stock presentation towards the portal, but it is not a CRM: it covers neither leads from other sources, nor test drives, sales contracts or digital signing.

DMR (Danish Motor Register)

DMR is the Danish Motor Registry's record of every registered vehicle in Denmark. It contains technical data, ownership and keeper details, inspection history, duty status and registration status. A lookup by registration number or VIN gives the dealer verified vehicle data without manual entry.

Synsbasen

Synsbasen is a Danish data provider that aggregates and exposes vehicle data from public sources, including DMR and inspection data, through an API. Dealers and software vendors use Synsbasen to look up cars by registration number or VIN and retrieve technical data, history and inspection results.

MitID signing

MitID signing is digital signature where the signer's identity is verified with the Danish MitID. It produces an audit trail with timestamp and verified identity, and carries the same legal effect as a wet signature. In car retail it is used for sales contracts, leasing contracts, service agreements and loan-car agreements.

Consent (GDPR) in car sales

Consent is the customer's freely given, specific and documentable acceptance that the dealer may contact them with marketing by email or SMS. It must be collected separately from the deal itself, be as easy to withdraw as it was to give, and be logged with timestamp and wording.

Service history

A service book is the documentation of a car's scheduled services, repairs and mileage over time. It is usually digital today, kept by the importer or the workshop. Complete service history directly affects resale price and is required by many warranty and leasing agreements.

AI report

An AI report is an automatically generated summary of the business's data in plain language: what was sold, where the pipeline stands, which leads went cold, which agreements are expiring. It replaces manual exports and spreadsheets and is delivered on a fixed cadence to management and sales.

Conversion rate (car sales)

The conversion rate in car sales is the share of leads that end as a sold car, measured over a fixed period. It is calculated as sales divided by leads in the same period. The rate is usually also tracked per stage: lead to contact, contact to test drive, test drive to signed order.

Match latency

Match latency is the time from a car being registered in the system until the first match reaches a salesperson as an actionable task. The metric measures the flow's reaction time rather than the number of matches, and shows whether the customer base really works before external listing.

Wish coverage

Wish coverage is the share of active customers in the base that have at least one valid, confirmed wish. The metric shows how much of the customer base can actually be matched against stock, and separates a working wish register from one that is merely large.

Systems

CRM for car dealers

A CRM for car dealers is a customer system where the industry's own objects are built in: vehicle, lead, test drive, sales contract, trade-in, service agreement and leasing contract. It differs from a generic CRM by knowing vehicle data, portals and registries, so the salesperson does not have to build the process from scratch.

DMS (Dealer Management System)

A DMS is the dealership's operational system. It typically covers vehicle stock, purchasing and sales bookkeeping, workshop orders, parts, warranty claims and posting to the accounting system. A DMS is built around the vehicle and the finances, not the customer, and therefore rarely contains lead, campaign or follow-up functionality.