Best Floorplan Management Software: 5 Picks for 2027

Key Takeaways

• Most independent dealers should start with the floor-plan lender's portal for audits and payoffs, then decide whether a dealer management system (DMS) should also carry floor-plan cost.

• DealerCenter and Frazer do not publish floor-plan terms on their pricing pages, and AutoManager's pricing could not be verified, so ask for interest, curtailment and payoff handling in writing before you sign.

• NextGear Capital is the only option here whose public pages describe floor-plan audit steps, but it is a lender relationship, not a software purchase you can make on its own.

• Standalone audit tools such as 1Micro's iLot Inventory Audit publish no price, so their cost has to come from a quote.

• A custom workflow across a DMS export, a lender report and a text alert only works when each export exists and a named person approves every payoff.

TL;DR: Use the lender's portal for audits and payoffs, pick a DMS only if it can show floor-plan terms in writing, and add automation only after the exports are proven.

What floorplan management software actually tracks

Floorplan management software records each vehicle a lender has financed, the advance and interest accruing on it, and the audits that prove the unit is still on the lot. Three separate jobs sit inside that definition: tracking the balance and payoff, recording interest and fees, and proving a unit exists during an audit. Most of the confusion in this category comes from treating those three jobs as one product, when different tools do each one.

How we evaluated these tools

We weighted six criteria to match the decision an independent dealer makes before signing: whether the tool covers floor-plan work at all, whether audits are supported, and whether the price can be checked before a sales call. The weights are our judgment, not a published industry standard. Use the criteria below as a checklist when you talk to each vendor: rate each tool from 0 to 5 against what its own public pages say, and score a tool that publishes no floor-plan terms no higher than 2 on floor-plan fit, however strong its inventory module looks.

Three categories, one buying decision

The five options fall into three groups. DMS platforms (AutoManager, DealerCenter and Frazer) run inventory, sales and accounting, and their public pages do not show floor-plan handling, so it has to be confirmed. Lender portals (NextGear Capital) show the dealer the floor-plan account, audits and reconciliation, but they are only available if that lender finances your inventory. Audit tools (1Micro's iLot Inventory Audit) count vehicles on a phone and produce exception lists, but they do not finance anything.

Our assessment is to buy in that order. If you borrow from a lender with a portal, use that portal for audits and payoffs whatever DMS you run. Buy a DMS for floor-plan reasons only if you are already replacing your DMS.

Vendor profiles, one by one

AutoManager

Published facts: AutoManager sells a Dealer Management System. We could not confirm its price or feature list, so we do not state either here. A 2012 trade report on DeskManager 11.93 described a curtailment screen for tracking flooring payment schedules, interest and fees, according to Auto Remarketing (2012).

Our assessment: AutoManager fits an independent dealer who wants a DMS with accounting, and who can confirm floor-plan handling on a sales call. The main limitation is that the only floor-plan description we could open dates to 2012, so it may not describe today's product. Before migrating, confirm the data export, the path by which floor-plan interest reaches vehicle cost, and the payoff process.

DealerCenter

Published facts: DealerCenter's pricing page lists its DMS plan at a monthly price shown in the table below, and lists integrated accounting, reconditioning and service bay as separate modules. The page includes "Full Inventory Management" in its DMS feature list. It does not describe floor-plan financing or floor-plan inventory tracking.

Our assessment: DealerCenter fits a cloud-first dealer who wants to add accounting and other modules separately and can accept that floor-plan handling is unconfirmed. It is a DMS only in the public materials. Any lender audit still comes from the lender, so ask DealerCenter to put its floor-plan answer in writing.

Frazer

Published facts: Frazer's pricing page lists a Desktop plan and a Hosted plan, with monthly, quarterly and annual payment options. The page says standard subscriptions carry no setup costs or hidden fees, and that on-site installation and training are free in most states. Its "Financing Partners & Portals" section covers submitting retail prospects to finance companies. The site does not describe floor-plan financing.

Our assessment: Frazer fits a dealer who wants a choice between desktop and hosted software and whose main financing work is retail or buy-here-pay-here. Its public materials do not establish floor-plan support, so treat that as an open question. Ask for a live floor-plan screen before you move any inventory.

NextGear Capital

Published facts: NextGear's Account Portal includes a My Audits tab that lists vehicles to reconcile. Dealers can take photos and submit them to clear audits in real time, without a daily code word, and can assign audit work to another staff member without sharing a login. Self Reconciliation launched in early 2019, and fees and rates are not published on the page.

Self-reconciliation adoption: 60 percent in six months according to NextGear Capital (2019 launch). That is the company's own figure, so treat it as a vendor claim.

Our assessment: NextGear fits a dealer whose floor plan already sits with NextGear, because audit work is done where the lender records it. The limitations are that it is not a DMS, its rates and fees are quote-based, and you cannot use it without the financing relationship. Confirm with your portfolio manager which audit windows apply and how payoffs post to your books.

1Micro iLot Inventory Audit

Published facts: iLot Inventory Audit starts from a file you upload, either your own or the latest file from a data integrator. Designated auditors scan vehicles by QR code, several users can audit at once, and vehicles that were not scanned, such as those on a test drive or with a manager, can be reviewed and annotated. The page says no dedicated hardware is required. It does not say which phone platforms are supported or describe floor-plan terms.

Vendor-claimed manual audit time: 6 to 12 hours according to 1Micro (undated). The page makes this claim about manual audits, and it is not independently verified.

Our assessment: iLot Inventory Audit fits a team that needs a phone-based count with exception review, and whose lender accepts a dealer-run count. It is not a financing product, its price is quote-based, and its iOS and Android support needs confirming before rollout.

Feature matrix: what each public page shows

Read this matrix as what each public page states, not what the product can do. An empty or "Not stated" cell is an open question to ask the vendor, not evidence that the feature is missing.

Published prices and checked dates

Pricing checked October 30, 2026. Each figure below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, and the table shows the plan name as the vendor lists it. Where a vendor publishes no price, the table says Quote-based.

Starting prices are not total cost. Add-ons, implementation and payment terms are not shown in full on these pages, so request a written quote with every line item before comparing totals.

Carrying cost, worked through

Carrying cost is the number a floor-plan buyer should watch most closely, and it starts with the index rate. Bank prime loan rate: 7.00 percent on October 27, 2026 according to FRED (2026).

Simple interest at 7.00 percent on a unit floored for 30 days is about 0.58 percent of the advance (7.00 × 30 ÷ 360). Treat that as a floor, not a quote. Floor-plan lenders price off a base index plus their own spread, and none of the vendor pages reviewed here publish that spread. Check your floor-plan agreement for the index and spread, then compare the result with your lender's statement.

Where the audit and payoff work breaks

The most expensive gap is usually between the DMS and the lender's balance. A unit that sells can stay on the floor-plan list for days if nobody matches its VIN to a payoff. US Tech Automations could be configured to run a proposed payoff-matching workflow. The trigger is a unit's status changing to sold in a scheduled DMS export. The action matches that VIN to the lender's balance export and drafts a payoff task showing the balance and days on the floor. The output is a task in the operations lead's queue. The prerequisites are a DMS export or API access that carries VIN, status and sale date, plus a lender export using the same VIN format. The human review point is an approver who signs off on each payoff before funds move, because a mismatched VIN can send money to the wrong unit.

The audit side has the same structure. The trigger is an audit window opening in the lender portal or on the dealer's own schedule. The action compares the audit file from a tool such as iLot Inventory Audit against the DMS inventory export, and lists units that were not scanned but still show as sold or in transit in the DMS. The output is an exception list sent to a manager. Each outgoing text returns a delivery result that has to be checked, so a failed send is retried or escalated to a person rather than dropped. A manager confirms every exception on the lot, and the workflow never marks a unit as found by itself.

Building it yourself in Zapier, Make, or n8n

The alternative many dealers consider is stitching this together in Zapier, Make or n8n. Those tools can cover the same trigger-and-action pattern, and when configured they can keep run histories, retry failed steps and send errors down a separate branch. Those are real capabilities, but the dealer still owns the design: the alerting rules, idempotency so a retried payoff task is not created twice, access controls on lender data, escalation to a named person, and maintenance when an export format changes. A proposed US Tech Automations design would need the same prerequisites and the same human approver. What it could configure differently is the observability, retry and exception routing, specified and documented before go-live rather than built from scratch by a small operator.

Who should choose which tool

Choose NextGear Capital's portal if NextGear is your floor-plan lender, because the audit and reconciliation work already happens there. Choose AutoManager, DealerCenter or Frazer only if you are replacing your DMS and can get floor-plan handling confirmed in writing. Choose a phone-based audit tool such as 1Micro's iLot Inventory Audit if your lender accepts a dealer-run count and you want a faster physical count with exception review.

Skip a custom workflow from US Tech Automations if your lender's portal already handles audits and payoffs and you only need a balance view, if your DMS already posts floor-plan interest to accounting, or if you cannot export VIN and sale status from your DMS. Without that export the workflow has nothing to trigger on, and a lender report or a spreadsheet will serve you faster.

Who this is for

This guide is for the owner or operations lead of a small independent dealership who has narrowed the list to two or three tools and needs a decision. Published prices and stated floor-plan terms matter more here than a long feature list. Independent retail sales: 9.8 million vehicles in 2025 according to Auto Remarketing (2026). That March 2026 report on NIADA's data gives no count of active dealers, so this guide does not estimate one.

Red flags: your DMS cannot export VIN and sale status, nobody is named to approve payoffs, or your lender does not accept a dealer-run audit.

Mistakes that cost dealers time

• Buying a DMS because it has an inventory module, then assuming floor-plan interest and payoffs are included.

• Treating the lender's self-reconciliation record as your only audit file, instead of keeping your own VIN list.

• Comparing starting prices without asking for add-ons, implementation or payment terms.

• Skipping an export test. VIN formats often differ between the DMS, the lender file and the audit app.

• Reading the prime rate as your rate. It is an index, and your lender adds a spread on top.

Decision checklist before you sign

• Confirm which lender finances your units and whether its portal is included with the financing.

• Ask the DMS vendor to show floor-plan interest, curtailment and payoff on a live screen or in a written specification.

• Get a written price with every add-on listed, not just the starting figure.

• Request a sample export with VIN, status, sale date and balance, and test it against your lender's file.

• Name the person who approves payoffs and reviews exception lists.

• Confirm the audit window and who is allowed to perform a self-audit.

Frequently asked questions

Is floorplan management software the same as a dealer management system?

No. A DMS runs inventory, sales and accounting, and floor-plan handling is one module you must confirm, while the lender's portal or an audit app covers the lender-side record.

Do the DMS vendors in this guide list floor-plan features?

No, not on the public pricing pages reviewed for this guide, so confirm floor-plan handling with each vendor in writing before you choose.

Which should a dealer with one lender choose first?

Start with that lender's portal, because audit and reconciliation work happens there whichever DMS you buy. NextGear Capital's portal is the only one in this guide whose public page describes those audit steps.

Are the published prices the full cost?

No. The figures are starting prices from vendor pages, and add-ons, implementation and payment terms are not shown in full, so request a written quote with every line item before comparing totals.

Can a dealer build this in Zapier, Make, or n8n instead?

Yes, and those tools can keep run histories, retry steps and route errors, but the dealer must design, secure and maintain the logic, including escalation to a named person.

Does an automation replace the lender's audit?

No. A custom workflow prepares an exception list, and the lender's audit result plus a manager's review decide what is actually on the lot.

Bottom line

For most independent dealers, the first decision is which record the lender will accept, not which software looks best. Confirm floor-plan handling in writing, ask for quotes where prices are missing, and add automation only after the exports are proven. Once the exports are confirmed, see how US Tech Automations configures this for an exception list.