Car lot software without the lot-sized price.
Most dealer software is built for a building with staff, and priced that way. Deelary is built for the person who buys the car, chases the repair and stands on the lot when the buyer shows up.
There is a gap in this market and every small dealer has fallen into it.
At one end are dealer management systems. They are genuinely good, and they are built for a lot with a service department, an F&I office and people on payroll. They come with a contract, a setup call and a training session before the first car goes in.
At the other end is a spreadsheet, updated when you remember, which means updated after the number has already stopped being true.
Deelary sits in the gap. One app, every cost attached to the car it belongs to, and three numbers that are always current.
The three numbers a lot actually runs on
| Number | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Total cost | What this car has really swallowed, including the parts, the tow, the detail and the listing fee |
| Margin | What is left at the price you are asking, before you discount it in the lane |
| Days in stock | How long your money has been parked, with a nudge at 45 days and a harder one at 75 |
Most lots can quote the first number roughly and the second from memory. Memory is generous: it remembers the $8,000 purchase and quietly drops the $500 of tires, the $200 detail, the tow and the six weeks. Days on the lot explains why the third number is the one that quietly eats the year.
What you get
- Inventory with status: in transit, in repair, for sale, sold
- VIN scan that fills make, model, year, engine and body
- Receipt photos read on the device, so costs land the moment they happen
- A negotiation calculator that shows the floor before you agree to it
- Showings, test drives and shop visits with reminders
- Sales by month, and profit and days held by source and by make
- Unpaid invoices and money still owed to you
- Works offline, exports to CSV
What it deliberately leaves out
No website builder, no ad manager, no F&I module, no staff permissions. A tool that tries to run the whole business needs training and a reason to open it daily. A tool that answers one question gets opened in a yard with one hand.
If you are weighing it against what you have now, spreadsheet versus dealer software is the honest comparison, and what a small dealer actually needs goes through the feature list that matters.
Price
Free for up to two active cars with every feature. Deelary Pro is $8.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial, billed through your Apple ID. No contract, no setup fee. The pricing page has the detail.
Runs on iPhone and iPad. The iPhone and iPad page covers what the device actually does.
Not licensed yet? How to get a dealer license goes through the published requirements in Texas, Virginia and California, including the office and display rules that stop most people.
Questions
Is this a dealer management system?
No. A DMS runs a building: service bays, a finance office, payroll, a website, staff permissions. Deelary runs the numbers on the cars. If you need F&I and a service department, you need a DMS. If you need to know what each car cost and made, you do not.
How many cars can it handle?
There is no cap on the Pro plan. It is built for a lot holding roughly 2 to 40 cars at a time, which is where most independent dealers actually sit.
Is there a contract, a setup call or a training session?
None of the three. You download it, add a car and the numbers start. The free plan covers two active cars with every feature, so you can test it on real cars before paying anything.
Can my partner or an employee use the same records?
Deelary is built around one operator and their cars. If several people need to edit the same inventory at once, a full DMS is the better fit today.
What happens to my data if I stop paying?
It stays yours. Every car, cost and sale exports to CSV at any time, and the free tier keeps working.