The sales deal: reserve, invoice, deliver

A sales deal moves through ordered stages, and each one changes the vehicle's status and posts its entry. Understanding the order saves you rejected attempts and error messages.

Image 1 — the sales deals screen.

The stages

1. Draft: the deal exists with its price and customer, and nothing has been paid.
2. Reserved: you recorded a deposit and set a reservation expiry. The vehicle's status becomes "reserved" and it disappears from the public showroom immediately, so nobody else calls about it.
3. Invoiced: the invoice is issued. This is where recoverable expenses borne by the customer are added to the invoice total automatically.
4. Delivered: the buyer has taken the vehicle. Its status becomes "sold" for good.

Why delivery is sometimes refused

A vehicle is not delivered before the full amount is paid, and the system shows exactly what remains. Note that the total is not always the sale price: if the car carries expenses borne by the customer, they were added to the invoice, and the balance is measured against the total, not the sale price alone.

Payment types

• Deposit: the reservation amount.
• Down payment and payment: ordinary settlement.
• Trade-in: the value of a vehicle the buyer hands over against part of the price.
• Refund: money returned to the buyer.
• Forfeit: when the buyer withdraws and the deposit is kept.
• Trade-in returned: recorded automatically when a sale with a trade-in is cancelled; its value is owed back to the buyer on its purchase deal.

Discounts and the minimum price

A discount can be granted on the sale price, but if the price falls below the vehicle's minimum the system requires the "approve below minimum" permission. That prevents a loss-making sale going through without management knowing.

Cancelling

Cancelling a deal returns the vehicle to "available", reverses its entries and payments, and it reappears on the showroom site. The buyer gets back the cash they paid, less the deposit share set in the settings if they were the one who pulled out. A trade-in car's value is not refunded in cash: it is owed back to them on that car's purchase deal, where it shows as remaining, and you record what you pay them with «Add payment» on that page. Cancelling a consignment sale makes its agreement active again, so the car is sold under it again. A deal the finance company has already paid out on, or a consignment sale whose owner has been paid part of the price, cannot be cancelled until that is settled. Cancelling a delivered deal is an exceptional operation requiring its own permission.