Inventory Manager

Cavender Auto Family•Oklahoma City, OK

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Automotive Inventory Manager is responsible for the accuracy, presentation, availability, movement, and profitability of the dealership’s new and/or pre-owned vehicle inventory. The role manages the vehicle lifecycle from acquisition or trade-in through reconditioning, merchandising, pricing support, lot placement, sales, and delivery. The Inventory Manager works closely with dealership management, sales, service, accounting, acquisition, and sales staff to maintain appropriate inventory, maintain the lot, improve transportation from the make-ready department to the front line, and ensure vehicles are accurately represented and ready for customer presentation. The position directly supervises the lot porter on staff.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
Successfully complete an MVR check, background check, and pre-employment drug test.
Valid driver's license.
High-level organizational skills.
Previous automotive or inventory experience in a dealership setting.

Responsibilities

Maintain accurate records for new, used, demo, loaner, wholesale, and in-transit vehicles.
Ensure vehicle details and location information are accurate in the DMS, inventory tool, and third-party listing platforms.
Track vehicles from purchase, trade-in, dealer trade, auction acquisition, or factory delivery through sale, transfer, wholesale, or disposal.
Coordinate intake procedures for acquired vehicles, including VIN decoding, photos, window stickers, and vehicle-history reports.
Monitor used-vehicle reconditioning progress and coordinate with service, parts, detail, body shop, vendors, and management to reduce time to frontline-ready status.
Verify retail-ready vehicles are clean, fueled or charged, photographed, priced, merchandised, and properly displayed on the lot and online.
Maintain accurate vehicle locations across dealership lots, departments, off-site storage, and sold-unit areas.
Conduct physical lot audits, key audits, plate audits, and inventory reconciliations to identify missing units, incorrect locations, duplicate listings, and data discrepancies.
Monitor aging inventory and prepare reports identifying units requiring price adjustments, additional merchandising, dealer trades, wholesale action, or management review.
Ensure vehicles are properly listed and updated on dealership websites, OEM sites, digital retailing platforms, CRM, and third-party marketplaces.
Review online listings for accurate photos, descriptions, equipment, mileage, pricing, incentives, disclosures, and availability.
Maintain a clean, organized, customer-ready vehicle lot and safe vehicle movement.
Work with sales managers and consultants to locate vehicles, manage test-drive availability, and prevent sold or unavailable units from being shown to customers.
Coordinate dealer trades, transfers, auction purchases, wholesales, and transportation logistics as assigned.
Assist with compliance related to titles, temporary tags, vehicle disclosures, recalls, vehicle history, odometer statements, and dealership policies.
Prepare daily, weekly, and monthly reports on inventory count, aging, turn rate, reconditioning status, days to frontline, wholesale exposure, and pricing activity.
Train and hold accountable inventory, lot, porter, photography, or merchandising staff assigned to the department.
Identify process improvements to reduce inventory errors, improve frontline speed, lower reconditioning delays, and increase vehicle turn.
Directly supervise the lot porter on staff.