Why Most Dealerships Struggle With Their DMS—and What to Do About It

If you've worked in a dealership long enough, you’ve either wrestled with your DMS-or ignored it completely. And let's be real: it's not exactly the sexiest part of the business. But it is the nerve center.

In this episode of the Dealership fiXit Podcast, I sat down with Justin Quinn, product manager at Dx1 and long-time dealership operator. From the parts counter to the general manager chair, he's seen the gaps in how powersports dealers manage inventory, communication, and sales data-and why most of us aren't getting the full value out of our systems.

This isn’t a pitch for Dx1. It’s a breakdown of where things go sideways with your DMS, what to do about it, and how to get your team aligned.

What Your DMS Should Do (But Probably Isn’t)

At its core, your DMS should be an inventory tool. It’s supposed to help you manage major units, parts, special orders, service tickets, and everything in between. But as Justin points out, most systems-and how we use them-have barely evolved.

Instead, they’ve become clunky bolt-ons with siloed processes across sales, parts, and service. In his words:

“Most dealerships are still clicking 5 different tabs just to find one answer. Your system should be doing that for you.”

If your DMS isn’t surfacing data in real time, helping manage your aging inventory, or giving leadership visibility into what’s moving (or not), you’re stuck in manual mode.

The Sales Team’s Blind Spot: Using the DMS Like a CRM

Here’s a key point that stood out: most sales managers still don’t know how to use their DMS to manage the full sales cycle. And many don’t realize that their system can and should act like a CRM.

Dx1, for example, has integrated lead management, real-time alerts, and notifications tied to sales workflows. Incoming lead? Assigned and tracked. Trade info? Logged and tagged. Appointment status, emails, texts? Built-in.

Justin says dealers often miss the full sales story because the lead starts in a CRM and ends in the DMS-with no connection between the two.

That disconnection shows up in things like:

• Poor follow-up
  
  
• Missed trade info
  
  
• Clunky write-ups
  
  
• No post-sale engagement
  
  

A good system ties that all together.

Parts & Service Are Losing You Money (Quietly)

If you’re not cycle-counting inventory regularly, tracking special orders, or measuring obsolescence, you’re leaking profit.

And if your parts and service departments aren’t in sync, you’re wasting hours. According to Justin, some dealers still don’t even integrate special orders with the sales side, meaning a bike might be sold without the accessories ever being installed-just because the process wasn’t in place.

“Inventory gets away from you slowly. One part at a time. Then you’ve got $20,000 in aged inventory and no clue how it happened.”

Justin talked about smart notifications-automated alerts that help dealers flag issues in real time: aging parts, uninstalled accessories, even slow-moving SKUs. Think of it like a virtual assistant that doesn’t forget or go on vacation.

Sales vs. Service vs. Parts: Why No One Gets Along

Let’s address the elephant in the dealership: different departments don’t talk. Or worse, they talk at each other.

Sales doesn’t understand parts. Parts feels like service is sloppy. And service? They just want to be left alone to get the job done.

Justin’s take: that disconnect usually comes from a lack of shared visibility and cross-incentives.

“Everyone’s working in their own silo, but the customer touches all three. If your team doesn’t understand that, you’re setting them up to clash.”

The fix? All-store meetings. Shared goals. And making sure department heads understand how their decisions impact each other’s outcomes.

The Parts Manager’s Reality

Justin spent years in the parts department. He calls it “the hardest job in the building.” Why? Because it’s the most transactional, the most pressure-driven, and usually the least supported.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Opening drawers, balancing tills
  
  
• Receiving inventory accurately
  
  
• Managing returns, special orders, aged product
  
  
• Supporting both front counter and service techs
  
  
• Handling the most customer interactions
  
  

And unlike sales, there's rarely big commission to motivate the hustle.

One of Justin’s biggest recommendations? Get serious about cycle counts. Even if you just start with one vendor, one section, or one shelf-start. And if your DMS doesn’t support scanning or mobile bin counting, you’re years behind.

How to Make the DMS Work For You

Here’s the short list of what your DMS should be doing to support your team:

• Inventory management: Parts, units, PG&A, returns, special orders
  
  
• Real-time alerts: Aged parts, follow-up needed, special orders missing
  
  
• CRM-like lead management: From first contact to follow-up to write-up
  
  
• Post-sale retention tools: Loyalty tracking, coupon triggers, appointment reminders
  
  
• Role-based access: Sales staff vs. manager vs. parts vs. accounting
  
  

If your system isn’t doing this-or if your team doesn’t know how to make it do this-you’re running half blind.

One Final Thought: People Still Matter Most

Technology only goes so far. The magic happens when your people use it well.

That means:

• Teaching your parts and sales staff why data entry matters
  
  
• Helping service techs get the right information upfront
  
  
• Training the sales team to value lead follow-up as much as the close
  
  

And maybe most importantly, it means leading by example.

As Justin puts it:

“You’ve got to create the culture first. The DMS just supports it.”

This blog is based on an episode of the Dealership fiXit Podcast featuring Justin Quinn, Product Manager at Dx1. Give it a listen to hear the full conversation on dealership systems, workflows, and running a more efficient shop