Discussion:
Quickbooks for small Freightliner truck dealer?
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Jer
2005-01-26 22:49:56 UTC
Permalink
Accounting folks -
This looks like a group with real experience. I'll read all your
comments with interest.

My family recently purchased the small Freightliner truck dealership
where my dad has been the salesman for 20 years. The old timers did
everything on paper, and that's how we're still doing it. As part of
the new contract we need accounting/inventory software and to submit
monthly financial statements electronically (just email Freightliner
the excel file as I understand).

We're being a pushed towards Procede software.
(www.procedesoftware.com). They have a relationship with Freightliner,
so parts ordering and some things become a little easier. But the cost
is $2000 per month or something insane for a small dealership.

I've read a lot about quickbooks vs. peachtree and others. I believe
the best software for us would be QuickBooks Pro 2005 (5 user). It's on
amazon.com for $450 after rebate.

What I think our accounting software should do - parts inventory (part
# and description, searchable), parts sales (cash or charge invoice &
remove part from inventory automatically), service on trucks (labor &
parts, invoice, remove parts from inventory), bookeeping (we're doing
everything on paper now, so no advanced features required). We sell new
trucks too, but on a weekly or monthy basis. We don't do leasing or
rents now. Only one guy is on commission and ADP is doing our payroll.
I don't think we need something to do payroll, at least not now. I
think I would use an excel template to export everything and do the
financial statement that way. Is that smart?

We have new computers networked with cable modem internet. We would
have quickbooks on the parts computer, service computer, and one or two
others. Think we need a server? A simple accounting program isn't
taxing for fast new computers, yet I've heard it's better to have a
server sometimes.

Many thanks!
Jeremy
Tony K
2005-01-28 06:25:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jer
Accounting folks -
This looks like a group with real experience. I'll read all your
comments with interest.
My family recently purchased the small Freightliner truck dealership
where my dad has been the salesman for 20 years. The old timers did
everything on paper, and that's how we're still doing it. As part of
the new contract we need accounting/inventory software and to submit
monthly financial statements electronically (just email Freightliner
the excel file as I understand).
We're being a pushed towards Procede software.
(www.procedesoftware.com). They have a relationship with Freightliner,
so parts ordering and some things become a little easier. But the cost
is $2000 per month or something insane for a small dealership.
I've read a lot about quickbooks vs. peachtree and others. I believe
the best software for us would be QuickBooks Pro 2005 (5 user). It's on
amazon.com for $450 after rebate.
What I think our accounting software should do - parts inventory (part
# and description, searchable), parts sales (cash or charge invoice &
remove part from inventory automatically), service on trucks (labor &
parts, invoice, remove parts from inventory), bookeeping (we're doing
everything on paper now, so no advanced features required). We sell new
trucks too, but on a weekly or monthy basis. We don't do leasing or
rents now. Only one guy is on commission and ADP is doing our payroll.
I don't think we need something to do payroll, at least not now. I
think I would use an excel template to export everything and do the
financial statement that way. Is that smart?
We have new computers networked with cable modem internet. We would
have quickbooks on the parts computer, service computer, and one or two
others. Think we need a server? A simple accounting program isn't
taxing for fast new computers, yet I've heard it's better to have a
server sometimes.
Many thanks!
Jeremy
Jeremy,

QB will do most of what you want. It tends to be weak on the inventory
side, however.

In general, QB is aimed at a small business owner with little
accounting experience. Peachtree is geared more towards people with
more accounting knowledge.

AFAIK, both have demos you can download from the internet. I would
recommend that before you buy one.

As far as the $2000/month package, it had better run itself and most
of your dealership for that kind of $$. What bells & whistles does it
offer over other packages? There are MRP packages out there that cost
less than that for the entire license!

You would probably be better off hiring someone like me to set up
QB/Peachtree & run it each month.

ADP is an expensive option, especially with only one employee. You
could use something like www.paycheckcity.com to calculate the
amounts, and just make the monthly deposits.

You do not need a separate server for QB. Just run it on the main box
& link the others to it through te network.

Good luck!

Tony

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