Finance desking for independent dealers
Show the buyer a payment, and how you got there. GARAGEBIRDS puts the price, the trade, the fees, the products and the tax on one worksheet on the deal, works out the amount financed and the monthly payment to the cent, and prints the payment schedule with the rest of the paperwork.
It works for any lender you deal with — a bank, a credit union or a finance company. You get the approval the way you do today; the numbers are worked out here, and they’re the same numbers that land on the paperwork.
One worksheet for the whole deal
The Desking tab on a deal holds everything that makes up the number:
- Pricing: the sale price, the down payment, and the trade credit from the deal’s trade-ins.
- Discounts and rebates, each on its own line with a label. A discount lowers the taxable amount; a rebate lowers what’s owed.
- Fees: your dealership’s standard fees fill in, and you can edit them or add lines.
- F&I products: service contracts, GAP and the rest, with provider, term, amount and whether each is taxed.
- Tax: the rate, with the tax previewed as you go.
- Trade-ins: up to five per deal, each with its appraised value, allowance, lienholder and payoff — so negative equity is counted, not forgotten.
- Financing: APR, term in months, any prepaid finance charge and the first payment date.
Beside it, a recap stays in view — sale price, discounts and rebates, net trade, down payment, fees, tax, products, the total due and the monthly payment — so the number you quote is the number on the screen.
The figures, to the cent
From those terms the worksheet works out the amount financed, the monthly payment, the finance charge, the total of payments and the final payment date. Money is calculated in exact cents, interest is rounded each month the way a lender’s schedule is, and the last payment settles whatever is left — so the total of payments matches the schedule line for line, rather than being the payment times the term.
Want to try the arithmetic first? The free car payment calculator does it the same way, in your browser.
An amortization table that prints with the deal
Preview the payment schedule from the worksheet at any time: every payment’s number, due date, amount, interest, principal and the balance after it. Once the deal is saved with a first payment date, the schedule is in the deal’s documents and prints alongside the state forms and your own contracts.
More than one structure before the buyer commits
Before a car is chosen, a lead can hold several scenarios — cash, or different down payments, rates and terms — each worked back from what the buyer can pay into the most they can spend on a car. Compare them side by side, then turn the lead into a deal when the buyer picks a car.
The gross, before you agree
The margin view sets the selling price against the car’s total investment — purchase, fees, transport and recon — so you see what a discount or a bigger trade allowance does to your gross while you’re still at the desk. It works on cash deals on the Free plan too.
Into the paperwork
The financed figures — lender, APR, amount financed, finance charge, number of payments, payment amount, first and final payment dates — are values your own documents can read. Map them onto your retail installment contract with Smart Print Forms and the contract fills itself in from the worksheet.
Free and Pro
Cash desking, with the margin view, is on the Free plan. Finance desking is on Pro: $49 a month billed yearly ($588 a year), or $59 billed monthly, with a 14-day Pro trial with no card, started by an admin from Billing.
Questions
Can GARAGEBIRDS desk a financed deal for any lender?
Yes. Enter the rate and term your lender approved — a bank, a credit union or a finance company — and the worksheet works out the amount financed, the monthly payment and the finance charge. You send the credit application to the lender the way you do now.
Does it print an amortization schedule?
Yes. The payment schedule — every payment’s due date, interest, principal and balance after it — can be previewed from the worksheet and printed with the deal’s other documents once the deal is saved with a first payment date.
Is finance desking free?
Cash desking is on the Free plan. Finance desking is on Pro, which an admin can try free for 14 days from Billing in the app, with no card.
Does it handle negative equity on a trade?
Yes. Each trade-in carries its allowance and payoff, and a payoff above the allowance raises the amount owed.
Desk your next financed deal
Start free with cash deals; finance desking is on Pro whenever you’re ready.