Calculators
Stock Turn Calculator
Measure how fast your forecourt turns over. Enter units sold and average stock to get stock turn, average days to sell and a plain-English read on where you stand.
Retail plus trade.
Average across the period, not today.
365 for a full year, 90 for a quarter.
Result
Stock turn in the period
6.00×
Annualised stock turn
6.00×
Average days to sell
61 days
Watch
60 to 90 days means capital is sitting still. Review pricing weekly on anything past 45 days and check whether the advert or the photos are the problem before you cut the price again.
Assumptions
- Average stock is the mean number of vehicles held during the period, not today's figure.
- Units sold counts retail and trade disposals.
- Annualised turn scales the result to 365 days for comparison.
In short
Stock turn is units sold divided by average stock held. Divide the period by that figure and you get average days to sell. Most UK independents should be aiming for six to eight turns a year, or 45 to 60 days per car.
The formula
Two lines, and you can work both out from your own records without any software:
stock turn = units sold ÷ average stock
days to sell = period in days ÷ stock turn
Sell 120 cars over a year while holding an average of 20 and you turn your stock six times, which is a car every 61 days on average.
How to read your figure
The average hides the tail. Two forecourts can both average 55 days: one where almost every car sells in seven to eight weeks, and one where most sell in a month but five units have been sitting since spring. The second is the one in trouble, because those five are absorbing capital and depreciating while the fast movers flatter the average.
So look at the distribution as well as the mean: count how many units are past 60 days and past 90 days, and track that count weekly.
How to improve it
- Reprice on a schedule, not on a hunch — a weekly review of anything past 45 days.
- Fix the advert before cutting the price: photo count and description quality move stock more cheaply than a £300 reduction.
- Get cars retail-ready faster. Days spent waiting on preparation count against you the same as days spent unsold.
- Buy to your actual demand. Ageing stock is usually a buying problem showing up later.
- Set a hard exit point — trade or auction anything past 90 days rather than defending the margin.
The days-in-stock guide puts numbers on what ageing stock actually costs.
Frequently asked questions
What is stock turn?
Stock turn is how many times you sell and replace your entire stock in a period. Sell 120 cars a year while holding 20 on the forecourt and your stock turn is 6 — the whole pitch changes over six times a year.
What is a good stock turn for an independent dealer?
Six to eight turns a year, equal to roughly 45 to 60 days to sell, is a comfortable target for a UK independent. Volume operators on cheaper stock often run higher; specialist and prestige dealers run lower because the buyer pool is smaller.
Is stock turn or profit per unit more important?
Neither on its own. Profit per unit multiplied by stock turn is what your capital actually earns in a year. A £700 car sold eight times a year beats a £1,400 car sold three times using the same money.
How do I work out my average stock?
Take the number of vehicles in stock at the end of each month across the period and average them. Using only today's figure will distort the result if your stock level has changed a lot.
Related resources
How Long Should a Car Remain in Stock?
What a healthy days-in-stock figure looks like for a UK independent dealer, what ageing stock actually costs, and the repricing routine that keeps the forecourt moving.
Dealership reporting and KPIs to track
The metrics that matter: days in stock, gross per unit, lead-to-sale conversion, and more.
Know your days in stock without counting
Lotra tracks how long every vehicle has been in stock, flags the ones ageing past your threshold and shows stock turn across the whole forecourt in reporting.