Many people have bought one or more cars in their live. But they likely have never heard about a vehicle stock auditor. At Globis, you can not only get jobs as mystery shopper, but also as a stock auditor.
We pretty much know, how buying a car works. No matter if the car is bought in cash, is financed through a bank, is leased or rented: the process is more or less clear.
Many names, one purpose: To audit inventory
- Vehicle stock auditors
- Vehicle auditor
- Fleet auditors
- Vehicle inventory auditors
- Stock auditors
- Inventory Auditors
- Field inspection audits
Stock auditors check valuable assets
Vehicle stock auditors check part of the process before a customer buys the car. Cars are normally sold by dealers. Direct sales is not common. Dealers actually own many of the cars they sell. As they do not have enough cash, they need to finance the cars on their lot.
Cars at dealers can serve many purposes: They are displayed in the showroom, they may be used for test drives, they may be used by the owner or staff and they are bought to have sufficient new offers on stock. And there are many used cars on the lot, either trade-ins or other used cars. All these cars need to be financed. And assets financed are frequently audited – by a vehicle stock auditor.
A typical dealer has many sources of financing: From car banks and independent, specialized banks. All these finance providers want their asset backed loans to be valuable. They simply want to know, whether the cars financed are still at the dealer or have been sold, damaged, destroyed etc.
The basic task of a vehicle stock auditor is to check, whether the cars financed are at the dealer or not. In many cases, this is a rather simple task. Cars have so-called VIN – Vehicle Identification Numbers. They are unique and the financing company knows by the VIN, which car they financed. The vehicle stock auditor looks for the VIN on the cars on the lot. Of course he knows more than just the VIN, like make, model, color etc. The VIN itself is either on the wind-screen or at the cassis of the driver door (normally).
The assets to be checked must not only be cars. Audits can be about commercial vehicles, trailers, machinery, construction equipment and so on. And the audits are not limited to dealers, but also to rental companies for cars, construction equipment etc.
Main verification: assets exist and are in good condition
The auditor checks the list provided by the financing company. If cars are not found on the lot of the dealer, the dealer normally knows very well, where these cars are. There is a limited number of potential reasons for the absence of cars:
- They are at a test drive
- They are with an employee
- They have been sold to a customer
- They have not yet arrived from the factory and are still in transfer
- They are a third location on display, for example an airport, an event or something else
- They are at another location of the dealer
- They are at a garage to be repaired (only in special cases, as the dealer normally can do this by himself).
The vehicle stock auditor asks the dealer to explain the missing cars and looks at the proof provided by the dealer. Dealers keep their accounts normally very well and know very quickly where each car is. The auditor ticks off the cars and may take some notices on the whereabouts of cars not at the dealer’s premise.
Depending on the financing institution, he or she may also be required to physically check the cars, if they on a different location. This, of course, is only possible, if the location is nearby. Then the auditor drives to a workshop, a mall or to any other place, where the car is claimed to be and checks the car by its VIN.
In any case, when the vehicle stock auditor looks at a car, he or she looks for damages and takes notes or photos, if required. For any cars not verified during the visit, the dealer may provide information a few days later.
Finally, the auditor reports back to the financing company. They use the results as an important tool for their risk management. Dealers, who fail to record sold cars to the financial institution (and did not settle the corresponding loan for the car) in a timely manner, will get much more frequent checks than others.
Dealers are very familiar with this type of audit. They are used to get frequent visits of this type and normally have most information ready on the spot. Then, vehicle stock auditors have an easy job.
If you are interested in becoming a vehicle stock auditor, sign up into our mystery shopping system. Vehicle stock audit jobs are posted on the marketplace. In any case, we will provide you we a training prior to your first assignment.
Not only vehicles: most valuable assets are audited
Stock audits are not limited to vehicles. A vehicle stock auditor can also be assigned to check other inventory, to check certain procedures on site, to have a closer look at the books and so on. Basically, stock auditors examine a broad range of inventory, either for financial institutions or an owner who is not present at the respective locations but who wants to make sure that his books are up-to-date.
And if you do not audit, you can do jobs as a mystery shopper.