Everything dealers ask before they sign up.

AutoMargin is a dealer-management platform built for South African used-vehicle dealerships. It tracks every cost against every unit on your floor — recon, prep, parts, valets, comebacks — and gives you live profit per stock number. Designed in South Africa for SA dealers: ZAR billing, VAT-compliant invoicing, WhatsApp-first capture, Paystack payments.

Independent used-car dealers running roughly 10–200 units of stock. Owner-operated dealerships, small franchises, multi-branch independents, and consignment-heavy showrooms all use AutoMargin. Not built for the very large groups (CMH, WeBuyCars-scale) — they typically run custom enterprise systems.

About 10 minutes from register to first unit added. You give us your dealership name, your VAT number (if registered), and your team's WhatsApp numbers. We provision your dedicated WhatsApp business number, and you're tracking margin on the next car you take in.

No, but you can. Most dealers start with new units going forward (which is fine — within 30 days your floor is fully tracked). If you want history imported from Excel or a previous system, we can quote a one-off CSV import — usually 1–2 hours for under 500 historic units.

Yes — 30 days of full Pro with WhatsApp AI included, no card required. On day 30 we ask, not bill. You can also subscribe any time during the trial if you want to skip the read-only period.

Basic is R299/month — full platform, unlimited units, up to 3 users, no WhatsApp. Pro is R499/month — adds the WhatsApp AI agent and 1 000 messages per month, unlimited team members. Floor Plan and Consignment add-ons bundle on top of Pro for dealers running finance or consignment stock. All prices excl. VAT, billed monthly in ZAR via Paystack. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.

Hosting, the WhatsApp Business Cloud API, AI inference for the WhatsApp agent, document storage, PDF invoice generation, dedicated support — all real costs. We keep pricing low and transparent so dealers of all sizes can run it. The R299 Basic tier exists for solo operators who don't need WhatsApp.

Yes — every listed price is excl. 15% VAT. The invoice you receive each month is a full SARS-format VAT 412 invoice with your business name, VAT number, address, subtotal, VAT amount, and total.

Instant upgrade. We charge a small pro-rated catch-up for the days remaining in your billing cycle, then your new tier kicks in normally next month. Downgrading goes the other way — change takes effect at the end of your current cycle.

Yes. One click from /billing. Your subscription stops at the end of the current billing cycle — no early-cancellation fee, no lock-in.

We retry the card automatically over 3 days. After day 3 we suspend the account and email you a one-click reactivation link. Your data is never deleted — only access is paused until the card clears. You'll never lose a unit or a cost record over a billing issue.

Not directly — we use Paystack for all billing, which is card-only. If you genuinely cannot use a card, contact us and we'll work something out for serious annual commitments.

No. The monthly subscription is everything. No setup fee, no per-unit charge, no per-photo charge, no charge per VAT invoice generated. The only optional extra is WhatsApp credit top-ups if you exceed the 1 000 messages included with Pro.

Send a message, photo of a receipt, or a voice note to your dealership's AutoMargin WhatsApp number. Our AI agent matches the cost to the right stock unit, files it against the right cost category, and confirms back to you in WhatsApp. No app to install — works from any phone with WhatsApp.

Yes. Each dealership gets its own dedicated WhatsApp business number — not a shared inbox. Customers and team see your dealership name when they receive AutoMargin replies.

Log a cost (text, voice or photo). Attach a receipt or licence disc. Update a unit (mileage, asking price, status). Mark a unit sold. Ask questions ('How many Hiluxes in stock?', 'Profit on stock 042?', 'What did I spend this month?'). See the full WhatsApp guide for live examples.

Yes — we use the official WhatsApp Business Cloud API via a registered SA aggregator. Your dealership gets a dedicated number, not a shared one, and all messaging complies with local regulations.

The AI asks for confirmation before saving any cost or change — it never silently writes data. If a confirmation looks wrong, just reply 'cancel' and the entry is dropped. Wait for confirmation before sending the next instruction.

We notify you when you're at 80% of your monthly allowance, then again at 100%. After 100% the WhatsApp agent pauses until next month's reset OR until you buy a top-up pack. Everything else in the platform keeps working — credits only affect the WhatsApp channel.

Yes — with the Floor Plan add-on. Daily accrued interest is calculated per unit using your bank's prime rate (we track prime-rate changes automatically). Each unit shows days-on-floor, accrued interest to date, and break-even alerts when the interest cost is eating into your asking price.

Yes — with the Consignment add-on. Track third-party (consignor) stock with five different deal structures, per-consignor banking details, a payout ledger, and automatic net-to-owner calculations on every sale.

Yes — every sale produces a full SARS-format VAT 412 invoice automatically. Your business name, VAT number, address, customer details, line items, VAT calculation, total. PDF download from the unit detail or invoice list.

CSV export of all units, costs, sales, and invoices is built in — your bookkeeper can import these into Sage, Pastel, Xero or QuickBooks. Direct one-click integrations are on the roadmap — let us know which you use most so we can prioritise.

Yes — monthly profit per branch, per salesperson, per make/model, per cost category. Year-end stock takes. SARS-ready sales summaries. Direct CSV export to your accountant's email or your file storage.

Basic includes 3 users (owner plus 2 team). Pro is unlimited team members. Per-user permissions let you decide who sees what — purchase prices, profit, supplier costs are all toggleable per user.

Only the owner by default. Sales staff and support users see the unit and asking price but not what you paid. You can flip this per-user in settings if you want to share margin visibility with a specific team member.

Yes — set up as many branches as you need. Users can be scoped to specific branches or have access across all. Reporting filters by branch.

Yes — invite them as a team member with bookkeeper-level permissions: full read access to costs, invoices and reports, no edit access to unit details.

Yes. Export everything (units, costs, sales, invoices) as CSV any time from /settings. Cancel and we'll keep your data for 30 days, then permanently delete on request. Your data is never sold, never shared with third parties, never used to train AI models outside your own dealership.

AutoMargin runs on Convex (Europe region) and Vercel (global edge). All customer data including photos, receipts and licence discs are encrypted at rest and in transit. We comply with POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act, South Africa).

Your subscription stops at the end of the current billing cycle. Your data remains accessible (read-only) for 30 days so you can export. After 30 days we delete on request, or anonymise and retain only what we're legally required to keep for SARS audit purposes (5 years for VAT records).

We provide ongoing data exports as part of the platform — never a lock-in. If we ever shut down, you'd get 90 days' notice and a final export of everything. The CSV exports are designed to be human-readable so you can rebuild your records in any other tool.

Email support@automargin.co.za — Basic tier gets a 24-hour response, Pro gets priority same-day response. Or WhatsApp us via your dealership number. For setup help we offer a free 30-minute screen-share with a real person — book via the contact page.

Yes — a 45-minute live screen-share for your whole team is included in setup. Recordings are available on request. We'll cover unit creation, cost capture, WhatsApp use, and report exports.

Reply to any AutoMargin email or message us on WhatsApp. We ship fixes weekly, and dealer-requested features go straight onto our roadmap. The product is built for SA dealers — we hear you.