Accountants for car dealers, workshops and automotive businesses
Automotive businesses hold more of their money in stock and equipment than most. A dealer carries vehicles on a floor plan facility with interest running every day a car sits unsold, a workshop’s profit lives in labour recovery and parts margin, and a panel shop waits on insurer authorisations before it can bill. Add GST on trade-ins, luxury car tax and trading stock valuations at 30 June, and the accounts need a team that knows how the industry moves money.
New Wave works with new and used car dealers, mechanical and auto electrical workshops, panel beaters, detailers and parts businesses across the Gold Coast and Australia, from an owner-operator with two hoists to multi-site dealer groups. Franchised dealers and branded workshop networks will find some overlap with our franchises page.
The questions automotive business owners bring us
What the floor plan is really costing
Floor plan interest, curtailment on aged stock and the financier’s stock audits bite harder when cars turn slowly. We reconcile the floor plan statement to vehicle stock in Xero monthly, report days in stock and holding cost per vehicle, and build a cash flow forecast for a slow quarter. At 30 June each car can be valued at cost, market selling value or replacement value, which matters when used stock has dropped.
GST and margin on trade-ins
A trade-in is two supplies: your sale of the car and the customer’s sale of the trade to you. A GST-registered seller gives you a tax invoice. A private seller does not, but the second-hand goods rules allow a credit of one eleventh of the price paid, capped at the GST on resale and, above $300, claimed only when the car sells. Over-allowances inflate both sides of the deal, so we report true gross per vehicle.
Luxury car tax
Dealers pay luxury car tax on sales above the threshold, which is indexed each year and higher for fuel-efficient cars: 33% of the excess after GST is taken out, with dealer delivery and accessories fitted before delivery counted in the value. Quoting your ABN on stock purchases means the tax is paid once, on the retail sale, but a quoted car put to private use can bring it forward. We check the workings on every BAS.
Workshop profitability and the people who produce it
Hours sold against hours paid, parts margin and work in progress decide whether a workshop makes money, and panel shops add assessed quotes and slower insurer payments. We reconcile the workshop system to Xero so the monthly report shows those numbers, advise on payroll tax once wages pass the state threshold, and test whether contractor technicians and detailers are really contractors, including super for those paid mainly for their labour.
Equipment, premises and the next site
Hoists, spray booths and diagnostic gear are depreciating assets, and buying outright, on chattel mortgage or on lease changes when the GST credit lands. Owning the premises personally, in a family trust or in an SMSF leasing it back at market rent gives different tax and asset protection results, and New Wave SMSF, Financial Planning and Law sit in the same building. We also run due diligence and valuations when you buy a workshop or sell the dealership.
What the work looks like
- A designated team that handles the business, any property entity and the owners’ family entities together, on one monthly package agreed up front.
- Bookkeeping in Xero that reconciles the dealer or workshop system, floor plan statements and vehicle stock every month.
- Tax planning in May with real numbers, not a tax return in October.
- Annual review of trading stock values, GST and LCT, payroll tax and contractor status.
- Advisory for the next move: a second site, a new franchise, buying out a partner or selling.
Who we work with
New and used car dealers, motorcycle, caravan and marine dealers, mechanical and auto electrical workshops, tyre specialists, panel beaters, detailers and paint protection businesses, and parts and accessories suppliers, across the Gold Coast, Brisbane and interstate.
Getting started
Book a FREE discovery call, 30 minutes with a New Wave team member. Bring the last two years of financials, your floor plan or equipment finance statements and the questions you have never had answered properly. If it is a fit, a proposal follows within the week with the monthly package set out.