DealersEdge Professional Forums

We are constantly showing more bulk oil on hand than what's truly in the tanks. We verify that deliveries are always receipted correctly so that's not the problem. I'm sure some gets billed wrong/not billed out but our discrepancies are larger than that. We have about 20 techs so we can't exactly monitor every drop of it. It has been an issue for as long as I've been here. Nothing we have implanted has helped explain why we are always short. Has anybody else had this issue and finally figured out what was going wrong?

Are you physically "dipping" your bulk oil tanks or are you just going by what the gauge says on each tank? I was having that same issue at a previous place of employment and discovered that the gauges were off a little bit. They don't have to be off by much to make a big difference. Hope this helps

do you have electronic metering and online access to the oil tanks?

The best way to manage it is to physically go to the tanks and measure them after there is a drop.

I have a formula for my different sized tanks to get a proper quart count. Example : 500 Gallons = 64 inches H x 48 inches D = 7.83 Gallons/inch

The other thing you should do is a create an excel worksheet with however many tanks you have and log the numbers on your oil controller. Then compare what was sold in your DMS for those part numbers to see if there is a shortage and/or overage based on what was used for that day. I do that a few times a week and you can tell very quickly if it is something as simple as the wrong part number being charged out or if the technicians are asking for/using the wrong oil.

Even after all of that I still have discrepancies. It is the most stressful and frustrating part of inventory management.

I always had to add 20 qts for what sits in the lines going to the stalls.

We had an electronic dispatcher at the last dealer I worked for. That keeps their "leaks" under control.

queenbee wrote:We are constantly showing more bulk oil on hand than what's truly in the tanks. We verify that deliveries are always receipted correctly so that's not the problem. I'm sure some gets billed wrong/not billed out but our discrepancies are larger than that. We have about 20 techs so we can't exactly monitor every drop of it. It has been an issue for as long as I've been here. Nothing we have implanted has helped explain why we are always short. Has anybody else had this issue and finally figured out what was going wrong?

Bill the shortage to service.

TimK wrote:

queenbee wrote:We are constantly showing more bulk oil on hand than what's truly in the tanks. We verify that deliveries are always receipted correctly so that's not the problem. I'm sure some gets billed wrong/not billed out but our discrepancies are larger than that. We have about 20 techs so we can't exactly monitor every drop of it. It has been an issue for as long as I've been here. Nothing we have implanted has helped explain why we are always short. Has anybody else had this issue and finally figured out what was going wrong?

Bill the shortage to service.

Yup, uncontrollable fluids stored in the shop get charged to service when they come up short. Everyone in our "Large" group is instructed to do so.

Although I do work with the service manager to figure out where the issues are.

I dip the tanks the morning before delivery as well as after the delivery. I once had a driver trying to make up some of his 'errors' on me, sometimes using the "I'm out of paper" for the printout.
Service pays for the shortages but over the past couple of years there hasn't been much variance.

Highly recommend an oil delivery system. I am long every month. If you are a GM dealer, I am not sure how you wouldn't be long. With all the maintenance plans, there is a lot of rounding up on oil billed against what was needed for said vehicle.

i'd make sure techs arent requesting 5 qts when it actually gets 5.5 ect.... could add up depending