Calculations
How Autopilot calculates deal totals, gross profit, projections, targets, reports, and dashboard widgets.
Autopilot reuses the same calculation rules across deals, the Sales Log, dashboard widgets, targets, and reports. This page explains the main formulas, the settings that change them, and the common reasons two numbers can look different.
Where to find calculation settings
Open Settings -> Dealership -> Calculations.
Some Daily Sales Report options are set inside the Daily Sales Report settings panel because they only affect that report.
Deal pricing
Vehicle price
Autopilot starts with the vehicle RRP, then removes the customer-facing discount and any promotion value that reduces what the customer pays.
Formula
Vehicle price
= RRP
- discount
- customer promotion value
Total vehicle price
= vehicle price
+ add-ons and extras
Net trade value
= trade allowance
- trade settlement
Total on delivery
= total vehicle price
- net trade value
- deposit
| Value | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Vehicle price | RRP - discount - customer promotion value |
| Line item total | Sum of selected add-ons and extras charged to the customer |
| Total vehicle price | Vehicle price + line item total |
| Net trade value | Trade allowance - trade settlement |
| Total on delivery | Total vehicle price - net trade value - deposit |
If the vehicle price would fall below zero, Autopilot treats it as zero.
Gross profit
Vehicle gross profit
Vehicle GP is the profit from the vehicle side of the deal before finance and insurance profit.
Formula
Line item net profit
= all line item amounts
- all line item costs
Vehicle GP
= sale price
- stock price
- dealer promotion cost
- write-back
- reconditioning cost
- yard load
+ rebate
+ line item net profit
| Value | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Vehicle GP | Sale price - stock price - dealer promotion cost - write-back - reconditioning cost - yard load + rebate + line item net profit |
| Line item net profit | Line item amount - line item cost |
Important details:
- Customer promotion value lowers the sale price first. It is not subtracted a second time from GP.
- Dealer promotion support can increase GP when it is configured as support back to the dealership.
- Write-back, reconditioning cost, and yard load reduce vehicle GP.
- Add-ons and extras contribute margin only, not their full customer price.
- If a GP override is entered, the override wins. Overrides are treated as ex-GST.
- Imported or pinned GP values are treated as already ex-GST.
Finance gross profit
Finance GP is calculated from finance and insurance lines.
Formula
Finance GP
= finance and insurance amounts
- finance and insurance costs
Total GP
= vehicle GP
+ finance GP
| Value | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Finance GP | Sum of finance line amount - finance line cost |
| Total GP | Vehicle GP + finance GP |
When itemised finance lines exist, Autopilot uses those lines. If a deal only has the older total F&I profit value, Autopilot uses that fallback.
GST treatment
Your dealership GST setting controls whether entered prices are treated as GST-inclusive.
If prices include GST, Autopilot strips GST from calculated profit values before showing reported GP. The formula is:
Formula
Ex-GST profit
= GST-inclusive profit
÷ (1 + GST rate)
| Value | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Ex-GST profit | GST-inclusive profit / (1 + GST rate) |
Stored deal GP is already normalised for reporting, so most reports use it as ex-GST. Finance line profit is also stripped when the dealership enters prices inclusive of GST.
Date bases
Different screens answer different questions, so they do not always use the same date.
| Date basis | What it means |
|---|---|
| Deal date | When the deal was written up |
| Sales log date | When the deal entered the live Sales Log workflow |
| Sold month | Invoice date when present, otherwise estimated delivery date |
| Delivery month | Estimated delivery date, excluding deals invoiced outside the selected period |
| Invoiced or actual | Invoice date only |
| Delivered | Delivery date |
| Profiled | Profile timestamp |
| Registered | Registration timestamp |
Sold-month reporting only counts confirmed sold deals where Autopilot has a VIN, chassis, or order number. This avoids treating every estimated delivery as a confirmed sold unit.
Delivery-month reporting uses estimated delivery date, but it leaves out deals that have already been invoiced outside the selected period.
Settings calculations
Projection method
Projection settings are used by the dashboard Gross Profit widget, the Performance widget, and Daily Sales Report projections.
Formula
Delivery MTD run-rate
= delivery GP so far this month
+ average daily delivery GP so far
× days left in the month
Average daily delivery GP so far
= delivery GP so far this month
÷ days gone
Delivery lookback run-rate
= current delivery-month GP
+ average daily delivery GP from the lookback window
× days left in the month
Average daily delivery GP from the lookback window
= delivery GP in the lookback window
÷ lookback days
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Delivery MTD run-rate | Takes month-to-date delivery GP, works out the daily average, and carries that pace through the remaining days of the month |
| Delivery lookback run-rate | Starts with current delivery-month GP, then adds a lookback pace from recent delivery-month GP for the remaining days of the month |
The lookback window can be 30, 60, or 90 days.
Projection methods use estimated delivery date. They exclude drafts, cancelled deals, and deals invoiced outside the selected delivery period.
Average monthly overhead
Average overhead is a reference number for reporting. It can appear in targets, monthly GP reporting, the Daily Sales Report, and dashboard performance views.
It does not change deal GP, targets, pace, or the way a deal is calculated.
Daily Sales Report calculations
The Daily Sales Report combines daily activity, month-to-date results, projections, profiles, and draft potential.
Formula
Headline GP
= vehicle GP
When finance is included:
Headline GP
= vehicle GP
+ finance GP
Draft potential
= draft vehicle GP
+ draft finance GP
| Area | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Daily and previous activity | Deals using the report's daily date basis |
| MTD sold GP | Sold-month GP, using invoice date when present and estimated delivery date when there is no invoice date |
| All invoiced MTD | Invoice-date-only view, when that option is enabled |
| Draft potential | Draft deals shown separately from official sold totals |
| Profiles | Profile events by the selected profile basis |
| Projection | The dealership projection method and lookback window |
Important Daily Sales Report options:
- Headline includes finance decides whether headline GP uses vehicle GP only or vehicle GP plus finance GP.
- Include estimates in projections allows estimated delivery-month deals to contribute to projection coverage. If it is off, projections only use confirmed deals.
- Include internal profiles lets internal profile events contribute to profile totals when the report scope allows it.
- Show invoiced MTD by channel adds an invoice-date-only comparison.
- Exclude deals missing stock price removes deals without stock cost from the report totals.
Draft potential is deliberately separate. Drafts can help managers see what is coming, but they are not counted as official sold deals.
Dashboard calculations
Gross Profit widget
The Gross Profit widget shows:
Formula
This month delivery GP
= delivery-month vehicle GP
+ delivery-month finance GP
Last month delivery GP
= previous delivery-month vehicle GP
+ previous delivery-month finance GP
Projected GP
= current delivery-month GP
+ selected projection pace
| Figure | Calculation |
|---|---|
| This month delivery | Delivery-month GP for the current month |
| Last month delivery | Delivery-month GP for the previous month |
| Projected | Current delivery-month GP plus the selected projection pace |
The widget can show vehicle GP, finance GP, and total GP. All GP is shown ex-GST.
Performance widget
The Performance widget uses dealership performance settings. Its GP trend is aligned to the delivery-month outlook.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Delivery basis | Uses estimated delivery date, excluding deals invoiced outside the selected period |
| GP basis | Shows vehicle GP, finance GP, or total GP |
| Accumulation | Shows daily values or a cumulative line |
| Third series | Adds profile, registered, delivered, or invoiced activity |
| Average overhead | Adds a reference overhead line when enabled |
Projected totals in the Performance widget use the same projection method as the Gross Profit widget.
Profile widgets
Profile actuals use profile event dates.
Profile forecast looks for deals assigned to the selected profile month, plus deals already profiled in that month. Autopilot deduplicates the same deal so it is not counted twice.
Targets calculations
Targets come from the monthly target values set for each salesperson.
Formula
Sales target progress
= actual sales count
÷ sales target
Revenue target progress
= actual revenue
÷ revenue target
GP target progress
= actual sold-month GP
÷ GP target
Profile target progress
= actual profile count
÷ profile target
| Target type | Actual calculation |
|---|---|
| Sales count | Non-draft, non-cancelled deals by deal date |
| Revenue | Non-draft, non-cancelled deal revenue by deal date |
| Gross profit | Sold-month confirmed deals |
| Profile count | Deals profiled in the month |
Targets can differ from Sales Log views because a Sales Log view may be filtered, grouped, or set to a different date basis.
Projected GP report
The Projected GP report separates current-month GP into practical delivery buckets.
| Bucket | What counts |
|---|---|
| Banked | Delivered deals with delivery date in the selected range |
| In flight | Active non-draft deals with estimated delivery date in the selected range |
| Potential | Draft deals with estimated delivery date in the selected range |
For a calendar month, the report can show average monthly overhead and variance after overhead.
For the current month, run-rate projection uses banked GP so far, calculates a daily pace, and carries that pace through the remaining days of the month.
Formula
Banked GP
= delivered vehicle GP
+ delivered finance GP
Run-rate projection
= banked GP
+ average daily banked GP so far
× days left in the month
Variance after overhead
= projected GP
- average monthly overhead
Why numbers can differ
The most common reasons are:
- One screen is using deal date while another is using sold month or invoice date.
- One screen is using sold month while another is using delivery month.
- One number is vehicle GP and another is total GP including finance.
- Drafts are shown as potential in one place but excluded from official totals in another.
- A report is excluding deals missing stock price.
- Your permissions hide gross profit or financial fields.
- A Sales Log view is filtered, grouped, searched, or scoped to a channel.
- Average overhead is shown as a reference line or variance, not subtracted from individual deals.