Copperbeech Motors

Stock, preparation costs, test drives, sales, finance, warranties and part-exchanges for a used car dealer.

Download 275 KB16 tables, 15 queries, 10 reports, 5 print templates and 10,554 invented records, dated back from 2026-10-22.

Rutba Data Files with Copperbeech Motors, the used car dealer sample, open at its print template Vehicle sales invoice: a page laid out with the business's own name and address at the head and one of its records filled in, beside the list of the database's tables and how many records each holds — Copperbeech Motors in Rutba Data Files, made with its invented records and open at its print template Vehicle sales invoice.

Overview

Copperbeech Motors is an invented independent used car dealer in south-east London, with about forty cars on the forecourt, a sales manager who owns the business, three sales executives, a workshop technician, a valeter and an administrator. It buys most of its cars at two auctions twice a week, some from the trade, and takes about a third of its customers' old cars in part-exchange.

The sample holds fifteen months of trading, made up a day at a time. Each car is prepared before it goes on sale: always a valet, often a service, repairs where the inspection finds them, and an MOT when the old one is close to running out. Its asking price is set from what it cost, and comes down when it has stood for a month. Customers test drive; some buy, pay a deposit, and pay the rest at handover a few days later, about two in five with finance from one of two lenders, who pay the dealer a commission. Every car leaves with a warranty: three months included, or a longer plan bought. The part-exchange comes into stock the day the new car leaves.

Every car and make in it is invented. The makes and models are made-up names, and every registration begins ZZ, which is never issued, so none is a real car's.

In Rutba Data Files, choose Used car dealer on the start screen, then With sample records to look around, or Empty for the same design with nothing in it.

It suits, with small changes

A used car or van dealer
A motorcycle dealer
A car supermarket or a dealer's used car site
A specialist or classic car dealer
A caravan or motorhome dealer
A plant or machinery dealer selling used stock

Read on

Tutorial: the everyday tasks: 7 everyday tasks, step by step, each naming what to open.
Tables, fields and relationships: every field of 16 tables, and how they are related.
Queries, forms, reports and print templates: what each one shows, its criteria and calculated columns, and when to print it.

Things you should know

Everything in a sample's records is invented: the business, the people, their addresses, e-mail addresses on example domains that reach nobody, and phone numbers from the ranges kept for drama and fiction. Tax, company and bank numbers are placeholders of zeros.
The dates count back from the day the file was made, and some run on into the weeks after it, as real bookings and due dates do. Made from the Data Files start screen, a sample is dated from that day. Queries that compare with today (overdue, due this week) show more as a downloaded file gets older.
To start empty, choose the same business on the start screen and then Empty: the same tables, queries, forms, reports and print templates, with nothing in them but the Start Here guide.
Your records live in one file on your computer. Keep copies: File, Save As makes one, and a copy on another drive or in your own cloud storage keeps it safe if this computer is lost. Close the database before copying the file by hand.
Every change to the design (a new field, a renamed table) is a numbered step that Data Files keeps, so you can see what was changed and when.
The margin in the queries is the car's own: what it sold for, less what it cost, the buying fee, its preparation and the VAT on the margin. Warranty profit and finance commission are counted in their own queries, and overheads (wages, rent, advertising) are not in this database.
VAT on used cars: most are sold under the margin scheme, where VAT is a sixth of the margin, paid by the dealer and not shown on the invoice. A VAT-qualifying car shows its VAT on the invoice, but because the dealer reclaims the VAT it paid when buying, what it owes comes to the same sixth of the margin, so the margin query treats both alike. Check the rules for your own country with your accountant.
Prep Cost on a car is kept by hand: add each job's cost when you enter it in Preparation. The query Preparation by vehicle puts the two side by side.
Every sale is printed by the print templates, whatever its Status: a reserved sale's invoice has no number yet, and a cancelled sale still has its agreement. Choose the record to print, or print the one on screen.
The Window card prints every car on file, sold ones too. Choose the cars on sale (the query Stock by days in stock lists them) and print those.
A part-exchange comes into stock as a new record in Vehicles, with its allowance as the purchase price and no supplier. Its valuation points at the sale it was taken against and at the new stock record.
Numbers (orders, invoices, certificates, valuations, stock numbers) are typed in date order, a new run each year: look at the last one in the form and add one.

Starting with your own records

Start with Business, your own name, address and bank details, which every document prints. Then Staff (tick Sells for the sales team), Suppliers, Lenders and Warranty Plans. Then add the cars you hold in Vehicles, with their features and preparation. Customers, test drives, valuations, sales, finance agreements and warranties come in as you trade.

Making it yours

Every change to the design is a numbered step in Data Files, so a change can be seen and undone.

Sell vans or motorcycles too: add their bodies to Body, and a Payload or Engine Size field to Vehicles.
Keep a price history: add a Price Changes table (vehicle, date, old price, new price) and a query of the cars reduced this month.
Track where enquiries come from: add a Leads table (customer, source, vehicle asked about, date) and a query of leads by source and how many bought.
Send cars back to auction: add a Disposals table (vehicle, date, auction, price) and a Status of Sent to auction, so slow stock leaves with its loss recorded.
Record warranty claims: add a Claims table pointing at Warranties, with the fault, the garage and what was paid, and a query of claims against each plan.
Hold overheads: add an Expenses table (date, kind, amount) and a monthly query beside Sales by month to see the profit after costs.
Pay commission to the sales team: add a Commission Rate to Staff and a calculated column in Sales by salesperson.

Questions people ask

Why is there no VAT on most of my invoices?: Most used cars are sold under the margin scheme: VAT is paid on your margin, not on the price, and the invoice must not show it. The invoice says so under the lines. A VAT-qualifying car, ticked in Vehicles, shows the VAT within its price.
How do I see which cars have been in stock too long?: Run the query Stock over 60 days, or print the report Aged stock. Change the criteria under Days in Stock (> 60) in the query designer for another number of days.
How do I record a sale that falls through?: Set the sale's Status to Cancelled, write in Notes when and how the deposit was returned, set the car back to For sale, and set any finance agreement and part-exchange valuation to Cancelled and Withdrawn.
Where does the finance commission go?: Each finance agreement holds its commission. The query Finance commission by month and the report Finance commission add it up by month and lender, counting agreements that have been paid out.
How do I print one invoice?: Open the Sales form on the sale and press Print, choosing Vehicle sales invoice; or open the print template from Print templates and choose the sale.
Can I change the warranty plans?: Yes. Edit the Warranty Plans records: the name, months, claim limit, price, cost and the Cover words that print on the certificate. Old warranties keep the price they were sold at.
How do I find who to call about a warranty running out?: Run the query Warranties expiring, or print the report Warranty renewals. Only call customers who have ticked Marketing Consent about offers.

Data Files is free

It comes with Rutba Office, with no account and no trial.

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