Duplicates and merging units

A unit that shows up twice confuses shoppers, splits its leads and skews your reports. MotoDealerHQ prevents most duplicates when a unit is saved, and lists the rest on the Data quality page so you can merge them or mark them as different units. Nothing is ever merged automatically.

How a unit is identified #

Every unit's VIN, HIN or serial number is stored in one standard form: capital letters, with spaces, dashes and dots removed. So 1hd-1kb4-17 and 1HD1KB417 are the same identifier.

The same identifier can only belong to one unit in your dealership, whether the unit was entered by hand, imported, created through the API or accepted from a DMS, and at any of your rooftops. If you save a VIN another vehicle already has, the form shows an error that names the other vehicle.

Archiving a unit (or merging it away) frees its identifier, so a unit you buy back can be entered again.

How imports handle duplicates #

• A feed import first looks for the unit it imported before (by the source's own ID), then by VIN, then by stock number, and updates that unit.
• If a second source sends a unit that another vehicle already holds, the record is skipped: no new vehicle is created and nothing is merged. The run log records it, and the unit appears under Duplicates refused by imports and DMS syncs on the Data quality page. Dry runs report it the same way.
• The file-drop connector matches DMS units the same way before raising reconciliation items.

Review suspected duplicates #

1. Open Inventory › Data quality.
2. Work through the groups:
   • Same VIN / HIN / serial: identical identifiers (usually from before duplicates were blocked).
   • Same stock number: compared without case, spaces or dashes.
   • Near-identical year, make, model and mileage: mileage within 1% (or 50 miles), with no conflicting VINs.
   • Duplicates refused by imports and DMS syncs: records an import or sync skipped.
   • VINs that fail the check digit: often a typo. These were saved anyway, because older and many non-US units use other formats.
3. For each pair, decide:
   • the same unit: select Merge #A into #B… (see below), or
   • different units: select Not a duplicate. The pair is hidden from the report from then on.
4. For a refused import record you have dealt with, select Dismiss.

(open full size)

1. Same identifier. Units sharing a VIN, HIN or serial.
2. Same stock number. Ignoring case and punctuation.
3. Near-identical units. Same year, make and model with almost the same mileage.
4. Refused by imports. Records that imports and DMS syncs skipped as duplicates.

The report respects your rooftop access: you only see units at locations you can work with. For the rest of the page, see Categories and data quality.

Merge two units #

1. On the Data quality page, select the merge button for the pair. Pick the direction carefully: the second number is the unit you keep. You can also use Swap on the next page.
2. Read the preview:
   • which empty fields of the kept unit will be filled from the other one (the kept unit's own values always win), and
   • What moves: photos, videos, leads, appointments, deals, deposits, invoices, tags and analytics.
3. Tick These are the same unit and select Merge.

After the merge:

• The kept unit has all the links. Photos are added after its own, skipping copies of the same photo.
• The merged-away unit is archived, loses its stock number and identifier, and is locked so imports cannot bring it back to life.
• A full copy of the merged-away unit is kept in the merge history, and the merge is recorded in the audit log as vehicle.merged.
• The merged-away unit keeps its own price history and import history.

Tips #

• Fix the source of duplicates: if two import sources send the same units, switch one off or narrow what it sends.
• Before you merge, make sure the unit you keep has the better photos and description; only its empty fields are filled.
• Check the VINs that fail the check digit list after each big import. A wrong character also breaks the VIN decode and marketplace listings.

Permissions #

Limitations #