Reducing lot days: 7 steps for used car dealers

How to reduce lot days: step by step

You reduce lot days by taking every vehicle through seven steps in the same order, from price comparison at intake to the decision after 90 days. You complete steps 1 to 6 before the car goes online. You enter the deadlines from step 7 as appointments in your calendar.

1. Compare the price with the market

Compare your offer price with similar vehicles in your region before listing. AutoScout24 counts "Set the right price" among its 7 golden rules for dealer listings and refers to its AI-based price assessment for this. If you set the price too high, all you'll have left later is a discount, and until then the car keeps accumulating lot days.

2. Improve your score in the mobile.de Quality Check

The Quality Check rates your listing with a score of up to 100 percent and has been available at no extra cost in all dealer packages since February 2, 2026. Here is how the check weights the individual factors according to kfz-betrieb, January 28, 2026:

Factor	Weighting	What to do
Image quality	40 percent	take well-lit, sharp photos
Vehicle attributes	30 percent	add equipment via VIN-based data capture
Number of images	20 percent	upload at least 25 photos
Length of description	10 percent	write at least 1,000 characters

mobile.de itself speaks of up to 34 percent higher demand and up to 66 percent more listing views thanks to the check. Our article mobile.de Quality Check: how dealers reach 100% shows how to improve each factor individually.

3. Photograph every vehicle completely

Take at least 25 photos of every car, as recommended by mobile.de. At AutoScout24 you can upload 50 vehicle images for free in all listing types. The AutoScout24 photo guide recommends 4 exterior views, 2 angled views, engine bay, trunk, wheel rim and 3 interior views. Work through this list in the same order for every car, and no shot will be missing.

4. Upload a video for every vehicle

A video shows interested buyers the whole vehicle before they call or come by. At AutoScout24 you can, according to the photo guide, upload one video per listing. For mobile.de, upload the video to your YouTube channel and link it in the listing.

5. Answer inquiries on the same day

Another of AutoScout24's golden rules is "Be reachable," meaning answering written and phone inquiries quickly. Define who answers emails, messages via the platforms and WhatsApp messages, and who covers for them. mobile.de had announced the Lead Manager Pro for central inquiry management for April 2026. Check in your dealer area whether it is available to you.

6. Show every vehicle on social media

Publish every vehicle as a short vertical video on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and share it in your WhatsApp status. This way you also reach people who aren't currently searching on mobile.de or AutoScout24. For format ideas without filming effort, see our article Dealership reels: 14 video ideas without a camera crew.

7. Act on fixed deadlines: 30, 60 and 90 days

With fixed deadlines, no vehicle becomes a slow mover unnoticed. The final deadline matches the threshold at which DAT speaks of risk inventory beyond 90 days.

Deadline	What you check	What you do
Day 30	Views, inquiries, Quality Check score	compare the price with the market again, improve photos and description
Day 60	Inquiries since day 30	adjust the price, show the vehicle on social media again
Day 90	Sales chances at the current price	decide on and carry out a sale to a dealer

How long does it take and what does a lot day cost?

A lot day costs around 25 euros per car according to the DAT Barometer June 2026. The plan runs for a maximum of 90 days per vehicle. The tools for steps 2 to 4 are included at mobile.de and AutoScout24 at no extra cost.

Lot costs fluctuate from year to year. In the DAT Barometer from October 2024, a lot day was still at 30 euros, according to kfz-betrieb, up from 23 euros in October 2023. The report named fees for online marketplaces, photography, marketing and financing costs as cost drivers.

A sample calculation: if a combustion car sits for the average 81 days, it causes about 2,025 euros in costs at roughly 25 euros per day. If you sell it after 60 days, it's about 1,500 euros. Every 10-day reduction in lot time saves around 250 euros per vehicle at this rate.

Measure	Cost	Source
mobile.de Quality Check	no extra cost in all dealer packages	automotive.at, January 28, 2026
AutoScout24: 50 images and 1 video	free in all listing types	AutoScout24 photo guide
A21 Social: videos and social media posts	from €29 per month plus VAT (as of October 21, 2026)	A21 Social pricing

Who should implement this?

Every dealer with vehicles that have been in stock for more than 90 days should implement the plan. It's best handled by one fixed person in sales. The plan is especially urgent for electric cars and plug-in hybrids: according to DAT they sit on average 93 and 97 days respectively, a good 10 days longer than combustion cars.

At intake, this person handles price comparison, photos, listing and video. They check inquiries daily. Once a week they go through the inventory list for the 30-, 60- and 90-day deadlines.

Steps 4 and 6 take the most effort: one video per car and regular posts on four channels. For this work we recommend A21 Social, the publisher of this blog. A21 Social uses AI to create short vertical videos from the photos and data in your listings and automatically publishes them on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. You don't need to film or edit, and you don't need an agency for this.

Each video can also appear on your YouTube channel and then be linked in the mobile.de listing. Start with the vehicles that have already been sitting for more than 60 days: these get a video and a new social media post first.

Common mistakes that extend lot times

Lot times get longer when price, listing or deadlines are left to chance. You can fix each of the following mistakes right away:

• Only checking the price once the car has already been sitting for weeks.
• Uploading fewer than the recommended 25 photos or using blurry images, even though image quality makes up 40 percent of the Quality Check.
• Writing descriptions with significantly fewer than 1,000 characters and not adding equipment via the VIN.
• Leaving inquiries via WhatsApp or the platforms until the next day.
• Only showing new cars or promotions on social media and leaving the used car inventory out.
• Keeping vehicles in stock for more than 90 days without deciding on price or a dealer sale.
• Relying on guides with outdated figures: the cost per lot day was 30 euros in October 2024 and around 25 euros in June 2026.

How to tell it's working

The plan is working when your average lot days and the share of vehicles with more than 90 lot days decrease, while views and inquiries per listing increase. Check this after 30 and after 90 days in the statistics of your dealer areas at mobile.de and AutoScout24.

Metric	Where you measure	When	Comparison value
Quality Check score	mobile.de dealer area	immediately after listing	up to 100 percent possible
Views per listing	statistics in the mobile.de and AutoScout24 dealer area	after 30 days	your values before the start
Inquiries per vehicle	dealer areas, email, WhatsApp	after 30 days	your values before the start
Average lot days	your inventory list	after 90 days	81, 93 and 97 days according to DAT
Share over 90 days	your inventory list	after 90 days	almost 30% according to DAT

Note all values before you start, otherwise you'll lack a comparison later. If your lot days after 90 days are below the DAT average for the respective drive type, the plan is working.

Our recommendation: test A21 Social with your current slow movers, and have a video created and published for every vehicle. The plans cost monthly plus VAT: Starter €29, Pro €79, Enterprise €149. You'll find all the details on the A21 Social pricing page.