Parts inventory management
- Inventory accuracy, percent of lines counted clean
- 87
- Part numbers that did not match
- 39
- Unit variance, counted less system
- -60
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Binstockly publishes no catalogue, no interchange table, no fitment data and no target margin: the usage, the lead times, the costs and the prices are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
Parts inventory management is not one job, it is four, and a small operation usually has three of them right and one quietly wrong. The first is knowing what is actually on the shelf: a count of 300 part numbers where 261 match the system is 87% accuracy, and the 60 units nobody could find at an average $38 are $2,280 that the accounts still think you own. The second is knowing when to buy: 12 units a week with a seven day lead time and five days of cover means the reorder point is 21 units, and anything below that is a back order waiting to happen. The third is knowing what the line makes: $42 of cost against a $78 list, less the 10% the counter really gives, is $28.20 and a 40% margin, not the 46% the price list implies. The fourth is knowing what the shelf costs to keep: $420,000 of parts sold against $105,000 of average stock is four turns a year and 91 days on hand, and 430 dead part numbers out of 2,400 are $30,960 sitting still. This page walks what to judge in parts inventory software before a demo, and every figure above is worked by a free sheet on this site with no account.
Open the Free auto parts inventory software Free to use. No account, no card, no trial clock.
Count what is there
Start with the count, because every other figure is computed from it. The stock count sheet takes the part numbers counted, the ones that matched, the units the system claimed and the units you found, and returns inventory accuracy, the unit variance and what it is worth. A system fed by a shelf nobody has counted produces confident numbers that are wrong.
Set the reorder point, then the margin
The reorder point sheet turns weekly usage, the supplier's lead time and the cover you want into the number the shelf may fall to before you order, and says how many days of cover you are holding today. The margin sheet then takes cost, list price and the discount the counter actually gives and returns the margin and markup on the line and what it makes over a week and a year.
Judge the software on the record it keeps
Turns and dead stock are where the money is: the turns sheet gives turns a year, days on hand and the cash a target would release, and the dead stock sheet gives the dead share, what it cost and what a write-down would recover. Ask any vendor whether its record can produce those four figures from your own data, and whether you can export it all when you leave.
Parts inventory management: common questions
What should parts inventory software actually keep?
At minimum: the part number, the bin it lives in, what it cost, what it lists at, how many are on hand and when it last sold. Those six fields produce the reorder point, the margin, the turns and the dead stock list. Anything a system holds beyond them is useful, but a system that cannot produce those four figures from those six fields is not managing your inventory, it is storing it.
Do I need a parts catalogue and fitment data?
It depends on whether you sell across the counter to the public. A catalogue with interchange numbers and vehicle fitment is a licensed data subscription and it is most of what a full jobber system costs. If your parts are known to you and the problem is the count, the reorder point and the margin, you do not need it. Binstockly has no catalogue and no fitment data, on purpose, and we will tell you when a jobber system is the right buy.
How often should the shelf be counted?
That is your call and this site publishes no rule, but the arithmetic is worth knowing: accuracy is measured per count, so a cycle count that covers a slice of the shelf every week gives you a live accuracy figure, while one annual count gives you one number a year and a variance nobody can trace. The stock count sheet works either, and it is free.
Binstockly Pro
Keeping what you make
The sheets are free forever. Pro turns them into the record: every part with its bin, cost, list price and last sold date, every count with its variance against the shelf it came from, every reorder against the supplier and lead time it assumed, your store's name and logo on the printed sheets, no watermark, and an export when the accountant or the buyer asks.
- Download as PDF
- No Binstockly watermark
- Save every sheet and reopen it later
- Your store's name and logo on the paperwork
- Export every sheet and every record in one go
- Send a sheet to a supplier or your accountant
- Connect Stripe
- Connect your books
$49per month, whole team
Start Binstockly Pro PricingRenews monthly at the price above until you cancel. We email you before any price change.
Will it do what you need for Parts inventory management?
Tell us what your counter needs and we will tell you straight whether Binstockly Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you need a full jobber system instead. A person reads these and replies.
Cite or embed this figure
On the worked example, 300 part numbers counted with 261 matching is 87% inventory accuracy and $2,280 of variance at cost.
Free auto parts inventory software (Inventory accuracy, percent of lines counted clean): 87, Binstockly, worked example.
Cite as: "Parts inventory management, Binstockly", updated 2026-09-04, https://binstockly.com/parts-inventory-management/.