HR software for car dealership showrooms and their sales floors
A car showroom pays a large part of its floor on incentive, works hardest in the last week of the month, and loses sales consultants steadily. Offrd puts the incentive into the payslip without distorting the statutory heads, records the month end hours, and closes an exit inside a week, at ₹50 per active employee a month.
Last updated 24 August 2026
The showroom floor is not the workshop
A dealership contains two businesses with different HR problems, and most software treats them as one. The workshop behind the building runs on bays, job cards and technicians who stay for years. The showroom in front runs on targets, incentives and consultants who often do not.
This page is about the front half. If your question is about technicians, service advisors and bay throughput, the auto workshops page covers that side, and a group running several outlets should start with the multi outlet page instead.
What makes the sales floor distinct comes down to three things: a pay structure where the variable part is large, a month that is not evenly loaded, and turnover that keeps exit paperwork on the regular list rather than the occasional one.
Incentive that reaches the payslip without breaking it
On a showroom floor the fixed salary is often the smaller number. Unit incentives, target bonuses, finance and insurance attachment payouts and accessory spiffs can exceed it in a good month, and every one of them has to reach the payslip.
Payroll here runs in an Excel style editor, in Calendar Days or Working Days mode, with custom earning and deduction columns. Each incentive component goes in as its own column and appears as a separate line on the payslip, which is what a consultant checking their own number actually wants to see.
The statutory heads compute separately from the salary structure rather than from the month's total, so a strong incentive month does not quietly move the EPF or ESI base around. EPF runs at 12 percent from each side against the ₹15,000 wage ceiling under Para 26A, ESI at 3.25 percent employer plus 0.75 percent employee up to the ₹21,000 ceiling, professional tax follows the state the showroom's PIN code resolves to, and gratuity computes from basic pay on the statutory formula.
Offrd does not file any of it. ECR to EPFO and 24Q to TRACES stay with your CA, who receives payroll exported in EPF return format. Detail on the payslip generator.
| Component | How it is handled | Effect on statutory heads |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed salary | Salary structure, balanced to total CTC | Basic at 50 percent of CTC drives EPF and gratuity |
| Unit incentive | Custom earning column on the monthly run | Shown separately, does not shift the structure |
| Target or slab bonus | Custom earning column | Same |
| Accessory or insurance spiff | Custom earning column | Same |
| Advance recovery | Custom deduction column | Net pay only |
| Professional tax | From the state the PIN code resolves to | Computed, not looked up |
A month that is not evenly loaded
Every dealership principal knows what the last week of a month looks like. Deliveries stack up, the finance desk stays late, PDI works through the evening and the showroom closes when the last customer leaves rather than at a stated hour.
Recorded against a nominal nine to seven, none of that exists. Named shifts with their own start, end and grace period, plus break splits, put the actual hours into the record. What you then choose to pay for those hours stays a policy decision, and software should not pretend to make it for you. But the hours are there, which is more than a register at the reception desk usually offers.
The delivery and PDI team often starts earlier than the showroom and is a separate named shift on the same employee record. The finance and insurance desk usually tracks showroom hours. Front office and housekeeping sit on a general shift. One record, several shift definitions.
Attendance is marked by QR code at a staff entrance, which needs nothing installed on anyone's phone, or by GPS within a 500 metre radius for anyone doing home demonstrations and doorstep deliveries. Biometric readers already installed sync into the same record.
Sales staff churn, and closing an exit properly
Sales consultants move between dealerships more than almost anyone else on the premises. That is the trade, and the dealerships that handle it well are the ones whose exit paperwork keeps pace with the resignations rather than accumulating in a drawer.
Full and final settlement is a dedicated module rather than a spreadsheet: a reference ID in the form OFFR/FNF/YYYY/NNNN, a draft to approved lifecycle, a three block editor, 19 standard deduction heads and 13 exit specific payouts. Crucially it draws on the same salary heads the payslips used, so the settlement agrees with the history without anyone reconciling twelve months of incentive lines by hand.
Relieving and experience letters generate from the same record, which matters because the consultant's next employer will ask for both. Gratuity computes on continuous service, and fixed term employees become eligible after one year under the Labour Codes rather than five.
The intake side works the same way. Written appointment letters became compulsory for every employee under the Labour Codes that took effect on 21 November 2025, and the letter generator produces one format from one salary structure rather than whatever the last manager adapted.
One thing worth checking in your own records: whether a consultant who moved to your second showroom has one employee entry or two. Two means the date of joining on the newer one is wrong, and gratuity runs on continuous service, so the error surfaces years later as money.
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What Offrd does not touch
Your dealer management system, your CRM, the OEM portal and the lead tracker all stay where they are. Offrd holds the employment record underneath them and does not try to be a DMS.
There are no performance reviews, no OKRs and no 360 feedback. No expense claims, no help desk, no asset register. Recruitment stops at pre interview resume screening, which returns a ranked shortlist and nothing further. And Offrd calculates statutory contributions without filing them.
Signup gives you 50 free credits with no card, enough for one appointment letter, one onboarding and about a dozen payslips. If hiring is occasional, the pay per document plan often costs less than the subscription.
Questions from dealership principals
- How do sales incentives get into the payslip?
- Payroll runs in an Excel style editor with custom earning and deduction columns, so a monthly incentive, a target bonus or a spiff goes in as its own column and flows through to the payslip. Statutory heads compute separately, so a large incentive month does not distort the EPF or ESI base.
- Sales consultants leave often. How fast can an exit be closed?
- Full and final settlement is a dedicated module with reference IDs, a draft to approved lifecycle, 19 standard deduction heads and 13 exit specific payouts, and it draws on the same salary heads the payslips used. Relieving and experience letters come from the same record, so a resignation on Monday can be fully closed within the week.
- Does month end overtime on the showroom floor get recorded?
- Shifts are named schedules with their own start, end and grace period, and break splits are recorded, so the hours a consultant actually worked in the last week of the month are in the record rather than in somebody's memory. What you pay for those hours remains a policy decision, and Offrd does not decide it for you.
- Do showroom staff need written appointment letters?
- Yes. Written appointment letters became compulsory for every employee under the Labour Codes that took effect on 21 November 2025. That covers sales consultants, the delivery and PDI team, finance and insurance desk staff, the front office and housekeeping.
- Can we track the delivery and PDI team separately from sales?
- Yes, through named shifts and separate salary structures on one employee record. The PDI bay often starts earlier than the showroom, and both are defined shifts rather than one blurred dealership day.
- What if a consultant moves to the group's second showroom?
- Reassign the site on the same employee record. Date of joining, salary structure, leave balance and document history stay with the person. Creating a fresh entry at the new showroom resets the joining date, and gratuity is calculated on continuous service.
- Does Offrd handle DMS, leads or test drive bookings?
- No. The dealer management system, the CRM and the OEM portal are separate products and should stay separate. Offrd holds the employment record underneath them: who is employed, on what written terms, what hours were recorded and what was paid.
- What does a showroom with 35 staff pay?
- 1,750 rupees a month at 50 rupees per active employee, covering documents, payroll calculation with EPF, ESI, professional tax and gratuity, attendance with geofencing, and leave. No seat block, no minimum headcount, no setup fee.
Run one month end through it
Fifty free credits on signup, no card. Put the incentive columns into a payroll run and see whether the payslip says what your consultants expect it to say.
Statutory rates follow published rules from the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation and ESIC, and the Labour Codes notified by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Several thresholds vary by state. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own position with your CA or legal advisor. Questions to service@offrd.co.