Key Outcomes
100+
independent dealers managed across the platform
4-step
LLC application flow with live, per-dealer progress
3-in-1
auctions, licensing, and rentals in one admin console
Real-time
listing approvals, auction stats, and status updates
Role-based
access for admin staff, dealers, and prospects
Overview
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Industry: Automotive / Dealer Licensing / PropTech
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Platform: Dealer-facing marketplace + internal admin console (independentdealersunited.com)
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Users: Independent car dealers, prospective dealers, IDU operations staff
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Stack: Next.js · Node.js · Relational database · Role-based admin dashboard · Auction engine
Background
IDU rents licensed dealer suites starting at $1,000/month across 35 dealer suites, and guides each dealer through the state’s requirements to sell cars legally: LLC registration, an EIN, a $50,000 MN dealer surety bond, motor vehicle liability insurance, and a zoning-approved commercial location. Before the platform, that pipeline ran on paper applications, email threads, and spreadsheets split across the leasing side of the business and the day-to-day of running a dealer lot.
Once a dealer is set up, they still need a way to move inventory between each other, list vehicles, run internal auctions, and track winning bids, without falling back to phone calls and text messages. Ownex Labs built a single platform covering both halves of the business: a public-facing side for live auctions and available rental space, and an internal admin console for staff to review and approve everything moving through it.
The build decision was consolidation and traceability: every vehicle listing, LLC application, and document should sit in one queue with an explicit approve/reject action and a visible status, instead of scattered across inboxes and folders.
- •Replace manual, email-driven approval of vehicle listings with a queued admin workflow
- •Give staff one console to track LLC applications end-to-end, including per-step progress
- •Run dealer-to-dealer vehicle auctions with live status and a separate winning-bid ledger
- •Surface available rental office and lot space to prospects without a manual, page-by-page process
- •Support distinct admin, dealer, and prospect roles from a single shared platform
One console for everything a dealer-suite network needs to run: who’s licensed, what’s for sale, and who’s renting what.
The Challenge
Business Challenges
- Onboarding a dealer touches multiple state requirements (LLC registration, EIN, $50,000 surety bond, zoning-approved lease, insurance) that previously lived in separate paper trails
- Vehicle auctions between member dealers had no shared system, so listings, bids, and sale status were tracked informally
- Staff needed a fast approve/reject decision on every new vehicle listing and every LLC application without digging through email
Operational Pain Points
- LLC applications move through multiple stages (business info, licensing documentation, EIN, LLC status) and needed visible per-application progress instead of a binary "done or not done"
- Vehicle listings needed a status lifecycle (pending, active in auction, sold, rejected) that admin and dealers could both see in real time
- Winning bids and completed sales needed to be tracked separately from active auctions, for reporting and payout follow-up
- Rental property availability needed to be visible to prospects browsing the site, pulled from a live feed instead of manually updated pages
Technical Challenges
- Role-based access across three user types: admin staff, approved dealers, and prospects filling out a licensing and leasing application
- A listing state machine (PENDING → AUCTION_ACTIVE → SOLD/REJECTED) that both dealer and admin views stay in sync with
- Structuring the LLC application as a discrete, trackable multi-step form with per-application progress shown directly in the admin table
- Keeping a connected rental-listing feed resilient, with a manual refresh and open-in-new-window fallback for staff when the embed is slow to load
The Solution
The platform was built as two connected surfaces on one data model: a dealer- and prospect-facing side (live auctions, rental listings, the leasing and licensing application) and an internal admin console covering Listings, Cars Auction, Winning Bids, LLC Applications, Rental Properties, Documents, Insurance, and Users. Every vehicle a dealer submits enters a shared listings queue with an explicit status; admins approve or reject straight from that queue, and approved vehicles move into a live auction view with running totals for live auctions, auctions ending soon, new listings this week, and total inventory value. Completed sales roll into a separate Winning Bids ledger tracking total sold, total value, and average sale value. LLC applications are modeled as a fixed 4-step flow (business info, licensing documentation, EIN, LLC status) with per-application progress and status shown directly in the admin table, alongside contact details and creation date. Rental property availability is pulled from a connected listings feed so prospects can browse available office and lot space without staff manually maintaining it.
Core Architecture
Implementation Process
Workflow mapping
Mapped the full dealer journey, from leasing and licensing application through approval, LLC filing, and first vehicle listing, against the ops team’s existing manual process.
Admin console & listings
Built the queue-driven Listings view (approve/reject, status badges, per-vehicle detail) and the live Cars Auction dashboard with running stats.
Auctions, winning bids & applications
Shipped the auction status lifecycle, a Winning Bids ledger for completed sales, and the 4-step LLC Application tracker with search, filtering, and status.
Users, documents & rollout
Added role-based access for admin, dealer, and prospect accounts, document and insurance storage, and rolled the platform out alongside IDU’s physical dealer-suite locations.
Results & Impact
A single platform behind IDU’s dealer-suite network: licensing, auctions, and rentals in one system for staff and dealers alike.Operations
- 1 queue for every listing, auction, and LLC application, replacing email and spreadsheets
- Approve/Reject decisions made directly from the admin dashboard, no separate tools
- Live auction stats: live auctions, ending soon, new this week, total value
Dealer Experience
- 4-step LLC application with visible progress instead of an opaque paper process
- Self-serve access to auctions, winning bids, and rental listings
Business Impact
- 100+ independent dealers supported across the network
- Two portals admin and dealer/public, running on one shared platform
