What’s New with Deal Central
Exciting updates await! We’ve enhanced your experience with new features and improvements. Read below to explore what’s new.
September 2025
Smart Templates: Precision & Automation Enhancements
Enhancements to Smart Templates in Deal Central’s Manager View provide users with more detailed template creation and improved automation for deal processing.
- Create and apply templates using Year, Make, Model, and Trim for greater accuracy.
- Automatic selection of the most relevant template for each deal reduces manual steps.
- Support for rated Vehicle Protection Products (VPP) in templates automates product selection and pricing.
These updates help streamline deal workflows and deliver a more consistent experience for dealership staff and customers.
Manager View users now have access to Template Builder Mode, which allows for flexible creation, naming, and categorization of templates. Templates can be set for manual or automatic application, and users can view a comprehensive list of applicable templates and apply them directly to deals. The “Manual Apply Template” icon appears on each scenario of the deal screen, opening the Apply Template screen with a dealer-matched pick list. In Sales View, templates influence deals once applied in Manager View, but there is no dedicated UI for template configuration or application.
Manager View: Advanced Smart Template Configuration and Application
Manager View users can now efficiently manage and apply Smart Templates with enhanced configuration and manual application options. This update introduces a new Template Builder Mode, allowing users to create, name, and categorize templates by inventory type, and set templates for manual or automatic application. Managers can view a comprehensive list of applicable templates and apply them directly to deals, improving flexibility and accuracy in deal setup.
Key Benefits:
- Expanded template management: Easily create, edit, and organize templates with custom names, descriptions, and inventory type categories.
- Manual template applying: View and select from a list of matching templates and apply them to deals without disrupting existing deal structures.
- Reduced duplication and errors: Visibility into existing templates helps prevent redundant creation and ensures consistent, optimized deal configurations.
- Streamlined workflows: Apply templates quickly to active deals, saving time and improving operational efficiency.
The manual template application process is available in Manager View, with templates grouped by inventory type and organized alphabetically. Success and error messaging is provided during application. Sales View does not offer a dedicated UI for template management, but templates applied in Manager View affect deals in Sales View.
This enhancement empowers users to manage complex deal scenarios with greater speed, consistency, and control.
Automatic Vehicle Date Retrieval Enhancements
To improve accuracy and streamline the deal process, Deal Central now automatically retrieves the In-Service Date for Vehicle Protection Products (VPP) in both Manager View and Sales View. This enhancement helps ensure users have the correct information available when creating or updating deals.
- Automatically pulls the In-Service Date when a new deal is created or a vehicle is switched in an existing deal.
- Reduces errors and discrepancies by using the most accurate In-Service Date, minimizing manual entry and system defaults.
- Ensures all eligible Vehicle Protection Products (VPP) are available for selection, supporting compliance with provider requirements.
- Users can still review and adjust the In-Service Date as needed for added flexibility.
The In-Service Date is retrieved during deal creation or vehicle switch in Manager View, and the value is visible and editable in the VPP section under Deal Attributes. Sales View also benefits from this automatic retrieval during deal initialization, maintaining VPP eligibility.
Preferred VPP Plan Display Enhancements
Deal Central now offers enhanced flexibility for dealerships in selecting default Vehicle Protection Product (VPP) plans. This update allows dealers to designate a preferred VPP plan as the default, based on configurations set in the F&I Express (FIE) system.
- In Sales View, the default VPP plan will now reflect the dealer’s selection in FIE, rather than automatically choosing the highest profit or lowest retail price.
- If no default plan is set in FIE, the system will continue to use the previous logic of selecting the most expensive plan.
- In Manager View, users can still override and manually select a different plan when needed, ensuring full control over deal customization.
Sales View surfaces the plan designated in FIE. Manager View users retain manual override capability in the VPP section, and templates can also override the default. Accelerate My Deal and other consumers receive a single default plan for consistency.
This change streamlines the deal-making process and supports dealer-specific product preferences, benefiting all Deal Central users by enabling more tailored product offerings and improved operational efficiency.
Collaborate Instantly on Deals with Comments and @Mentions
Deal Central now offers a fully integrated comments stream with @mentions in both Sales View and Manager View, transforming how dealership teams collaborate on deals. This enhancement brings real-time, in-context communication directly to each deal, so users can tag teammates, receive instant notifications, and keep everyone aligned—without switching tools or losing context.
- Comments and @mentions are now embedded in Sales and Manager views for seamless collaboration.
- Tag teammates to trigger instant notifications and prompt timely responses.
- Real-time updates ensure users never miss new comments or mentions.
- Alerts link directly to the relevant deal, speeding up follow-through.
- Shared visibility keeps sales and management on the same page.
In Sales View, users can access the chat icon in the header to add or reply to comments and use @mentions for notifications and deep linking. Manager View provides chat entry points in the footer and Deal Status slide-out, with a red indicator for unread messages.
With these improvements, Deal Central streamlines communication and accelerates decision-making, helping dealerships move deals forward with fewer interruptions and greater clarity.
Business Deals Support Now Available in Deal Central
Manage business customers faster with enhanced business deals support in Deal Central. This update streamlines dealership workflows by making it easier to identify, edit, and manage business customer information across key views, reducing manual steps and improving data accuracy. With these improvements, dealerships can handle business deals more efficiently and ensure business details are always visible and up to date:
- Specify business customers for easier deal management.
- Display business names at the top of Manager View and Sales View.
- Edit business names directly from the Manager View customer card.
- Rename the Business Representative field for clarity.
Business names are displayed prominently in Manager View and can be edited directly from the customer card. Programs must be manually entered on business deals. The Business Representative label has been renamed for clarity. Sales View surfaces business names for easy identification of business deals.
These enhancements simplify the process of working with business customers, minimize extra steps, and provide a more seamless experience for all Deal Central users. Dealerships can now confidently manage business deals with greater flexibility and visibility.
Manager View Experience Update
Manager View has been updated to provide a streamlined, summary-driven interface that simplifies deal entry and management for users. This update is designed to make workflows faster and more intuitive, delivering clear benefits for everyday use:
- Reduce deal completion time by minimizing scrolling and presenting high-level information up front.
- Enable quick switching between Desking and F&I modes, allowing users to tailor the workflow to their specific role.
- Accelerate navigation and deal entry with keyboard shortcuts (hot keys).
- Remember the last mode used (Desking or F&I) for each deal, improving continuity and efficiency.
- Consolidate key functions like “Open in F&I” and “Push to DMS” for easier access.
- Automatically assign lender programs with the new “Auto Select Program” option, ensuring optimal rates and incentives.
The new summary-first layout with tabs, hot keys, and consolidated actions is available in Manager View. Dealers with F&I Intelligence and/or DMS+ can toggle between Desking and F&I modes, with the last-used mode remembered per deal. The Auto Select Program checkbox streamlines lender program assignment. These enhancements are specific to Manager View and do not affect Sales View or VinSolutions (CRM).
This enhancement helps dealerships save time, increase utilization, and simplify their workflow.
Flex Buy Now Available in Deal Central
Deal Central now enables Ford and Lincoln dealers to offer Flex Buy deals directly within Manager View, making it easier to provide flexible financing options and streamline deal management.
For dealers (our customers), this enhancement delivers the ability to:
- Create and share Flex Buy deals from Manager View into Sales View and Accelerate My Deal (AMD)
- Configure multi-scenario deals using the Flex Buy deal type for greater flexibility.
- Print PDF proposals for Flex Buy deals directly from Manager View
- Integrate Flex Buy deals with DMS and RouteOne to simplify processing
For dealers’ customers, Flex Buy empowers them to:
- Access additional financing options tailored to their needs
- Start with a smaller payment for the first three years of the term, improving affordability
Flex Buy must be enabled for a dealership through DR Admin. Manager View users can select Flex Buy as a deal type, supporting multi-scenario, payment grid, and PDF proposals, with integration to RouteOne and DMS where supported. Sales View and Accealelerate My D display Flex Buy deals in read-only mode, and credit app submissions route automatically to RouteOne for Flex Buy. The feature is supported in the Base Deal Screen and New Deal Central Deal Screen, but not compatible with Legacy MV, Checkout/FIIA, or contract generation. Dealer Deal Page (DDP) in VinSolutions displays additional Flex Buy fields. Flex Buy is available only to Ford and Lincoln dealers, for new vehicles, and is not supported in Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
To learn more or for assistance, please reach out to your Performance Manager.
July 2025
Smart Templates Enhancement in Deal Central
Manager View and Sales View users can now save and apply Smart Templates that include deal configurations for Finance, Lease, and Cash deal types across all deal tabs. This enhancement expands template functionality, making it easier for users to manage complex deal scenarios with greater speed and consistency. When a Smart Template is applied to a new deal, the saved deal details are automatically applied across all three deal types—Finance, Lease, and Cash—within the deal scenario in both Manager View and Sales View.
Key Benefits:
- Greater flexibility: Templates now support multiple deal types within a single scenario, eliminating the previous one-template-per-type limitation.
- Streamlined workflows: When applied, the template automatically configures all deal types, saving time and reducing manual setup. workflows, especially for teams using iPads on the showroom floor
- Improved consistency: Ensures uniform deal configurations across MV and SV, enhancing operational efficiency and user experience.
Enhanced Vehicle Search in Deal Central
Deal Central now includes an enhanced integrated vehicle search feature across Manager View, Sales View, Create New Deal, Open Deal, and Sales Check-In. This enhancement eliminates the need to switch between systems to locate inventory, streamlining the deal-making process for dealership teams.
What’s new:
- Direct inventory search within Deal Central applications
- Search by Year, Make, Model, VIN, Stock #, and more
- Dynamic filtering and sorting options
- Expanded vehicle details in search results
- Ability to sort returned results based on user preference.
This enhancement enables salespeople and other dealership personnel to quickly search inventory, reducing time spent on vehicle selection and improving the overall customer experience.
Show Payment Ranges & Hide APR in Sales View
Sales View now provides more flexibility to how your team shows how financing options are presented to shoppers. With this update, you can now display a payment range instead of a single monthly payment—and hide APR in Sales View.
This enhancement helps to:
- Streamline deal presentation and reduce confusion for both staff and shoppers.
- Customize how financing is shown to better match your dealership’s sales approach.
- Support digital-first workflows, especially for teams using iPads on the showroom floor
Preserve Manager View Overrides Across AMD & Sales View
To ensure consistency and reduce recalculation errors, Deal Central now honors Manager View overrides—including Sell Rate, Lease Mileage, and Credit Rating—when deals are recalculated in Accelerate My Deal (AMD) and Sales View (SV).
This update supports your workflow by:
- Preventing loss of manager-configured deal settings during recalculations
- Improving pricing accuracy
- Ensuring a consistent experience aligned with Manager View settings, saved templates, and specific deal configurations
- Improving the Payment Grid display by showing terms as view-only when sourced from overrides or templates, while keeping them editable when using default settings—and adjusting visibility based on deal setup
May 2025
New Functionality: Load Multi-Scenario Comparison from Manager View in Sales View and Accelerate My Deal
Deal Central users and their customers can now fully work with deals consisting of multi-scenario comparisons. Both users and shoppers can load, compare, and modify deals easily on a single screen. This enhancement gives users and shoppers the ability to quickly load and compare multiple deal scenarios, make changes, and share back and forth.
Multi-Scenario Deal Comparison: Save, Share, and Continue Across Views
Sales managers and dealership staff can now load, compare, and modify multiple deal scenarios within a single screen. This enhancement supports deal adjustments without restarting the process, helping align with customer preferences or lender constraints. Shoppers can also compare multiple deal scenarios and share them back with the sales manager, enabling a more collaborative and flexible deal-making experience.
Users can now:
- Load and compare multiple deal scenarios simultaneously
- Modify, accept, and adjust deals in real time
- Save and share comparisons from Sales View
- Seamlessly continue the workflow in Manager View or Accelerate My Deal
Buyer & Co-buyer Display Enhancements
Manager View and Deal Screen have been enhanced to display full legal details for both the buyer and co-buyer, giving dealership staff immediate access to customer information without needing to navigate away from the deal screen. This update improves usability when working with credit applications, contracts, and forms by providing complete visibility into customer data.
Users can now view the following at the top of the Manager View screen:
- Full legal names (first, middle, last, suffix) of both buyer and co-buyer
- Full address (street, city, state, ZIP code, county)
- Primary phone number (starting with cell)
- Primary email address
April 2025
New Functionality: Load Multi-Scenario Comparison from Manager View in Sales View and Accelerate My Deal
Deal Central users and their customers can now fully work with deals consisting of multi-scenario comparisons. Both users and shoppers can load, compare, and modify deals easily on a single screen. This enhancement gives users and shoppers the ability to quickly load and compare multiple deal scenarios, make changes, and share back and forth.
Manager View - New Functionality and UX Improvements for Multi-scenario Deals
Manager View users can now preview and compare multiple scenarios within an Offer without making the Offer current. This enhancement provides greater visibility into deal options while preserving the integrity of the current working Offer, preventing unwanted math stack updates and allowing for detailed comparisons.
Additional Feature Updates:
- NEW: “View All Scenarios” screen where all sections of the scenarios are horizontally aligned in both default and expanded views.
- NEW: Enhanced “Quick Compare” that ensures all sections are aligned for easier evaluation.
New Functionality: Roll-To Payment for Finance & Lease Deals
Available for all finance and lease deals, the ability to Roll-To Payment has been added to Manager View. This enhancement allows users to see options for adjusting deals to meet a desired payment. Users can input a desired payment amount, and Manager View will suggest changes to the deal to achieve that payment.
March 2025
March UI Enhancements
In March, we introduced several UI enhancements to improve user experience and streamline workflows in both Manager View and Sales View.
Enhancements to 'Active Programs' within Programs and Incentives page:
In Manager View, columns in the ‘Active Programs’ table for finance and lease deals have been streamlined. This enhancement allows users to focus on the most relevant information for decision-making.
Sales View Payment Grid and Print Functionality:
The following enhancements have been completed to enhance clarity and usability for Sales View payment grid and print functionality:
- Deal Summary: Display residual value for lease deals in Sales View, Accelerate My Deal, and Dealer Deal Page.
- Payment Grid: Enable manual adjustment of cash down/out-of-pocket and term amounts.
- Print Offer: Configure to show itemized line items for incentives, trade, accessories, vehicle protection, taxes, and fees when printed from Sales View or Manager View.
February 2025
Save & Load Draft Deals
Manager View users can now save deals as drafts, allowing them to work on multiple deals in a single session while keeping them unpublished. Users can make changes to deals without the consumer or salesperson seeing them until they are officially updated and published. If users try to close or refresh Manager View with unsaved changes, they will be warned and prompted to save the deal as a draft or an update.
Show Payment Range & Hide APR
Users now have greater flexibility with the ability to input payment range amounts and hide APR in Sales View. This enhancement allows dealers to negotiate more effectively by showing a payment range instead of a fixed APR, providing a more controlled in-store experience.
Customers will benefit from this enhancement as they are presented with a payment range, making the process feel more transparent and less rigid. Online shoppers can view APR information on the dealer’s website for a transparent shopping experience, while the in-store experience can be customized to offer greater flexibility.
Enhanced Payment Calculations Using Customer Address
Taxes are now calculated using the customer’s address for increased accuracy. The full customer address, along with the dealer’s address and tax address are sent to Payment Services for tax calculations. This improvement enhances tax calculation accuracy and ensures data consistency across Manager View, Sales View, and Accelerate My Deal.
January 2025
Save Print Proposal to Deal Jacket
Printed proposals are now automatically saved to the Digital Deal Jacket from Manager View and Sales View, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of managing deals in Deal Central. This new functionality streamlines document management to ensure all relevant documents are easily accessible by allowing users to:
- Customize deals and print proposals, which are then saved under the Lender Documents section when using Manager View.
- Print proposals from various locations, saved under the Lender Documents section when using Sales View.
- Overwriting the previous print document to avoid duplicates and improve document management.
Enhanced Reporting: New Filter & Summary Options
We’ve enhanced the reporting capabilities in the VinSolutions Enterprise Performance report with a new filter and summary option for deals created in Deal Central.
- Deal Central Deals Filter: Analyze KPIs for dealer-created, customer-created, or no Deal Central deals.
- Summary Option: Toggle between combined and separate views of dealer-created and customer-created deals. This provides a more granular view of deal creation activities within the dealership.
- “Deals Created in Time Frame” Column: View the count of deals created within a specified timeframe, enhancing performance visibility.
- Team Member Accountability: Hold team members accountable to ensure that new deals are being created in Deal Central.
These updates provide greater visibility and insights into Deal Central deal creation and performance, enabling easy management and tracking of deal creation through a deeper integration with VinSolutions CRM.
New Functionality: Sign & Drive Leases
Close lease deals easier with customers who prefer to put down less money than what’s actually required. A new checkbox for “Target Out of Pocket” has been added to the lease tab in Manager View. When this box is checked, the ‘Out of Pocket’ value is adjusted to $0 and displays new line items in the math stack.
Key changes include:
- Updated Field Labels: The money down field label changes from “Due at Signing” or “Cash Down” to “Out of Pocket,” with the amount set to $0. Two new fields, “Insufficient Funds (INSF)” and “Adjusted Selling Price,” will be displayed in the lease deal disclosure.
- System Recalculation: The system recalculates the deal to allow the consumer to put $0 down, covering the amount due elsewhere in the deal. Users can enter a specific amount into the “Out of Pocket” field to match the consumer’s desired money down, and the system will recalculate the Insufficient Funds accordingly.
- Sales View and Dealer Deal Page (DDP) Updates: In Sales View, new fields “Upfronts Added” and “Adjusted Price” will be displayed in the Offer Summary. In the Dealer Deal Page (DDP), a new field for “Insufficient Funds” has been added.
Deal Central – Multi-Scenario Deal Comparison
You now have the ability to build and compare multiple deal scenarios for customers in Manager View. Create up to three deal scenarios, each with unique terms, vehicle options, or financing methods, displayed side-by-side in a new multi-column layout.
Scenarios can be easily duplicated, customized, and adjusted to meet customer preferences, and shared with the customer.
Introducing the Tax Override Feature in Manager View!
We recognize the complexities of vehicle taxation. Our new Tax Override feature in Manager View allows users to ensure accurate tax calculations before presenting the deal to the shopper:
- Adjust tax amounts at granular levels for precise calculations.
- Update total tax amounts for specific categories or sections.
- Designate Taxes as “Paid Up-Front” or “Capitalized”
- Easily revert to default taxes provided by Payment Services.
Enhance your sales process with these powerful new features for accurate and flexible tax calculations.
Introducing Deal Progress Tracking and Enhanced filtering!
We understand that different users have unique needs when it comes to managing deals at various stages. Our new filtering capabilities, combined with the Deal Tracker’s progress monitoring, provide you with greater visibility and control over your pipeline. Quickly identify deals at specific stages and statuses, prioritize your workload more effectively, and boost your sales with these powerful new features.
Introducing the Integrated Customer Card in Sales View!
We know how important it is for salespeople to manage and update Buyer and Co-buyer information efficiently. Our new Customer Card integration within Sales view addresses this need by allowing you to update contact details directly within the application. This enhancement streamlines your workflow, enabling you to send customer communications and access valuable insights without leaving Sales View. Experience a more seamless and productive sales process with this powerful new feature.
Streamlined 'Push to DMS' Process
We’ve enhanced the ‘Push to DMS’ functionality to improve your workflow and data accuracy. Now, you can select the correct customer during the export process, reducing errors and ensuring accurate information transfer. This update also helps prevent duplicate customer records by allowing you to choose an existing customer or create a new one. Enjoy a more efficient and accurate data management experience with these improvements.
November 2024
Sell Vehicles in Transit or Customer Orders
Deal Central users in both Manager View and Sales View can now support deals for custom-built vehicles or any vehicle in transit or not in their inventory. Users will now be able to accurately build vehicles down to trim level and OEM build, in addition to editing stock numbers for non-inventory vehicles.
October 2024
Deal Central – Update Number of Days to First Payment
End users can now view a timeline of all deal activity and key milestones in a deal’s lifecycle, ensuring dealer users remain informed and engaged throughout the process.
You can access the Deal Activity from the Customer Card through the Deal Pulse tab where all activity will be displayed. Hovering over the activity timestamp reveals a tooltip showing the exact date and time of the update.
Deal Central – New Deal List Accepted Filter
Users will now have the ability to override default lender fees applied within Deal Central Manager View. End users can now add fees, remove fees, or override the name and/or amount of fees on-the-fly. Additionally, users working lease deals are now able to move lender fees to be due as part of the total due at signing (upfront) or added to cap cost (capitalized).
Deal Central – Access Credit Decision Details in Manager View
Deal Central users can now see full lender details directly within Manager View without having to toggle between Dealertrack F&I or RouteOne.
Deal Central – Print Offer from Manager View
Users in Manager View will now be able to print offers for customers directly in Manager View. In addition, there is now an option to configure the display of a signature line on the printed offer and QR code for customers to access the latest version of their deal online.
September 2024
Deal Central – Change Vehicle in Sales View
To enhance the customer experience when working on a deal, salespeople can now change a vehicle of interest directly in Sales View and carry over the relevant details on the existing deal to the new vehicle.
Deal Central – Update Number of Days to First Payment
Deal Central users will now have the ability to adjust the number of days to first payment on financed deals to anywhere from 30 to 365 days and see the resulting first payment date. This enhancement is designed to offer users greater flexibility when structuring deals to meet customer preferences and dealership requirements.
Deal Central – New Deal List Accepted Filter
A new “Accepted” filter has been added to the Deal List screen to indicate when a deal is accepted to highlight that a shopper is ready to move forward with the deal.
Deal Central – Deal List Real Time Updates
Users of Deal Central will now see real-time updates on the Deal List page when a deal is modified. Alerts will be displayed in real-time with the “Deal Updates” badge at the top of the page. This allows salespeople to prioritize customers and quickly be informed about deal updates.
Deal Central – View and Edit Dealer and Government Fees
Manager View users are now able to add fees, remove fees, or override the name and/or amount of fees on-the-fly. Additionally, users working lease deals are now able to move individual fees to be due as part of the total due at signing (Upfront) or added to Cap Cost (Capitalized).
August 2024
Deal Central – Manager View Ability to Work Any Deal Term
Users of Deal Central can now input any custom term directly into the term field. This custom term is treated like any other term in the system and can be used in deal calculations and stored in the system. This enhancement ensures that deals can be created with any term that aligns to improve customer satisfaction.
Deal Central – Sales View Multi-Scenario Presentation
Deal Central users will now be able to explore multiple deal scenarios simultaneously with shoppers through Sales View. Scenarios are presented via a 9-box grid to easily view, understand and compare down payment and term options for financing or leasing to quickly help shoppers determine which is best for them.
July 2024
Manager View – Override Tax Rate Enhancement
Deal Central dealers will now have the option to manually override the default tax rates applied to a deal when necessary. This enhancement is designed to offer greater flexibility to dealers and accuracy in deal calculations when presenting deals with their shoppers.
June 2024
Manager View – Add or Edit a Co-Buyer Enhancement
Manager View users will now be able to add or edit a Co-Buyer to the deal without switching to a different application. Additionally, edits to the buyer’s postal code within the customer card will also apply to the deal along with a new payment based on updated taxes and fees.
May 2024
Document Upload Enhancements
To improve the overall functionality of our Document Upload feature, we have released several enhancements:
- Expanded the range of available document types
- Ability to upload multi-page documents
- Ability to preview documents prior to uploading
Apply Credit Bureau Score to Deal
Users of Deal Central can now edit or update a customer’s credit score in Manage View at any point in the deal-making process, regardless if Credit Decisions is enabled. Users will now have the option to select “add actual credit score” instead of selecting a credit tier options, once entered the label will be updated to “Self-Reported Credit Rating”.
Access Bookout Values, Source and Lienholder Information
Deal Central users will now be able to access bookout value and source for all deals worked through Manager View. This information will help improve accuracy for profitability calculations; all details can be accessible within the Vehicle Info section and includes lienholder account number and address details.
