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Recon ROI Calculator

Before you authorize the work: does the reconditioning pay back? Enter what it costs, the retail value it adds, and the days it sits in the shop — get net gain and ROI.

Typical recon costs (for estimating)

Ranges to help you estimate the spend side — your actual costs depend on your market and whether the work is in-house or sublet. For the full budgeting method, see our reconditioning cost & budget guide.

Recon item	Typical cost
Full detail (in-house)	$75–$200
Tires (set of 4, mid-grade)	$400–$800
Brakes (pads + rotors, per axle)	$150–$350
Windshield replacement	$200–$450
Key fob + programming	$150–$400
Headlight restoration	$50–$150
Paintless dent repair (per panel)	$100–$300
Bumper repair / repaint	$300–$700

Track recon cost per unit

Every reconditioning dollar should live on the car's cost ledger, not in your head. DealerVLO tracks acquisition + recon + holding per unit, so your true cost — and whether that last $400 of recon paid back — is always in front of you at pricing time.

Per-vehicle cost ledger — acquisition + recon + holding
Days-in-inventory tracker flags units the recon delayed
Deal jacket with auto-generated federal + state paperwork
Public dealer website + inventory feeds

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Common questions

How do I estimate the retail value recon adds?▾

Compare comps: what does this exact car retail for in clean, reconditioned condition versus as-is (or as a rougher example)? The gap is your lift. Be honest — the mistake is assuming every dollar of recon shows up as a dollar of retail. New tires and a fresh detail usually do; a $400 “while we're in there” add-on often doesn't.

Why does the calculator include holding cost?▾

Because the days a car spends in the shop are days it can't sell, and the holding meter (floor-plan interest, overhead, depreciation) runs the whole time. A recon that barely pays back on parts and labor can go negative once you add a week of holding.

What ROI should I want on recon?▾

There's no magic number, but a good rule of thumb: if the work doesn't clear a comfortable margin over cost — enough that a soft retail lift still leaves you positive — it's marginal. Use the sensitivity table: if your net gain goes negative when the lift comes in at 75% of estimate, that's a thin bet.