Vehicle sales & auto services
Books and taxes for classic and collector car dealers.
A restoration bill, a consignment commission, an auction house payout, and a unit that sits for a year before it sells all move through the bank differently. Gus tracks every dollar by the car it belongs to, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
August netted $26,000. The Camaro sale finally closed after eleven months on the floor, so its restoration costs from last year came off against this sale, not last year's number.
- Sale, 1969 CamaroVehicle sales
- Consignment fee, client CorvetteConsignment commissions
- Restoration Motorsports invoiceRestoration costs
- Reliable Carriers transportTransport and logistics
- Hagerty collector policyInsurance
Why your books are different
A classic car dealer's books go wrong around the long hold, not the sale.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business can spend a year and thousands of dollars on one car before it sells, and some of what moves through your account was never yours to keep. When the books do not track by unit, you cannot tell what a car actually returned.
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1
A long hold looks like a loss
A rare unit can sit eighteen months while you find the right buyer, and the storage, insurance, and restoration costs pile up on the books every month with no matching sale, making the business look like it is bleeding money.
What we doKeeps every dollar spent on a specific unit attached to it, so the eventual sale shows the true return, not just months of expense. -
2
Consignment cars get treated like inventory you own
You sell a client's Corvette at auction for a commission, but the full sale price lands in your books as revenue instead of just your cut, making your business look bigger than it is.
What we doBooks only the commission as your income and keeps the client's sale price out of your revenue entirely. -
3
Restoration gets treated as an ordinary repair
A full frame-off restoration on a unit meant for resale is a major cost tied to that specific car, not a routine repair bill, and lumped into a generic repairs line, the profit shown when it sells looks inflated.
What we doAdds restoration costs to that unit's basis, so the profit shown when it sells is real. -
4
Auction house fees get missed
Selling through Barrett-Jackson or Mecum comes with a seller's fee taken off the top, and if only the net wire lands in your books, both your sale price and your selling cost end up understated.
What we doBooks the full hammer price as the sale and the auction house's fee as a cost, so both numbers are honest. -
5
Personal cars and dealer inventory blend together
A car you personally love and one you bought purely to flip can end up in the same pile of records, so it is hard to tell what the business actually owns for resale versus what is yours to keep.
What we doKeeps personal vehicles and dealer inventory in separate records from the start, so only business units show up in the numbers that matter for tax.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a classic and collector car dealer.
Set up once for how units get bought, restored, and sold, whether you own them or are selling for a client. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Vehicle salesUnits you bought and restored or held, sold directly to a collector or through your own listing.
- Consignment commissionsYour cut of a client's car sold on their behalf, not the full sale price.
- Appraisal and authentication feesPaid work valuing or verifying a vehicle's history.
- Auction house payoutsThe net wire from a sale at Barrett-Jackson, Mecum, or a similar house.
Money out
- Vehicle inventoryWhat you paid to acquire a unit for restoration or resale.
- Restoration costsBodywork, mechanical, and upholstery from a shop like a dedicated restoration house.
- Transport and logisticsEnclosed carrier services like Reliable Carriers or Passport Transport.
- Storage and climate controlThe space a unit sits in while it waits for the right buyer.
- InsuranceAgreed-value coverage on units in inventory, often through a specialty insurer like Hagerty.
- Auction house feesThe seller's commission taken by the auction house on a sale.
- Authentication and documentationMarque experts and paperwork that back up a car's history.
What we watch for you
- Gross per unit
What a car actually returned after acquisition, restoration, and fees, once it finally sells.
- Average days held
How long cash sits tied up in a single unit before it turns into a sale.
- Restoration cost per unit
Whether a project car's rebuild is staying in line with what it can sell for.
- Consignment mix
How much of the month's income is commission work versus units you actually own.
Ask Gus
Things classic car dealers ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
No. Every restoration dollar is attached to that car, so when it sells, the real return shows up all at once. Until then it just sits as inventory.
I booked the full hammer price as your sale and their seller's fee as a cost, so your numbers match what actually happened, not just the net wire.
Only your commission counts as income. The rest was always the client's money passing through, so it stays out of your revenue.
The tax side
The tax side of a classic and collector car dealer.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and ownership. Getting restoration, consignment, and holding costs in the right buckets is what makes the return come out right.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Restoration adds to a unit's basisMoney spent restoring a car held for resale becomes part of that car's cost, not a routine deduction, and only counts against income when the specific unit sells.
- Consignment income is the commission, not the saleWhen you sell a client's car for a fee, only that fee is your income. The sale price itself was never yours to report.
- Inventory through a long holdA rare unit can sit for a long time before it sells. It stays inventory the whole time, so carrying costs like storage and insurance are tracked, but the sale is what triggers the tax event.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, with limits starting above $201,750 single or $403,500 joint taxable income.
Deductions classic and collector car dealers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Enclosed transport fees
- Climate-controlled storage rent
- Agreed-value insurance premiums
- Auction house entry and seller fees
- Authentication and marque research
- Restoration shop labor
- NOS and reproduction parts
- Show and event entry fees
- Vehicle history and title research
- Photography for listings
- Travel to view or bid on a unit
- Detailing before a sale
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A classic car dealer's year, kept every month.
The big auctions and the slow stretches between them both shape the year. Your team keeps you ahead of both the calendar and the taxes. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, and Gus plans a monthly set-aside ahead of the early auctions where a lot of the year's buying and selling happens.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January, even through a slow stretch between units.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at midyear, what you will owe, and how the units on your floor are pricing out against what they cost to acquire and restore.
- October
Before winter storage
Before collectors put cars away for the season, Gus looks at any unit worth moving before year end and what waiting until January does to the number.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for classic and collector car dealers. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions classic and collector car dealers ask first.
How do you handle a car that takes over a year to sell?
It stays inventory the whole time. Every restoration and storage dollar attaches to it, and the full return shows up on the books the month it finally sells.
I do consignment work along with buying my own inventory. Is that confusing for the books?
No. Gus keeps commission income and units you actually own in separate categories from the start, so neither one distorts the other.
Do you track provenance and paperwork for me?
No. Gus tracks the money, what you spent, what you were paid, and by whom. Authentication paperwork and provenance research stay with you or a marque specialist.
What happens when I buy a car for a client instead of for my own inventory?
That money passes through and never becomes your revenue. Gus keeps it out of your sales entirely and only counts what you were paid to find or handle the deal.
How does Gus handle an auction sale where the house takes a cut?
He books the full hammer price as your sale and the house's fee as a cost, so your numbers match what actually happened, not just the wire that landed.
My records for the last two years are receipts in a shoebox. Can you work with that?
Yes. Send what you have and Gus sorts it by unit as best he can, then tells you where each car actually stands.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever