Everything on one live map
The map, search and check-in are the same for every lot. Then tow yards, scrap yards and dealerships each get their own tools, and only see their own.
The lot map
Your yard, drawn once, always in front of you.
Setup guide
Tap New lot and a few questions do the drawing: what the ground is, how big it is, how many buildings and what each one is, which areas you have (police holds and release for tow yards; receiving, fluids, scale and piles for scrap; service drive, bays, detail, trade-ins and delivery for dealers), and how vehicles park. Pick one of the templates or let it build from your answers, then drag anything to fit.
Layout templates
Open lot, parking rows, back-to-back rows, parking stalls, open gravel, front and back lot, L-shaped lot, scrap yard, three dealership layouts, or a blank canvas.
Rows in bulk
Add a block of back-to-back rows or stall pairs, vertical or horizontal. Pick how many rows, cars per row and the aisle width.
Back-to-back rows
Scrap-yard style double rows, noses out to the aisles. Cars snap into the next slot and turn the right way when you drop them.
Special spots
Motorcycles, heavy trucks, police holds, evidence, high-value, ready for pickup, do not crush, or your own. Searchable.
Any shape
Drag corner dots to match your fence line. Drag the small circle on an edge to add a corner.
Real dimensions
Width and depth in feet, the length of every edge, a scale bar, the lot’s area in acres, and a north arrow.
Zones that mean something
Gates, buildings, rows, stalls, special spots, piles, hold areas, work pads and drive lanes. Drag, resize, rename, copy.
Vehicles drawn from above
Cars, SUVs, pickups, vans, motorcycles, trailers and heavy trucks, each with its own shape, in the real color.
Pan and zoom
Pinch on a phone, scroll on a desktop. Fit the whole lot with one tap.
Finding vehicles
Answers in seconds, from the cab or the office.
Glow search
Type a VIN, plate, make, model, color or stock number. Matches glow, everything else fades, and the map moves to them.
Spots like A1 and B6
Every car carries a spot name that follows it when it moves. Search by spot, too.
Find by VIN
The whole VIN or just the last few characters.
Color the map your way
Real car colors, days on the lot, or status. A row of chips counts what you are looking at.
Check-in and tracking
Capture what matters once, at the car.
Photo VIN reading
Snap the dash plate, the door-jamb sticker or the title. Lot Helix reads it, checks the check digit, and fixes misreads like 8 and B.
Automatic vehicle details
A valid VIN fills in year, make, model, trim, body and type from the NHTSA database. Drivers rarely type anything.
Details that stick
Plate and state, year, make, model, color, keys, date in, notes. Scrap yards add weight; dealerships add inventory type, stock number and asking price.
Handling notes
How to move it (rolls, flatbed only, dollies, won’t roll), where the keys are, AWD or steering locked. Searchable, so typing flatbed lights up every car that needs one.
Blocked in or clear
Mark a car blocked in and note what is in the way. It shows a B on the map, and Send spot, keys & notes texts anyone the spot, access, keys and notes in one tap.
True north on the map
Tap the compass, use your phone’s compass, or pick a side. The arrow points to real north on every phone.
Everything on one screen
Tap a vehicle and edit it right there. Show it on the map, move it, rotate it, turn it around, take it off the map while it is in the shop.
Photos and damage
Photos from the camera, shrunk on the device. Tap damage areas like front, rear, glass or missing wheel.
Days on the lot
Rings and tags turn amber then red at the thresholds you set. The list is sorted oldest first.
Move and turn
Drag a car anywhere and spin it with the handle. Cars snap into stalls and rows. Every move goes into the history.
Running the lot every day
The small things that eat an hour a day: keys, moves, photos, audits and phone calls.
Where the keys are
Office, key box, lockbox, in the vehicle, or a person who has them, with a note like Box #3 and an optional photo of the hook. It shows in search, on the list and in every text you send.
Move tasks for porters and drivers
A manager picks one or more vehicles and where they go. The porter sees an orange arrow on the map, drags the car there, and the task closes by itself.
Condition photos at check-in
Front, rear, both sides and a damage close-up, each in its own slot, taken before the car is parked. They stay on the vehicle and can go out with a text.
Needs attention
One chip shows what is overdue: past your day limit, a redemption deadline passed or close, an open move task, blocked in, off the map, or flagged in an audit.
Filter and sort
By status, days on the lot, or where the keys are. Oldest, newest, by spot or by stock number. Cars that do not match fade on the map.
Lot audits
Start an audit and walk the lot. Scan or type a VIN or stock number to check a car off, or mark it wrong spot or not found. Save the result as a CSV for floor-plan audits.
Status links
Send the owner, police or insurance a private link that shows the status, days here, and only what you choose: the spot, the amount owed, the deadline. It stops working when you say.
Full history
Every vehicle keeps a dated timeline of who checked it in, moved it, changed it and released it, and the Activity screen shows the whole yard.
Tow & impound yards
Everything from the tow-in to the release window. Only tow yards see these.
Impound statuses
In yard, held, police hold, notice sent, title applied, released. One tap moves a vehicle along and the map colors by status.
Holds with reasons
Hold with a reason, then Notice sent with the date and how it went out, then the redemption deadline, then Released. Held cars show H on the map, notices show N, and a passed deadline shows !.
Fee estimates
Tow fee plus daily storage that adds up on its own, with per-vehicle overrides. The vehicle shows what it owes today and the estimate fills in the invoice.
Another company picking it up
Release to the owner, a lienholder, an insurer, another tow company or the police. One text sends them the spot, the keys, whether it rolls, what is owed today, the deadline and your address, with photos if you want.
Release paperwork
Who took it, ID checklist, photos of the paperwork, a finger signature, and a printed release form with a cut-off gate pass.
Dispatch board
Take the call, assign a driver and an ETA. Drivers move it through En route, On scene, Towing and Done, and get a buzz with directions when a call is assigned.
Service call invoices
Light, medium and heavy tows, winching, tire changes, lockouts, fuel and jump starts, priced from your rate sheet with loaded miles. Tows to your yard check straight into the lot.
Scrap & salvage yards
From the gate to the crusher. Only scrap yards see these.
Scrap statuses
Arrived, fluids drained, parts pulled, ready to crush, gone. Color the map by status to see what is waiting for the drain pad and what is ready for the crusher.
Scrap-yard template
Receiving, a fluids pad, parts and office, rows, ferrous and non-ferrous piles, a crusher or baler pad and a scale.
Weight on every vehicle
Record the weight at check-in and keep it with the vehicle’s history.
Parts list, filled in for you
Every vehicle checks in with the standard list of about 30 parts already on it. Tap Mark what’s missing to take off what it does not have, and the damage you note marks the matching parts for you.
Parts finder
Search the whole yard for alternator or driver door and jump to the vehicle and its spot. The main search lights up parts too.
Printable QR labels
Print a label for one vehicle or the whole yard. Scan it with any phone camera to open that vehicle.
Tow and scrap together
A yard that does both keeps one map with the full set of statuses.
Dealerships
Every unit on the lot and where it is in the process. Only dealerships see these.
New, pre-owned, certified
Every unit is tagged new, pre-owned or certified pre-owned. Search new or cpo and the matching units light up.
Dealer statuses
Front line, transfer in, trade-in and appraisal, in service, waiting for parts, detail and recon, loaner, demo, hold with deposit, sold, wholesale, transfer out, delivered.
Shop and parts at a glance
Units in service or waiting for parts show an S on the map; sold units and deposits show a dollar sign.
Stock number and asking price
Every unit carries a searchable stock number and an optional asking price on its card.
Days on the lot
Rings turn amber and red at your thresholds, so aged inventory stands out before month end.
Layouts built for a store
A showroom-front lot, a front-and-back lot with street-side stalls, or a service-heavy store with twelve bays. All with service drive, bays, parts, detail and wash, loaners, delivery and the entrance.
The right access for each person
Salespeople and service staff get view-only codes. Porters get move and check-in. The lot manager gets full. A detailer cannot move a car by accident.
Customer cars and trade-ins
Tag a customer’s car in for service so it never mixes with inventory, and park trade-ins in a trade-in area with a Trade-in / appraisal status until they are appraised. Neither counts toward your plan size.
Deposits and deliveries
Hold a unit with the customer’s name and deposit note, mark it sold, and Delivered moves it to the archive with the date.
Invoicing and payments
Bill the customer without leaving the lot.
Invoice from any vehicle
One tap turns a vehicle’s charges into an invoice. Edit the lines, add your own, set tax and terms.
Record payments
Cash, card, check or Zelle, full or partial. Balance and status update on their own.
Print, copy or save
A clean invoice to print or save as PDF, with your business name, address and footer.
Drivers start invoices
A driver at the release window can start the invoice and record the payment. It shows on the owner’s list right away.
Add to home screen
Drivers add Lot Helix to their home screen once and it opens full screen with its own icon.
Invoice list and CSV
What is outstanding and what you collected this month, filtered by status, exported for your bookkeeper.
Free trial
Try everything before you pay anything.
14 days free
Every new company gets 14 days with every feature turned on. Add a card to start; nothing is charged until the trial ends, and cancelling before then costs nothing. The live demo needs no account at all.
Days left, always visible
A small bar in the app and on the website shows how many days are left.
Nothing is lost
When the trial ends, your lot, vehicles and invoices stay viewable and exportable. Adding and editing pause until you subscribe.
Team and yards
The right access for the right person.
Owner accounts
Owners and managers sign in on the website with an email and password.
Access codes with three levels
Everyone else uses a private code on their phone. View only finds vehicles and reads details. Move and check in can add, move, photograph, hold and change status. Full can also edit the layout and remove vehicles. Give each person a title so you know who is who.
Multiple yards
Add more yards, each with its own layout, rates and workflow (tow, scrap, both or dealership). Billing is per lot, by size.
Plan size for each lot
Account shows every lot with how full it is against its plan size. The app warns at 90% and gives 14 days to move up if a lot outgrows its size. The owner changes a size in one tap, prorated.
Dealer groups and multi-yard companies
Run every store or yard from one owner login, on one bill, with 10% off at 5 lots and 15% at 10. Give each manager access to their own lot.
Works with no signal
Back lots and dead zones are part of the job.
Keeps working offline
Check cars in, move them, take photos and write invoices with no signal. Changes sync on their own when it comes back.
Opens offline too
Once Lot Helix is on your home screen it opens with no connection, showing your last synced lot.
Reports and data
Your information stays yours.
Business reports
Invoiced, collected and owed, money owed by age, revenue by type of work, invoices by driver, response times, cars in and out.
Activity log
Every check-in, move, status change, call step, invoice and payment, by person and time.
QuickBooks export
Save invoices in the QuickBooks Online import format, one line per charge.
Import your lot
Bring in cars from a spreadsheet with status, spot, keys and price. A VIN already here is updated, not added twice. A DMS or nightly feed can post to the same import with a private key.
Yard report
Counts, average days, what is past amber and red, estimated owed, and a count by section.
Export and backup
Download your vehicles as a CSV and keep your own copy any time.
Dark and light
Black and orange by default, with a light mode for bright days.
Coming next
Planned, not promised on a date.
Lot Helix in the App Store and Google PlayPlanned
A phone app for drivers with faster VIN reading right on the phone, offline use in the back lot, and alerts.
Manager loginsPlanned
Invite office staff by email with their own sign-in.
Impound letters and state formsPlanned
Owner notices and title paperwork filled in from the vehicle record, starting with Louisiana.
Online card paymentsPlanned
Text a customer a link to pay their invoice by card, and tap to pay on the phone.
Draw your lot. Find every car.
Try it free for 14 days. Set up a yard in a few minutes, then try it on your phone. Nothing is charged until the trial ends.