Quick Start Guide: Time on Lot

Written by Megan Schilling

Updated 11 months ago

Time on Lot is a feature in Tractor Zoom Pro to help equipment dealers proactively and automatically monitor used equipment inventory for its likelihood to age.

Using machine learning and our proprietary equipment database, the Time on Lot feature predicts the likelihood that a tractor or combine will be listed for sale longer than 180 days.

Tip: A rule of thumb estimate is the cost of carrying equipment is approximately $1,400 - $1,600 per week per million dollars in inventory. Use Time on Lot to help manage carrying costs and increase profit margin.

Follow this guide to make the most of the Time on Lot feature for your organization.

Dealer Listings in Inventory

In Tractor Zoom Pro Inventory, you will now see a warning symbol on lots predicted to age past 180 days if you set a notification filter to display its likelihood to age.

Once the Likely To Age box is checked, any listings in your Inventory will display a warning symbol if they are likely to age past 180 days.

Hover over the warning symbol to see the rationale behind why a lot is not expected to sell within 180 days.

The pop-up will display a ranked list of characteristics that contribute to the prediction. It may be due to current market conditions, number of images, starting price, location, seasonality etc.

If you wish to learn more, click the equipment card for a full analysis with some additional descriptions and tips to improve the listing.

Time on Lot Alerts

Within Inventory, you can set up alerts specifically for Time on Lot to be emailed when a piece of equipment is flagged by our system that it is likely to age past 180 days.

Click Set Notifications to customize your alert options.

You may select the frequency to be notified, number of listing days before receiving a notification, the likelihood of not selling, and specific types of equipment.

Tip: Select Most Likely under "Likely to age past 180 days" in order to be made aware of the likelihood as early as possible.

Predictions with Transparency

At Tractor Zoom, we believe it’s not only important to provide predictions but also to provide reasoning behind these predictions.

Flagged equipment labeled with a “Somewhat Likely” or “Highly Likely” designation is based on being below or above a 75% chance of aging past 180 days. This approach helps identify higher risk pieces and can help you refine pricing and marketing decisions.

Not only do we provide different severity levels, but we also provide an impact score.

Impact scores are based on the relative effect of each feature on the prediction. This further narrows down potential strategies for selling a piece by identifying the critical aspects that are driving our prediction.

This includes characteristics like availability and quality of pictures, market trends, seasonality, location, and days listed. We have found these are often the key contributors to a piece aging past 180 days.

With this information at your fingertips, you will not have to spend time digging into each lot individually to diagnose what is contributing to its predicted length of sale.

Tip: Our internal tests indicate when our model flags a lot as not selling within 180 days, it is correct 85% of the time. We have designed the model to be extra careful to prevent incorrect predictions and reduce excessive noise to allow Used Equipment Managers to spend resources and time on the pieces that are most likely to age past 180 days.

Start using Time on Lot today and when you’re ready to explore more features, return here to get equipped with the skills you need.

Looking for more help? Reach out to our Customer Success team and we’ll take care of you.

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