What Can Be Funded Under a Floorplan Finance Facility?

Funding that keeps dealerships moving

Floorplan finance is designed for one purpose: helping dealers fund inventory without tying up working capital. Instead of paying upfront for large volumes of stock, dealers can use a floorplan facility to finance units as they arrive, repay them as they sell and keep cash flow free to fund other parts of their business. One common question we’re often asked is: 

What exactly can be funded under a floorplan facility?

The answer depends on the lender and the industry, but most floorplan finance facilities can support a broader range of inventory than many dealers expect. Below, we have outlined the key stock categories that can be funded, and how Soda Capital structures facilities to match real dealership operations.  

New Inventory Stock

The most common use of floorplan finance is to fund new dealer inventory purchased directly from manufacturers, OEMs, or wholesale suppliers across industries, including:

• Motor Vehicles and Light Commercial Vehicles 
• Marine and boating 
• Motorcycles 
• Caravans and RVs 
• Construction and earthmoving equipment 
• Agricultural machinery 
• Outdoor power Equipment

Funding new stock through a floorplan facility allows dealers to maintain range depth and availability without draining cash reserves. 

Dealer benefit: You can stock more units, respond faster to demand, and preserve liquidity for operations, staffing, and marketing. 

Used Stock and Trade-In Units

Many dealers generate significant revenue through used inventory, trade-ins, refurbished equipment, and pre-owned machinery. A well-structured floorplan facility will support used stock funding, helping dealers to unlock working capital that would otherwise remain tied up in pre-owned units sitting on site. This is especially relevant in sectors such as:

• Construction equipment 
• Agricultural equipment 
• Automotive used yards 
• Marine brokerage and pre-owned vessels

Dealer benefit: Funding used stock keeps your balance sheet flexible and allows faster reinvestment into high-turnover inventory. 

Demonstrator and Display Units

For many dealers, some of the most valuable stock on the floor isn’t stock that sells immediately; it’s stock that helps generate the sale. Demonstrator and display units play a critical role across industries such as marine, caravans, automotive, construction equipment, and outdoor power. Whether it’s a ride-on mower on the showroom floor, a demo excavator available for inspection, or a caravan staged for walkthroughs, these units help customers to experience the product before committing.  

The challenge is that demo stock often sits for longer, and while it’s essential for converting sales, it can also place pressure on cash flow if dealers are required to fund these units upfront or carry them outside the typical sales cycle. A well-structured floorplan facility can support demonstrator inventory by recognising its purpose and allowing more flexible funding timeframes where appropriate. Rather than treating demo units as dead stock, specialist lenders account for the reality and benefits that these assets bring to the sales process. 

Dealer benefit: Maintain sales-driving demo inventory without tying up cash for months. 

Imported Stock and Supplier Deliveries

Dealerships, particularly marine, caravans, equipment and machinery dealers, rely on overseas supply chains, which introduce timing challenges with importation:

• Units must often be paid for before arrival 
• Shipping timelines stretch funding cycles 
• Dealers need liquidity while stock is in transit 
• Floorplan finance can support imported inventory at key stages, including: 
• Bill of Lading shipments 
• Ex-works supplier terms 
• Pre-delivery funding windows

This ensures dealers can secure stock internationally without cash flow constraints. 

Dealer benefit: Import funding bridges the gap between supplier payment and final sale. 

High-value Equipment and Machinery

Construction, agricultural, and industrial equipment dealers often carry stock where a single unit can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital. Excavators, loaders, tractors, access equipment, and specialised machinery all require substantial upfront investment, yet may take longer to sell due to project-based demand and extended buyer decision cycles.  

This creates a funding challenge: dealers need to maintain substantial equipment on-site to remain competitive, but funding those assets outright can quickly strain cash flow and reduce operational flexibility. Floorplan finance is particularly valuable in this situation as it allows dealers to stock high-ticket machinery without exhausting working capital. Rather than tying up capital in equipment sitting in the yard, dealers can preserve liquidity for the parts, servicing, staffing, and business development aspects of the business that drive growth. Soda Capital structures floorplan facilities specifically for high-value dealer inventory, accounting for longer turnover horizons, mixed new-and-used profiles, and the realities of equipment sales cycles. 

Dealer benefit: Funding that provides confidence to carry the machinery customers expect with a funding strategy that supports cash flow sustainability and scale, not strain. 

Seasonal Inventory Builds

Most dealers operate on seasonal demand cycles. For example:

• Caravan sales tend to increase around travel windows, warmer seasons, and school holiday periods 
• Agriculture equipment sales rise in line with harvest and sowing cycles 
• Marine equipment demand increases during summer 
• Outdoor power equipment tends to rise in popularity during Spring and Summer

The right floorplan financing will support sales cycles and seasonal demand for each specific industry. This enables dealers to stock inventory based on demand and sales spikes, and to rotate stock during peak periods.  

Dealer benefit: Flexibility allows you to stock ahead of the rush and anticipated sales surges, without sacrificing working capital.  

Attachments, Accessories, and Bundled Stock (where applicable)

In some industries, profitability isn’t just in the unit being sold, it’s in the add-ons:

• Attachments for machinery 
• Implements for tractors 
• Marine electronics packages 
• Caravan upgrades Outdoor power accessories 

Depending on the facility structure, some lenders will fund bundled inventory categories, helping dealers to carry the complete package that drives additional margin. Our team can structure funding solutions that reflect how dealers actually sell: unit, attachment, and accessory. 

Dealer benefit: Better upsell capability without additional cash outlay. 

Multi-Location Dealer Group Inventory

For growing dealer groups, inventory funding becomes more complex as operations expand beyond a single yard or showroom. Managing stock across branches, categories, and regional markets adds an extra level of complexity. Inventory may need to move between sites, stock is likely to vary between locations, and funding has to shift depending on turnover. In this situation, floorplan finance does more than fund the units being sold; it provides a scalable structure that supports network growth, flexibility, and consolidated reporting.  

Soda Capital structures facilities for multi-site dealers that account for the requirements and realities of multi-location operations. This includes streamlined reporting, shared limits, and the flexibility to fund stock across locations. An efficient floorplan finance option enables multi-location dealers to operate with a singular funding strategy that allows funds to be accessed where needed. 

Dealer benefit: Dealers gain the flexibility to scale across regions whilst maintaining control, transparency, and liquidity across their entire dealership footprint. 

What Typically Cannot Be Funded?

While floorplan finance is highly flexible, most facilities do not fund:

• Non-inventory operating expenses (wages, rent, utilities) 
• Intangible assets or service-only revenue 
• Extremely slow-moving non-core stock categories 
• Why a tailored floorplan finance facility matters  

 Dealers don’t all stock the same way, and floorplan facilities should be structured to suit. For example, a marine dealer importing boats needs different funding timing than an outdoor power retailer ordering high-volume spring inventory. 

 At Soda Capital, we structure our floorplan facilities around:

• Asset type 
• Stock velocity 
• Seasonality 
• Dealer growth stage 
• New, used, demo, and imported mix

That flexibility is what turns floorplan finance from a generic facility into an efficient growth tool. 

Funding built for how dealers operate

If you want a facility that aligns with your stock profile and industry cycle, Soda Capital can structure a solution tailored to your business and industry. Explore our Floorplan Finance services or speak with one of our team members to find out what inventory can be funded for your dealership.