About Forecourt
Built by the accountants who reconcile the stock
Forecourt is made by Abbeygate Accountancy, an accountancy and business advisory practice in Thurston, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. We act for franchised and independent motor dealers, and a lot of what we do for them comes back to the same two questions every month: is the stock really there, and does the stocking loan agree?
Answering those questions used to mean a day on the forecourt with a clipboard, an afternoon in a spreadsheet, and a manufacturer statement ticked off by hand. We built Forecourt to do that work for our own clients, first as a phone app that reads number plates and reconciles them against the stock list as you walk, then as the monthly manufacturer rec that agrees the funder statement to the stock list and the ledger.
It is now available to any UK dealer. The stocktake side is for the sales and site managers who have to count. The manufacturer rec is for the dealer FD or the accountant who has to sign the month off. Both were designed by people who do that job.
Forecourt Workshop came next, starting with motorcycle workshops. It takes the typing and the phone off the people doing the work. An AI receptionist answers calls and messages and books customers in. Technicians talk through a health check while Forecourt writes it up and prices it, and the customer says yes on their phone.
What we care about
Evidence over effort. A stocktake should end with a report an auditor accepts, not a spreadsheet someone has to defend. Every scan carries a photo, a time and a name; every exception carries a decision.
Your data stays yours. Plates are read on the phone, so no photograph goes to a third party. Customer contact details are encrypted. Every business is completely separate from every other. Abbeygate operates the service under UK GDPR as your processor, and the terms say so plainly.
Plain pricing. Per site, per month, unlimited users, no setup fee, and a free trial long enough to do a real count or a month of real bookings.
Abbeygate Accountancy
Abbeygate is a Xero Gold Partner and was named AAT Accountant of the Year 2025. Alongside Forecourt, the practice provides accounts, tax, payroll, management reporting and advisory work for motor dealers and other owner-managed businesses across East Anglia and beyond, including dealership business plans and manufacturer franchise applications.
If you would rather have the monthly manufacturer rec done for you and signed off by an accountant, that is a service we offer using this same tool. Email hello@abbeygateaccountancy.co.uk.