AutoHub – Car Dealer & Listing (SaaS)

AutoHub SaaS is a complete car listing and dealership marketplace platform built as a WordPress plugin. Turn your WordPress site into a fully monetized automotive marketplace where dealers and private sellers publish vehicle listings, manage their own showrooms, and pay you for the privilege — with subscription plans, listing limits, and featured placements handled automatically.

Whether you want to run a free local classifieds site or build a premium subscription-based dealer network with Stripe payments, AutoHub gives you everything out of the box — a polished seller dashboard, a powerful admin panel, a listing-credit billing system, and a fully filterable vehicle search built for automotive data.

Key Features

• Vehicle Listing Engine — Purpose-built for automotive data: make, model, trim, year, mileage, body type, fuel, transmission, drivetrain, engine size, doors, seats, colour, condition, and VIN. Every field is filterable and searchable. [VERIFY: your exact field set]
• Advanced Search & Filters — Multi-criteria search with price and mileage range sliders, dependent make/model dropdowns, year ranges, and location radius. Results update without a page reload. [VERIFY: AJAX vs. page reload]
• Dealer Showrooms — Every seller gets a branded showroom page with logo, cover image, bio, contact details, opening hours, map location, and their full inventory. [VERIFY: custom showroom URLs?]
• Listing-Credit Billing System — Each plan allocates a number of active listings and featured slots. Credits refresh on subscription renewal. Sellers who hit their limit are prompted to upgrade.
• Featured & Bumped Listings — Paid promotion slots that surface listings at the top of search results and on the homepage, with automatic expiry. A second revenue stream on top of subscriptions. [VERIFY: does this ship in v1.0?]
• Stripe Payment Integration (Extended License) — Full Stripe Checkout with monthly and annual billing cycles, free trials, promo codes, invoice PDFs, upgrade/downgrade flows, and webhook-driven lifecycle management.
• Feature Gates per Plan — Control exactly what each plan can access: active_listing_limit, featured_listings, photo_limit, video_upload, bulk_csv_import, dealer_badge, lead_export, listing_analytics, custom_showroom_url, priority_placement, and more. [VERIFY: your actual gate list — state the real count in the heading, e.g. “11 Feature Gates per Plan”]
• Lead & Inquiry System — Buyers send inquiries, request callbacks, or book test drives directly from a listing. Sellers manage every lead from their dashboard with status tracking. [VERIFY]
• Media Galleries — Multiple photos per listing with drag-and-drop reordering, plus YouTube/Vimeo video embeds and optional 360° walkaround support. Photo counts are plan-gated. [VERIFY: 360 support?]
• Location & Map Search — Geolocated listings with map view, “near me” radius filtering, and per-listing map embeds. [VERIFY: Google Maps, Mapbox, or Leaflet/OSM?]
• Vehicle Comparison Tool — Buyers select multiple vehicles and compare specs side by side in a single table. [VERIFY]
• Saved Searches & Alerts — Buyers save filter combinations and get notified by email when a matching vehicle is listed. Strong retention driver for marketplace operators. [VERIFY]
• Finance Calculator — On-listing monthly payment estimator with configurable interest rate, deposit, and term. [VERIFY]
• Bulk CSV Import — Dealers with existing inventory import hundreds of vehicles at once via mapped CSV, with scheduled re-sync to keep stock current. Plan-gated. [VERIFY: does re-sync exist, or import only?]
• Custom Authentication System — Branded Login, Register, and Forgot Password pages. Google OAuth, email verification, two-factor authentication (2FA), CAPTCHA support (reCAPTCHA v2 or Cloudflare Turnstile), and disposable email blocking.
• Customizable Email Templates — Welcome emails, password resets, subscription confirmations, new-lead notifications, listing expiry warnings, admin notifications, and more. Full HTML editor with placeholders. SMTP support with TLS/SSL. [VERIFY: exact template count]
• Listing Moderation Queue — Optionally hold new and edited listings for admin approval before they go live. Essential for keeping a marketplace clean. [VERIFY]
• Dealer Ratings & Reviews — Buyers leave star ratings and written reviews on seller profiles, with admin moderation. [VERIFY]
• Light & Dark Theme — The seller dashboard supports both light and dark mode with a toggle. Admin can set the default theme.
• Branding Settings — Upload your own logo, set the default theme, and customize the platform appearance to match your brand.
• Auto-Create Default Pages — One-click setup creates all required WordPress pages with the correct shortcodes. No manual configuration needed.
• Import / Export Settings — Export your plan pricing, feature gates, and taxonomy configuration as JSON. Import on another site in seconds.
• Activity Log (Admin) — Chronological record of all user actions with event-type filters. Monitor everything happening on your platform.
• User Feedback System — Collect star ratings and written feedback from users. Track feedback status as Open, Reviewed, or Resolved.
• System Info Panel — View PHP version, WordPress version, active plugins, memory limits, and other server diagnostics at a glance.

Regular or Extended License?

Both licenses include the full listing engine, seller dashboard, admin panel, and search system. The key difference is monetization.

Regular License ($49 — Lifetime)

• Full vehicle listing engine with all automotive fields and taxonomies
• Advanced search, filters, map view, and comparison tool
• Dealer showrooms and seller profiles
• Custom authentication system (Login, Register, Forgot Password)
• Seller dashboard with listing manager and lead inbox
• Listing limits (admin-managed — assign allowances manually)
• Admin dashboard with all configuration panels
• Email templates and SMTP configuration
• 6 months of support, 1 domain (1 dev + 1 live allowed)
• No Stripe integration — cannot charge sellers or sell subscriptions

Extended License ($199 — Lifetime, Most Popular)

• Everything in Regular, plus the full SaaS monetization stack:
• Stripe payment gateway integration (Checkout, webhooks, portal)
• Subscription management with monthly + annual billing
• Unlimited pricing plans builder with feature gates per plan
• Automated listing-credit refresh on successful payment
• Paid featured and bumped listing slots
• Free trial system (configurable per plan, one trial per user)
• Promo codes and discount coupons
• Invoice history page for sellers with Stripe-hosted PDF downloads
• Payment failure detection with grace period handling
• Subscription upgrade and downgrade flow
• Revenue dashboard widget in admin
• 6 months of support, 1 domain (1 dev + 1 live allowed)

In short: Choose Regular if you want to run a single dealership site or a free classifieds board. Choose Extended if you want to build a marketplace business and charge sellers for subscriptions and promotions.

Admin Dashboard Panels

• Overview — Bird’s-eye view of your platform: total sellers, active listings, active subscriptions, plan distribution chart, recent activity feed, and key statistics.
• Listings — Browse every vehicle on the platform. Filter by seller, status, make, or date. Approve, reject, feature, or remove listings.
• Moderation Queue — Pending listings awaiting approval, with side-by-side diff for edited listings. [VERIFY]
• Featured Picks — Curate homepage and category spotlights. Manually promote standout inventory for marketing.
• Sellers & Dealers — Manage all seller accounts, verify dealers, assign badges, and adjust listing allowances manually.
• Membership Settings — Configure user registration, email verification, two-factor authentication, CAPTCHA protection (reCAPTCHA v2 / Cloudflare Turnstile), Google OAuth, and disposable email blocking.
• Vehicle Taxonomies — Manage makes, models, body types, fuel types, transmissions, and features. Bulk import a starter dataset or build your own. [VERIFY: is a seed dataset bundled?]
• Branding — Upload your site logo, set the default dashboard theme (Light or Dark), and customize the platform’s visual identity.
• Subscriptions — View and manage all seller subscriptions. See status (active, trialing, cancelled), manually adjust listing credits, cancel or modify subscriptions.
• Orders — Complete payment records with order numbers (AUTO-YEAR-NUMBER format), amounts, billing periods, status, and gateway info. Future-proofed for multiple payment gateways.
• Default Pages — Assign WordPress pages to frontend views (Search, Submit Listing, Dashboard, Login, Register, Pricing, etc.). One-click auto-create with correct shortcodes.
• Pricing Plans — Create unlimited subscription tiers. Set price, listing allowance, featured slots, billing interval, free trial days, and toggle each feature gate per plan.
• Payment Settings — Configure Stripe API keys (Test and Live mode), webhook URL and signing secret, webhook health indicator with success rate tracking, and test connection button.
• Email Notifications — Customize every email template with a built-in HTML editor. Configure SMTP settings (host, port, encryption, credentials). Send test emails. Set sender name and address.
• Leads — Platform-wide view of every buyer inquiry, with export. Useful for spotting your highest-performing sellers. [VERIFY]
• Activity Log — Chronological record of every user action on the platform. Filter by event type: listing published, listing edited, lead sent, login, registration, and more.
• User Feedback — View all user-submitted feedback with star ratings (1-5) and written messages. Track feedback through 4 statuses: Total, Open, Reviewed, Resolved.
• Import / Export — Export your complete configuration (plans, gates, taxonomies) as JSON. Import on another installation to replicate your setup instantly.
• System Info — Diagnostic panel showing PHP version, WordPress version, active plugins, server details, memory limits, and other environment information.
• License — Activate and manage your product license. View license type, domain, and expiry status.

Seller Dashboard Panels

• Dashboard — Seller home screen with quick stats: active listings, remaining allowance, current plan, total views, new leads, and shortcuts to every tool.
• Add Listing — The core tool. A guided multi-step wizard: (1) Select make, model, and year, (2) Enter specifications and condition, (3) Upload photos and video, (4) Set price and description, (5) Choose location and contact preferences, (6) Publish or promote.
• My Listings — Manage all inventory in one table. Filter by status (live, pending, sold, expired), edit inline, mark as sold, renew, or promote to featured.
• Bulk Import — Upload a CSV of inventory with column mapping and a validation preview before anything goes live. Plan-gated. [VERIFY]
• Leads & Inquiries — Inbox of every buyer message, callback request, and test drive booking, with status tracking and reply. [VERIFY]
• Showroom Settings — Configure the public dealer page: logo, cover image, bio, address, opening hours, and contact channels.
• Analytics — Per-listing views, saves, and inquiry counts over time, so sellers can see what’s working. Plan-gated. [VERIFY]
• Billing & Subscription — View current plan details, remaining listing allowance, next renewal date, and invoice history with PDF download links. Manage subscription via Stripe Customer Portal.
• Account Settings — Update profile information, change password, configure two-factor authentication, and manage account preferences.

Requirements

• WordPress — Version 5.8 or higher (6.x recommended)
• PHP — Version 7.4 or higher (8.0+ recommended)
• SSL Certificate — Required for Stripe payments and API calls
• Permalinks — Must be set to any structure other than “Plain”
• Maps API Key — Required for location search and map views [VERIFY: which provider]
• Stripe Account — Required only for the Extended License (to accept payments)

FAQ

Q1: Do I need coding skills to set up AutoHub?

A1: No. AutoHub is a WordPress plugin with a visual admin panel. Install the plugin, create your pricing plans, and click “Auto-Create Pages” — your marketplace is ready. No code required.

Q2: Does it work with my existing theme?

A2: [VERIFY — this is the single most asked question on listing plugins and buyers will pre-sales it before purchasing. State plainly whether AutoHub ships its own templates, inherits theme styling, or requires a companion theme.]

Q3: How does the listing allowance work?

A3: Each pricing plan includes a number of active listings and featured slots. When a seller subscribes and pays, their allowance refreshes each billing cycle. Sellers who reach the limit are prompted to upgrade or remove an old listing.

Q4: Can sellers import existing inventory?

A4: Yes. Bulk CSV import with column mapping lets a dealer bring in their full stock at once, and it can be gated to higher-tier plans. [VERIFY]

Q5: Can I run this as a single dealership rather than a marketplace?

A5: Yes. Restrict registration and use it as a single-inventory site — the Regular License covers this use case without any payment setup. [VERIFY]

Q6: What payment methods are supported?

A6: AutoHub uses Stripe Checkout, which supports credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and dozens of local payment methods depending on your region. Stripe handles all PCI compliance.

Q7: Can I offer free trials?

A7: Yes. Free trial days are configurable per plan. Stripe handles the trial period — sellers enter payment details but are not charged until the trial ends. Each user can only use one trial (enforced via user meta).

Q8: What happens if a payment fails?

A8: AutoHub listens for Stripe’s invoice.payment_failed webhook and handles it with a grace period. The subscription is not immediately cancelled, giving the seller time to update their payment method. [VERIFY: what happens to their live listings during the grace period? Buyers will ask.]

Q9: Is it multilingual / RTL ready?

A9: [VERIFY — WPML/Polylang compatibility and RTL support. Worth stating explicitly given your Arabic translation work; it’s a real differentiator on automotive listings in MENA markets.]

Q10: Is the seller dashboard responsive?

A10: Yes. The entire seller dashboard is fully responsive and works on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. It also supports light and dark mode.

Q11: Can I white-label the platform?

A11: You can upload your own logo, customize email templates, set the default theme, and brand the authentication pages. The user-facing experience carries your brand, not ours.

Q12: How do I get support?

A12: Open a ticket at modeltheme.com/support. We respond within 24 hours on business days. Your license includes 6 months of support, extendable at renewal.

Q13: Will I receive future updates?

A13: Yes. All licenses include lifetime updates. New features and improvements are delivered through the standard WordPress update mechanism.

Changelog

v1.0 — Initial Release