ERD Example: Car Dealership

Create an E-R diagram for a car dealership. The dealership sells both new and used cars, and it
operates a service facility. Base your design on the following business rules:
a. A salesperson may sell many cars, but each car is sold by only one salesperson.
b. A customer may buy many cars, but each car is sold to only one customer.
c. A salesperson writes a single invoice for each car he or she buys.
d. A customer gets an invoice for each car he or she buys.
e. A customer may come in just to have their car serviced, that is, one need not buy a car to
be classified as a customer.
f. When a customer takes one or more cars in for repair or service, one service ticket is
written for each car.
g. The car dealership maintains a service history for each of the cars serviced. The service
records are referenced by the cars serial number.
h. A car brought in for service can be worked on by many mechanics, and each mechanic
may work on many cars.
i. A car that is serviced may or may not need parts. (For example, adjusting a carburetor or
cleaning a fuel injector nozzle does not require the use of parts).

Salespeople sell cars to customers thru sales invoices.

Customers buy cars from Sales people thru sales invoices.

A sales person writes one invoice to one customer per car sold.

A customer gets one invoice per car bought.

A customer initiates a car service thru a service ticket.

A customer gets one service ticket per car serviced.

The dealership uses the serial number of a car to look up service ticket history.

Mechanics are associated with cars and the services that they perform on cars thru the
service/mechanic table. The service/mechanic table associates information about the
service done with the service ticket.

Cars serviced often times use parts. The Parts Used table associates the the parts with
the service ticket.