Book value and AI price recommendation
Record a wholesale/retail book value on a vehicle and read its AI price suggestion.
Every vehicle has a Book value & pricing card that shows an AI-suggested price and lets you record what the car is worth at wholesale and retail. The AI suggestion gets sharper once you add a retail book value.
The card is on the vehicle's detail page — open any car from Inventory and scroll down to Book value & pricing.
Read the AI price suggestion
The AI price suggestion box is always there — no setup needed.
- The big number is the target price. Next to it is the suggested range (min–max).
- If the car has an asking price, you'll see Current asking with how far it sits above (amber) or below (green) the target.
- A one-line rationale explains how the number was built, plus the cost basis (acquisition cost + recon) and days on lot.
The suggestion is advisory. It nudges the price down the longer a car sits — about 2% for every 30 days past the first month, capped at 10% off. With no book value, it works off your cost basis plus a ~18% target margin and never suggests below cost + 5%.
Record a book value by hand
- In the Book value section, type a Wholesale and/or Retail dollar amount. You can fill just one — but you must enter at least one.
- Click Save book value.
- The page refreshes. The source label now reads Manual with today's date.
Adding a Retail book value is what flips the AI from cost-plus guessing to market-anchored pricing — that's where the rationale changes to "Anchored on Black Book retail…" and the suggestion re-anchors on your retail value. A Wholesale value alone doesn't change the basis; it just raises the bottom of the suggested range.
If the book retail value is below your cost basis, the rationale shows a warning that the unit may sell at a loss. That's a heads-up, not a block — you can still price and sell the car.
Refresh from Black Book (if connected)
If your dealership has connected Black Book, a Refresh from Black Book button appears in the card header.
- Click Refresh from Black Book.
- It pulls fresh wholesale/retail values for this VIN and mileage and saves them.
- The source label updates to Black Book with the refresh date.
The Refresh from Black Book button only shows when the integration is enabled and a credential is saved. If you don't see it, an owner or manager can connect it under Settings → Integrations. Live lookups are still being rolled out, so a refresh may report that it's not configured yet — manual entry always works in the meantime.
FAQ
Do I need Black Book to use this?
No. The AI price suggestion works out of the box, and you can type wholesale/retail values by hand at any time. Black Book just automates pulling those values for you.
Where does the cost basis come from?
It's your acquisition cost plus all recon/vehicle costs logged on the car. Both are internal — they never appear on your public site.
Does saving a book value change my asking price?
No. The book value and the AI suggestion are guidance only. Your asking price is set on the vehicle's Edit page and is the only price shoppers see.
Why did the suggested price drop on an older car?
The suggestion knocks a little off the longer a unit sits — about 2% per 30 days past the first month, up to 10% — to keep aging inventory moving.
Who can set a book value?
Any signed-in team member can record a book value and refresh it — it's your own inventory. (Connecting Black Book under Settings → Integrations is owner/manager only.) Every change is written to the audit log with the user who made it.