Lets AutoBook Agent answer "what's my car worth" with a rough, market-based number instead of deflecting. We compute it from live listings, minus the margins you set, and it always carries your disclosure. Off until a store turns it on.
"What's my car worth?" is one of the first questions a customer asks. The Trade-In Desk lets AutoBook Agent give a rough, market-based estimate instead of dodging the question, with your disclosure attached to every answer. The real number is still set in person, on the actual vehicle, by your team.
It is off by default. While it is off, AutoBook Agent never puts a number on a trade: it books an in-person appraisal instead.
Turning trade estimates on or off
1
Open the settings page
Go to Settings, then under AutoBook Agent open AutoBook Agent Sales & Finance, and find the Trade-in desk section.
2
Flip the switch
Turn on AutoBook Agent may give a rough trade estimate. Turn it off again any time to go back to booking appraisals.
3
Set the answer
Choose How the estimate is phrased, fill the Margin waterfall and check the Required disclosure. Save.
4
Test it
Press Test connection under Market scan connection (about 30 to 45 seconds) to prove the market scan works for this store.
The setting belongs to the store you are editing, so one dealership in a group can run the desk while another does not. Each store's customers get that store's answer.
Where the trade number comes from
Our server computes the estimate, not AutoBook Agent. It scans live market listings for the customer's vehicle, takes the middle of that market, and subtracts your margins to get a midpoint. The quoted range is built so that even its high end sits under market: the customer gets a real answer and your desk keeps room to work. AutoBook Agent only says the answer it is handed. It never invents or negotiates a figure.
If there are too few comparable listings, the scan fails, or the margins leave no sensible number, AutoBook Agent gives no number and books the appraisal.
Trade estimates on chat, text, email and phone calls
AutoBook Agent gives trade estimates on chat, text, email and phone calls. On a call the market scan takes about a minute, so AutoBook Agent tells the caller the number is on its way, keeps talking, and reads the estimate back with your disclosure once it lands. If the call ends first, the caller gets no number and AutoBook Agent books the appraisal.
Choosing a dollar range or a market position
| How the estimate is phrased | What the customer hears |
|---|
Dollar range | Two figures, for example $18,200 to $20,100. The default, and the more concrete answer. |
Market position | A phrased band, for example "landing in the low $20,000s". Softer, with no numbers in writing. |
Setting the margin waterfall and disclosure
These decide how far the quoted number sits below market. They are per dealership and only apply while the desk is on. Blank counts as $0. Two things are set by AutoBook, the same everywhere: the quoted range is 10 percent wide around its midpoint, and AutoBook Agent needs at least three comparable listings before it gives any number.
Reconditioning baseline
What you typically spend making a trade retail-ready. Subtracted from the market middle first.
Pack
Your standard pack. Subtracted next.
Target gross
The gross you want to hold on the retail. Subtracted last, so the quoted figure already leaves you room.
Required disclosure
The line attached to every trade answer, saying the estimate is market-based and the final value is confirmed in person. It can't be blank while the desk is on.
Checking the market scan is working
Test connection runs one real scan for a test vehicle against this store's market. It takes about 30 to 45 seconds and only runs when you press it.
Run it after turning the desk on. A failing scan is invisible from outside: nothing looks broken to the customer, AutoBook Agent just books appraisals and nobody gets a number.
Recording the customer's trade on the deal
1
Open the Deal tab
Open the customer's record and the Deal tab. The deal's figures show Trade-in and, when AutoBook Agent quoted one, Trade estimate.
2
Edit trade and payment
Press Edit trade and payment. Under Trade-in, fill year, make, model, km, VIN and a condition note. Under Qualification, the payment method and budget.
3
Save
Clearing a field clears it for real. A value we can't read (a malformed VIN, a number that isn't a number) blocks the save and names the field.
Will AutoBook Agent negotiate the trade number?
No. It states the estimate it was handed, with your disclosure, and moves the conversation to the in-person appraisal. The figure comes from your margins on our side; AutoBook Agent has no room to move it.
A customer asked and got no number. Why?
Each of these ends the same way, with AutoBook Agent booking the in-person appraisal:
- The Trade-In Desk is off at that store.
- The customer was on a call that ended before the scan finished (about a minute).
- The market scan is switched off on our side for an emergency.
- The market scan failed or timed out.
- There were fewer than three comparable listings.
- The margins left no sensible number after reconditioning, pack and target gross.
Test connection only proves the market scan works. It doesn't tell you which of the others happened.
Does this replace an appraisal?
No. It's a rough market-based estimate that keeps the conversation going. The real number is set in person, on the actual vehicle, which is exactly what the disclosure says.
Is it set per dealership?
Yes. On or off, the phrasing, the waterfall and the disclosure all belong to the store you're editing.