The vehicle value estimate runs inside the Sales Matrix kiosk presentation flow — it isn't its own settings page or something you open on purpose. It quietly fills in a dollar figure on three of the presentation's pricing steps: Window Tint, Ceramic Coating, and PPF. It takes the year, make, and model already on file for whichever vehicle is attached to that presentation session (trim too, if you've got it), and returns a rough used-market value for that specific car. No one has to review or approve the number before it's used — there's no button for that — but it never touches billing, never books anything, and never talks to the customer on its own. It only decides which dollar figure appears in a pitch line the rep is standing right there presenting; the rep still runs the actual quote and pricing separately.
How it shows up during a presentation
When a rep reaches the Window Tint, Ceramic Coating, or PPF step of a presentation, the kiosk asks for this vehicle's estimated value behind the scenes. If that vehicle has never been estimated before, the request goes out, comes back with a ballpark dollar figure, and that figure gets saved permanently onto the vehicle's record — not just for this presentation, but forever. The next presentation for that same car, whether it's five minutes later or six months later, reads the saved number instead of asking again. That's by design: it's meant to be a one-time lookup per vehicle, not a fresh AI call every time someone walks through the kiosk with that customer.
When there's no number to show
A few situations make the estimate come back empty instead of a real dollar figure — and in every one of them, the kiosk doesn't show a blank or an error. It quietly falls back to a generic default value for that vehicle's body type, the same flat figure every customer at your shop would have seen before this feature existed. That happens when:
- The vehicle on the session hasn't had a year, make, and model entered yet (a walk-in still being keyed in on the fly)
- The estimate couldn't be produced or the reply couldn't be turned into a usable number
- The number that came back was nowhere close to a plausible used-car price — an implausibly low figure gets thrown out rather than shown, and an implausibly high one gets capped down to a reasonable ceiling rather than displayed as-is
Nothing about this ever interrupts the presentation for the rep or the customer. The pitch line always shows some dollar figure — it's just either this specific car's estimate or the generic fallback, and there's no on-screen indicator telling the rep which one they're looking at.
Things to know
- Plan requirement: none — this is available on every plan that can run a Sales Matrix presentation. Unlike some of SalesThumb's other AI tools, it isn't gated behind a specific plan tier; it draws from your shop's normal monthly AI allowance the same way other AI features do.
- Stub mode: if ANTHROPIC_API_KEY isn't configured for the workspace, this feature doesn't invent a fake number to fill the gap — it simply returns nothing, and the kiosk falls back to the generic body-type default. If you're demoing SalesThumb and every vehicle shows the same flat pricing figure regardless of make or model, that's most likely stub mode, not a bug.
- It's a ballpark, not an appraisal. The estimate is built from year, make, model, and trim alone — it doesn't factor in mileage, condition, accident history, or your local market. Treat it like a quick rule-of-thumb guess, not a number you'd hand a customer as a trade-in offer or use for insurance purposes.
- Cached forever once set. The first presentation for a given vehicle locks in its estimate. Editing that vehicle's year, make, or model afterward doesn't trigger a new estimate — the original number sticks around regardless.
- No source label shown. The pitch line displays the same way whether it's using a real per-vehicle estimate or the generic fallback, so there's no way to tell which one a rep is looking at just from the kiosk screen.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Where does the number in the pitch line come from?
A: It's a one-time AI estimate based on the vehicle's year, make, model, and trim (if on file) — not a live market lookup, and not based on mileage or condition. Once it's generated for a vehicle, it's saved and reused for every future presentation on that same car.
Q: Is this a real appraisal I can use for a trade-in or a quote?
A: No. It's a rough ballpark meant to make the kiosk's pitch line feel grounded in the customer's actual car instead of a generic body-type number — it isn't a formal valuation. Don't use it for trade-in offers, insurance, or anything that needs a real appraisal.
Q: Why did the pitch line show the same generic number it always used to?
A: A few things fall back to the old generic default: the vehicle is missing year/make/model, an estimate couldn't be produced, or your workspace doesn't have live AI configured (stub mode). In every case the presentation still works fine — it just isn't using this car's real estimate.
Q: Does this cost extra or require a specific plan?
A: No. It's available on every plan that can run a Sales Matrix presentation — there's no separate tier gate on it. It draws from your shop's normal monthly AI allowance like other AI features do.
Q: If I fix a vehicle's year, make, or model later, does the estimate update?
A: No. Once an estimate is generated and saved for a vehicle, it stays as-is — correcting the vehicle's details afterward doesn't trigger a new estimate.
Q: Does a rep need to approve this number before the customer sees it?
A: No, there's no approval step for the number itself. But nothing about this feature books anything, charges anything, or talks to the customer on its own — it only picks which dollar figure appears in a pitch line the rep is presenting live, and the rep still runs the actual quote and pricing separately.