How we price: a used car pricing strategy for the whole store
Pick a Top 3, 5, 10 or 20 target, cap the biggest cut, ease up on fresh arrivals and set who counts as a competitor — then save one rule for every vehicle.
How do dealers price used cars when the market moves every day? Usually one car at a time, by feel. How we price replaces that with a used car pricing strategy for dealers that covers the whole store, new cars included: one rule, written down once, applied to every vehicle on your lot. You say where you want to sit among the cars like yours around you, and every row gets a Cut, Raise or Hold to get there. Nothing is pushed to your website; this is analytics, and the price change stays your call.
The drawer opens with Where we want to land. Under Stay in you pick Top 3, Top 5, Top 10 or Top 20, counted among the matching cars nearby with yours included, and the target price lands just under that competitor. Biggest cut in one step caps any single move at No limit, 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%; a larger cut is split and the table shows the first step. New vehicles can share the target, take an Own target or Don't score. Loosen the target as cars age is off by default; on, three day ranges each carry their own Top N. Under Guardrails sit Min competitors, Undercut cushion ($), Ignore changes under ($) and Trust widened radius.
A competitive pricing strategy only works if the whole team runs the same one, so the drawer keeps two copies. The badge reads Team default when what you see is the saved rule and Not saved while you try something on your own screen; reloading the page brings the saved rule back. For example, a manager who wants a top 5 pricing rule with cuts held to 10% sets both pills, watches the Cut count change, then presses Save as team default. Every screen and every vehicle reprices in ten to twenty seconds; Undo restores the saved setup. The resulting to-do list lives on Price Intel.
01 Your store-wide pricing rule
- Where we want to land — the spot you hold on a search results page.
- Every car then gets Cut, Raise or Hold to reach that spot.
- Badge reads Team default when saved, Not saved while you try things.
Changes preview on your screen until saved.
Transcript
How we price is your store-wide rule. Where we want to land is the spot you hold on a search results page. Every car then gets a cut, raise, or hold to reach it. The badge reads Team default when saved, and Not saved while you are trying things out.
02 Pick your target position
- Stay in — choose Top 3, Top 5, Top 10 or Top 20.
- For example, Top 5 means fifth cheapest or better among matching cars nearby, you included.
- The target price then lands just under the fifth cheapest competitor — cushion set in Guardrails.
Guardrails sit below, collapsed.
Transcript
Stay in sets your target position: top three, five, ten, or twenty. For example, top five means your car is the fifth cheapest or better among matching cars nearby, you included. The target price then lands just under the fifth cheapest competitor, with a small cushion you can adjust under Guardrails.
03 Limit the biggest cut
- Biggest cut in one step — No limit, 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%.
- A bigger cut is split into steps; the table shows the first step.
- Pick No limit to go straight to the target price.
Capped rows say, for example, "max drop 10%".
Transcript
Biggest cut in one step caps how far any single price cut can go: no limit, five, ten, fifteen, or twenty percent. A bigger cut is split into steps, and the table shows only the first step. Pick No limit to go straight to the target price every time.
04 Ease up on fresh arrivals
- Loosen the target as cars age — Advanced, off by default.
- Turn it on: fresh cars get an easier target, older ones a tighter one.
- Three day ranges, each with its own Top N; edit the day limits.
- Just above, New vehicles — Same target, Own target or Don't score.
Transcript
Loosen the target as cars age is an advanced switch, off by default. Turn it on and fresh arrivals get an easier target, while cars that sit longer get a tighter one, in three day ranges you can edit. Just above it, New vehicles can share the target, have their own, or stay unscored.
05 Who we compare against
- How far out — 50 mi to All US; too few matches widens automatically.
- How close a match — Exact trim is tightest, Same model loosest.
- Same model year on by default; Match condition off by default.
- Changes preview on your screen until you Save as team default.
Transcript
Who we compare against sets the competitor pool. How far out starts at fifty miles and can go all the way to All US; when there are too few matches, the search widens on its own. How close a match runs from Exact trim, the tightest, to Same model, the loosest. Same model year is on by default. Changes preview on your screen until you Save as team default.
06 Save it for the whole store
- Change anything and Save as team default appears here.
- Save applies it to the whole store — every screen, every vehicle.
- Undo puts back the saved setup, nothing lost.
- Saving reprices every vehicle in ten to twenty seconds.
Until you save, changes live on your screen only.
Transcript
Change anything and Save as team default appears down here. Save applies it to the whole store, every screen and every vehicle, and repricing takes about ten to twenty seconds. Undo puts back the saved setup. Until you save, your changes live on your screen only.
Frequently asked questions
What is the "top 5" pricing rule and how is the target price set?
Stay in Top 5 means your car should be the fifth cheapest or better among the matching cars for sale around you, yourself included. We take the asking price of the fifth cheapest competitor, subtract the Undercut cushion from Guardrails, for example $100, round down to the nearest ten dollars and call that your target. If you already sit inside Top 5 the row says Hold, or Raise when there is room under the next car up.
How do I limit the biggest price cut so a car is not slashed in one move?
Biggest cut in one step caps any single cut at 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% of the current price. When the full distance to the target is larger, the table shows only the first step and labels the row "max drop 10%", for example; run it again the next day to close the rest. Pick No limit to go straight to the target price every time.
Do these repricing rules apply to new cars too?
Yes, the platform prices new and used inventory. Under New vehicles you choose Same target to score new cars exactly like used ones, Own target to give them their own Top 3 to Top 20 tier, or Don't score to leave them out because they mostly follow MSRP and factory incentives.
What do the guardrails do, and what is "minimum competitors"?
Min competitors is how many cars like yours we must find before we suggest a price; below that number we still show your rank but no suggestion. Undercut cushion ($) is how far under the car you need to beat we set your price. Ignore changes under ($) hides moves too small to bother with, and Trust widened radius decides whether a suggestion built on cars found beyond your radius counts at all.
Does changing the strategy affect my colleagues, and does it change prices on my website?
Not until you save. Changes preview on your screen only and the badge reads Not saved; Save as team default writes the rule for the whole store and reprices every vehicle in about ten to twenty seconds, while Undo restores the saved setup. Inventory Analytics never pushes a price to your website or DMS; it tells you what to change and you make the change.
See it on your own inventory
A demo runs on your live listings, not a sample lot: your cars, the competitors around your store, and the target price for each one.