The dealer reads
a dossier on the car.
Now you do too.
Every franchised dealer runs Cox Automotive’s analytical stack — they know the cost basis, the carry burden, the lender retail floor. Car Buyer Intelligence puts the buyer-side counter-model in your hands, with a citation-grade brief and the email you need to send.
2023 Ford Bronco Outer Banks
To: josh.penderghast@mcpeekcdjr.net Subject: Re: Josh from McPeek's Auto! Hi Josh, My offer at $34,500 selling / $37,680 OTD is good through end of business Saturday 5/30. If your sales manager sees room to get there, I'd be happy to wrap this up. If not, I'll be moving forward with another option this week. Best, Erica
You’re negotiating against the desk, not the salesperson.
Behind the salesperson sits a sales manager with a screen full of analytical tools. They know the unit’s investment score, the days-on-lot leverage ratio, the lender-retail anchor, the cohort comparables. Without the same kind of read on your side, every negotiation is asymmetric.
Cox Automotive's investment scoring
Grades every used unit 1–12. Bronze · Silver · Gold · Platinum. Each tier has a published turn policy — Gold is 40 days. A 95-day Gold unit is canonical wholesale-out-trigger territory.
Auction-acquisition demand prediction
Tells the dealer what off-brand inventory will retail at their lot. Aged off-brand inventory is, by construction, the population where Stockwave's prediction failed.
Wholesale-market reference price
What the unit would clear at auction today. Dealers cite MMR to anchor their ask. But MMR is wholesale, not what your credit union actually advances.
CRM dispatch + tactic playbook
Triple-channel dispatch within minutes. Scarcity push. In-person steer. "Market validation" lectures. Each tactic is documented and templated at scale.
Seven research skills. Six phases. One brief.
Paste a VIN, a listing URL, or just a year/make/model. We stage seven specialized research skills through six phases, with a checkpoint between every one — and produce a decision brief plus an embedded opener email you can copy-paste and send.
VIN dossier
9-pass investigation. Recalls, CSPs, ownership pattern, service history, engine-build risk, disposal-path inference.
→ Citation-grade briefComparables
BATNA from CarGurus · Cars.com · Carvana · KBB · TrueCar · Edmunds. Cohort median, rank, percentile.
→ Walk-away ceilingDealer intel
Reputation across BBB · DealerRater · Cars.com · Carfax. Inventory analysis. Stockwave-failure detection.
→ Cost-basis estimateFinancing math
OTD breakdown, 27-cell payment matrix, F&I match-or-beat threshold. Anchored on lender retail.
→ Payment tier tableStrategy
Opener email, 4–5 response branches, forward-tense walk-away, close-day F&I decline script.
→ The email to sendDecision brief
One-page action-oriented synthesis. Cross-phase consistency check. The artifact you carry into the dealership.
→ Printable PDF“The dealer accidentally shared a vAuto screenshot. The brief extracted their loaded cost in eight fields, surfaced the 4.5× days-on-lot leverage ratio, and produced the email to send. I never acknowledged the leak.”
One brief pays for everything else.
No per-brief fees. No upsells. Cancel anytime. The first analysis is free; if you don’t save enough on your first negotiation to cover a year, we’ll refund the difference.
First brief
Run one full Phase 1–6 analysis on a vehicle you're considering. No card required.
- One complete Phase 1–6 brief
- Email + walk-away templates
- Printable PDF
- Sample dealer-correspondence analysis
$19 / month
For an active negotiation or any buyer comparing more than one listing. Unlimited briefs, lifecycle reminders, correspondence inbox.
- Unlimited briefs · 5 active at once
- Correspondence inbox with tactic scoring
- BATNA comparison + trajectory monitoring
- Post-close lifecycle reminders
- Save-the-difference guarantee on year 1
White-glove
A human analyst reviews every brief before send. For buyers in the middle of a $50k+ purchase who want a second set of eyes.
- Everything in Buyer
- Human review of Phase 5 strategy
- 1:1 walkthrough before close day
- F&I prep call (45 min)
Questions buyers actually ask.
Will the dealer know I'm using this?
No. The brief never leaves your hands. We don't email the dealer. We don't share data. Information-asymmetry discipline is built in — the brief tells you what to deploy and what to hold back.
How is this different from CarGurus / TrueCar?
Those tell you if a price is in line with the market. We tell you the dealer's cost basis, their carry-cost pressure, their cohort norms, and the email to send. They're anchors. We're leverage.
Do I need a Carfax / BeenVerified report?
Not required. The brief runs without them, but it's sharper if you drop them in. Phase 1 reads them directly before launching the more expensive web pulls.
What if the dealer ghosts me?
That's data. Phase 5 includes the walk-away email with forward-tense BATNA framing — it leaves the door open without weakening the walk. Most buyers who walk close at the lowest prices when the dealer returns.
Is this for new cars too?
Right now, no — the analytical model is tuned for the used market (Cox stack, ProfitTime, MUVVI). New-car negotiation has a different dealer-side toolkit. We'll get there.
What about EVs / Teslas?
EVs from franchised dealers (Ford / GM / Hyundai / Kia) work fine. Direct-from-manufacturer brands (Tesla / Rivian / Lucid) don't fit the cost-basis model — negotiation room there comes from inventory aging, not from dealer asymmetric data.
Be the best-prepared person in the room.
The dealer carries leverage from preparation, practice, and tools. Match it. The first brief is free.
Start your first brief