VEHICLEAI
NEON by Vehicle AI · Use Case · Negative-Gross Deal Detection

Find the deals that closed under cost.Before next month's variance meeting.

Vehicle AI surfaces every used-car deal that closed under cost — with VIN-level loss attribution so you can find the root cause (over-allowance, trade discipline, ACV miscalibration) before the pattern repeats.

The Problem

You don't see the loss-leaders until they're already 9 deep.

Most dealerships find out about negative-gross used car deals at the end of the month, when accounting reconciles. By then you've closed the next 30 deals, and whatever caused the first nine to lose money has probably caused another six.

Vehicle AI flags them daily, by VIN, with the loss broken down: how far over ACV was the trade, what was the recon variance, where did the front-end gross actually go. So you can fix the rule — not just count the damage.

And we don't surface false alarms: new-car deals routinely show negative gross in the DMS feed because manufacturer holdback, OEM incentives, and floorplan credits aren't booked into cost — those recover through separate accounting. Our negative-gross queue is used cars only.

How Vehicle AI Solves It

From signalto action.

Step 1

Every closed deal gets a daily gross check.

As soon as a used car closes, Vehicle AI compares sale price to total cost (acquisition + recon + holdback + reconditioning). Negative-gross deals get flagged within hours, not at month close.

Command Center

Good morning, Mike

Here's your dealership overview

Inventory is at 238 active units (200 new, 38 used) with an average 82 days on lot.

New
200+12
Used
38-7
New DOL
92+0
Used DOL
30-8
Proactive Intelligence
Margin Leak: Trade over-allowances jumped 9 points
Over-allowance rate climbed from 14% to 23% in just 30 days. You've surrendered $3,800 in front-end gross to loose appraisals. Coach the desk before next month repeats.
SALESmedium
Capital Trap: $1.6M tied up in overstocked Rogues
New Rogues are 36% of inventory value but only 15% of recent sales — a 20-point imbalance strangling cash flow. Dealer trade or aggressive lease push to rebalance.
INVENTORYmedium
Missed Opportunity: INFINITI QX60 inventory running dry
You moved 21 QX60 units last month and are down to your final 7 — 10 days of supply at current pace. Secure additional inventory before you lose front-end gross.
INVENTORYmedium
Step 2

Loss attribution by root cause.

Per deal: how much of the loss came from over-allowance on trade, how much from recon variance, how much from price erosion. Patterns become visible: "every loss this month came from over-allowance on Civics with high ACV."

Step 3

Proactive coaching on appraisal discipline.

When the over-allowance rate jumps (we measure weekly), Vehicle AI surfaces the coaching opportunity in your morning briefing. "Margin Leak: trade over-allowances jumped 9 points — $3,800 of front-end gross given up." Drill in to see the worst-offending trades by VIN and desk manager.

Trade Over-Allowance · New Cars
Over-Allowance Rate (30D)
25.0%
prior 30d: 13.3%
Δ pts vs prior 30d
+11.7 pts
16 trades · $3,050 given up
Worst Over-Allowances
2026 NISSAN ROGUE
$33,800
+$2000
2026-04-04
2026 NISSAN ROGUE
$35,200
+$500
2026-04-25
2025 NISSAN MURANO
$41,399
+$300
2026-03-30
2026 NISSAN KICKS
$32,525
+$250
2026-04-23
Step 4

Ask the chat for any deal's full story.

"Show me every negative-gross deal this month and what drove the loss." "Which desk manager has the best appraisal discipline?" "How does our ACV-to-allowance ratio compare to last quarter?" Chat reasons across your closed deals and trade-in records.

Chat

analyze the price to market of all of my used inventory. where are my biggest opportunities for improvement?

Used Inventory P2M Distribution
LowIn-LineHighNo Data

47 active used units. Three distinct areas of opportunity: 12 underpriced units could capture margin, 10 overpriced units risk aging.

Manager Controls

Your team approves everything.

  • Set per-segment cost thresholds (recon, holdback assumptions, target front-end gross)
  • Define what counts as 'over-allowance' (% over ACV, $ over book)
  • Tag manager-on-deal so attribution is by person + segment
  • Audit log: every flagged deal links to the source DMS record
Data Sources

Everything traceable to its source.

  • Your DMS closed-deal records (CDK / Reynolds / Tekion / DealerTrack)
  • ACV references (Black Book, MMR, your historical wholesale data)
  • F&I records for hold and reserve attribution
  • Recon system data for variance tracking
Metrics This Moves

What your team should expect to see.

Negative-Gross Deal Count

Weekly and monthly count of deals closing under cost, by manager and segment.

Over-Allowance Rate

Share of trades appraised meaningfully above ACV — the leading indicator.

Average Loss Per Deal

Dollar magnitude of negative-gross deals when they happen.

Book a Demo

See what gross you lost last month.

No commitment · We do the setup · Your data stays yours