MAX Digital vs vAuto

What to check before you choose

The difference is the surrounding ecosystem: one links to ACV's auctions, the other to Cox's tools.

Test both on your own inventory. Look at how each tool values a trade and a retail unit, which data and guidebooks it shows and how it uses real auction results, and what each recommends for a car that is aging and how a manager can override it.

Find out which wholesale outlets it connects to and whether you can sell through other auctions. Ask how it connects with your DMS, CRM and website and what each costs per rooftop.

Judge them against actual gross and days to turn over a trial month.

ACV MAX describes inventory intelligence that sets a vehicle's value from its condition, the rooftop and the moment, and argues that legacy tools start with market averages. vAuto belongs to Cox Automotive and covers sourcing, appraisal, stocking and merchandising. A store comparing them should price a handful of vehicles both ways and track which recommendation sells faster. Ask how each handles condition data and what the price is per rooftop.

Ask how each system treats condition. ACV MAX says it factors a vehicle's current condition into its value, which suggests inspection data feeds the number, while vAuto is part of a larger Cox Automotive set of tools that spans sourcing through merchandising.

For a trade appraisal, ask what a technician must do and how long it takes, and whether the result can be shown to the customer. Also ask how each connects to your DMS and website feed and what a rooftop pays per month.

Ask each vendor what the first week looks like. A store should expect a data connection to its DMS and inventory feed, training for the appraiser and used car manager, and a first set of price and stocking recommendations.

Ask how many hours of training are included, who supports the store when a feed breaks and what a typical customer sees in the first month. Request two references from stores that switched from a competitor and one that left.

Inside the shared categories, MAX Digital fields 4 named lines against it (Inventory Management, FirstLook, Appraisal, Merchandising); vAuto fields 7 named lines against it (Provision, Conquest, Stockwave, iRecon, and others).