Big News for Smart Buyers: Introducing YardSmart’s New Pricing Insights Engine

If you’ve been around self-serve or hybrid recycling for any length of time, you know one simple truth:

You don’t stay in business by guessing.
You stay in business by buying smart and moving cars.

“Cars in, cars out” has always been the game. The better you buy on the front end, the smoother that engine runs on the back end.

Lately, you’ve probably started to hear more talk about pricing tools and “intelligent” ways to buy vehicles. A lot of that noise sounds impressive on paper, but at the end of the day, what matters is simple:

Can you trust the numbers in front of you?
Do they reflect real money you can actually put in the bank?

At YardSmart, that’s exactly where we’ve chosen to focus.

THE PROBLEM WITH PRICING BASED ON “HOPES AND MAYBES”

One tempting idea in our industry is to price cars based on past part sales.

On the surface, it sounds logical:

“We sold a ton of parts off this model before, so we’ll make it back again.”

Maybe. But a lot has to go perfectly for that to be true:

• This car might be hit on the exact corner that used to sell best.
• The “always sells” engine might be overheated or have internal damage.
• Demand might have shifted — what flew off the shelf last year may sit this year.
• That transmission you’re counting on might be bad when it hits the rack.

There are infinite reasons a part that sold last time may not sell this time. You can’t reliably build your buying decisions on maybes.

It’s a common trap in every industry:

When you can’t easily measure what really counts, it’s easy to start treating whatever you can measure as if it’s the whole truth.

That’s the trap we don’t want you to fall into.

CATALYTIC CONVERTERS: A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE “CRYSTAL BALL” PROBLEM

Take catalytic converters.

If someone tells you today that a converter on a vehicle is worth $100, there’s no honest way to guarantee that number 90 days from now when it actually settles:

• The price of platinum, palladium, and rhodium can move dozens of times in that window.
• If you sell on assay, it may be months before you know what that converter really brought in.
• In some cases, the catalyst can be weak or spent, and the converter may be worth far less than predicted.

If you can’t verify the number later, it’s not a solid foundation for how much to pay today.

You shouldn’t have to bet your margin on a crystal ball.

START WITH WHAT YOU KNOW YOU CAN COUNT ON

Our approach with Pricing Insights is simple:

Build your buying decisions on the things you can know and verify, not on wishful thinking.

Every smart self-serve operator already understands this instinctively:

• You know a vehicle has scrap value whether you sell a single part or not.
• You know your average scrap return per car over time.
• You know your average parts revenue per vehicle.

That’s the heart of smart buying:

Make sure the deal makes sense before any “upsides” show up.

“Cars in, cars out” still applies — we’re just giving you a clearer dashboard to judge each car on the way in.

INTRODUCING PRICING INSIGHTS (EARLY 2026)

Early [1Q] 2026, YardSmart will be rolling out our new Pricing Insights feature…Included in your YardSmart subscription.

No bolt-on. No mystery upcharge. No separate contract.

Instead, you’ll get a practical tool that:

• Uses your scrap prices
• Uses real vehicle weight (from the VIN)
• Uses your actual averages for scrap and parts revenue

…to give you a structured way to think about each car’s value.

Here’s how the logic works in plain English:

Minimum Scrap
Vehicle Weight × Your Scrap Price(s)
This is your floor — what the flattened body will bring in even if nothing else goes right.

Scrap Value
Minimum Scrap + Average Scrap Return Per Vehicle
Now you’ve added the average scrap you typically capture from cores, metals, etc.

Total Value
Scrap Value + Average Parts Revenue Per Vehicle
This gives you a realistic total based on your real-world performance, not somebody’s national guessing model.

Written as a simple formula:

Minimum Scrap = Vehicle Weight × Your Scrap Price(s)
Scrap Value = Minimum Scrap + Average Scrap Per Vehicle
Total Value = Scrap Value + Average Parts Revenue

No crystal ball. No pretending we know exactly which parts will sell and when. Just numbers you can track and trust.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR YARD TEAM

Pricing Insights is designed to help you and your buyers:

• Say yes or no faster based on a clear floor and realistic upside
• Standardize what “a good buy” looks like across different buyers and locations
• Train newer buyers with real guardrails instead of “feel your way through it”
• Avoid silent margin leaks from overpaying in a hot moment

You still bring your local knowledge, gut feel, and experience.
Pricing Insights simply gives you hard numbers to back up those instincts.

And in a competitive market, that combination — experience + real data — is where smart recyclers win.

WHY WE’RE TAKING THIS PATH

There will always be tools that promise to tell you exactly what a car will earn in parts, months or years into the future.

That’s not our claim.

Our commitment is to:

• Help you avoid overpaying on the front end
• Ground your decisions in numbers you can audit later
• Support the “Cars in, cars out” philosophy with a stronger, data-backed buying process

Or in other words:

Don’t stake your business on a crystal ball.
Build it on what you can count — and count on.

Pricing Insights is one more way YardSmart is helping self-serve and hybrid operators buy smarter, move more cars, and keep more of the profit where it belongs: in your yard.

Want to see how Pricing Insights will work with your numbers?

Reach out to the YardSmart team to:

• Walk through a sample vehicle using your scrap prices and averages
• Talk about how your buyers are making decisions today
• Get on the early-interest list so you’re among the first to pilot Pricing Insights when it rolls out in 2026

“Cars in, cars out” isn’t changing.
We’re just giving you a smarter way to make sure every car that comes in is a winner before it goes out.