Add a car from its photos
Drop the photos of one car. The VIN is read off them, the car is decoded or found in your inventory, and you add it, or put the photos on the car you already have. Nothing is added until you say so.
The quickest way to add a car: take its photos, drop them on the page, and check what was read off them. The VIN comes from the VIN label (door jamb or windshield) or the title, and the year, make, model and trim come from the VIN.
Add a car
- Go to Inventory and click Add from photos (or Start from photos at the top of the Add vehicle form). You can also drop the photos anywhere on the Inventory page.
- Drop the photos of one car on the page, or click to pick them: up to 60. Include the VIN label or the title, and the odometer.
- The photos upload and are read. The page says how far it got ("Reading the photos: 12 of 20").
- Check What I see: the car, its VIN and where it was read, the mileage, the color, any damage, and the papers among the photos.
- Pick what the photos are for, fill in where the car came from and what you paid, and click Add car.
What you can do
What the page offers depends on what the VIN says:
- Not in your inventory: the add form. The stock number defaults to the VIN's last 6 characters, the mileage comes from the odometer photo and the cost from a bill of sale among the photos, all editable.
- In stock: "This is stock A1234. Add these 18 photos to it?" The photos go on that car.
- Sold: the page says when you sold it, and links the car and its deal. Nothing is added; bringing a sold car back into stock is coming.
- Two cars: photos with two different VINs cannot be one car. The page marks the other car's photos; click Remove them, then add this car. Removed photos wait 14 days for their own upload.
- No VIN: type the VIN from the car or its title. The page warns when a VIN fails its check digit, which usually means a character is misread. Without a decode, the year, make and model the photos show are filled in as a guess for you to check.
More about this car
When the car was decoded from its VIN, More about this car looks up the rest from NHTSA: the body, engine, transmission, drive, fuel, where it was built and its standard safety features, and the open recalls for its year, make and model, with a Do not drive or Park outside warning when NHTSA gives one. It is free and uses no AI allowance. The recalls are for the model, so some may already be repaired on this car: check the exact VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. There is no history report.
What the photos are for
The same question the Photos card asks: auction, transport or recon photos stay private (only your team sees them) with that tag; ready to publish photos go on your website and feeds, tagged Complete, when you click Add car. The page preselects its guess and says why ("4 of 4 look like the lot"). For ready to publish it suggests keeping a photo private when a person is in it, it is blurry or the car is cut off; untick any you want public.
The photos go on the car in listing order: the listing photo first (the driver-side front corner, or the side you picked in Settings, Photos), then around the car, the inside and the details.
The papers among the photos
- The car's own papers (a title, MCO, registration, bill of sale, odometer statement, lien release or window sticker) go on the car's Documents card when you add it, never on the website.
- Anything else (a driver's license, a receipt, a dealership paper) is not the car's, so it is never filed on it. It stays out; file it from the assistant if you need it.
Come back later
Photos you dropped but did not add are kept for 14 days. The Inventory page shows Continue: 2019 Civic, 18 photos, and so does Add from photos. If a photo did not make it when you added the car, open the batch again from there: it now finds the car in stock, and Add the photos puts the rest on it.
FAQ
What if the assistant is off, or the month's AI allowance is used up?
The photos are not read, so there is no VIN, no guess and no papers found. The page still works: type the VIN, answer what the photos are for, and add the car.
Can two people work on the same photos?
No. The photos you drop are yours until they are on a car, so only you see the batch.
Does it cost anything?
Reading the photos uses your plan's AI allowance, like the Photos card. Adding the car does not.