AI estimates

Type a repair, such as “front brakes” or “oil filter housing replacement,” and CarSignal drafts the description, labor and supplier parts. Review the lines, change anything you need, then send the estimate when you are ready.

Labor for the work you requested

The draft searches MOTOR for the requested repair. CarSignal holds its own MOTOR labor-guide license, so book times work for every shop, with or without a PartsTech connection. Different names can describe the same component: an oil filter housing may appear as an oil filter adapter in the guide. That repair stays separate from an oil change, including when you type “houssing.”

A heater-core replacement can need coolant as well as the heater core. The coolant stays on the parts list; it does not make the heater-core labor incomplete just because coolant has no separate replacement operation. If you also request a coolant flush, that service needs its own labor coverage.

A request for a water pump and thermostat still needs to cover both repairs. If the guide only supplies the pump operation, the draft names the missing thermostat labor and asks you to confirm it. Pads and rotors share their teardown rather than charging it twice.

When MOTOR returns different operations, the engine checks the operation details against the vehicle and job. If more than one still applies and their times are more than twice apart, the draft offers the choices for review. A same-name row with no included work at a fraction of the standalone time is MOTOR's combination time (the pump with the timing belt already off), so it is set aside and named in the note rather than offered as an alternative. Missing hours stay for you to enter.

A list such as “oil change, front brakes, alternator, battery and rear shocks” keeps all five jobs. Each gets its own result, and a failed lookup identifies the job that still needs work. An estimate can contain up to 32 jobs; larger requests ask you to split the list into separate estimates.

Your shop's usual hours

Once your shop has billed the same repair title at least three times on the same make, model and matching engine, the draft can quote your usual hours. Matching engines can share history across model years. “Replace one oxygen sensor” and “replace two oxygen sensors” remain different jobs, as do front and rear repairs.

For routine services, such as a brake-fluid flush or cabin filter, history can also supply your usual time after five comparable platform jobs or eight jobs across your shop. The draft keeps MOTOR's original figure in the source details and explains any change: “Your shop's usual time is 1 hour, based on 8 invoices.”

When no book operation is available, three earlier jobs with the same title on other vehicles can provide a stand-in. The draft labels it as your shop's history, shows the range when those bills differed, and asks you to confirm the hours for this car.

Billing habits can also shape the quote after twenty paid labor lines. For example, if your shop consistently bills whole hours, a 2.7-hour book time can become 3 quoted hours, with a note explaining the rounding. Small jobs keep positive hours and the learned minimum. Your configured labor rate still sets the price; a different rate in old invoices appears as a note for you to review.

Parts your shop uses

The draft can recognize a brand you regularly fit or a part number you have repeatedly billed for comparable vehicles. The note explains the preference—for example, “Your shop has installed this part 6 times.” The supplier catalog must still support the component, vehicle fitment, position and available quantity. Your explicit brand preferences remain in effect, and you can choose an offered alternate.

History can also suggest companion parts. If your shop often bills strut mounts with front struts, the draft can search for the mounts and explain how many earlier jobs included them. Conditional suggestions remain unselected; add them only when this job needs them.

Your customized parts matrix sets prices. If the matrix is still the signup default, invoices that include saved part costs can teach a markup. Without those costs or enough examples, the draft uses the matrix.

Only saved lines from fully paid invoices teach these preferences. Drafts, partially paid or refunded invoices, reopened invoices and the job being estimated are excluded.

Fluid quantities and supplier packages

An oil line uses the fill capacity for the vehicle and engine, then converts it to the supplier's package size. A six-quart fill needs six one-quart bottles or one six-quart case.

MOTOR's licensed fluid data comes first: the fill with filter for the exact engine, the oil grade, and the manufacturer approval behind it (for example 0W-30 under BMW LL-01FE, or 0W-20 under GM dexos1 Gen 3). When the manufacturer allows several grades, the estimate accepts any of them and names the approval in the note instead of forcing one. MOTOR does not publish fluid data for every brand, so the book corpus comes next, then manufacturer documentation. A web result sets the quantity only when the source text supports the requested vehicle, engine and fill-with-filter capacity. The advisor note names the source.

Coolant works the same way: MOTOR supplies the system capacity and the chemistry (OAT, HOAT, or the OEM specification), and the parts pick is held to that chemistry rather than guessed.

The other fluids follow the same rule where MOTOR publishes them. A transmission service, brake fluid flush, differential, transfer case, or power steering service holds the supplier pick to the manufacturer's specification (DEXRON HP, DOT 4 low viscosity, a GL-5 75W-85 gear oil, an OEM part number) and sizes the line from the service fill when MOTOR states one figure. When the fill depends on a variant the vehicle record does not settle (two axle ring-gear sizes, two transfer cases), the line keeps quantity 1 and its note lists every fill so you choose. Where MOTOR has no fluid data for the brand, nothing changes from before.

Book times and fluid specifications are licensed data. A short notice under the Quick Estimate totals, in the labor picker and on the Fluids tab names MOTOR as the source, and the vehicle's manufacturer where that manufacturer requires its own copyright statement. Quick Estimate's notice also carries a one-line reminder that the estimate is AI-assisted and that the full book times and fluid specs should be checked before quoting. Job cards on the vehicle page carry no notice of their own.

For Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles, the manufacturer does not permit its service data to be used with AI models. Book times and fluid specs for those vehicles are still shown and still set quantities and grade filters, but they are never sent to the AI. Where the draft would normally let the AI choose between several matching operations, it lists the operations for you to pick instead.

An older manual or an independent reference may still help you check the job. Those references are labeled for confirmation and do not automatically set the billed quantity. If the capacity cannot be verified, the oil line says Confirm oil capacity.

Water pump and thermostat jobs can share a coolant refill. The draft keeps one coolant request and asks you to confirm the shared refill, specification and total quantity before it becomes a charge. Removing one repair keeps coolant needed by the remaining repair. Separate or unidentified cooling circuits keep separate requests.

For a coolant service, verified fill data is converted to the product’s package size, including 1.5-liter bottles and cases. Concentrate and premixed coolant use different quantities. An unknown fill, bottle size or mixture stays an unpriced request for you to confirm.

Front and rear brake jobs also keep their position through supplier search. A front-only part cannot fill a rear job. Reusing a SKU across both axles requires catalog evidence that it fits both. Lines on an axle job say which axle they serve, such as “(front)”. When a supplier sells rotors per side, the draft quotes one left and one right from the same brand and names the corner on each line; if only one side is listed, the line says the other corner still needs a part.

Stock on your store’s shelf comes first. When your store shows none but the supplier’s distribution center or network has the part, the draft still quotes it and the line says so, such as “Not on the shelf at AutoZone; 440 in their network, order in.” Rows with no stock reported anywhere are quoted only when nothing confirmed is available, and an unpriced listing never beats a priced one.

Diagnosis and missing prices

“Gas gauge stopped working” is a diagnostic request. With enough paid diagnostic history, the draft can quote the time your shop usually bills to investigate it. Without that history, it asks you to add diagnostic time. The repair estimate follows what the technician confirms.

Once a repair is confirmed, the issue-page draft uses the same engine as Quick Estimate and automatic drafts. If book labor or supplier prices are unavailable, confirmed parts stay as unpriced requests and labor needs your input. Price ranges from the diagnosis do not become quote lines.

A part with no supplier price becomes a part request, rather than a billable $0 part. Source and price each required request, or remove it after reviewing the job, before sending the quote.

Review and editing

Two reviewers check the assembled estimate. A quantity supported by the vehicle or catalog can be corrected directly. An unverified hard-part count needs both reviewers to agree on the same count, and the line asks you to confirm it. A missing component outside the job's parts list needs both reviewers to identify it before another supplier search is added.

The review does not change labor hours. Unresolved findings stay visible, and the draft says when automated review is unavailable.

Change quoted hours, pick another operation, swap parts or exclude a job. The estimate keeps its original labor source details alongside your changes. Retry draft runs a failed draft again. The preview shows what the customer will receive.