AutoEstimate AI — Repair Estimate Follow-Up Kit

AutoEstimate AI is a niche repair-estimate follow-up kit for independent auto repair shops and operators who want a simple way to track unapproved estimates, show revenue at risk, and prepare operator-reviewed follow-up messages.

The system includes a repair estimate intake flow, admin estimate dashboard, revenue-at-risk metrics, ROI calculator, follow-up sequence editor, embeddable website widget, demo repair-shop data, source files, and marketplace-ready documentation.

This is built as an MVP/business-in-a-box, not a full production SaaS. It is designed to help buyers understand, customize, and deploy a repair estimate follow-up workflow for auto shops or adapt the same model to other service businesses.

Core use case:
Auto repair shops often lose revenue when customers delay, ignore, or misunderstand repair estimates. AutoEstimate AI helps make those pending estimates visible and gives the operator clear follow-up templates to review before sending.

Included:

Repair estimate landing page
Estimate intake form
Admin estimate dashboard
Revenue-at-risk metrics
ROI calculator
Operator-reviewed follow-up sequence editor
Embeddable website widget
Demo repair-shop records
Source package
README
Marketplace listing copy
QA report
Test report
Setup documentation

Important limitation:
Messages are not automatically sent. This kit uses operator-reviewed follow-up templates. The buyer is responsible for reviewing, customizing, and sending messages through their chosen email/SMS workflow or adding integrations later.

Value Proposition

AutoEstimate AI helps independent auto repair shops stop losing revenue to cold repair estimates. It captures estimate questions from a shop’s website, stores them in a simple dashboard, and gives the shop operator operator-approved email follow-up templates they can review and send — turning hesitant customers into booked jobs without adding admin work.

Target Customer

Primary: Independent auto repair shops and small chains that issue written estimates but struggle to follow up with customers who never reply.

Secondary: Technical founders, agency owners, and shop-management consultants who want a white-label MVP kit they can brand, customize, and resell to auto shops.

Revenue Model

One-time marketplace sale (near-term):

Sell the AutoEstimate AI MVP kit on the cto.new Marketplace for $79 (target price).

Recurring SaaS upsell (buyer-facing, target pricing):

Starter: $29/mo — up to 50 estimates, email only.

Growth: $79/mo — unlimited estimates, email + SMS, widget + dashboard.

Pro: $149/mo — custom workflows, multi-user, analytics.

All revenue figures above are targets. The connected Stripe account currently shows no real transactions; the first revenue will come from marketplace kit sales once the listing is live.

KPIs

Marketplace listing conversion rate: Percentage of listing views that become purchases.

Kit activation rate: Percentage of buyers who complete setup and connect real SMTP.

Estimate recovery rate: Percentage of pending estimates that convert to approved jobs after follow-up.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): If/when the buyer (or the business itself) launches the SaaS tier.

Net Promoter / buyer feedback score: Used to improve the kit and justify price increases.

Current Status

The AutoEstimate AI MVP kit is complete and packaged:

Node.js/Express backend with SQLite, API key auth, and email follow-up sequences.

Mobile-first landing page, admin viewer, embeddable widget, and React dashboard.

Marketplace listing copy, demo script, screenshot checklist, and packaging notes.

Marketplace-ready ZIP deliverable generated and verified.

Setup steps:

Download and unzip the included AutoEstimate AI source package.
Install backend dependencies:
npm install
Start the backend:
npm start
Open the landing page:
http://localhost:3000
Open the admin estimate dashboard:
http://localhost:3000/admin.html
Install dashboard dependencies:
cd dashboard
npm install
Start the dashboard:
npm run dev
Open the dashboard URL shown by Vite, usually:
http://localhost:5173
or
http://localhost:5174
Get the generated API key from the SQLite settings table or backend logs/docs, then save it on the Sequences page.
Use the included README, TEST_REPORT.md, FINAL_QA_REPORT.md, and marketplace-assets documentation for customization and screenshot guidance.

Notes:

No .env file, API keys, or external secrets are required for the demo.
Dependencies are installed fresh with npm install; dependency folders are intentionally not included.
The demo creates and seeds its own local SQLite database on first run.
This is an MVP kit. Live SMTP, SMS, Stripe, CRM integrations, and production authentication are not included.
All follow-up messages should be reviewed by an operator before sending.

AutoEstimate AI — Repair Estimate Follow-Up Kit

Overview

Mission

AutoEstimate AI Business Plan

Value Proposition

Target Customer

Revenue Model

KPIs

Current Status

Honest Limitations

Models that need an upgrade

The team

Setup