01 · The problem
Dealers loved the leads.
Then they had to copy them somewhere else.
ACV acquired Drivably's trade-in widget: a long questionnaire in a pop-up, with every lead copied into the dealer's CRM. The dealer left ACV right when the car was worth the most.
The question we kept asking
How do we keep a dealer inside ACV,
from the first offer to the final sale?
02 · Research
We mapped the whole journey first.
Shopper, dealer and Monk AI, from the online quote to the dealership visit. The gaps it surfaced shaped the roadmap, and four rounds of dealer interviews kept us honest as designs shipped.
03 · What we built
Five answers to that question.
Rebuild the widget
A step-by-step flow with expandable sections, so shoppers only answer what applies to their car.
The Drivably questionnaire asked everything at once, with no clear next step after the offer.
Put photo capture where it gets used
An SMS link for shoppers first, then photo capture moved into dealers' appraisals, where it stuck.
Monk AI needed phone photos, and shoppers rarely took them. Dealers did.
Give dealers a home for every lead
The lead gen portal: every lead in one table, with status, scheduling and the damage photos.
We considered pushing leads into dealers' CRMs, but a CRM couldn't show the damage photos that made our appraisals worth trusting.
Show the whole car in one place
The Appraisals Info Page: details, condition, damage photos and the offer.
Dealers needed condition, photos and price side by side to make an offer.
Make it feel like ACV
A design system built from the main ACV site, with marketing on the look and feel.
ClearCar was a new acquisition and had to feel like part of ACV from day one.
04 · The tough call
The AI photo capture nobody used, until we gave it to dealers.
Monk AI damage detection needed phone photos, but shoppers started on a computer. I bridged the handoff with an SMS link that opened the photo step on their phone.
Shoppers still rarely uploaded. So we gave photo capture to dealers for their own appraisals, and 3 of the 5 dealerships we interviewed made it part of their process.
“I don't really see a big need for taking pictures, but you guys do have the technology that will identify some dings and dents.”
05 · How I led it
A team of two, a close PM partner, and engineers across the world.
- Led design on a two-person team and mentored a mid-level designer.
- Wrote the research protocols and ran four rounds of interviews with 5+ dealerships alongside my PM.
- Wrote our product development process with my PM.
- Kept a steady cadence of reviews and handoffs with our engineering team in India, across time zones.
“I like that your team is constantly working on updates and upgrades. And so I do appreciate learning about them.”
06 · The results
Dealers stayed in ACV.
15–20% of subscribers use the portal daily, and every accepted car flows into ACV Max for retail or ACV Auctions for wholesale.
07 · Learnings
I grew into the lead role
by doing the job first.
I joined ClearCar as a senior designer in 2022 and left as the lead in 2025. I got there by collaborating closely, communicating early and listening to dealers.
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