Shortfall

About Shortfall

Buying a car this week? Don't sign until Shortfall reads the paperwork.

Car dealers know most people won't study the contract. That's where the extra charges hide. Shortfall reads the paperwork on your phone and flags every fee that's higher than typical for your state. One free audit included, then a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase unlocks unlimited future audits. No subscription.

What's free, what requires the $4.99 unlock

Free, no purchase required:

• Your first full contract audit — complete verdict, every flag, full Walkaway Card share
• Your first Four Square Decoder round — back-solved interest rate and verdict
• Checking Kelley Blue Book trade-in values and saving the numbers — always free, no cap

Requires the one-time $4.99 in-app purchase:

• Every contract audit after your first
• Capturing revisions when the dealer rewrites the numbers at the desk
• Every Four Square round after Round 1 (for the same negotiation or a new one)
• Saved audit history across all future car purchases

How it works

Scan the contract with your camera or import the PDF. In about a minute, Shortfall pulls out the price, interest rate, doc fee, warranty, GAP insurance, and every add-on, and compares each one against what car buyers in your state usually pay.

You walk into the dealership knowing:

• Whether the doc fee is legal (17 states cap it)
• Whether the interest rate matches your credit
• Whether GAP and the extended warranty are marked up
• Whether the monthly payment actually adds up

Every flag reads in plain English — "$300 above typical for your state" — not a judgment. You decide what to push back on.

Stuck in the finance office?

The Four Square Decoder figures out the interest rate from the monthly payment, even when the salesperson "forgets" to write it on the page. Round 1 is free. Capturing each revision they hand you after that requires the one-time $4.99 unlock — so when they rewrite the numbers, Shortfall shows exactly what moved.

Trading in? (always free)

Shortfall opens Kelley Blue Book right in the app so you can look up your trade-in range yourself. Save the numbers — when the dealer throws out a low offer, you have something to check against. No in-app purchase required for the trade-in tool.

Private by design

• Everything runs on your phone
• We don't sell your data because we never collect it

Works in all 50 US states. Every benchmark cites its source, and you can check and correct any number Shortfall reads from your contract before it's compared.

Pricing: the app is free to download with one free contract audit and one free Four Square decode included. A single one-time $4.99 in-app purchase unlocks unlimited future audits and capturing every dealer revision. No subscription, no recurring charges.

Requires iPhone 15 Pro or newer.

Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

New in 1.1.0

See exactly where each flag came from.

• Tap "Show on page" on a flag to open your contract with that line outlined, so you can point to it at the desk. Saved audits keep their pages, on your phone only.
• Updated state fees: doc-fee caps and typical fees are current for 2026, and Shortfall now checks the legal cap in 17 states.
• Designed for iPhone Duo's inner display: your contract sits on one half and the flags on the other, the Four Square numbers sit beside their verdict, and Home splits at the fold. Folding or unfolding keeps your place.
• Also: fixes for iOS 27, dollar amounts that read the same in every region, the Unlock button always on screen, and better layouts at large text sizes.