USED car market analyst AutoGrab has leaned into the world of artificial intelligence engines and built a virtual assistant that can tap into its unique database housing national used car activity and deliver localised used car market insights on demand.

The company describes it as “Chat GPT- for cars”.Branded AutoMate, for the technical it is an LLM (Large Language Model) chatbot. It will be rolled out to AutoGrab’s customers this week. AutoGrab will be demonstrating AutoMate at the  AADA Convention and Expo on July 22 and 23 at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre.

AutoMate is built on AutoGrab’s vast automotive intelligence platform.

Like Chat GPT, AutoMate delivers AI-powered responses by tapping into AutoGrab’s vehicle database conversational questions like:

• Show me all vehicle listings in Victoria of vehicles under 30 days supply
• Show me the fastest-selling vehicles in December
• How much will a 2023 Ford Ranger be worth in 5 years?
• Show me all listings of 2024 Toyota HiLux in Melbourne under 10,000km
• Show me under-valued vehicles in the private market
• Which 2019-2022 SUVs are undervalued right now?  

The AI engine suggests follow-up questions and deeper insights and is continually learning from the type of information various users request. 

The AI engine has been developed by AutoGrab to provide intuitive and exclusive access to AutoGrab’s enormous collection of used car data that is constantly updated to track trends for those who manage the purchasing, stocking and selling of used cars.

Now subscribers can ask the AutoGrab system conversational questions and AutoMate scurries off to interrogate the database and deliver an intelligent response.

AutoGrab says the company has developed “the most advanced automotive intelligence platform in Australia”, capturing intuitive responses and insights to conversational queries on-demand.

“It is designed to act as your virtual dealership assistant across our products, capable of answering questions related to vehicles, automotive market trends, valuations, and more,” the company said in a statement.

The system will also write advertising copy for vehicles being taken into stock that are being posted online (see below).

The company says that using AutoMate avoids the need to interrogate the database via menus and filters. This enables data access for all users, regardless of technical expertise, and lends itself to future access by voice.

The chief commercial officer of AutoGrab Saxon Odgers told GoAutoNews Premium in an exclusive briefing: “AutoMate helps dealers better manage their inventory, make sense of their  data, and streamlines their decision-making.

Saxon Odgers

“It uncovers hidden trends, anomalies, and insights within their data, giving them accurate, market-leading intelligence on-demand.

“It will even draft the content for an advertisement for a car just arrived in their yard, in a matter of moments.

Mr Odgers said: “Automate was developed to support dealerships by providing them with insights on the retail market, the wholesale market, their stock profile, and any sort of trends associated with what’s happening in the industry.”

He said the AI can be used to inform customers about the dynamics taking place behind each transaction.

“This could help manage customer expectations on the value of their trade or whether to trade it or not. For example, we can ask AutoMate questions about how quickly their car is selling in the private market.

“The dealership can set an expectation with the potential customer around what they should expect when they want to sell their car privately when the dealer would prefer them to consider trading the vehicle with the dealership. 

“When a customer says they will go away and sell their car privately, the dealer can provide context to the customer that there are 600 of the same vehicles available for sale right now and they are taking 90 days to sell privately.

“They can show how that car is going to depreciate in the next three months and how they could sell to the dealer right now instead. The dealership gets the opportunity to win the trade and the customer understands the market dynamics better. 

“We see this as a tool, giving customers a better understanding of the market and therefore managing customers expectations.

“As an industry, all of us understand the market but consumers do not. They don’t know what days-to-sell means or the effects of how many of their make and model are for sale in the market and how competitive it is. 

“They don’t know the depreciation for different cars and, in pretty much every example, they have a high expectation on its value. However, with the support of AutoMate, dealers can provide customers some insight and data around a fair and reasonable vehicle valuation. “So we see that this is a tool to be used to manage customer expectations in the dealership and to help the customer understand the market better as well.”

Looking ahead, Mr Odgers said that AutoMate would be continually evolving; learning from its clients’ inventory, aligning with market trends, and becoming an even more powerful virtual dealer assistant.

He said: “Here’s what’s coming; 

• Proactive insights and tailored recommendations delivered automatically when business opportunities or risks arise. 
• Dealers will be able to schedule key tasks like pricing reviews or inventory checks. 
• AutoMate will also be able to initiate changes like adjusting prices, creating hotlists or updating listings.