For car dealers and workshops

The oil pays the shop. The phone hands out the appointments.

Workshop and parts deliver around 60 percent of a dealership's contribution, and at VW-group dealers the lubricant business alone carries 54 percent of pre-tax profit (IfA, Bench Pro). Two thirds of those appointments are arranged by phone, and vehicle technology is Germany's fourth-largest shortage occupation. The bottleneck of your best business is a phone nobody has time to answer.

See what we automate

30 minutes, no obligation. German or English.

54%

of pre-tax profit at VW-group dealers comes from the lubricant business alone

Bench Pro via trade press, June 2026

66%

of brand-workshop customers arrange their appointments by phone

DAT report 2025

13,327

statistically unfillable vehicle-technology positions, Germany's fourth-largest shortage occupation

KOFA annual average 2025

The gap

The platforms automated your listings. Nobody automates your front desk.

mobile.de and AutoScout24 now ship AI descriptions, price assessment and days-on-lot forecasts free with their service packages; use them. But no DACH dealer-management-system vendor ships its own phone voice agent, and the trade press names the real bottleneck: AI that is allowed to write back into the DMS and the workshop planner. That integration layer is what we build.

Phone intake that becomes a booked appointment

Calls and inquiries are captured in structure and turned into appointment and order proposals in your workshop planning, and the service advisor approves before anything is confirmed. Faster, more short-notice appointments are the top customer wish, named by 64 percent in the DAT report.

Sales lead replies in the house's tone

Inquiries from the platforms and your website arrive structured, with a draft reply for the salesperson to approve. With VW burying direct sales Europe-wide in early 2026 and BMW postponing to 2027, customer data and pricing stay with the dealer, so every investment in that data pays back to your house.

Service reminders that run legally clean

Inspection and maintenance reminders go out on schedule, on the channel each customer's consent status allows, and documented. Under competition law these reminders count as advertising, so the legal plumbing is built in from day one, not bolted on after the first cease-and-desist letter.

Handover and warranty documentation

Condition, equipment and handover recorded in structure per vehicle. Germany's highest court keeps strengthening the reversed burden of proof in favor of buyers; for the first year the dealer effectively carries it, and the documentation file is your defense.

Dealers and workshops: the deep dive with all sources

The rulebook first

Built around the rules of the trade, not past them

A dealership's customer data and reminder marketing sit under competition law, data protection and, from 2026, the AI Act. Our systems are built for that rulebook from the first draft.

§ 7 UWG for every reminder

Calls to consumers need documented consent. Emails ride the existing-customer exception of § 7(3) UWG, with its notice duties and five years of consent documentation. A reminder system without that built in is a cease-and-desist letter on a timer.

The VIN is personal data

The European Court of Justice ruled that the vehicle identification number is personal data for any business with customer records (C-319/22). AI systems here need the same substructure as everywhere: a data processing agreement, EU hosting, and no training use of your customer data.

The EU Data Act is your opening

Since September 2025, vehicle owners can have their car data routed to independent workshops free of charge. For the 22,000 independent shops that is a structural opening, and being able to receive and use that data is an automation project in itself.

AI labeling from August 2026

From 2 August 2026, customer-facing AI assistants must identify themselves as AI under Art. 50 of the AI Act. Every assistant we build discloses itself, and a human takes over wherever the conversation leaves the routine.

How draft plus sign-off works: our approach in detail

How it starts

Same engagement, firm-specific scope

Intro call

Free

30 minutes on your firm's bottlenecks. About a third of these calls end with the advice that AI is not the right tool yet.

Process audit

from €2,500 · credited to the implementation

We map where the hours actually go, from intake to deadline board, and rank the use cases by payback. You get a shortlist with expected effort, not a slide deck.

Implementation

Fixed fee, named in your proposal

One process at a time, live in your daily business in 2 to 4 weeks, with your team trained and a sign-off step wherever client data leaves a draft.

Fair questions

What dealers and workshops ask us first

Does this replace staff?

No. Vehicle technology is Germany's fourth-largest shortage occupation with 13,327 statistically unfillable positions (KOFA 2025). The hours you cannot hire come back from work nobody should do by hand: the phone queue, the lead inbox, the reminder list, the handover file.

We run Loco-Soft, Werbas or another DMS. Does this replace it?

No. Your DMS stays the system of record. The gap, named by the trade press itself, is AI that is allowed to write back into the DMS and the workshop planner. We build that layer, with the service advisor's sign-off, using interfaces where they exist.

Is it true that workshops miss 45 percent of their calls?

Nobody knows, and we will not pretend otherwise. The much-quoted ZDK survey behind that figure cannot be found anywhere except vendor pages. What is measured: 66 percent of brand-workshop customers book by phone (DAT report 2025), and faster appointments are the top customer wish at 64 percent. That is reason enough; the invented number is not needed.

May customer data go into an AI system at all?

Only under conditions. The European Court of Justice made the VIN personal data for any business with customer records, so our setup runs on EU hosting with a data processing agreement and no training use. Reminders follow § 7 UWG including consent documentation. Without those conditions the honest answer would be no.

What does it cost?

The audit starts at €2,500 and is credited in full against the implementation. Implementations are fixed-fee. For market context, we published what AI automation actually costs, with sources, on our blog. Read the article with all market prices.

Talk to us before the next call goes to voicemail

A 30-minute call is enough to tell whether your business has an automation case. If it does not, we say so.