MotoDealerHQ

AI assistant overview

What the MotoDealerHQ AI assistant is, how it answers questions from your own records, and what has to be switched on before anyone can use it.

Last updated For dealership owners and managers Documentation for MotoDealerHQ 1.0.0-beta.1 “Assen”

The AI assistant lets your team ask questions about the dealership in plain English, for example "Which units have been in stock more than 90 days?" or "What was our appointment show rate over the last 30 days?". It looks the numbers up in your own MotoDealerHQ records through read-only tools, then writes a short answer with the figures, the date range and the rooftops it used.

The assistant cannot change anything. The only things it can create are proposals, such as a price change or a draft message to a customer, which wait until a person approves them. For assistants set up for one job (sales, service, parts, managers), see Role assistants and AI policies.

The Assistant page in the demo console, with the availability message, the conversation list, the question box and the Proposals button highlighted (open full size)
The Assistant page in the demo dealership. The demo has the assistant switched off, so the question box is disabled.
  1. Availability message. If the assistant cannot run, this says why: switched off for the platform, not in your plan, switched off for the dealership, or the provider is not ready.
  2. Your conversations. Your earlier conversations. They are private to you and are deleted after the dealership's retention period.
  3. Ask a question. Type your question and select Ask. Up to 2,000 characters.
  4. Proposals. Price changes the assistant has drafted, waiting for a person to approve or reject them.

What has to be in place #

The assistant is off by default at every level. All of these must be true before anyone can ask a question:

  1. The platform has AI switched on and a provider connected. MotoDealerHQ sets this up (see AI settings for operators).
  2. Your plan includes the AI assistant. Not every plan does. Ask us to add it if you do not see it.
  3. Your dealership has switched it on, with Assistant questions enabled and a monthly budget above $0. See Provider setup and Budgets and permissions.
  4. You have permission to use it (ai.view).

Ask a question #

  1. Open Reports & AI › Assistant. The menu item appears only once the assistant is switched on for the platform, your plan and your dealership.
  2. Type a question in Ask about your dealership, or select one of the Suggested questions shown on a new conversation.
  3. Select Ask. The page shows Waiting or Working while the assistant looks things up. You can keep working elsewhere; select Cancel to stop a question you no longer need.
  4. Read the answer. It is laid out the same way every time: a conclusion, the facts it found, a table of the numbers, the scope (dates, time zone, rooftops, filters), and any recommendations, clearly labeled as suggestions.
  5. Ask a follow-up in the same conversation, or select + New conversation to start fresh.

To see exactly what the assistant looked at, open Show tool data under an answer. It lists every lookup, its settings and the tables it returned.

How answers stay honest #

  • Numbers come from your records only. The assistant is told to use only numbers its tools returned. If a lookup returns nothing, it says there is not enough data instead of guessing.
  • Every number is checked. After the answer is written, MotoDealerHQ checks each number in it against the data the tools returned. If a number does not match, the answer is marked Unverified numbers so you know to double-check it.
  • It sees only what you can see. The tools run with your own permissions and rooftops. A salesperson who sees only their own leads gets answers about their own leads.
  • It cannot change records. No tool edits, publishes, messages customers, refunds or changes permissions. Price changes and customer message drafts go through proposals.
The Assistant page on a phone (open full size)
The assistant works on a phone too.
  1. Availability shows why the assistant cannot run right now.
  2. Ask is the question box.

Tips #

  • Be specific about time and place: "used motorcycles at the Main Street store, last 60 days" gets a tighter answer than "how's inventory?".
  • Check the scope line under each answer. It tells you the exact dates, time zone and rooftops that were used.
  • Questions can take a little while. The page updates on its own when the answer is ready.
  • Do not paste card numbers, Social Security numbers or passwords. They are removed before anything is sent, but there is no reason to type them.

Permissions #

Limitations #

Screenshots show the fictional demo dealership. Something unclear or out of date? Tell your MotoDealerHQ contact or email support@motodealerhq.com.

v1.0.0-beta.1 “Assen”