Some of your customers will find your website after you've closed. Someone parks after work, looks at their car, opens your website and has three questions. If the site can't answer them, they close the tab. A chat assistant answers those questions from your own information, then collects what you need to quote and sends it to your phone.
It lives on your website only. It doesn't answer Instagram or Facebook messages.
What it answers well
The assistant is good at questions that have a fixed answer your shop has already decided. These come up constantly and take a lot of an owner's day:
| Question type | Where the answer comes from | Example of a good answer |
|---|---|---|
| Film tiers | Your film lineup and how you describe each tier | "Our carbon film is the ___ option. Our ceramic film adds ___. Want me to show starting prices for both?" |
| Starting-at prices | Your price sheet, only the ranges you approve for public use | "Ceramic on the sides and back of most sedans starts at $___. Your exact price depends on the vehicle, and the shop confirms it." |
| Hours and location | Your business info, including holiday closures you give us | "We're open until 6 today. Here's the address and a map link." |
| How long a job takes | Your own time estimates per service | "Most full-front PPF jobs here take ___. Drop-off details get confirmed when you book." |
| Care instructions | Your aftercare sheet | "After tint, keep the windows up for ___ days and skip ammonia cleaners. Here's our full care guide." |
| Warranty basics | Your warranty terms and the film manufacturer's terms you share | "Our ceramic film has a manufacturer warranty against ___. The shop can walk you through the details." |
The blanks are yours to fill. The assistant repeats your numbers and your policies. It never invents its own.
What it should never do
A chat assistant that overpromises is worse than no chat at all. Every assistant we set up has these five refusals written into its instructions, with a fallback answer for each:
| It won't | Why | What it says instead |
|---|---|---|
| Quote a final price | Price depends on the vehicle, coverage and condition you see in person | Gives the approved starting-at range, then offers to send the details to the shop for an exact quote |
| Promise results or install dates | Your schedule changes and film performance varies by vehicle | "The shop will confirm availability when they reach out." |
| Give legal advice on tint limits | Tint law varies from state to state, and medical exemptions have their own rules | Points to the shop or the statute. In Michigan, that's MCL 257.709 on the Michigan Legislature site |
| Collect payment | Card numbers don't belong in a chat window | "Payment is handled by the shop directly." |
| Pretend to be a human | Customers deserve to know, and finding out later costs trust | Introduces itself as an AI assistant and offers to pass the conversation to the shop |
How it collects the lead and hands it to you
The assistant answers first and asks second. People share their details more willingly once they've gotten something useful. When the conversation shows buying intent, like asking about price, availability or booking, it asks for four things:
- Name
- Phone number, with a choice of text or call
- Vehicle: year, make and model
- Service: what they asked about, plus "not sure yet" as an option
As soon as it has those, it sends you a lead summary by text, email or both. The summary is short enough to read between installs: the four details, the starting range it showed, any timing the customer mentioned, and a one-line note of what they cared about ("asked twice about heat rejection"). The full transcript is attached so you can see exactly what was said before you call.
If a customer won't share a phone number, the assistant still answers their questions and points them to your quote form. Pressing for a number just to answer a question pushes people away.
How we train it on your shop
The assistant knows only what you give it. Setup starts with collecting your shop's real information:
- Services: every service you sell, how you name it, and which vehicles you don't work on
- Price sheet: the starting-at ranges you're comfortable showing publicly. Anything you mark private stays private
- Policies: deposits, cancellations, drop-off, warranty, what happens if the film fails
- FAQ: the questions you already answer every week, in your words
- Hand-off rules: where leads go, who gets them, and what counts as urgent
Then we write a test set of real-world questions, including awkward ones ("how dark can I go?", "can you beat this other shop's price?", "can I pay you now?"), run them through the assistant, and send you the answers. You approve or correct each one. Nothing goes live until you've signed off. If a customer asks something the assistant has no approved answer for, it says so and offers to pass the question to you. Those unanswered questions get logged, which gives you a ready-made list of what your website and FAQ are missing.
This is an illustrative example, not a real customer. Prices are shown as blanks.
Customer (9:48 PM): how much for ceramic tint on a 2022 accord
Assistant: Hi, I'm the shop's AI assistant. Ceramic tint on the sides and back of most sedans like the Accord starts at $___. The exact price gets confirmed by the shop. Are you also interested in the windshield?
Customer: maybe. can i go dark on the front windows
Assistant: I can't give legal advice on tint limits. Michigan's rules are in MCL 257.709, and the shop can explain what they install on front windows. Want me to send your question to them?
Customer: yeah
Assistant: Great. What's your name and the best number to reach you? Do you prefer a text or a call?
Customer: Mike, 248-555-0100, text
Assistant: Thanks, Mike. I've sent the shop your details: 2022 Accord, ceramic tint, asking about the windshield and front windows. The shop will text you to follow up.
Guardrails built into every assistant
Crisis and safety redirect
If a message mentions an emergency, self-harm or someone in danger, the assistant stops the sales flow and points the person to 911 or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It doesn't try to handle it.
No sensitive data
A notice above the chat asks people not to share card numbers, driver's license or insurance details, or medical information. If someone types one anyway, the assistant doesn't repeat it back or include it in your lead summary.
Clear that it's an AI
The "AI assistant" label stays on the chat window for the whole conversation, so nobody has to scroll back to check. Asked "am I talking to a real person?", it says no and offers to pass the conversation to the shop.
The assistant on our own site works the same way. Every rule above applies to it.
How to tell if it's working
Three numbers, checked once a month, tell you whether the assistant is paying for itself:
| Number | How to calculate it | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Chats started | Conversations where the visitor sent at least one message | If it's low, check that the chat button is visible on phones and that the opening message invites a question |
| Leads captured | Chats that ended with name, phone, vehicle and service. Divide by chats started for your capture rate | If the rate is low, read ten transcripts. Look for an ask that comes too early or a price answer that's too vague |
| After-hours share | Leads captured while you were closed, divided by all chat leads | This is the share of chat leads you'd likely have missed without it. If it's high, reply to those leads first thing every morning, before the new day's calls pile up |
For example, if your average job is worth $___ and the assistant captured 4 after-hours leads this month that you closed 1 of, compare that one job's profit to $297. That's the honest test. Count only jobs you can trace back to a chat lead.
Setup steps and timeline
- Intake call. We go through your services, prices, policies and where leads should go.
- Draft and test. We build the assistant from your information and run the test question set.
- Your approval. You review every answer and mark corrections. This step sets the pace, so a ready price sheet speeds everything up.
- Install. The chat goes on your website, and we send test leads to confirm your texts and emails arrive.
- First-month tune-up. We read transcripts, add answers for logged questions, and adjust when it asks for details.
Plan on about a week from the day we have your complete price sheet and policies to launch. Your approval review is the biggest variable, so the faster your corrections come back, the sooner it goes live.
Pricing
The AI chat assistant is an add-on at $297/month. It pairs with any of our monthly plans or a website we build. The leads and transcripts it collects belong to your shop. See the full pricing section, or book a call to see whether your site is a good fit. If you need the site itself first, start with websites for tint and PPF shops.
Chat assistant questions
Will it answer my Instagram and Facebook messages?
No. This assistant runs on your website. Your social inboxes stay yours to answer.
What if it gives a customer a wrong price?
It can only repeat the starting-at ranges you approved, and it always says the shop confirms the final price. When your prices change, send us the new sheet and we update the assistant.
Can it book appointments on my calendar?
The assistant collects the lead and hands it to you. You confirm the date, because only you know what's actually open in the bay.
Do I have to put my prices on it?
No. You choose what it shares. Without ranges, it explains your film tiers and services and offers to have the shop send a quote. Ranges do help a customer know the ballpark before they ask, so the leads that come through already expect your pricing.
Can I see every conversation?
Yes. Each lead arrives with its transcript, and the full chat log, including chats that never became leads, is available to you. We review conversations with you during the first month to tighten the answers.
Will it work on the website I already have?
Chat assistants are installed with a small piece of code on your site, so it depends on whether your website platform lets you add custom code. We check your current site before you commit. If it can't be added, we'll tell you, and a new shop website is the other route.