AI Booking Excellence

"I Wouldn't Be Surprised if 70–80% of Our Bookings Eventually Go Through the Service AI Tool."

Rob Pappalardo, Aftersales Manager, Windsor Auto Group.

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In just their first month of live operation and with no marketing support, Windsor Auto Group generated nearly 100 service bookings through Titan DMS's new Service AI Booking Agent. More importantly, the tool is already helping the dealership reduce administrative workload, minimise customer frustration, and give service advisors more time to focus on customer service.

We spoke to Rob Pappalardo, Aftersales Manager at Windsor Auto Group, to discover his experience of the booking agent and you can read his thoughts below.

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Q: Rob, tell us a little about Windsor Auto Group and the scale of your service operation.

A: We're a multi-franchise operation with brands including Hyundai, Mitsubishi, MG, Chery, GWM and Geely.

Our service department handles a significant volume of bookings. On average we're taking somewhere around 50 to 60 bookings per day, so anything that can help manage that workload more efficiently gets our attention pretty quickly.

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Q: What prompted you to trial the Service AI Booking Agent?

A: Like every dealership, we're always looking for ways to improve efficiency without compromising customer service.

The reality is that service advisors spend a lot of time handling booking enquiries. Those calls are important, but they also pull advisors away from customers standing in front of them and from other tasks that add value to the business.

We wanted to see whether AI could genuinely reduce that workload while still giving customers a good experience.

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Q: How did the system perform during the trial?

A: The numbers surprised us. We achieved close to 100 bookings during the first month, which was more than I expected from a completely new process.

What impressed me most was how quickly customers seemed to accept it. They simply used the system, completed their booking and turned up for their appointment. We weren't getting complaints or confusion. It just became part of the process.

That's probably one of the strongest indicators that it's working.

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Q: How has it affected your service team?

A: The team adapted very quickly. What they liked was that it reduced the volume of interruptions coming into the department. Every booking handled by the AI is one less phone call for a service advisor to manage.

That allows them to spend more time face-to-face with customers and more time on activities that manufacturers actually measure us on, such as customer follow-up and CSI performance.

There have been no negative reactions from the team. In fact, they've been actively looking for opportunities to help improve the system and identify ways to make it even better.

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Q: How much time do you think the AI is saving?

A: On average, I'd estimate somewhere around three minutes per booking. That might not sound like much at first, but when you start multiplying that across hundreds or thousands of bookings, it becomes significant.

The real benefit isn't just the time itself. It's what your advisors can do with that time instead. Rather than handling repetitive booking conversations, they can focus on customer follow-up, parts communication, CSI activities and improving the overall customer experience.

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Q: If you look ahead and assume AI adoption continues to grow, what sort of impact could that have on the dealership?

A: When you start looking at the numbers over a full year, it becomes pretty significant. We're averaging around 50 to 60 bookings a day and I think we can get to a point where roughly 70 - 80% of those bookings are going through the AI, At that point you're talking somewhere around 11,000 to 12,000 bookings a year being handled electronically.

If the AI is saving us around three minutes per booking, that's roughly 600 hours a year we're giving back to the service department. Now, if you put a labour cost against that, you're over $20,000 worth of advisor time.

But for me, that's not really the point. The real value isn't the saving. The real value is what you can do with those 600 hours. Every manufacturer measures dealerships on things like customer follow-up, customer satisfaction and retention. We all know there are never enough hours in the day to do everything we'd like to do.

If the AI takes care of the booking administration, that gives our advisors more time to provide more customer value and that's where the returns really come from.

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Q: What impact does that have on customer satisfaction?

A: A huge one. Historically, customers become frustrated when they can't get through to a dealership or when they have to wait for a call back.

With the AI, customers are acknowledged immediately and can complete their booking when it suits them. That removes a lot of friction from the process.

If customers don't have to wait for someone to answer the phone or call them back, that's a better experience before they've even arrived at the dealership.

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Q: Did the AI cope with the complexity of a multi-brand dealership environment?

A: Yes. We operate multiple brands and every dealership has different processes, operation codes and requirements. As we progressed through the trial there were a few areas where we identified opportunities to refine things, but whenever we raised them, they were quickly addressed.

Through the trial the system was handling our requirements very well.

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Q: From an Aftersales Manager's perspective, what feature stands out most?

A: The intelligence behind the booking process.

The system is collecting the information we need, understanding vehicle details, identifying the correct service requirements and creating bookings that are ready for the team to work with.

Another feature I really like is the ability to review customer conversations. Everything is documented and available to review. If there is ever a question about what was discussed, you have a clear record of the interaction.

That's valuable from an operational perspective – especially when there’s complaints or misunderstandings with customers.

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Q: Where do you see this technology going in the future?

A: I think adoption will grow very quickly.

People are busy. They want convenience. They don't necessarily want to wait until business hours to book their vehicle in.

If someone can make a booking from their phone at 10 o'clock at night, while they're sitting at home or watching their kids play sport, they'll do it.

By the end of the year, I wouldn't be surprised if 70 to 80 per cent of our bookings are being made through this system.

That's where customer expectations are heading.

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Q: What would you say to another dealership considering the Service AI Booking Agent?

A: I'd tell them to seriously look at it. Anything that reduces administration, saves advisor time and improves customer convenience is worth considering.

From what we've seen so far, this isn't technology for technology's sake. It's a practical tool that helps the dealership operate more efficiently while giving customers another way to engage with you.

And that's only going to become more important in the years ahead.

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If you would like more information (including a video walkthrough) on our Service AI Booking Agent - please CLICK HERE.

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