SAN JOSE, Calif. -

Car shoppers of today are searching online for a new vehicle at all hours of the day, every day, and customers expect instant responses from dealerships. With Facebook Marketplace, letgo and other social platforms, dealerships have opened new channels to connect with these customers.

But as a result, many dealerships have trouble keeping up with car shoppers’ messaging demands. That is especially the case when they must juggle customer inquiries from multiple platforms.

Because of those trends, car dealer digital marketing platform TapClassifieds is releasing a new AI virtual assistant: CarBo.

Many millennials and Gen Z consumers do not want to talk on the phone anymore, TapClassifieds chief executive officer Jaideep Jain said in a news release.

“They want prompt and accurate responses in a way that is convenient for them, and CarBo helps dealerships drive engagement while improving lead quality,” Jain said.

Dealers who want to advertise their inventory on platforms such as Facebook and letgo often find that logging in to different apps to respond to leads is time-consuming. Another factor is that providing sales staff with a login to a dealer’s Facebook Business account can be risky. ChatHub, TapClassifieds messaging platform, has helped car dealers handle emails, chats and text messages in one platform.

CarBo, integrating with ChatHub, will automatically answer questions about a vehicle. The virtual assistant requests contact information, which the dealership can use to follow up. CarBo helps qualify leads, providing the dealership with the ability to focus on the lowest-funnel car shoppers. 

Also, car shoppers can filter through a dealer’s inventory with CarBo. A customer can select the leading factor in his or her search for a new car: price, make, model, or year. CarBo’s automatic filtering of the dealership’s inventory makes it easy for customers to see vehicles that fit their car search parameters, according to the company.