Case study · Auto Repair & Tire Shops
Hemlock Grove Auto & Tire
The first cold snap, and forty "how long's the wait?" calls a day pulling the mechanics off the tools. Here's the exact stack we'd build — and the sample artifact it produces.
Revelstoke · Winter-tire season · Illustrative composite — the numbers are typical-pattern estimates, not measured results.
Illustrative scenario. Hemlock Grove Auto & Tire is a fictional composite of typical auto repair and tire-shop operations in the Revelstoke area — not a client account. The numbers are estimates from typical patterns; your audit produces real ones. Founding-client case studies will replace these as they complete.
The day this happens
The first cold snap, and forty calls a day
It's the first hard cold snap of October and Hemlock Grove Auto & Tire can feel it in the phone. Overnight the forecast flipped to snow, and now every vehicle in town needs winter tires on — today, before the pass gets ugly. The two mechanics who should be turning wrenches are instead running back and forth to the front counter, because the phone rings the second they set it down. "How long's the wait?" "Can you fit me in today?" "How much for a changeover on a Forester?"
Each of those is a two-minute interruption, and there are forty of them a day this week. The bay slows to the speed of the phone. Cars that could be up on the hoist sit in the lot while a mechanic quotes a changeover to someone who may or may not book. Half the callers say "let me check with my wife" and are never heard from again — a quote given, a slot half-held, nothing to show for it.
This is the same surge every October and every spring, as predictable as the snow line. The work is there; the shop just can't answer the phone and do the work with the same two pairs of hands.
What we built
The second brain for this business.
A shop second brain that takes the whole "how much, how soon" conversation off the counter and turns it into a booked bay slot — while the mechanics stay on the tools.
- AI Receptionist — answers the "how long's the wait" calls day and night, so the bay stays turning through the surge.
- Workflow Automation — turns a changeover request into a texted quote, a confirmed booking and a bay slot without a phone call, and drops a Monday digest of the week's schedule and backlog.
The artifact
The artifact: a quote that books itself
The star of the study — the same standard as the AI Receptionist sample call, written out line by line.
— system events —
• Quote sent 8:06 → accepted 8:09 (3 min)
• Bay schedule: Wed 10:15 filled (Bay 2)
• Reminder queued: Tue 5:00pm
• Customer record created — no staff touched the phone
Hemlock Grove — week ahead · Mon Oct 20
• Booked changeovers this week: 38 (last week: 22) — the surge is on
• Today: 9 in the book · Bay 1 full · Bay 2 has one slot at 3:15
• Backlog: 5 quotes sent, not yet booked — auto-nudge goes out at noon
• Waiting on parts: 2 (winter tires ordered for Thursday pickup)
• Missed calls last week: 0 (41 answered or texted back by the AI)
• Heads-up: Wed and Thu are full — push new changeovers to Fri or next Mon
The outcome
What changes — in typical-pattern estimates.
Illustrative outcomes — typical-pattern estimates, not guarantees or a promise about your shop.
| Before | After (typical-pattern estimate) |
|---|---|
| Changeover-season calls pulling a mechanic to the counter | ~40 a day → the bay stays turning |
| Quotes that convert to a booked slot | "let me check," then silence → texted, accepted, slotted |
| Missed calls in the October surge week | the usual pile → near zero |
| Owner's view of the week's bay schedule | in his head → a digest at 7:30am |
Now the busiest week of the fall runs off a schedule instead of off the front counter — quotes go out and come back booked by text, and the owner starts Monday knowing which bays are full before he's had his coffee.
Transparent pricing
What it costs to start.
The Hemlock Grove stack starts at $3,500 for the AI Receptionist and $2,500 for Workflow Automation (quote-to-booking and status texts) — starting floors, fixed-quoted as one build after a free call. Every build requires a Care Plan, from $299/mo.
Is it worth it for your business? Let's find out — free.
We'll estimate what the surge is costing you now, using your numbers.
Prefer to talk now? Call (236) 837-3550 — a real BC-based human picks up. We reply within one business day, usually faster.