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The honest comparison
Chat that knows
every car you sell.
Most dealer websites offer one of three things: live chat, which is great whenever someone is free to answer it; a generic AI chatbot answering off a FAQ with no idea what's on the forecourt; or a lead form. The Car Agent does what none of them can do on their own, at every hour: it knows every car in stock, takes the buyer to the right one, books a real appointment and quotes finance on the actual car. Here is the whole comparison, plainly.
Side by side
How they compare.
| What a buyer needs | TradeScale Plus | Live chat | Generic AI chatbot | Lead form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knows your live stock, car by car | Yes, relearns it every day | When staffed, if they look it up | No, answers off a FAQ | No |
| Answers detailed car questions instantly | Yes, spec, price, mileage, MOT | Only when staffed | Generic answers only | No |
| Takes the buyer to the right car's page | Yes, matched from your stock | When staffed | No | No |
| Books real viewings & test drives | Yes, real slots, opening-hours aware | When staffed | No | No |
| Quotes finance on the actual car | Yes, at your real representative APR | When staffed | No | No |
| Works out of hours at full strength | Yes, 24/7, identically | Takes a message after hours | Partly, but knows nothing | It's a form |
| Proactively engages on car pages | Yes, names the exact car | Rarely, generic prompt | Generic prompt | No |
| Hands you qualified leads with context | Yes, car, details, chat summary | Sometimes, a transcript | Rarely, no car context | Contact details only |
| Never offers sold or reserved cars | Yes, by design | Depends who answers | Doesn't know your cars at all | Not applicable |
The three alternatives
Where each one fits.
Live chat. Great whenever someone is free to answer it, and the assistant works happily alongside it. But a person can only answer as fast as they can look the car up, and out of hours, when most buyers browse, live chat can only take a message. The assistant answers every buyer instantly, at any hour, from your own stock, and hands your team the whole conversation.
The generic AI chatbot. Bolted on, trained on a FAQ, and blind to the forecourt. Ask it about the black Q2's parking sensors and it changes the subject. It cannot take a buyer to a car it does not know exists, cannot book a real slot, and cannot quote finance on anything. It is the AI hype dealers are right to be sceptical of.
The lead form. A letterbox. It answers nothing, shows nothing and books nothing, and the buyers who do fill it in get a callback queue. Everyone else just leaves.
The TradeScale Plus Car Agent does the whole job on its own, at every hour: it reads your live stock car by car, takes the buyer straight to the right car, books real viewings and test drives inside your opening hours, quotes finance at your real APR, and hands you the lead, out of hours, and at superstore scale.
Why every dealer needs this
The maths is simple.
You already pay for the traffic, through your stock advertising, your Google spend, your reputation. The only question is what happens to it. A visitor who gets an instant answer, sees the right car, sees a monthly figure and books a Thursday test drive is worth more than one who bounced off a filter page at 9pm. The assistant's entire job is to turn the first kind of visit into the second, on every visit, at any hour, installed on your existing website with two lines of code.
Questions, answered
The comparison, answered.
How is this different from live chat?
Live chat is great when someone is there to answer it, and the two work side by side. The difference is every hour of the day: the assistant knows every car in stock, answers instantly, books the appointment and quotes finance on the actual car, at 9pm as well as 2pm. The buyer who wanted an answer at 9pm has usually moved on by 9am.
How is this different from a generic AI chatbot?
A generic chatbot answers off a FAQ. It has no idea what is on your forecourt, so it cannot answer “does the black Q2 have parking sensors?”, cannot take the buyer to a car, and cannot book anything real. The TradeScale Plus Car Agent reads your live stock car by car and relearns it every day, the stock is the whole point.
Aren't lead forms enough?
A lead form is a one-way letterbox. It answers no questions, shows no cars, books nothing, and most visitors never fill it in. The assistant holds the whole conversation and captures the lead as part of it, plus a booking, when the buyer is ready.
What makes TradeScale Plus an actual salesperson?
It does the four things a salesperson does, at every hour: knows every car in stock in detail, takes the buyer to the right one, books a real viewing or test drive at a real time, and quotes finance at your real APR, then hands you the lead with the whole conversation summarised.
Does it replace my staff?
No, it feeds them. It works the website 24/7, does the answering, navigating, booking and capturing, and hands your team named, qualified buyers with appointments attached. Your people do what they are best at: selling cars to people who turn up.
Keep reading
The rest of the product.
Knows every car
The live stock intelligence that no other chat tool has.
Read moreViewings & test drives
Real bookings at real times, at any hour.
Read moreFor superstores
Where the gap between a salesperson and an inbox is widest.
Read moreGet a quote
Priced for your business. Tell us about yours.
Read moreSee it on your own stock
Compare it on your own stock.
The fairest test is your own forecourt. We build a free demo on your live stock, ask it anything your buyers ask.