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Let an AI autoresponder answer Yelp messages instantly, and keep a person watching what it promises
Arun Coumar, CEO of Driven Auto Care, an independent repair business with five San Francisco Bay Area shops, in his own weekly vlog (Driven Diary 146)
The shop turned on an AI autoresponder for Yelp messages. It goes back and forth with customers instantly, including overnight, and books appointments. The vlog doesn't name the vendor.
His autoresponder isn't named or priced. To draft the knowledge sheet and test it (our suggestion): ChatGPT Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo
Medium · or we set it up for $197
AI Yelp autoresponder (vendor not named)
The problem
Yelp leads message at all hours, and a slow reply means the customer books somewhere else.
What happened
On day one it got "at least like six customers that we wouldn't have otherwise gotten," with people booking until about 12:30 a.m., and he puts the close rate at "like a 10% close rate instead of what was a 4% close rate before." It also "overpromised on time, overpromised on what we would do for free" and told one customer it had coordinated a tow, a service the shop doesn't offer; he says the day-one mistakes annoyed almost every manager. Owner-told, his estimates.
Quoted in the source: Arun Coumar, CEO, Driven Auto Care. Source: We Are Driven (YouTube): Our AI Chatbot Invented a Tow Service We Don't Even Offer - Driven Diary 146 (2026-07-06) · Added 2026-10-31.
How to set it up yourself
- What Driven Auto Care did: switched on an AI autoresponder for Yelp messages that replies instantly and books, then watched what it told customers after it overpromised and invented a tow.
- Before you switch one on, write the knowledge sheet with the prompt below: services you do and don't offer (for example, no towing), what's free and what isn't, hours, and turnaround times you'll actually stand behind.
- Tell it never to promise prices, free work, towing or timing beyond that sheet, and to hand anything else to a service advisor.
- Have a service advisor read every conversation for the first weeks, especially the overnight ones, and fix the sheet each time it gets something wrong.
- Compare your Yelp booking rate for the month before and after, as he did, before you decide to keep it.
Copy-paste prompt
Write a knowledge sheet for an AI that answers Yelp messages for {SHOP NAME}, an auto repair shop in {CITY}. Services we offer: {LIST}. Services we do NOT offer: {LIST, e.g. towing}. What's free: {LIST}. Hours: {HOURS}. Typical turnaround: {TIMES}. Rules: never quote a price, never promise free work, towing or a finish time not in this sheet; for anything else, say a service advisor will reply in the morning and collect name, phone, car and issue. Then write 10 tricky customer messages I can use to test it.We set up one AI automation in your tools, live within 48 hours of getting access, for $197. No call needed. Founding price for our first 10 customers (regular $297).
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