Service Agent works your service opportunities the moment they come in, then hands your advisors a warm, pre-qualified customer with a written briefing. This guide walks you through what it does, where to find it, and how to tune it for your store.
What Is Service Agent?
Service Agent is an AI agent purpose-built for the service drive. When a service opportunity comes in, it reaches out by text or email, introduces itself by name and store, and works a short conversation toward the three things your advisors need before they can take over: what's wrong with the vehicle, which vehicle it is, and what days or times the customer could bring it in.
For you as a manager, that means every service opportunity gets an immediate first touch instead of waiting on a person. Advisors start each conversation already knowing the concern and preferred times. Customers who do not respond get followed up on a schedule you set. And you get a single dashboard to see what the agent is doing across your store.
A few things Service Agent does not do: it does not diagnose the vehicle, and it does not book appointments. Both of those stay with your advisors.
Where to Find It
Service Agent activity shows up in two places in DriveCentric.
The Service Agent dashboard. Your single view into engagement and outcome activity across the store. Requires Dashboard permission or Expert User status to open.
The customer card. Every conversation the agent has is visible on the customer's card, so any user can follow along on an individual opportunity.
Dashboard
The Service Agent dashboard shows you how the agent is performing across your store. Use it to spot trends, confirm coverage, and catch anything that needs your attention.
Metrics
The Service Agent dashboard is where you see how the agent is performing across your store. Metrics are grouped so you can move from a high-level view down to a specific Skill or a specific lead.
Overview
The top-line pulse of what the agent is producing. Includes ROI, Monthly Cost, Gross Influenced, Leads Worked, and Repair Orders Influenced.
Performance
How the agent is engaging with your leads. Includes Leads Worked, Engaged, Engagement Rate, Avg First Response Time, First Responses, and Customers Messaged.
Activity
The volume of work the agent is doing. Includes Messages, Texts, Emails, Number of Handoffs, Human Hours Saved, and Human Equivalent.
Outcomes
What the agent's work turned into. Includes Appointments, Repair Orders Opened, Repair Orders Closed, Lost, and Opt Outs.
Service Lead Funnel
The flow from first touch to advisor. Includes Reached Out, Interested, and Handed Off.
By Skill: A breakdown for each configurable Skill so you can see which parts of the agent are pulling weight. Skills covered: Appt Reminder, Declined Service, and First Quality Response. Each row shows Reached Out, Delivered, Interested, Handed Off, and Rate.
Agent Leads
The leads that came in and the agent's first quality response, with the customer name and a short summary of the conversation. Use this when you want to see the actual work, not just the numbers.
Active Outreach
The messages the agent has going out today, in real time.
Skills
Service Agent is built from a set of Skills. Some are always on, and some you can turn on, off, or adjust to match how your store runs. Expert User status is required to edit Skills. Here is what you can control:
First Quality Response. Always on. This is the first message a customer gets after a service opportunity comes in. The agent introduces itself, recaps the concern, and asks when the customer could bring the vehicle in.
Concern and Availability. Always on. This is the back-and-forth that fills in what's wrong, which vehicle, and when the customer can bring it in.
Human Handoff. Always on. Passes the customer to your advisor once the agent has what they need.
Operating Hours. Choose when the Service Agent takes new leads: business hours, after hours, or both. The two toggles behave differently, so click in for the details before changing them.
Declined Services Follow-Up. On or off. Set how many days after a repair order closes to reach out about declined work. Default 7 days, range 1 to 90.
Appointment Reminders. On or off. Set two lead times per appointment, for example 2 days before and 1 hour before.
Text and Email Outreach. Choose text, email, or both. The agent also respects each customer's opt-in status.
No-Response Follow-Up. Set how many nudges the agent sends when a customer goes quiet and how many days between them. Any reply ends the nudges. An empty schedule means no nudges at all.
Cold Lead Handoff. When a service lead goes quiet, the agent stands down and leaves your team a follow-up. The clock starts from the last outbound message, so any new message restarts it, and the No-Response Follow-Up cadence always runs first.
Opportunity Source Targeting. Decide which opportunity sources the agent works, and how each is treated. Sources fall into three groups: Ignored (agent never engages), Customer initiated (agent replies right away, including overnight if you have after-hours enabled), and Third party (agent waits until the store is open and plainly tells the customer the source flagged their vehicle). Any source you have not mapped is treated as third party by default.
Information Button
Click any info button to see a sample language the Agent might send out.
Change Log
Every configuration change is logged. Power User status is required to view the Change Log, which gives you a full audit of who changed what and when.
Handoffs to Your Advisors
Once the agent has the concern, the vehicle, and availability, it hands the customer to your team.
If a Service Advisor is on the customer card, that advisor gets a notification in the Genius Follow-Up notifications drawer. Clicking the notification opens the customer card with a Genius Recommended Action at the top.
The customer goes to the top of the follow-up queue, with a one-line next action on the card (for example, "Wants the rattle looked at, has Thursday and Friday mornings open") and a short briefing covering what the conversation added.
The moment a staff member replies in a conversation, the agent stands down and leaves it to your team.
Tips for Your Team
Set your hours and Opportunity Source Targeting on day one. These two settings decide when and on which leads the agent engages, and defaults may not match how your store actually runs.
Turn on Declined Services Follow-Up if you want a low-lift way to recapture work customers passed on. It also captures the reason the work was declined, which your dealership record typically never picks up.
Let your advisors know how the handoff works before you go live. When they see a Genius Recommended Action at the top of a card, that is the agent's briefing waiting for them.
Coach your team not to jump into a conversation too early. The moment they reply, the agent steps out. If they wait for the handoff, they get a customer who is already pre-qualified.
Good to Know
Package requirement. Service Agent requires the Service Engagement Hub. The two are sold together.
Permissions. Expert User status is required to edit Skills and view the Change Log tab. Dashboard access requires either the Dashboard permission or Expert User status.
No scheduler integration today. Service Agent does not book, hold, or confirm appointments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Service Agent book or confirm appointments?
No. It handles first outreach and triage only, then hands the customer to your team for scheduling.
Does the agent only reach out once?
No. If the customer does not respond, the agent follows up on the schedule you set in No-Response Follow-Up. Any reply ends the nudges.
Does the agent diagnose the vehicle?
No. It captures what the customer can tell us and stops there. Diagnosis stays with your advisor.
Need Assistance?
For assistance, reach out to your Customer Success Team using the Support Icon in the bottom-right corner of DriveCentric!