Fleet and heavy-duty parts are full of things that are hard to describe. A trailer lamp with a cracked lens and no visible number. A part off a liftgate nobody remembers the brand of. A bracket for a body that was upfitted years ago. An obsolete sensor for an older engine. The customer does not know what to search for, so he calls, and someone at your counter spends twenty minutes figuring out what it is.
The app gives customers and your team quicker ways to get to a price.
AI Quick Quote: say it, get a price
With AI Quick Quote, a customer says or types what they need in plain words, like "six 4 inch round red LED stop tail lamps with grommets and pigtails," and gets a priced quote back. A parts manager can paste a list in his own words. Lines that need checking are checked again against the full description and update on screen.
That handles a good share of everyday quotes without tying up your counter.
Get this for me: when it is not in the catalog
For parts you do not list, Get this for me lets a customer ask for anything they do not see. They can take a photo of the part, ideally with the manufacturer's tag, box or part number, and send it in. It goes to your purchasing team and comes back as a quote. The customer, the rep and your team all get a copy.
Photos are a huge help with truck parts. A picture of a lamp, a liftgate label or a sensor connector tells your buyer more than a long phone description. Reps can do the same: a rep can buy what a customer asks for, or send it to purchasing.
The email quote desk
Plenty of quote requests still come by email, like a list from a fleet manager planning a refurbishment or a request from an upfitter. The email quote desk prices requests that arrive by email and answers them. AI decisions keeps a record of what the agents did so your team can check it.
Here is how the quote tools fit together:
- AI Quick Quote for parts you carry, described in plain words.
- Get this for me for anything outside the catalog, with a photo.
- Email quote desk for requests that come in by email.
- Quotes in the app, where the customer accepts the price when ready.
Why the hard parts are good business
A distributor who can find the part for a fifteen-year-old trailer or an obscure upfit becomes the first call for everything. Hard-to-find parts are rarely shopped on price, so they are often among your better-margin sales. They also build the kind of loyalty that holds when a competitor comes in cheaper on filters.
When a hard part is finally found, add it to the customer's part numbers or My Catalog. Older units tend to need the same odd part again, and the second order should take one tap.
Upfitters deserve a word too. They often buy kits of lighting, mud flaps, mounts and wiring for each body they build. A master account with the upfitter's part numbers, plus blanket orders for each production run, keeps the build line supplied without a new approval for every release.
The quote tools do not replace your experts. They move the easy quotes off their desks and organize the hard ones, so your best counter people spend their time on the strange requests that win loyalty.
Want to see it with your own parts and fleet accounts? See how it works.