Monday, 13 August 2018

Classic car sharing platform BookAclassic has adopted AI technology to power its booking system and customer service. The system, lovingly named Oswald, not only powers the automated booking process but contains a chatbot that will answer questions for both car owners and customers alike.

Oswald is programmed to automatically calculate classic car prices based on the time the car is needed for and the price set by the owner. It can also tell car owners exactly when they need to leave to reach the booking destination, be it a wedding, photoshoot, graduation or another event.

Oswald is specifically built with a unique algorithm that works with classic vehicles, so it takes each car’s ability into consideration when booking. It understands that a 1920's car is slower than something more modern and may take longer to reach a booking.

Because car owners on BookAclassic could be travelling around the whole of the UK, it’s important they have this information to ensure they arrive on time.

CEO of BookAclassic Claus Stig Christensen says: “Modern customers are used to instant overview, availability, prices and secure booking and this is what Oswald gives our users.

“When a booking is been typed in by our users, Oswald starts communicating across borders and languages with thousands of classic car hire companies and enthusiasts in their local language and currency.”

Virtual Oswald is the classic car company’s 24/7 AI customer service assistant that happily chats with customers and answers their questions about calculating prices, making a booking and more. This helps customers get their questions answered quicker than ever, which speeds up the route to booking.

Virtual Oswald can also help classic car owners who want to learn more about BookAclassic and upload their car on to the site.

BookAclassic makes classic cars available to people in 36 countries around the world in 20 languages. As a result, Oswald has to be multilingual. The system works across all countries in 20 languages and Virtual Oswald is more than happy to chat in a customer’s native language. As a result, Oswald handles 56% of the brand’s online customer support.

Christensen says: “As a global company, we wanted to serve our customers and car owners around the world by creating something that works in their language. This minimises any problems caused by the language barrier so someone could browse the site in English and book in Russian, while the car owner gets the confirmation in their native Spanish.”

Notes to editors

BookAclassic is the leading online booking portal for rental of classic and vintage vehicles. With a large and varied collection of cars, buses, trucks and motorbikes in the UK alone, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to finding a vehicle for a road trip, wedding or special event.

There are more than 20,000 vehicles available on BookAclassic globally with a combined value of more than GBP 200 million.

Find out more at Bookaclassic.co.uk

Press contact
For images, a demo of the system, information or quotes, please contact Jess Shanahan on js@bookaclassic.com or call 01603 859887 / 07545 905842