Case Study: Kinley Automotive Fleet Bidding AI Copilot

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Case Study: Kinley Automotive Accelerates Growth and Efficiency with Seekr

Date

November 20, 2025

Author

Seekr Team

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Executive summary

Kinley Automotive, a ~$100M franchise dealership with a strong emphasis on service, faced increasing operational complexity across bidding, scheduling, and mobile service coordination. At the core was a classic matching and compliance challenge: how to align inventory and technician capacity with demand, fast, accurately, and at scale.

To address this, Kinley partnered with Seekr, a configurable AI platform capable of integrating siloed data, applying optimization models, and surfacing human-in-the-loop workflows. The result: a 3× increase in bid output, a 50% reduction in response times, and a ~38% uplift in completed orders, all achieved without adding headcount.

Why it matters

In contract-driven environments like Kinley’s, delays or errors in submitting proposals can result in missed revenue. Similarly, misassigning technicians leads to repeat visits, dissatisfied customers, and reduced margins. Both workflows demand:

Fast, accurate data synthesis across inventory, contracts, and personnel.

Optimization models that balance quality, speed, and compliance.

Human approvals to manage risk.

This reflects a universal shift: from manual coordination to AI-supported matching with policy controls.

Key challenges

Bid assembly: RFQs were manually parsed and mapped to inventory, requiring 12 staff to produce a dozen proposals per day.

Technician scheduling: Assignments were based on availability rather than performance data such as completion time or comeback rate.

Mobile service routing: Kinley’s mobile program (21,000+ ROs annually) lacked intelligent routing and efficiency analytics.

Legacy tooling: Traditional DMS (Dealer Management System) platforms offered limited flexibility and imposed rigid, one-size-fits-all workflows.

Why Kinley chose Seekr

Seekr offered a unique combination of AI capabilities and operational adaptability:

Custom-fit workflows that reflect Kinley’s business processes, rather than vendor templates.

Fast iteration cycles, with configuration changes delivered in hours, enabling rapid experimentation and refinement.

Human-in-the-loop safeguards that ensure AI supports, rather than overrides, team judgment.

Low lift for teams, thanks to a clean, role-based user interface that hides backend complexity.

System-wide data alignment through real-time integration with DMS, inventory, RFQs, CRM, and email.

What was implemented

1. Bidding automation

AI maps inventory to RFQ requirements in real time.

Drafts complete, compliant proposals for human review and submission.

Result: Reduced the bidding team from 12 to 6 people while increasing daily output from approximately 12 to 35–40 bids.

2. Technician assignment

Pulls DMS data to score technicians based on past jobs, completion time, and comeback rates.

Suggests optimal technician assignments to maximize service efficiency and quality.

3. Mobile service intelligence

Optimizes repair order routing and technician dispatch.

Produces custom performance reports on route efficiency, technician utilization, and response time.

Measurable impact

Productivity gains

Tripled daily bid volume, increasing from ~12 to 35–40 per day.

Reduced headcount by 50% in the bid workflow, from 12 to 6, without loss in coverage or quality.

Delivered ~38% more completed orders within the same operational footprint (year-to-date comparison).

Service quality improvements

Technician matching optimized for proficiency, aiming to reduce comeback rates and increase first-time-fix success. Tracking is now in place to measure this.

Customer interaction time expanded, as AI removed administrative friction for frontline staff.

Speed to value

Rapid user adoption with minimal training required for non-technical teams.

Configuration changes handled within hours, accelerating iteration and reducing operational drag.

Cultural impact

Kinley’s implementation of Seekr did more than optimize operations; it changed how the organization thought about work, accountability, and innovation.

Trust in AI

Initial skepticism gave way to confidence as staff saw tangible improvements.

Human-in-the-loop design ensured people remained in control, creating a sense of partnership with the technology.

Team empowerment

Frontline teams shifted from manual task execution to higher-value decision-making.

Employees were not replaced, but upskilled and repurposed toward more engaging, customer-facing roles.

Adoption mindset

Fast feedback loops and visible time savings created buy-in across departments.

Because the system was easy to use, even low-tech staff became advocates.

Leadership alignment

Management emphasized AI as a tool for empowerment, not replacement.

Clear internal messaging connected productivity gains to shared success.

Lessons from deployment

Design first, then deploy: Configure workflows around the way the business actually operates.

Start with people, layer in automation: Focus on supporting staff before removing them from the loop.

Share the benefits: Align compensation with productivity gains to drive engagement and retention.

Trust the system: Use data, not intuition, as the default guide.

What’s next for Kinley

Inventory and OEM ordering optimization: Automate stock reordering based on local demand patterns.

Used vehicle pricing and sourcing: Apply market prediction models to improve arbitrage outcomes.

Parts and service automation: Deploy vision-based part identification and expand service workflow intelligence.

Conclusion

Kinley successfully modernized three core operational workflows by deploying Seekr as a flexible orchestration layer. The dealership moved from fragmented, reactive processes to data-driven systems with built-in governance and scalability. The result: sustained productivity gains and a more agile, customer-focused operating model, all without increasing headcount.

“We empower our team members with better tools to do their jobs. If they earn more, the company earns more. AI isn’t about replacement, it’s about amplification.”

Steve Kahlon, CEO, Kinley Automotive