Tyre season: workshop appointments via chat

In October everyone wants winter wheels. How a booking assistant takes appointment requests, clarifies wheel set and tyre size and passes on special cases.

In plain language

There is no fixed date for winter tyres. The duty depends on the weather, such as ice or snow. So with the first frost, many people want a slot at once. Many customers then call, and the phone line gets jammed. The assistant names open times and checks the plate, the car and the wheel set. The booking is only firm once the garage confirms it. It asks about balancing, storage or new tyres beforehand. Damage, complaints and large orders go to a person.

October 5, 2026 14 min read By XICBOT

Key points

There is no fixed date for winter tyres: § 2(3a) StVO ties the duty to black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost. That is exactly why booking requests arrive in a bundle with the first frost warning.
For first contact, 66 per cent (DAT) of franchised-garage customers and 63 per cent (DAT) of independent-garage customers usually pick up the phone. In the changeover season, that very line is the bottleneck.
The assistant repeats rules: 1.6 mm (§ 36 StVZO) minimum tread, the Alpine symbol as the marking, a standard fine of EUR 60 (BKatV) for icy roads without suitable tyres. It is not meant to judge the individual tyre.
The assistant names free times from your appointment types and only takes an appointment request once number plate, vehicle and wheel set have been clarified; it becomes binding once the workshop confirms it.
Balancing, valves, storage and new tyres are asked about before the appointment; damage, vibrations, fleet orders and complaints go to the service advisor together with the conversation history.

Why the changeover season is a predictable wave

German law does not set a fixed deadline for winter tyres. The Road Traffic Regulations tie the duty to the condition of the road: under § 2(3a) StVO, a motor vehicle may only be driven on black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost if all wheels are fitted with tyres that meet the requirements of § 36(4) StVZO. It is precisely this missing cut-off date that creates the wave. Nobody has to change over on a particular day, so many wait for the first frost warning and then all call at once.

The number of potential callers is large. On 1 January 2026, 49,486,487 (Federal Motor Transport Authority, KBA) passenger cars were registered in Germany. Every private car owner visited a garage with their car once or twice in 2024, according to Deutsche Automobil Treuhand in the DAT Report 2025 (DAT). In businesses that store wheels, some of these visits arrive in two waves: in spring and in autumn.

How customers request these appointments was surveyed among car owners by Deutsche Automobil Treuhand for the same report. For about two thirds of respondents, first contact usually happened by phone: 66 per cent (DAT) of franchised-garage customers and 63 per cent (DAT) of independent-garage customers. On average, car owners waited 9.3 days (DAT) for a workshop appointment in 2024. As an example of longer waiting times, the analysis explicitly names appointments that coincided with the wheel-changing season (DAT).

For the service desk this means: the calls arrive in bundles, they arrive during opening hours, and they reach the same people who are busy receiving and handing back vehicles. Many of these conversations are short and uniform. Each one still takes the full attention of a trained employee. An assistant does not move the workshop's work online, it moves the groundwork: the sorting, the data, the choice of slot.

The questions that really come in during the season

Anyone who collects the notes at the service desk during an autumn season ends up with a short list that repeats itself day after day. The order changes, the content hardly does.

When do you still have a slot? The most frequent question, and the only one nobody can answer without looking at the calendar.
Are my wheels still with you? Customers with a stored wheel set often no longer remember whether they left it in spring or took it home.
Is my tread still good enough? Behind it lie the question about the legal limit and the hope of saving on new tyres.
Are these winter tyres at all? Usually this is about the marking on the sidewall: the letters M+S or the mountain pictogram with a snowflake.
What does the change cost including balancing? A price question that your own price list can answer.
How long will it take? Whether customers wait or leave the car helps determine the right slot.
What happens if I am caught without winter tyres? A question about fines whose standard rates are listed in the fines catalogue.

The list shows two things. First, almost every one of these questions has an answer that is already written down somewhere: in the price list, the storage register, the calendar or the law. Second, these answers sit in different places, and the person on the phone has to gather them each time. That is exactly where an assistant comes in. We described how this works across industries in the article on appointment requests via chat; the overview for the dealership as a whole is in the article on the AI assistant for car dealers. This article is about the season itself.

What the assistant answers reliably from the knowledge base

Some of the seasonal questions are legal questions, and they can be answered cleanly from the wording. The prerequisite is that the assistant's knowledge base contains the regulations verbatim and with their reference, rather than a summary from memory. Then it can reliably repeat three things.

Situational duty

Under § 2(3a) StVO, winter tyres are required on black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost. The regulation does not name a fixed date, and the assistant says so rather than presenting a rule of thumb as law.
Minimum tread

The main grooves must have a tread depth of at least 1.6 mm (§ 36 StVZO) around the entire circumference. The assistant states the value and adds that the workshop measures it on the tyre rather than estimating it.
Marking

Under § 36(4) StVZO, tyres for wintry weather are tyres marked with the Alpine symbol, the mountain pictogram with a snowflake. The assistant explains where to find it on the sidewall.

The question about consequences can also be answered from the text of the regulation. For driving on icy or snowy roads without tyres that meet the properties of § 36(4) StVZO, the German fines catalogue sets a standard rate of EUR 60 (BKatV, no. 5a), and EUR 80 (BKatV, no. 5a.1) if others are obstructed. A vehicle keeper who orders or allows such a journey, for example with a company car, faces EUR 75 (BKatV, no. 213a). For putting a motor vehicle into operation with insufficient tread depth, the catalogue lists EUR 60 (BKatV, no. 212).

The assistant repeats these values, names the reference and sticks to the standard rate. Whether a fine applies in a specific case is not something it is meant to assess; that depends on the road conditions and the individual case. What matters is that this content is checked before the season and carries a date. An assistant that confidently presents an outdated rule does more harm than one that does not answer at all. How to avoid this is described in the article on how to prevent hallucinations and in the answer to the question whether the AI can make things up.

Repeat rules, do not judge tyres

The line does not run between easy and difficult questions, but between rule and finding. At least 1.6 mm in the main grooves (§ 36 StVZO) is a rule. Whether the tyre on the customer's car still has that depth is a finding. The assistant can state the rule; the workshop establishes the finding with a tread depth gauge. A good sentence in the chat therefore sounds like this: The legal minimum is 1.6 mm in the main grooves; we check whether your tyres are still sufficient during the change and speak to you before we order anything.

What the assistant deliberately does not judge

In the changeover season there are three topics on which an assistant has to remain reserved, because the answer depends on the specific vehicle rather than on a rule.

The condition of the tyre. Cracks, bulges, uneven wear, a hardened rubber compound: only someone holding the tyre can see that. Photos in the chat change little, and a remote assessment would take on a responsibility that lies with the workshop.
The waiting time. The assistant names free times from your appointment types. It does not promise how long the change will take if a seized wheel bolt turns up during removal or a valve is leaking.
The cost question for damage. Whether damage is covered by statutory warranty, goodwill or insurance is clarified by the service advisor with the vehicle and the documents at hand.

These limits are not a flaw but part of the concept. An assistant that says: our service advisor will look at that during the appointment, and I am noting your observation now, comes across as more competent than one that dodges the question. It also creates an entry the workshop can work with in the morning: who, which vehicle, which observation, which appointment.

An assistant that estimates the remains of a tread in the chat has not advised faster; it has taken on an inspection for which it has no tool. It may state the rule, but it has to leave the tyre to the workshop.

Principle from setting up assistants for garages and car dealers

Appointment requests in chat: slots by appointment type

The core of seasonal operations is the calendar. An assistant that only fills in a form merely shifts the work: the next morning someone has to go through incomplete requests and call customers back. The assistant only becomes useful when, through tool control, it names only times that are free according to your appointment types and creates a request only once the details are complete and the customer has approved the summary. The workshop reviews the request in its overview; with its confirmation the appointment becomes binding.

A clear division of labour helps: the assistant calculates free times from your appointment types, that is from time window, duration, lead time and buffer, minus the appointments already requested or confirmed in the chat. Appointments that exist only in your workshop calendar are invisible to it, so keep separate windows free for the chat. A binding direct entry into the workshop calendar, with free slots per lift, is available through a calendar connection set up in the Custom package.

Duration is decisive. A plain wheel change with a stored wheel set needs a different slot than a change with new tyres, fitting and balancing. The assistant therefore assigns the request to an appointment type whose duration and buffer you define, and only then looks for suitable gaps. That way, fitting new tyres does not end up in a slot meant for a wheel swap. The flow in the chat follows six steps.

Clarify the request: wheel change, storage, new tyres or a combination of these.
Ask for number plate and vehicle: this shows whether a customer record exists and which vehicle is meant.
Clarify the wheel set: if your storage register is connected, the assistant reads the storage location and tyre size; otherwise it asks whether a set is in storage and notes the answer.
Offer extra services: balancing, new valves, storage of the removed wheels, new tyres if the tread is in doubt.
Offer slots: two or three free times of the matching appointment type, with a note on whether waiting or drop-off is planned.
Take the request: once the customer has approved it, the request lies in your overview with all notes. Once the workshop confirms it, a confirmation email goes to the address given.

The assistant does not take a request without a number plate or without clarity about the wheel set. That sounds strict, but it saves exactly the call-backs that cost the most time in the season. More on how chat and calendar work together is on the page about the booking assistant.

Aspect	Season without assistant	Season with booking assistant
Booking request in the evening	Waits until the next morning	Answered with free times from the appointment types
Stored wheel set	Search in the storage register during the call	Storage location clarified before the request
Missing tyre size	Only noticed when ordering	Follow-up question in the chat before the appointment is set
Extra services	Easily forgotten at the counter	Asked about one by one before the appointment
Appointment duration	One flat slot for everything	Slot by service type
Special cases	Get lost in seasonal operations	Go to the service advisor with a note

Storage, tyre size, extra services: clarify in advance

Many delays on changeover day do not arise at the lift but beforehand. The wheel set is not where it was expected because it was taken home in spring. The tyres are worn, and new tyres in the right size have to be ordered first. The customer actually wanted balancing too but did not mention it on the phone. Each of these gaps can be closed in the chat before the appointment is set.

If your storage register is connected through tool control, the assistant checks it for a stored wheel set. If it finds a set for the number plate, it names it and asks whether these are the wheels to be fitted. If it finds none, it asks whether the wheels will be brought along. New tyres require the tyre size. If it is not on file, the assistant asks the customer to read it off the sidewall and briefly explains where it is. If the information does not come, it still takes the request and notes a follow-up for the service advisor.

Extra services are a quiet lever. In the DAT Report 2025, the authors note that in most cases no active offer of extra services was made (DAT). The reason is understandable: in a fully booked workshop, there is no time for it at the counter. An assistant has that time. It asks about the same points in every request without being pushy, and the answers are attached to the order.

Balancing: booked with the change or explicitly declined.
Valves: new valves with new tyres or on request.
Storage: should the removed summer wheels stay with you?
Wheel cleaning: where you offer it, the question belongs in the request.
New tyres: if the customer has doubts about the tread, this is noted as a hint, not as an order.

The prices for all of this come from your price list. The assistant states what is listed there and adds nothing. Where a price depends on the finding, for example with new tyres, it says so and refers to the quote after the inspection of the vehicle.

Reminders for customers with stored wheels

The most predictable group of the season are customers whose wheels are stored with you. They usually come back, just not all at the same time if they are contacted in good time. A reminder sent in September or early October with a direct route to an appointment request spreads the wave over several weeks instead of squeezing it into the days after the first frost warning.

The assistant does not send this reminder itself from the chat window. It goes out through the system you already use for customer communication, to customers who have agreed to such a message. The link in it leads to your website, where the assistant names free times and takes the request; number plate and wheel set are clarified in the conversation.

The usual principles apply to data protection. Where personal data are collected from the data subject, the controller informs them at the time of collection; that is set out in Article 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the chat this means a short notice at the start: who processes the data, for what purpose and for how long. Number plate and phone number are stored only as long as the order requires. Where the data are held is described on the page on privacy and hosting.

Handing special cases to the service advisor

Not every request in the changeover season is a standard case. The assistant recognises deviations by keywords and by missing details and passes them on instead of squeezing them into a standard appointment.

Observations on the vehicle: vibrations, pulling to one side, the tyre pressure warning light, visible damage to tyre or rim.
Several vehicles: fleet customers or families with two cars need coordinated appointments, often with pick-up and delivery.
Complaints: a wheel that has lost air since the last change is a case for the service advisor, not for the booking form.
Advice on new tyres: which tyre suits the driving profile is discussed by the service advisor; the assistant records the request.
Questions outside the knowledge base: whatever is not in the approved content is not improvised.

The handover comes with the conversation history. The service advisor sees what the customer wrote, which details are already available and whether an appointment request is already in. That is what distinguishes a handover from a mere forwarding. When this moment should come in general is described in the article on handover to human agents. For the workshop, the rule is: better one handover too many than a customer who stands in front of the lift on changeover day with a problem nobody knew about.

Set up before the season: four steps

An assistant for the changeover season should be running before the season, not in the middle of it. Anyone still aligning content in October loses the weeks in which it would relieve the team the most. A sensible sequence has four steps.

Compile the content: price list for changing, balancing, storage and fitting, opening hours, storage terms and the legal basis verbatim with a date.
Set up appointment types and connections: create appointment types with duration, time window and buffer; where wanted, set up workshop calendar and storage register through a custom connection.
Test run with real questions: the service desk team asks last season's questions, checks answers and handovers and corrects whatever does not fit.
Evaluate and refine: conversation analytics shows which questions remain open and where customers drop off. This leads to additions to the knowledge base.

The pattern can be transferred to other peaks. In online retail it is the Christmas business, which we describe in the article on absorbing peak-season support spikes; in the workshop it is spring and autumn. Once the assistant has been set up for autumn, spring mainly needs new texts, not a new system. Which packages are suitable is shown on the page on pricing and packages; the industry page on the assistant for car dealers shows how the season fits into the rest of the service operation.

Frequent questions

May the assistant say whether my tyres are still good enough?

It states the rule, not the finding. Under § 36 StVZO, the main grooves must be at least 1.6 mm deep around the entire circumference; the assistant can repeat that. Whether your tyres stay within this limit and whether they are otherwise in good condition is checked by the workshop during the change, with a gauge and a look at sidewall and tread. The assistant notes your observation so that the service advisor can check specifically. For putting a motor vehicle into operation with insufficient tread depth, the fines catalogue lists a standard rate of EUR 60 (BKatV, no. 212).

From when does the winter tyre duty apply?

There is no fixed date. § 2(3a) StVO ties the duty to the road conditions: on black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost, all wheels must be fitted with tyres that meet § 36(4) StVZO. The standard rate for a violation is EUR 60 (BKatV, no. 5a), and EUR 80 (BKatV, no. 5a.1) if others are obstructed. The assistant explains this rule and recommends requesting the appointment before the first winter weather, without inventing a deadline.

How can I tell whether my tyre counts as a winter tyre?

What matters is the Alpine symbol, a mountain pictogram with a snowflake on the sidewall. For this, § 36(4) StVZO refers to Regulation No. 117 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. A tyre that only bears the letters M+S does not fall under this description. The assistant explains where to find the symbol and offers to have the tyres checked at the appointment if the marking remains unclear.

Can the assistant book appointments directly into our workshop calendar?

Yes, through a calendar connection in the Custom package, provided your workshop system offers an interface for bookings. The assistant then reads free slots per lift and service type and writes the appointment into the same calendar your service desk uses; no second appointment list is created. Without this connection it names free times from your appointment types and takes appointment requests that your workshop confirms. We clarify the details of the connection during setup; a first overview is given in the answer to the question how the assistant captures appointment requests and contacts.

What happens to the number plate and phone number from the chat?

They are needed for the booking and processed only for that purpose. At the start of the conversation there is a short notice stating who processes the data, for what purpose and for how long; Article 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation requires this for data collected from the data subject. The details are attached to the order in your system, and retention follows your deletion periods. Reminders for the next season only go to customers who have agreed to them.

Is an assistant only worthwhile for the changeover season?

The changeover season is the most visible occasion, but not the only one. The same setup answers questions about inspections, opening hours and courtesy cars throughout the year and takes appointment requests for regular service. For the season, it is mainly content that is added: prices for the wheel change, storage terms and the rules on winter tyres. In spring, it is enough to switch this content to the change to summer tyres. Whether it pays off depends on your business's volume of requests; after the first season, conversation analytics shows how many appointment requests came in through the chat.

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