No idea what `luxury` is doing here, but if I get an LLM receptionist, that ain't it.

This isn't to disparage the project - I think this sort of usage will become very common and a decent standard that produces good consumer surplus in terms of reduced costs etc. Especially impressive is that it's a DIY family-first implementation that seems to be working. It's great hacker work.

But be warned it will erode - in general - the luxury previously associated with your brand, and also turn some customers away entirely.

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keiferski 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It means luxury car brands, not luxury service. This is right in the post.

I assume the Op, being a programmer and not a car mechanic, just assumed they mean the same thing.

The entire discussion here about how AI undercuts luxury brands has absolutely nothing to do with the actual post.

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_osud 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In America the normal term is "European", not "luxury".

It would be somewhat odd to specialize in both American and European luxury cars. It'd be significantly less odd to service a RR and a BMW 3er next to each other.

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keiferski 10 hours ago | parent [-]

The actual company’s website says European, not luxury. My guess is that the OP wasn’t familiar with this distinction and just figured luxury means the same thing (the car shop is his brother’s as per the link.)

	▲	_osud 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I strongly suspect the use of "luxury" here has more to do with the text being written by an AI than OP being confused.

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NiloCK 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Admittedly I missed this distinction, but does the point still stand?

A BMW owner has fussier standards (on average) than a Toyota owner. The 'higher touch' a service you're trying to provide, the less welcome these interventions will be. If there's a distinction between a normal-car garage and a luxury-car garage, this probably comes down to some sort of licensing or certification from those luxury brands. Seems plausible to me that luxury brand X could stipulate things like availability of human contact points.

Re: not being a car mechanic, it's true, but I'll have you know that I replaced my own blower motor a few months ago :)

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keiferski 9 hours ago | parent [-]

This isn’t accurate. Lots of types of people own older used European/luxury cars, it’s not just a rich people thing. Used BMWs especially aren’t that expensive compared to new cars.

This garage is for those older cars and has no connection to the actual manufacturers, so there is no licensing required.

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NiloCK 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Appreciate the distinction. Probably 'the thing' I'm referring to applies more directly to dealership mechanics.

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keiferski 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Sure and just to add a funny anecdote here: a family member of mine used to own a 1980s Jaguar. Beautiful car and he probably paid $5,000 for it, but it had issues pretty much every month. His reasoning for keeping it was that the monthly repair costs were roughly equivalent to what a new car payment would be.

I agree with you on the dealership dynamics though.

	▲	qup 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		At some point he should run out of problems. Jaguar-of-Theseus

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epolanski 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> No idea what `luxury` is doing here, but if I get an LLM receptionist, that ain't it.

Bingo.

You can't get away with AI slop in a service oriented for wealthy customers.

The day my dealership starts answering me with AI they lose a customer 100%.

This solution screams "built by a tech bro with no idea about economics and marketing" which is the VC playbook into modernizing (and failing) businesses they don't understand.

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short_sells_poo 10 hours ago | parent [-]

You are right, but this also isn't a luxury mechanic shop. A luxury mechanic shop would be a place that services and customizes Bentleys, RRs, vintage Ferraris and similar. And to your point, the clientele there will be extremely unimpressed if they are asked to speak with an AI. A place like that is as much about being pampered by staff as about the workmanship.

OP's brother is by all accounts running a successful boutique workshop, but the various luxury annotations were completely unnecessary and just detract from the actual project. If they do want to lean into the luxury segment, being cheap with AI receptionists is not the way to go. They need to hire actual staff who has experience with HNW individuals.

	▲	JasonADrury 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The blog post was written by AI. "luxury" is one of the adjectives AI likes to use a lot.