FAQ

DealerClaw offers fractional AI leadership for automotive dealerships and agencies, personally provided by founder Eric Dumlao. Eric works directly with your leadership team to identify where intelligence can give your business an advantage and handles the full build and ongoing management. AI consulting, implementation, and training help increase productivity, reduce costs, and build an unfair advantage without hiring a full-time AI executive. Eric works with up to 10 groups or agencies at a time. Watch Eric’s perspective on how to win with AI.

DealerClaw works with automotive dealerships and agencies that need fractional AI leadership without hiring a full-time AI executive. The relationship includes regular working sessions and direct access to Eric, with the priorities and work agreed together.

Eric Dumlao personally provides fractional AI leadership through DealerClaw, including AI consulting, implementation, training, and ongoing management. Custom software, workflows, and managed agents are built around the agreed priorities. DealerClaw Tools is a separate offering: it gives your existing AI assistant access to automotive tools through DealerClaw MCP. The connection guides cover ChatGPT and Codex, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot.

DealerClaw was founded by Eric Dumlao, who spent more than a decade working directly with dealerships at Dealer Inspire. He leads DealerClaw’s client relationships and stays accountable for the strategy and implementation. Learn more about Eric.

Useful starting points include comparing reports from different sources, tracking competitor changes, following up on vendor support cases, and preparing website creative. We define who owns the task, the inputs available, the deadline, and the output your team needs before proposing a workflow.

Explore the workflow examples:

• Analyze dealership reports across multiple sources
• Track competitor price changes
• Follow up on vendor support cases
• Prepare website creative for review and publishing

For website and inventory questions, our AI-access study and structured-data study explain the checks and their limits. Watch the website creative demonstration and vehicle acquisition demonstration for examples of agents working through automotive tasks.

These breakdowns illustrate possible workflows. The systems, access, and actions for your dealership are agreed on separately.

A managed AI agent is set up to perform defined, recurring work using the tools and access your dealership approves. DealerClaw handles its setup, support, and improvements. For managed agent work, each agent runs on a dedicated, isolated computer for your dealership.

We start with the tools and vendors already involved in the job. What we can connect depends on the workflow, available access, provider requirements, and your approval. Nothing is connected by default. We agree on the scope before implementation.

An existing AI project can be part of the relationship. Describe what you have tried and what is holding you up in your application. Eric will assess how it fits your priorities and the scope of the work together.

Apply to work with Eric. Describe your business and what you want to change. Eric reviews each application personally and, if there is a fit, schedules a conversation about priorities, scope, and the working relationship.

Start with the people responsible for the workflow. We build around their work and handle the technical setup. Your team helps define what good work looks like, reviews the output where needed, and gives feedback as the workflow improves.

Partnerships are scoped around your priorities, the systems involved, and the ongoing work. Eric reviews your application personally, and fees and service terms are agreed before work begins.

DealerClaw offers ongoing support and improvements, regular working sessions, and practical guidance as AI capabilities change. The level of support is part of the agreed scope, so you know who is responsible for maintaining the workflow as your tools and priorities evolve.

Only the access approved for the job. We agree on the people, tools, accounts, information, and actions involved before implementation. Access can be narrowed or removed, and an agent cannot expand its own authority. Read about access and security.

For managed agent work, DealerClaw uses a dedicated environment for each approved dealership scope. Files, browser sessions, memory, and work are kept separate from other dealerships. The people and rooftops included in your scope are agreed on before setup. See how dedicated environments work.

Consequential external actions, including customer messages, record changes, and pricing changes, require authorized human approval by default. Any exception must be defined in the written scope. Your dealership decides which people, tools, workflows, and actions are authorized. Read about human control.

Many projects can start without a CRM connection or customer data. Sensitive CRM access stays off until the workflow passes its security and privacy review. Work can stay limited to approved redacted exports, aggregate reports, or information de-identified by your dealership. See the sensitive-data boundaries.