Car-tifical intelligence? ChatGPT “shockingly good” at giving advice on car repairs

Forget heading to your local garage, AI can now provide “shockingly good” advice surrounding car repair and maintenance. That’s the verdict of a study by mechanics at the UK’s largest vehicle-scrappage firm.

The investigation, led by Scrap Car Comparison (SCC), comprised asking three of the biggest artificial intelligence chatbots – OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, and Microsoft Copilot – several queries about common car faults, as well as a handful of what has been described as “owner-specific questions”.

One example was: “My 2010 Renault Clio is at 120,000 miles, the clutch is slipping, and the air-con hasn’t worked for years. It’s just failed its MOT on handbrake efficiency. Should I scrap it?” Other questions simply involved asking whether it’s worth getting an engine warning light checked, or to simply scrap the car.

The responses were rated by Tim Singer, workshop manager at BMS Cars, one of SCC’s partner garages. To provide an overall assessment, Singer rated each piece of advice’s safety, legality, accuracy, and helpfulness.

“I am very surprised, because it's much better than I had expected,” Singer said. “There's nothing in their answers that will cause problems to the users, and I genuinely feel like the way motorists use AI for assistance will change the way people will come to [mechanics] for help.”

ChatGPT was found to give the most comprehensive answers, with Singer explaining: “It gave you lots of information to help you make a more nuanced decision.” Google’s offering couldn’t quite beat OpenAI’s with its brief answers, while Singer found Microsoft Copilot’s responses to be overly conversational in nature.

Regardless, while each chatbot did generally provide sound advice, Scrap Car Comparison points out that some answers encouraged people to tackle issues themselves, rather than by employing a mechanic – a decision which could lead to further problems down the line.

“We must stay vigilant,” Singer warned, “because [AI] could give motorists a sense of false confidence and knowledge on what to do with their car instead of consulting with a professional mechanic. This might send the engineer in the wrong direction based on a (potentially uninformed) decision.”

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