Every parts quote for a damaged vehicle starts the same way. Someone opens the repairer’s estimate, reads down the list of damaged parts, and types each one into the parts system before a single supplier is asked for a price. It is careful, repetitive work, and on a busy day it is where quotes queue up.
This is exactly the kind of task modern AI handles well. Here is how it works, what it is good at, and where your team stays in charge.
What “AI extraction” means
A repair estimate is a document written for people: a vehicle description, then lines of parts and labour, in whatever layout the estimating system or the assessor used. Large language models (the same technology behind the AI assistants you may already use) are good at reading documents like this and pulling out structured information.
For a parts quote, the AI is asked a narrow question: which parts does this estimate list? It returns each part as a quote line, ready for pricing.
What it does well
- Reads varied layouts. Estimates from different systems and assessors look different. AI copes with that far better than fixed templates or older text-recognition tools.
- Saves the typing. A long estimate can take many minutes to capture by hand. Extraction takes the typing out of it.
- Keeps the queue moving. Because the first draft of the quote is ready as soon as the estimate arrives, pricing can start sooner.
Where people stay in charge
AI extraction is a first draft, not a decision. A sensible workflow keeps people in the loop:
- The estimate arrives, uploaded by your team or sent with a parts request from the claims system.
- AI proposes the part lines.
- Your team checks the lines, corrects anything misread, and adds anything missing.
- Supplier prices come in, and your markup rules are applied.
- The quote is sent only once a person is happy with it.
Nothing goes to a customer without a person checking it.
What it costs
Each extraction is a call to an AI provider, and each call has a small cost. A good system records every call and its cost, so there are no surprises. That cost can be passed on, for example at cost plus an agreed markup, or included in the licence, depending on how the service is set up.
Questions to ask about any AI-assisted quoting tool
- Can we see and correct every line before a quote is sent?
- What happens when the AI can’t read part of an estimate?
- Is every AI call and its cost recorded, and can we see them?
- Does it work with the requests we already receive, for example from a claims system?
How the Parts Management System does it
RC Technologies’ Parts Management System has AI-assisted quoting built in. Upload the repairer’s estimate, or receive the request from a claim in the Claims Management System, and the AI-assisted first quote suggests the part lines for your team to check, correct and approve. Nothing is sent until a person approves it. From there the system handles supplier pricing and markup rules, the quotation, and on acceptance the sale, invoice, picking slip and delivery note. AI usage is recorded call by call, so its cost is always visible.