The problem
Car adverts carry rules that are easy to get wrong: whether the price must include admin fees, how mileage and history claims must be backed up, what a finance example must show. If a dealer spends 3 hours a month searching for answers when changing advert templates or running a promotion, and sometimes relies on what another dealer does, that's time lost and a risk of a complaint to the ASA.
What the AI does
Perplexity answers with inline citations on every plan, the free one included. The dealer asks a specific question, such as whether a compulsory admin fee must be included in the advertised price, and asks for ASA and CAP, GOV.UK and FCA sources. The dealer opens each source, reads the ruling or guidance and updates the advert template to match. Finance wording is checked against the dealer's lender and the firm's FCA permissions before it goes live.
A worked example
An independent used car dealer in Doncaster with about 40 cars in stock is changing its advert template and planning a finance offer. The owner uses Perplexity's free plan for the rules questions before the adverts go live.
Before
About 3 hours a month searching advert and finance rules
After
About 1 hour, including reading the rulings and guidance linked
What it's worth
About $93£70€83A$134C$132 a month in owner time saved, on Perplexity's free plan. 2 hours saved a month, at an assumed $47£35€42A$67C$66 an hour.
How to set it up
- Create a free Perplexity account; cited answers are on every plan.
- Ask one specific question at a time about prices, fees, mileage, history or finance wording, and ask for ASA and CAP, GOV.UK and FCA sources.
- Open each source and read the ruling or guidance itself, checking its date.
- Update the advert template to match, and check finance wording with your lender before it goes live.
- Keep the links with the template so staff know why the wording is as it is.
What goes wrong
- ASA rulings turn on their facts. A ruling about another dealer's advert is a guide, not a ruling on yours.
- Finance promotions are regulated by the FCA. Use the wording your lender and your permissions allow, not a summary.
- An answer can cite a trade article that is out of date. Prefer the ASA, CAP, GOV.UK and FCA pages.
- The free plan limits Deep Research; everyday cited answers are on every plan.