FAQ

An AI assistant doesn't always search the web. Sometimes it answers from what it learned in training — like a mechanic quoting a job from memory without lifting the hood. Sometimes it searches the web first. The two answers can be wildly different, which is why every Spilld audit runs both and shows you the pair.

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity — each asked the same questions. Every answer is stored word for word. Every question is asked with web search off and on. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini answer from memory and again after searching the web; Perplexity always searches, so it answers with search on only. Every question is asked 3 times in each mode.

Because the same assistant can answer the same question differently from one ask to the next. Each ask is stored as its own answer. One assistant's 3 answers to one question, in one mode, combine into one result. Recommendation figures count results; "named" figures count answers — and the report says which is which.

Every number is computed from the stored AI answers of your own audit. A shop counts as Recommended only when the answer endorses it by name, and the quote we keep must appear word for word in that answer. If we can't verify the quote, the answer counts as not finding you. If an answer couldn't be judged at all, it's left out of the count. Matching a business name inside free AI text is imperfect: it can miss a mention, and it can credit the wrong business. No estimates, no extrapolation, no industry benchmarks glued on.

No. An SEO audit measures how you rank on a results page. Spilld measures what an AI assistant actually says when a driver asks who to call: whether it names your shop, whether it recommends it, and which other shops it names. The two are related (searching the web draws on the pages your SEO shapes), but they are not the same measurement.

No — and be careful with anyone who will. A dollar figure for "revenue at risk" can't be traced to evidence, so it doesn't appear in our reports or on this site. What we show instead is checkable: how often AI recommends you, which shops it names instead, and the AI's own answers to back it up.

Shop name, location, and the services you want measured — up to three. That's it — the audit does the rest. We don't ask who your competitors are, because working that out is the job: the local rivals in your report are the ones the assistants named on their own, each one checked against Google as a real business.

Auto shops in the U.S. You choose one to three of the services an audit covers: General Repair / Full Service, Tires & Wheels, Brakes & Suspension, Auto Detailing, Ceramic Coating / PPF, Autobody / Collision Repair, Insurance / DRP Work, Specialty (EV / Diesel / Classic), Mobile Mechanic / On-Site Service and Reconditioning.

You should — it's a useful gut check. But one answer is an anecdote. An audit asks 34 to 97 questions, each one 3 times, and stores every answer, so the count is a measurement you can act on rather than a lucky (or unlucky) sample of one.

You can set your brand in your agency portal: logo, palette, CTA, footer. A report served at its private link for your agency account renders under it.

No. We measure where you stand and show you the evidence. The fixing is real work — yours or your agency's.