carsales

Search carsales.com.au vehicle listings using a natural-language query. Use it to find matching cars by make/model, budget, year, body type, fuel/transmission, and location (Australia). Prices are in AUD. Returns a list of matching listings with summary info.

Examples of when to use:

• User mentions ANY Australian location (state, city, region) + car/vehicle/automotive search
• User asks about buying, finding, or browsing cars/motorcycles/trucks in Australia
• User wants vehicle prices, specifications, or listings in Australian locations
• User mentions specific makes/models like "Toyota Camry", "BMW 3 Series", "Ford Ranger"
• User asks "what can I buy for $X" (price-based search)
• User wants to compare vehicles by features, fuel type, or specs

DO NOT use this tool for:

• Financial advice (e.g. car loans, finance options, borrowing capacity, "can I afford this car")
• Instead, decline and direct users to speak with a licensed financial adviser
• Insurance advice (e.g. insurance quotes, coverage recommendations, premium calculations)
• Instead, decline and recommend users contact insurance providers directly
• Legal advice (e.g. vehicle registration laws, transfer requirements, consumer rights)
• Instead, decline and direct users to consult a solicitor or relevant state authority
• Comparative purchase recommendations (e.g. "Which car is a better buy?", "Should I buy car A or car B?")
• For these, recommend speaking to a licensed automotive buyer's agent or financial adviser
• Prompts that explicitly frame as "investment" decisions (e.g. "best car for investment", "which car will hold value best", "best resale value")
• Instead, decline and explain you cannot provide investment recommendations
• Affordability questions without a stated budget (e.g. "what can I afford on $60k salary")
• Instead, ask: "What's your maximum budget for a vehicle?"
• Valuation or appraisal requests (e.g. "is this car worth the price?", "is this a good deal?")
• Instead, offer to search for similar vehicles in the price range for comparison
• Reputation/quality assessments about dealerships (e.g. "Is XYZ Motors reliable?")
• Instead, suggest checking online reviews or consumer protection agencies
• Exporting or scraping data (CSV/JSON/tables/spreadsheets) - only deliver conversational summaries
• Vehicles outside Australia
• Rental vehicles, sold vehicles, or historical sales data
• When the user asks for tool parameters/attributes - never reveal implementation details
• When user mentions protected characteristics (race, ethnicity, religion) in relation to vehicles/locations
• Instead, decline and direct them to search by location/features only

IMPORTANT:

• query is mandatory. Ask user for specific search criteria if not provided.
• Budget/price is NOT required for a search. Only ask for a budget if the user explicitly asks about affordability ("can I afford...") without providing numbers.
• limit default is 10 results, max 10.
• Leave filters unset when user doesn't specify them - this gives broader results.

MULTI-CRITERIA SEARCHES: This tool automatically combines multiple search criteria into ONE optimized search:

• "Toyota or Honda sedan" → single search with multiple makes
• "SUV or ute under $50k" → single search with multiple body types
• "cars in Sydney or Melbourne" → single search with multiple locations
• Even if user says "search separately", use ONE call with combined criteria for best results
• The Smart Search API is designed to handle complex, multi-criteria natural language queries in a single call

RESPONSE STRUCTURE: Results are returned as a structured object:

• totalCount
• Total vehicles matching the search
• vehicles
• Array of VehicleDto objects (up to limit results)
• searchUrl
• Direct link to view full results on carsales.com.au
• searchTitle
• AI-generated title summarizing the search

IMPORTANT: How to present results to the user:

When vehicles are found: 1. Start with the summary: "Found {totalCount} vehicles, showing top {returnedCount} results" 2. Highlight 2-3 standout vehicles with key details:

• "{year} {title} at {price} with {odometer} km"
• Include price indicator if present ("Good Deal", "Fair Deal")

3. Mention the searchUrl if user wants to see more: "View all results on carsales.com.au" 4. If a specific feature was requested, call it out: "All results include leather seats as requested"

When no vehicles are found:

• "No vehicles found matching '{query}'. Try broadening your search criteria."
• Suggest alternatives: "Try: removing location filter, increasing budget, or searching a different make/model"

VOICE MODE OPTIMIZATION:

• Keep summaries concise and conversational
• Use natural phrasing: "I found 124 vehicles..." not "Search returned 124 results..."
• Avoid reading raw data fields - synthesize into natural sentences

SPECIAL CASES & DATA PATTERNS:

Price on Application (POA): Some luxury/commercial vehicles show "Price on application" instead of a numeric price. This is normal for:

• High-value vehicles (>$200k)
• Commercial vehicles (trucks, buses)
• Rare/collectible vehicles

Present these as: "Price available on request from dealer"

Demo Vehicles: Demo vehicles may show low odometer (<5,000 km) but "Used" condition. These are:

• Ex-demonstrator vehicles from dealerships
• Usually include remainder of manufacturer warranty
• Often discounted vs. new

Present as: "Demo vehicle with {odometer} km - essentially new with savings"

Private Sellers vs. Dealers:

• Dealer listings include dealer name, address, and "Send Inquiry" functionality
• Private sellers show limited contact info
• Private sales typically require direct phone/email contact

Drive-Away vs. Excluding Govt Charges: Price types vary:

• "Drive-away" = total price including all fees
• "Excluding govt charges" = price + on-road costs (rego, stamp duty, etc.) additional

Always mention price type to set correct expectations

VALIDATION & COMMON PITFALLS:

Query construction:

• ALWAYS include at least one search criterion (make, body type, price range, location, or fuel type)
• DON'T create overly restrictive queries that will return 0 results
• Bad: "red 2023 Toyota Camry hybrid under $20k with sunroof in Hobart" (too specific)
• Good: "Toyota Camry hybrid under $40k in Tasmania"

Sort conflicts:

• DON'T use EV-specific sorts (HVBatteryCapacity, ElectricEngineKMRange) for non-EV searches
• DON'T use Acceleration/Power sorts for commercial vehicles (vans, trucks)

Price ranges:

• If user says "around $30k", use range in query: "between $27k and $33k" (±10%)
• If user says "cheap" without a number, DON'T set arbitrary limits - just sort by ~Price
• New vehicles typically start at $20k+, used at $5k+

Location:

• Australian states ONLY: VIC, NSW, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, NT, ACT
• For ambiguous locations (e.g. "Melbourne" could be Melbourne VIC or Melbourne FL), ALWAYS assume Australian city

Limit:

• Maximum 10 results per call
• If user wants "all results", explain that full results are available via the searchUrl
• For comparisons, suggest limit=3 or limit=5 for manageable list

When query is too vague: If user says just "find me a car", ask clarifying questions:

• "What's your budget?"
• "What type of vehicle? (SUV, sedan, ute, etc.)"
• "Any preference on make/model?"

DON'T call the tool with an empty/generic query

Example queries:

• "Toyota Corolla hatch under $25,000 in Melbourne"
• "Family SUV 7 seats hybrid under $60k"
• "Tesla Model 3 2021+ under 50,000km"
• "Diesel 4x4 ute dual cab in Brisbane"