AI In The Automotive Industry

What AI Can And Can't Do For Your Auto Dealership Right Now

By Sam Agresti

At the 2024 NADA Conference, talks of how to use AI in the automotive industry echoed throughout the exhibit halls. While the new opportunities are exciting, AI is an investment that comes with some challenges.

There is a lot of hype around AI but avoid implementing programs where AI is not yet effective. Here are some approachable ways to implement AI for automotive dealerships that have low barriers to entry and will yield significant results for your dealership.

ai for dealerships

AI For Auto Dealerships: What It Can Do

Artificial intelligence in automotive dealerships can clear the path for your staff to focus on things that really matter. AI replicates human behaviors to save you and your team time. Here are some tasks AI can take off your plate.

Streamlining Advertising Efforts

AI can elevate your advertising game by targeting specific audiences and segments more effectively. By harnessing data-driven insights, AI algorithms optimize advertising campaigns, ensuring maximum reach and engagement. Automated journeys ensure that your marketing efforts reach the right people at the right time, increasing the likelihood of conversions and maximizing ROI. Forbes believes that these AI efforts will completely change the car dealership business model.

Enhancing Communications

Personalized conversations with customers, facilitated by AI-powered chatbots, can significantly improve customer engagement. These chatbots are not only capable of answering basic queries but can also assist in setting up appointments for test drives and service appointments.

Moreover, they offer the flexibility of responding promptly to inquiries even outside of regular business hours, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty by providing round-the-clock support. By increasing touchpoints and maintaining consistent communication, AI-driven tools strengthen the dealership’s relationship with its customers, driving retention and repeat business.

Boosting Content Creation

Generative AI can spark original content ideas for blogs, videos, and ads, reducing the brainstorming burden on your team. By analyzing vast amounts of data and consumer trends, AI algorithms generate creative ideas tailored to your dealership’s target audience. While AI-generated ideas may vary in quality, they provide a valuable starting point for creative content creation, enabling your marketing team to focus on refining and enhancing these concepts to resonate effectively with your audience.

Alleviating Front Office Organizational Drag

AI for car dealerships excels at handling menial tasks, freeing up staff to focus on more value-added activities. By automating repetitive administrative tasks such as data entry, appointment scheduling, and document processing, AI significantly reduces organizational drag and increases operational efficiency. This not only saves time and resources but also allows your team to allocate their skills and expertise to tasks that require human judgment and creativity, ultimately enhancing overall productivity and performance.


What AI Can’t Do For Dealers

Generative AI is meant to be conversational. While it can develop original ideas that mimic those of humans, its underlying goal is to get the human to continue responding to it. Therefore, it is not always the best choice when consulting, analyzing, creating, or reflecting.

Here are some actions that you should continue to have humans help with:

Advanced Accounting Tasks

While AI in the automotive industry can handle basic bookkeeping tasks, optimizing specialized rebates and dealing with complex accounting scenarios require human expertise. AI isn’t sophisticated enough to identify new legislation that could benefit dealers, including rebates and incentives. AI-powered accounting software may streamline processes such as invoicing and expense tracking, but human oversight is essential for interpreting financial data accurately and making strategic financial decisions.

Personalized Profit Optimization

AI for car dealerships may assist in analyzing data and trends, but it can’t replace the nuanced understanding of your dealership’s unique situation required for effective profit optimization. Achieving sustainable profit growth involves considering various factors such as market dynamics, competitive landscape, and customer preferences, which necessitate human judgment and strategic decision-making.

You have larger goals for your dealership, as well. Having a consultant who can keep those long-term goals in mind while making short-term decisions is something AI can’t pull off quite yet. Meanwhile, specialized dealership accounting offers very specific help for your industry.

Fraud Detection and Research

Identifying suspicious activities and conducting in-depth research into potential fraud cases are areas where human intuition and investigative skills are indispensable. While AI algorithms can flag anomalies in financial transactions and patterns, human intervention is necessary to conduct thorough investigations, gather evidence, and make informed decisions regarding fraud prevention and mitigation strategies.


The Balancing Act Of Using AI In The Automotive Industry

AI holds significant promise for auto dealerships, offering unparalleled opportunities to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences. Using AI to take on menial tasks allows for your salespeople to focus on what’s important.

For more complex tasks, stick to the human experts who can see the full picture and nuances of your situation and goals. Reach out to Brady Ware’s Dealership Specialists today to discuss how they can help you drive toward success.

Dealership Experts

Sam Agresti is a Shareholder at Brady Ware, specializing in dealership financial strategy and operational consulting. With deep experience in the retail automotive space, Sam partners with dealership owners and managers to improve profitability, streamline operations, and navigate complex industry challenges. He is a trusted advisor to growing dealer groups across the country.


Sam Agresti, CPA

sagresti@bradyware.com


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