Cox: Car Shoppers Are Adopting AI Faster Than Dealers Are Adjusting to It
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of U.S. car shoppers say they will definitely or probably use AI to select and find their next vehicle. Yet the share of dealers who know they need to adjust to AI-powered search but haven’t started rose from 26% to 32% between Q1 and Q2, according to the inaugural Cox Automotive AI in Auto Retail Tracker.
Analysts surveyed nearly 1,000 dealers and more than 3,000 in-market shoppers in the first and second quarters. They found that, while 82% of dealers report using AI, adoption and measurement are not keeping pace with consumer behavior. About one in three dealers either are not measuring AI’s impact or have no clarity on how they’re measuring it, and only 22% of AI users report seeing sales and revenue growth from AI so far.
Dealers working with an external AI partner fare notably better: They are more likely to say they are using AI optimally (66% vs. 46% without a partner), more likely to express high confidence in AI outputs (30% vs. 8%) and more likely to report sales and revenue growth from AI (36% vs. 21%).
“AI is changing where car shopping starts, and it’s bringing dealers a more informed, more decisive buyer,” writes Lori Wittman, Cox’s president of retail solutions, in a release. “Consumers have already changed how they shop, and dealers are well positioned to meet them where they are.”
In March, an unrelated Reynolds and Reynolds report found that dealer principals report the highest AI usage rate among all dealership roles.
