Dealers Say They Want AI That Solves Real Problems
CDK’s latest “AI at the Dealership” study finds U.S. auto retailers are increasingly familiar with and reliant upon AI-powered tools, particularly those designed to address their most pressing issues.
Top challenges cited include attracting new customers (37%), maintaining customer communication across channels (34%) and managing employee burnout (26%), roughly corresponding with the top three uses of the technology in the dealership: customer-facing chatbots and virtual assistants (66%), appointment scheduling (37%) and customer data-based marketing and outreach (34%).
“Dealers are turning to AI because they’re facing challenges on every front, ranging from employee retention to operations to customer interaction,” analysts write. “In fact, besides attracting new customers, managing customer communications ranked highest among dealer challenges in this year’s study. And many of the challenges that have increased or remain high are ones AI can help solve or at least mitigate.”
More than half (51%) of dealers say they are “extremely” or “very” familiar with AI, up from 40% in 2024. Only 39% of respondents say they are currently using AI tools — and 27% plan to invest this year — and of those who use it, only 40% believe their AI knowledge exceeds that of their competitors.
