AI in Car Buying – Car shoppers are adopting AI faster than dealerships are adapting to AI-powered shopping, potentially shifting the traditional information advantage toward consumers for the very first time.
For decades, one of the biggest disadvantages consumers faced when buying a car was an information imbalance. Dealers sold vehicles every day. Consumers bought one every several years. New data suggests AI is narrowing that gap, and car shoppers may actually be adopting the technology faster than the dealerships selling to them.
Automotive retail analysts Ray and Zach Shefska can discuss consumer implications of the newly released Cox Automotive AI in Auto Retail Tracker, which finds 63% of in-market vehicle shoppers say they definitely or probably will use AI during their next vehicle purchase, while Cox reports that only 29% of dealers have started adjusting to AI-powered search. Meanwhile, the percentage of dealers who recognize they need to adapt to AI search but haven’t yet done so increased from 26% to 32%. That creates a fresh consumer question: Could AI be giving ordinary car buyers an information advantage dealerships aren’t fully prepared for yet?
The numbers suggest the technology is rapidly moving beyond novelty. AI tools are now nearly tied with automotive-specific websites as a vehicle research source, 36% versus 38%, while 67% of shoppers say they trust AI at least “some.” But perhaps the most revealing finding is how consumers are using it. They aren’t primarily trying to eliminate the dealership.
Twenty-four percent say AI helps them feel more prepared when working with dealerships, while avoiding dealer interactions ranked among the least-cited reasons for using AI. Consumers are instead using the technology to research vehicles, generate questions and walk into dealerships better informed. That potentially represents an important shift in the traditional car-buying power dynamic. A consumer who once entered a dealership dependent upon the salesperson for information can now potentially arrive armed with AI-generated comparisons, questions, vehicle research and a much clearer understanding of what they should investigate before agreeing to a purchase.
“AI is changing where car shopping starts, and it’s bringing dealers a more informed, more decisive buyer,” said Lori Wittman, president of Retail Solutions at Cox Automotive Inc. “Consumers have already changed how they shop, and dealers are well positioned to meet them where they are.” The phenomenon resembles the first wave of internet car shopping, but with a critical difference. The internet gave consumers access to enormous amounts of information. Generative AI can help consumers interrogate, compare and make sense of that information before they ever encounter a salesperson. That creates a timely consumer story around the emergence of the “AI-prepared buyer” and whether shoppers can use that preparation to improve the experience and potentially avoid costly mistakes.
Automotive retail analysts Ray and Zach Shefska can address:
- Does AI actually give consumers more leverage at the dealership, or merely make them feel better prepared?
- What five questions should every shopper ask AI before walking into a dealership?
- Can consumers use AI to identify unnecessary add-ons, questionable fees or unfavorable financing before signing?
- Can AI help a shopper determine whether a dealer’s offer is genuinely competitive?
- What information should consumers gather before asking AI to analyze a potential purchase?
- Where can AI get car buying dangerously wrong, particularly with current incentives, local inventory, pricing, financing and vehicle-specific information?
- Should consumers use AI while they are physically sitting in the dealership to scrutinize numbers or explain unfamiliar terms?
- What should shoppers never accept from AI without independently verifying it?
- If shoppers are adopting AI faster than dealers are adapting to AI-powered search, is there a temporary window in which consumers have an unusual informational advantage?
The most important finding may therefore not be simply that consumers are embracing AI. It’s that the technology may be creating a new kind of car buyer faster than dealerships are adapting to that buyer.
For consumers, the question now becomes how to turn that new information advantage into smarter purchasing decisions without becoming overly reliant on AI-generated information that may be incomplete, outdated or simply wrong.
Sources:
Cox Automotive AI in Auto Retail Tracker:
https://www.coxautoinc.com/retail/ai-in-auto-retail-tracker/
New Cox Automotive AI in Auto Retail Tracker Finds Growing Gap Between Dealers and AI-Powered Car Shoppers:
https://www.coxautoinc.com/press-releases/new-cox-automotive-ai-in-auto-retail-tracker/
The Internet Changed Automotive Retail. Will AI Follow the Same Path?:
https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/the-internet-changed-automotive-retail-will-ai-follow-the-same-path/
