What auto and AI leaders posted, October 15. Mixed prices on a dealer site confuse AI

Today the main topic is order in your numbers and your process. AI will not save a store where the website shows one price, the CRM shows another and the salesperson says a third. But where there is order, an agent already collects money and tracks late payments better than people.

News from the trade press is in the morning issue. AI tips are in a separate post. I added my take to each post.

What dealers say#

If a store gives different answers, AI says "call for price"#

Brian Kramer, EVP at Cars Commerce, said a simple thing on the Car Dealership Guy show. The best AI tool is the one that pulls from the cleanest data. When the dealer gives different answers to the same question, AI gets confused and tells the buyer to call for price.

My take. Buyers ask AI first and visit the store later. If the listing shows one price, the website another, and the car page has no trim level, AI will not guess. It will send the buyer to a dealer whose data matches.

What you can do today. Take five cars from your stock. Compare price and trim on your website, on listing sites and in your CRM. Every mismatch is a buyer that AI will give to a competitor.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

A dealer thanks the regulator for the all-in price rule#

Alex Perdikis, owner and CEO of Koons Motors, says the FTC pricing rule "was one of the best things that ever happened in our industry". For him, the biggest change is in competition.

A store that quotes a real number no longer has to defend it against a lower price that disappears in the showroom.

My take. A low price in the ad and extra fees in the finance office is an old trick, and it does not work anymore. The buyer comes in with a competitor's price on the phone and leaves when they see the extra fees. An honest price wins over a cheap one when the buyer knows it will not change.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

Dealers expected revenue from AI and got better processes#

Car Dealership Guy looks at a study from Cox Automotive and VinSolutions. Dealers expected AI to bring more revenue right away. In reality it improves processes first and gives a fuller picture of every customer.

68% of dealers say a product is more valuable when AI is already built in. The author's point is that AI will not drive revenue on its own yet. But if you deploy it right, it makes the job easier for your team and your customers.

My take. This is an honest picture. Revenue comes as the second step, when salespeople stop losing leads and stop spending an hour on reports. Dealers who expect a miracle in the first month will turn AI off after three months and say "it does not work".

Car Dealership Guy post on X

One safety violation can cost a store up to $170,000#

Zach Pucillo, Regulatory Director at KPA, says the warning signs show up long before an inspector does. The easiest sign to spot is a messy service department. He warns that a store may think it has a safety program and in fact have nothing. The top OSHA issue for dealers now is that technicians do not know which chemicals they work with.

My take. Buyers see your service area too, even if only through the glass of the waiting room. If it is a mess, they think their car will get the same care. A clean shop sells service better than any ad.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

What carmakers and the market say#

73.9% of auto loans get approved, but each deal is riskier#

Car Dealership Guy cites the Dealertrack Credit Availability Index from Cox Automotive. September was the easiest month to get an auto loan since 2015, the fifth month in a row of looser lending. Approval rates hit 73.9%, and approved subprime loans rose to 17.4%. A record 31.8% of loans run longer than 72 months. Negative equity hit 57.8%, and down payments fell to 12.8%.

My take. Today the bank says "yes" to almost anyone. In three years this buyer comes back to trade in, owes more than the car is worth, and the deal falls apart. A salesperson who plans the next purchase with the buyer now, and not only the payment, will get that buyer back.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

Recalls in nine months already beat all of 2025#

Per a BizzyCar report, carmakers have recalled 31.6 million vehicles in the U.S. through Q3. Only one recent year had more. That was 2023 with 33.6 million, and there is still one quarter left. Car Dealership Guy bets the year will end above 40 million.

My take. A recall is a reason to invite a customer to your service lane at no cost to them. While they wait, you can ask about a trade-in. Dealers who call owners about open recalls get traffic that others pay for with ads.

What you can do today. Export customers whose car has an open recall and has not been to your service yet. Call the first ten and book a time that works for them.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

China pulls down both BMW and GM#

BMW sold 106,741 vehicles in the U.S. in Q3, up 2.5%. But its deliveries in China fell 24.8%.

In the U.S., Mercedes-Benz sold 76,200 and Lexus 93,056 in the quarter. Automotive News reports that GM sales in China fell 24% to 358,000 vehicles, the fourth quarter of decline in a row. The reasons are a weak economy, high fuel prices and a new tax on EVs.

My take. Western brands are no longer the leaders in China, and this is not a short dip. For the world it means one thing.

Chinese brands will look for buyers abroad, and Western brands will hold on to the U.S. and Europe. Competition for the buyer in the showroom will grow everywhere.

Car Dealership Guy post on X · Automotive News post on X

The Volvo EX60 is late for dealer lots#

Automotive News reports production problems with the new Volvo Cars EX60 electric crossover. U.S. dealers expected to sell about 7,000 this year.

A source says the plant in Sweden builds about one tenth of the target of 2,000 vehicles a week. There will be no "significant volume" in the U.S. until deep into 2027.

My take. The hardest case for a dealer is a buyer who already waits for a car while the date moves. Keep that buyer with an honest call before they hear the news from someone else. If not, they go to the store next door that has a car in stock.

Automotive News post on X

China's market may split into three equal parts#

Michael Dunne of Dunne Insights shares what the CEO of a major Chinese carmaker told him. He expects the China market to split into thirds. One third gas and hybrid, one third plug-in hybrid, one third EV. The coast goes electric, and inland regions stay with gas.

My take. Even China will not be "EV only". Every dealer should remember this. Buyers need a choice that fits their roads and their fuel stations, not a slogan.

Michael Dunne post on X

AI and sales#

SaaStr's AI agent cut late invoices from 56% to 8%#

SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin says their AI agent found a painful number. While people ran collections, 56% of invoices were paid late. After a quarter with the agent, only 8% were late.

The average delay fell from 17 days to 6, and the longest from 51 days to 12. The agent reads the full contract and creates the invoice minutes after signing. Then it checks payments every day and brings in a human at 7 days past due. It also found two customers who still got bills for a product the company stopped supporting 6 years ago.

My take. A dealership has the same problem with paperwork after the deal. Bank, insurance, add-ons, carmaker bonuses. Money gets lost not in the sale but after it, because nobody checks every day.

This is where to put your first agent. All the inputs already sit in your systems, and there are almost no decisions to make.

Jason Lemkin post on X

To win a competitor's customer, ask what it would take#

Lemkin's advice is to ask a competitor's customer directly. "What would it take for you to move to us?" He says being 20% better does not clear the bar. People do not switch because things are a bit better somewhere else. They switch when something is broken.

My take. For a dealer this is about business customers and fleets. Do not tell them how good you are. Ask what does not work with their current dealer. The answer is your offer.

Jason Lemkin post on X

For people who work with AI#

Mollick warns about locking into "good enough"#

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick writes that the gap between what AI can do and how people use it keeps growing. So a company that locks into a "good enough" solution built for today's AI loses more and more. It needs to be able to use the better models that labs release next.

My take. Do not sign a three-year contract with a service that cannot switch to a new model. In six months the models will be better, and you will be stuck with the old one.

What you can do today. Ask the vendor of your AI chat or call bot which model it runs on and how fast it moves to new ones. If there is no answer, think twice.

Ethan Mollick post on X

Mollick gave his AI agent its own email address#

Mollick gave his personal AI agent a separate email address. He does not want it to use his email or write messages in his name. He also wants people to know they are talking to an AI.

My take. This is the right rule for a dealership too. A bot writes to buyers under its own name and says that it is an assistant. When a buyer learns that "Anna from sales" was a bot, they stop trusting the real salespeople too.

Ethan Mollick post on X

An AI agent deleted a whole TV season#

Lemkin shared a news story. At the UK studio Mastiff, an AI agent was blamed for deleting all files of a TV season that was not out yet. The files cannot be recovered, and the team has to edit the season again from scratch.

My take. Never give an agent the right to delete something that has no backup. This applies to a dealer CRM too. Before you let AI clean your customer database, export a copy.

Jason Lemkin post on X

In brief#

• Car Dealership Guy says U.S. full-size truck inventory grew by 29,027 vehicles in the quarter.
• Car Dealership Guy reports that Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa stays positive on U.S. EV demand but expects slower growth than in other regions.
• Electrek says Tesla is rolling out FSD v14 Lite to 2018–2021 Model S and Model X.
• Electrek reports that BYD will launch the updated Seagull next week.
• Michael Dunne notes that China's exports soar and its trade surplus is on track for a record.

Also on video#

• Car Dealership Guy, Daily Dealer Live. Two posts above come from this show.
• Automotive News, October 14 show. Fain wins a second UAW term, and Acura adds two crossovers.
• Grant Cardone, Pay Cash or Lease It. A short clip on whether to pay cash for a car or lease it.
• No Priors, The Slow Part of Chip Design. The Fractile CEO on why smart AI still waits for experiments.