How Car Dealerships Can Leverage AI to Increase Profit Margins in 2023

A.I. Is Becoming Essential to the Automotive Industry

Many industries, no matter how Hydra-headed the involved operations of any one business may be, have just one thing that could be considered the fulcrum of the entire industry, upon which the entire enterprise depends. In the automotive industry, the sale of a car would be the fulcrum, as it is the make-or-break activity that keeps car dealerships afloat.

To keep the competitive advantage in an ultracompetitive market, car dealerships are turning to A.I. to help them create more sales.

This developing trend occurs as the automotive industry is already undergoing a massive technological transformation already in the form of many automobile manufacturers “going electric”.

The Necessity of Purchasing an Automobile

Since for many people, the purchase of a vehicle is perhaps the most expensive purchase they make, unless they have a keen interest in owning a home. For this very reason, getting someone to buy a car in a market where there are always multiple car dealerships to go to and a ton of cars to choose from, can be quite a demanding task. Selling someone a 5-cent lemonade on the sidewalk is one thing, but it is no small feat to convince someone to make a purchase that will total, in most cases, thousands and thousands of dollars.

Of course, so many people need cars because of this highway-happy world that we live in. Car dealers, then, have the advantage of selling a product to a customer who considers its purchase a necessity for the modern world.

But car dealerships that skimp on implementing A.I. are destined to lose market share in the long run for the reason that the car dealerships that are performing best, are doing so because of the implementation of A.I. systems.

To find out how A.I. can transform your car dealership, read on for details about some select applications.

Pricing Tools for Your Inventory

One of the biggest challenges of running a car dealership is figuring out, as the immortal Bob Barker would tell us, whether the price is right for a Brand New (or used) Car.

With A.I., you can price your inventory pretty much perfectly thanks to pricing platforms that can quickly analyze real-time pricing trends in the automotive market.

By analyzing the same and comparable vehicles across important data points such as mileage on the odometer and price, A.I. will find subtle yet important variations in prices that influence effective inventory pricing.

With A.I., the business of pricing a vehicle becomes much more effective, and easy, so that you can maximize your profits based on the potential of your inventory.

24/7 Customer Assistance via Chatbots

Your sales team is valuable to your customers for multiple reasons, but they can only handle so much volume.

And, naturally, customers who are looking to learn more about your inventory past or before business hours are unlikely to get any human assistance.

However, they can certainly find A.I. assistance if you choose to implement a chatbot into your operations.

Whether through text, email, or on your website, customers can learn whatever information they want about a vehicle listed on your site.

Even during business hours, this can be helpful, because it can ensure that your sales team can focus on the customers who are on-site looking to purchase a vehicle, so that more conversions can occur.

Allowing A.I. to field the more information-heavy inquiries, then, creates more efficiency in your operations.

Creating Creative Copy for Your Site

New car on the lot? Using generative A.I. tools such as ChatGPT can be a great way to whip up some exciting copy to put on that car’s page on your website.

The thing to be wary of, however, is that many generative A.I. tools do not do good research, so if you are using ChatGPT to create copy about the latest vehicle you have available, you are going to need to fact check. This is not optional, unless you want customers calling in to complain that your website has misleading information about your vehicle.

The time-saving element is that the A.I. creates a basic draft for you to then alter and correct where needed, so that you can quickly update your website as inventory goes in and out.

A.I. Solutions for Your Car Dealership

Guardian Owl Digital is able to help car dealerships boost their sales and online marketing performance through the A.I. solutions that we offer to clients.

These solutions include chatbot and pricing solutions, among other offerings such as customer churn prediction (which can be good for trying to optimize your service plan packages).

Interested in bringing A.I. into your dealership? Reach out to Guardian Owl Digital so that you can GO AI today.