I’ve spent 40 years watching dealerships try to keep up with whatever technology arrives next. Right now, that’s AI, and there’s a lot of noise about it. But the conversation I find myself having more often isn’t “what can AI do today.” It’s a quieter one: what will a normal working day in a dealership look like in a few years?
Here’s what I think it looks like. Right now, most dealership technology exists in pieces one system for sales, another for the workshop, another for talking to customers, often barely speaking to each other. I think that changes. The tools start working together properly, AI sits underneath connecting the dots, and the dealership spends less time managing systems and more time managing outcomes.
That shift changes what people spend their day doing, and this is the part I find genuinely exciting. AI is good at the straightforward but resource-hungry work the volume. We’re already seeing automated workflows pick up inbound enquiries the moment they land, rather than sitting in a queue waiting for someone free. Self-service tools AI voice and chat, properly connected into dealer systems rather than bolted on the side can answer a customer’s routine question at 9pm on a Sunday, when nobody’s in the building to do it.
None of that replaces people. If anything, it protects them. When the basics are handled, your team gets their time back for the work only they can do the conversations that need real judgement, the moments a customer remembers. I don’t think customers end up happier because AI answered faster. I think they end up happier because the person helping them wasn’t rushed, distracted, or buried in admin that a machine could have handled.
Simon Verona is director, DMS Navigator
