AI Wins Start With The Basics

As the auto market settles into its first truly predictable stretch since before the pandemic, dealers face a new kind of challenge: operating with discipline again.

For nearly three years, the industry lived through an era of extreme conditions — razor-thin supply, soaring grosses, and buyers willing to accept long waits and higher prices. Many frontline employees built their careers in that environment. Few had to fight for every deal, nurture every lead, or fine-tune processes to protect margin.

Now, with inventory stabilizing and incentive activity rising, dealers are returning to something closer to a 2018–2019 landscape. That shift is forcing operators to confront uncomfortable questions:

Are our processes still sharp?
Do our teams know how to compete in a normal market?
Have we built the habits required to protect profitability when volume and margin get tight?

According to Todd Caputo, president of Todd Caputo Consulting, this next phase will reward the stores that tighten operations, raise accountability, and use AI to make the basics easier — not the stores that chase shiny tools or expect technology to fix weak fundamentals.

Below is how Caputo believes dealers should prepare for 2026, and how AI fits into the plan.

Start With a Hard Look at Reality

Caputo’s first recommendation isn’t glamorous: audit your operations from the ground up.

That begins with seeing your store the way a customer does.
Call the main line. Submit leads from several channels. Walk into sales and service unannounced. You’re looking for a simple truth — does the experience match what you think is happening?

In many stores, the answer is no.
Phones ring too long. Lead responses are inconsistent. Website forms break. Inventory doesn’t syndicate correctly. These are not strategic failures. They’re operational leaks, and they add up quickly.

This is where AI can save time. Instead of spending days reviewing calls and CRM activity, operators can let AI transcribe, categorize, and summarize large batches of information. It doesn’t replace judgment; it accelerates clarity. Once you understand where the breakdowns are, accountability becomes much easier.

Make Accountability a Daily Muscle

Caputo is blunt: accountability is the industry’s biggest weakness. Tools are not the problem. Leadership follow-through is.

Many stores believe processes are being followed when they aren’t. Managers assume checklists are complete, follow-ups are done, and calls are monitored. In reality, these responsibilities often slip, especially when leaders are stretched thin.

AI can help leaders stay ahead of that slippage.
It can summarize activity from the CRM, highlight missed follow-ups, and pull coaching moments from recorded calls. It can prepare daily snapshots that give managers a clean view of what actually happened, not what they hope happened.

But the manager still has to deliver the coaching, reinforce expectations, and make changes when necessary. AI removes the friction so leaders can spend more time leading — not hunting for data.

Treat Used Car Acquisition as a System, Not an Event

The used-car shortage did not magically resolve. Supply will remain constrained for at least the next 18–24 months, which puts pressure on dealers to acquire inventory creatively and consistently.

Caputo’s advice: do not miss trades, take service-lane acquisition seriously, and use your existing customer base more aggressively.

AI can amplify each of these strategies:

• It can scan ROs to identify vehicles likely to have equity or repeat service patterns.

• It can build lists of high-probability sellers and draft outreach messages.

• It can consolidate household data so you can make offers not just on the car in service, but on the second or third vehicle in the driveway.

This is not speculative AI — it’s practical AI used to scale the acquisition habits Caputo already recommends.

Modernize the Daily Work

For Caputo, AI isn’t the goal — better execution is. The smartest stores use AI to make everyday work easier, clearer, and more consistent.

In sales and BDC, AI can summarize lead histories, write follow-up drafts in the store’s voice, and analyze closing performance to spot training needs.
In service, it can help triage appointments, translate inspection notes into customer-friendly language, and surface patterns of declined work.
In marketing and data, it can clean customer lists, review vendor contracts, and help teams test website forms and phone numbers at scale.

None of this replaces people. It reduces the low-value work that keeps them from doing their best work.

Strengthen Recruiting and Keep Your Technicians

Every dealer says the same thing: “I need more techs.” Caputo emphasizes that the first priority is keeping the techs you already have — through communication, scheduling, recognition, and clear career paths.

From there, focus on growing from within and partnering with trade schools and community programs. AI supports this by helping shops manage recruiting pipelines, create training materials from OEM content, and draft better job postings that speak to the right candidate.

This is long-term work, but it pays dividends. No amount of AI will fix an empty bay.

A Practical AI Plan for 2026

Caputo expects 2026 to be a good year, not an easy one. Affordability will be tight. Margin pressure will continue. Expenses will stay high. Success will come from consistent execution, not lucky conditions.

A smart AI plan for a dealership should be simple:

1. Pick one workflow per department to improve.

2. Test AI tools that make that workflow faster and more reliable.

3. Track the results for 30–60 days.

4. If it works, keep going. If not, move on.

The stores that win in 2026 will not be “AI stores.”
They will be disciplined stores that use AI to sharpen fundamentals — better follow-up, better acquisition, better service flow, and better leadership habits.

In Caputo’s words, mediocrity should be feared. And for the first time in years, the difference between an average store and a great one will show quickly. AI won’t change that — it will reveal it.