Is AI Reshaping Car Buying and Dealership Jobs in the UK Motor Trade?

Artificial intelligence is already influencing which cars consumers buy, which dealerships they contact and how retailers respond to enquiries. From the way a buyer researches a model on Google to how a dealer selects stock at auction, AI is becoming a core part of the motor trade.

AI’s Influence on the Car Buying Journey

In the first part of the podcast series The AI Revolution: Will it change the motor trade forever?, expert Ben Harratt argues that "today there is almost certainly not a single new car being sold where AI hasn’t been used, at least in the discovery part for the customer or the research stage". He explains that, instead of reading dozens of web pages, many shoppers now converse with a frontier language model to "spec" their next vehicle.

Dealers are already noticing a rise in AI‑generated enquiries. These messages tend to follow a formulaic structure and contain a high level of detail. While some find this frustrating, the majority are responding with AI‑powered replies of their own, prompting the question of whether buyer and dealer bots will soon negotiate directly.

David Sykes from Autotrader predicts that AI will act on behalf of buyers to shortlist models and possibly specific vehicles, but he does not expect fully autonomous purchases in the immediate future.

Motorway chief Tom Leathes warns that a dealership’s visibility in large‑language‑model recommendations depends on online reputation. Poor reviews on Google, Trustpilot or even Reddit can push a dealer out of AI‑generated suggestion lists.

AI‑Driven Stock Selection and Auction Tools

Leathes also notes a growing trend of dealers using AI to support buying decisions at auction. Early adopters built bespoke tools, but the arrival of platforms such as Claude now enables a wider range of dealers to link auction listings with historic sales, margin and retail data.

The resulting AI‑powered recommendations can identify which vehicles fit a dealership’s stock profile, suggest a maximum bid price and explain the rationale behind each suggestion.

Potential Job Losses in Dealerships

Dealerkit co‑founder Oliver Green believes that administration roles are the most vulnerable as AI automates repetitive computer‑based tasks across accounts, advertising, marketing and lead handling. He likens the shift to early predictions about warehouse automation – once thought impossible, now proven efficient.

While Green does not expect every role to disappear, he expects a "large portion" of tasks to be automated. The upside for customers is faster, more consistent assistance.

Impel’s research shows that roughly 40% of calls to a typical dealership service department go unanswered – a clear opportunity for AI. Lead‑handling AI can manage inbound enquiries, schedule service appointments and even engage in phone conversations that feel empathetic and polite.

Leese, speaking for Impel, stresses that AI will only improve the customer experience if it can pull live data such as workshop bookings, service pricing, courtesy‑car availability and vehicle status. Without that integration, an AI voice assistant merely leaves a voicemail, offering no real advantage.

To date, Impel’s AI solutions have dealt with more than 600,000 leads and recorded over one million conversations, many of which customers do not realise are powered by AI.

What Dealers Need to Do Now

The podcast’s central message is that AI will not arrive as a single, dramatic overhaul. Instead, it is being woven into vehicle discovery, advertising, stock acquisition, lead management, telephone handling, workshop bookings and back‑office administration.

The strategic question for UK dealers is no longer "if" they should adopt AI, but "where" it is already influencing their business and whether their people, systems and data are ready for the next phase.

Part one of the series is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Part two, featuring dealers sharing real‑world AI implementations, will be released later this week.