Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast Recap—a rundown of key lessons from top operators, founders, and execs shaping the future of auto retail.
Today’s guests: Roman Spriggs, GM of All Things Automotive, and Ross Tinkham, VP of Automotive at Podium.
We discuss the group’s warning that dealers who fail to adopt AI now risk being "silently fired" by consumers with modern expectations.
Independent dealers are trailing franchise stores on AI adoption by about a year.
Ross Tinkham attributes the gap less to budget and more to the personal stakes involved in running a smaller operation where one bad customer interaction reflects directly on the owner.
"When you're running a smaller store and it's all on you and your own reputation, there's a lot of hesitancy. If we hire this AI agent and it messes up with a customer, that reflects poorly on me as a business owner." — Ross Tinkham
But he also points out that independent dealers are often running so thin on staff that AI fills a real gap once that hesitancy is worked through.
For smaller stores, an AI agent can be a smarter investment than adding another salesperson.
When Roman Spriggs was weighing whether to hire another person or try an AI agent, he looked at it practically. The cost of the agent was comparable to bringing on a salesperson, but without the turnover risk or the inconsistency in follow-up.
"I looked at it as an employee that I can tell exactly what to do. It's going to do it. It's not going to talk back. I don't have to write it up." — Roman Spriggs
From there, he pitched the idea to his dealer principal and got the green light.
When Roman launched the AI agent, it delivered more than he expected on the very first night.
Roman's Podium rep spent about an hour walking him through the product, which handles inbound leads, customer follow-up, and appointment setting. Roman came in the next morning to find the agent had already booked an appointment overnight on its own, and the customer showed.
"I have gotten more than he demoed. I can tell you that." — Roman Spriggs
That first night set the tone for how the team came to see it.
Customization is what makes an AI agent feel like your store rather than a generic service.
Ross argues that the ability to shape tone, voice, and language is what allows a smaller dealer to maintain the personal feel that differentiates them from larger stores.
"That goes much further than how you schedule a test drive or following process steps, but it's tone, it's voice, it's what language you would like it to use to interact with your customers." — Ross Tinkham
For independent dealers who compete on relationships, that flexibility is what makes the technology feel like theirs.
Presented by:
1. Podium - The AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. Podium helps dealers consolidate sales, service, messaging, and voice into one connected system that actually runs the work. If your AI isn’t driving real outcomes, it’s time to take a closer look @ podium.com/car-dealership-guy.
The AI agent handles the front end of customer conversations and knows when to hand off.
Alex, the name Roman gave his AI agent after his son, responds to leads, answers availability questions, and books appointments. When a conversation moves into negotiation or something outside its scope, it flags Roman directly rather than pushing through.
"If the AI needs assistance with anything on a customer question or negotiating or things like that, it knows its bounds." — Roman Spriggs
Having those guardrails, Spriggs says, is key for a store where every interaction carries the owner's reputation behind it.
AI gave Roman’s team something to rally around.
Rather than feeling threatened, the three salespeople and the sales manager at All Things Auto became engaged with what the agent was doing. They started checking in on it first thing every morning.
"Salespeople really do want to work. What it did was it helped me motivate that sales floor and we had two record months in January and February." — Roman Spriggs
Roman says the energy on the floor shifted in a way that task management and follow-up nagging never could.
Dealers who plug in AI and walk away are the ones who say it doesn't work.
Roman and Ross both stress that the first 30 to 60 days require real attention. Giving the agent feedback, correcting responses, and letting it learn the store's voice is what makes it actually stick.
"If you don't train it, you don't spend the time working with it, giving it thumbs up, thumbs down, answering questions, it's not going to develop into part of the culture." — Roman Spriggs
Roman treated it like a new hire, which is exactly how Ross says it should be approached.
Consumers are starting to use AI to shop multiple dealerships at the same time.
Ross sees a near-term shift in how buyers will use AI on their end, compressing the research and shopping process in a way that will send more leads to more dealers all at once.
"We as consumers will use AI to go source a car. That will let me shop 100 dealerships simultaneously. Most dealers are going to probably see lead volume go up, but there's going to be a whole lot more to sift through." — Ross Tinkham
Dealers who are not already set up to respond at speed and scale will struggle to compete for that attention.
Dealers who tried AI early and had a bad experience are often the hardest to bring back.
Ross says the two most common buyers Podium encounters are dealers who haven't tried AI yet and dealers who have tried it and walked away frustrated. The second group is harder to work with because the skepticism is earned.
"I think the level of comfort in the industry of like AI is at a level where, if you're working with the right provider, and you onboard it well, and you integrate it into your processes and into your people, you're in a pretty good spot to have success early on." — Ross Tinkham
The issue is that most bad experiences trace back to the same place: a vendor who oversold the product, underdelivered on support, and left the dealer to figure out the gaps on their own.
The takeaway: Vet the company as seriously as the technology before signing anything.
Dealers who are still waiting are not in a neutral position.
Roman is direct about where things stand heading into the 2026 selling season. The dealers who have been running AI for months already have a head start that is only growing.
"If you don't have it now, you're behind. That's where it's at. Two years from now, I don't even want to know." — Roman Spriggs
The question at this point is not whether to adopt AI but how much ground is worth giving up before making the move.
