- Survey of 500 US car dealers: all predict AI will sell cars by 2030, half say by 2027
- Dealers say AI’s biggest potential lies in aftersales, financing, and video production
- 57% predict better efficiency and 54% expect lower costs thanks to AI
- Full survey findings can be found in white paper ‘The 2030 Tipping Point’
23 September 2025 – Most US car dealers expect artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly impact their operations, with half predicting AI will cut jobs by 2030. By 2035, 87% believe AI will fully replace some human roles. Only 5% think AI will never replace dealership staff entirely.
The findings come from a nationwide survey of 500 US car dealers commissioned by dealer tech company Phyron. The results align with a McKinsey report predicting 400 to 800 million global jobs could be displaced by new technologies, including generative AI, within five years. Yet, workers handling complex or ‘messy’ tasks, i.e. those managing multiple information streams and dynamic situations, face little immediate threat from AI, according to Phyron CEO Mattias Kellquist.
“Current AI tools aren’t built to replace humans entirely,” says Kellquist. “AI still struggles with complex tasks needing real-time judgment and coordination between teams. We’re a few years from AI fully handling nuanced, high-pressure jobs common at dealerships. But AI can already deliver certain efficiencies and cost savings beyond human capabilities.”
US dealers predict AI will sell cars by 2027
Half of US car dealers expect AI to sell vehicles autonomously in less than three years, driven by recent developments in decision-making artificial intelligence, or ‘agentic AI’. All dealers surveyed anticipate AI-driven sales by 2030, though just half think AI will sell cars faster than humans.
“Will AI independently buy and sell cars by 2027? Theoretically, it could. But current systems, implementations, and data quality aren’t there yet,” says Kellquist. “In the meantime, we’ll increasingly work alongside AI at every stage, from vehicle acquisition to sales and aftersales service.”
Most dealers anticipate AI improving operations, with 57% predicting better efficiency and 54% expecting lower costs before 2030. Dealers see the greatest AI potential in aftersales services, e.g. tracking usage to send service reminders (38%), followed closely by financing, e.g. credit checks, finance terms, triggering e-signing (37%) and video production, e.g. automated video production based on brand guidelines (36%).
Save $400 per car with automated video
Video consistently outperforms other ad formats. Meta’s research shows campaigns using videos alongside images achieve 17% higher conversions than those using images alone, with data from Phyron customers returning an improvement of 50% on average, and in some cases, doubling the conversion rate.
Currently, US car dealers spend around 12 hours producing each car inventory video – from capturing content to final edits and uploading to social platforms. Phyron’s fully automated, AI-driven software creates high-quality inventory videos within minutes, requiring no human effort. Dealers handling video production internally could save at least $400 per car using AI automation (based on 12 hours at $33.5 per hour) – more if they currently outsource video production to a third party.
Phyron works with over 4,000 dealer customers across 35 countries. Since January 2021, these customers’ automated videos have generated more than 500 million views.
Full survey findings can be accessed by downloading the Phyron white paper ‘The 2030 Tipping Point: When US Dealers predict AI will lead car sales’.
