One dealer told Glenn Pasch he’d been testing AI for about a year and planning how his team might use it. Then he discovered his staff was already using it to communicate with customers. He thought nobody was using AI. Everybody was.
The question is no longer whether your team is using AI. It’s whether anyone is managing how they use it.
That story set the tone for our conversation with Pasch on today’s Automotive State of the Union. As CEO of PCG Digital, he just released new research from Pasch Group called AI and Dealership Staff: Finding the Right Balance.
What the Pasch Group AI Research Found
The report, produced in collaboration with Impel, is built on interviews with dealership leaders using AI in sales and service between June and August 2026. Pasch says most AI coverage stays at the level of data and technology. He wanted to ask dealers directly what worked, what didn’t, and why.
A few of the findings Pasch Group has shared publicly:
The gap is management, not technology. One store that redesigned its workflows around AI lifted contact rates 19%. Other stores in the same group, on the same system, saw 3%.
AI owns the first text and email, and people own the call. Dealers who held that line consistently saw the best results.
Every lasting rollout had a named Champion, one person responsible for coaching the AI and keeping the team on board.
No dealer cut staff to make room for AI. Headcount changed only through attrition.
On that last point, Pasch was emphatic. “Not one person fired anyone,” he said. Instead, AI took over the routine follow-up that teams never had time for, freeing people to spend more time with customers who were actually engaged.
“We don’t do that with people. We don’t just say, ‘Go talk to customers. You’ll figure it out.’” A dealer Pasch interviewed on why AI needs ongoing coaching
Why AI Rollouts Expose Every Dealership Process Gap
What struck us most is how familiar these lessons are. Dealers have bought plenty of technology that never delivered because nobody planned the rollout or owned the results. AI just makes those gaps visible faster, because it’s talking to customers at a pace no team can match.
Get the process right for AI, and you’ve built a playbook for implementing almost anything. That’s why this report is worth your time even if your store hasn’t launched an AI tool yet.
AI won’t fix a broken process. It will just show your customers where the cracks are.
The full report includes practical tools dealers can use right away. Download it free from Pasch Group, and hear our full conversation with Glenn on today’s episode of the Automotive State of the Union.
