AI reminds me of when the Internet came to dealerships

[Alex Snyder]

There was a time when “selling cars on the internet” sounded half crazy and half impossible. The days when DealerRefresh was originally forged.

No playbooks. No OEM mandates. Just a handful of us building fresh websites, lead forms, and email replies together, trying to figure out what “online retail” could even look like.

If you were there, you remember how it felt:

• We weren’t following best practices yet; we were inventing them.
• Every new idea had a real chance to move the needle.
• The only real qualification was: were you willing to experiment?

That’s exactly what this moment with AI feels like.

Gen X was the first generation to really straddle analog and digital — research online, buy in-store was our bridge between the lot and the browser. Today, AI is giving us that same wide‑open frontier again before the processes calcify:

• Before OEM programs turn it into checkbox compliance.
• Before the vendors all sound the same.
• Before “this is how we’ve always done it” shows up to kill the fun.

Right now, we get to trailblaze again! We get to ask:

• What if a single operator plus AI could do the work of a full marketing department?
• What if most of the repetitive “internet manager” work was handled by systems, and humans focused on real conversations and real deals?
• What if our data finally acted like a concierge instead of a graveyard?

For those of us who were there when the internet hit dealerships, this is that feeling all over again. Only this time, we’ve got 20+ years of scar tissue and pattern recognition to bring to the party.

If you’re Gen X in this business, this is not the time to step back and let the next generation “own” AI.

This is our second chance at the good part—when nothing is set in stone, and the people willing to tinker get to define what “normal” becomes. Gen X is the prime generation for this because we know how the physical world works, we've been through so many technology evolutions already, and most of us are in positions to actually make change.

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

Funny, someone mentioned the other day that they had NO fears about AI shopping for customers. While I'm the last guy to follow fads or getting over-excited about something (and I'm still not COMPLETELY sold on AI), I made this exact point. Every so many years there is that one that that ACTUALLY becomes generational. I was asked for examples, which I thoughts was too easy and also ironic. The internet... cars...