Over the past couple years I've been searching for a better solution to acquire inventory and haven't came across anything better than what already exists. I've also played around with the idea of AI in assisting the process and I've come to the conclusion that until a couple factors change, AI will not be a contributing factor.
CRs are way too inconsistent for an AI to generate a recon value based on number grade or announcements alone. This issues has been exacerbated over the past year with quality inventory becoming harder and harder to find, while sellers are pushing harder and harder for better grades.
Existing vehicle data isn't accurate enough for AI to formulate a price based on value-added options. VAauto is notoriously terrible for options not showing value vs the average. This is due to a variety of factors but my feeling is that most of them come down to improper data entry from dealers.
It all essentially comes down to garbage in, garbage out. My best guess is that AI could one day assist with this but not with our current data practices/options.
Carmax has used a machine learning algorithm for years to assist their buyers in sourcing inventory and it's quite effective. But it's effective because they use all of their own proprietary data (sales numbers, value added options, down to the trim and packages). One could build a model off of this but it would require TONS of clean data that I simply don't think exists outside of a company like Carmax.
