AI Is Coming for Car Salesmen
- Reference: 0181510840
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/04/10/0123204/ai-is-coming-for-car-salesmen
- Source link:
> An auto dealer software company is pitching AI-powered kiosks [1]designed to replace car salesmen on showroom floors . Automotive News [2]says the industry is "skeptical." But be honest -- would you really rather deal with the average car lot shark than a computer?
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> [3]Epikar , a South Korean company that cooks up digital management solutions for car dealers, has named its new AI invention the Pikar Genie. The idea is that customers can talk to this device, ask it product questions, and basically do everything you'd do with a car salesman except for actually closing the deal and signing paperwork. Renault, BMW, and Volvo are already using some Epikar products at South Korean dealerships, but this new customer-facing AI product is still in its infancy.
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> AN reported that "Renault assigns three salespeople to its Seoul showroom enhanced with Epikar automation compared with six for other Renault showrooms in South Korea," according to Epikar CEO Bosuk Han. The company's now looking to expand into America and is apparently already testing its products at at least one dealership stateside.
Car-dealer consultant Fleming Ford (Director of Strategic Growth at NCM Associates) said U.S. dealerships "aren't ready for fully automated showrooms."
"The showroom isn't just where you buy a car," Automotive News quoted him saying. "It's where you decide who to trust to help you to choose the right car."
[1] https://www.thedrive.com/news/ai-is-coming-for-car-salesmen-and-lets-be-real-it-makes-perfect-sense
[2] https://www.autonews.com/retail/an-ai-automating-dealership-showrooms-0409/
[3] https://www.kedglobal.com/korean-startups/newsView/ked202212150019
Neither (Score:4, Insightful)
"would you really rather deal with the average car lot shark than a computer". No, I'd rather by a car like I buy everything else, without any interaction with a salesman human or synthetic.
Re: (Score:2)
Right, and with fair pricing and disclosure. What is interesting here is that the solution to a terrible, exploitive buying experience is to make the seller even more sociopathic.
Re: (Score:1)
My sister married a car salesman. They really are all scum. She divorced him.
Re: (Score:2)
The people that aren't ethical enough to be used car salesmen become tech recruiters.
Re: Neither (Score:3)
You can pretty much do that now if you have an account at most credit unions. Most subscribe to some form of car-buying service like TrueCar as a free member benefit, which includes pulling free history reports on the vehicles you're looking at. The listed price is guaranteed at the dealership. I bought my last three cars that way and barring some major event it's the only way I ever will again.
That's just stupid (Score:2, Insightful)
Car salesmen work by making you think they're you buddy. It's a parasocial relationship. You can't do that with a kiosk.
Re: (Score:1)
You sound like a car salesman.
Training in sleaze (Score:2)
That's all we need -- AI using training sets of sleazy used car salespeople.
Re: (Score:2)
Those will be emphasized, though. This is what capitalism is. Everything is an opportunity for exploitation.
hahahhahahahha (Score:4, Funny)
"The showroom isn't just where you buy a car," Automotive News quoted him saying. "It's where you decide who to trust to help you to choose the right car."
Hajajhahaha they think we trust them
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing that I "trust" a car salesman to do is attempt to get me to sign up for useless add-ons like VIN etching and extended warranties that are basically pure profit for the dealership.
You can't even trust them to give you the best interest rate on your car loan if you need one, they farm that out to the banks that give them the best kickbacks.
Different dealers competing for your business? (Score:2)
Today I can ask a handful of dealers 'what's the best price you can give me for that car' and have them bid against each other. Different dealers' AIs will be talking to each other to ensure you pay the maximum.
AI is perfect for this! (Score:3)
It can hallucinate all it wants and nobody will be able to tell the difference.
Since AI is known to just "invent" facts, (Score:3)
...doesn't this open up the ultimate in bait and switch excuses? Oh sorry, that car doesn't actually exist. The AI just made it up. We'll see if we can get our provider to fix that but for now can we show you THIS car that's only $4000 more expensive?
How about? (Score:4, Informative)
How about I just log on to Ford or whoever's website and just order what I want? That sounds best to me.
Re: (Score:2)
I bought a used 2020 XC90 from CarMax last week. I did everything online from shipping it from Texas to Minnesota to financing the extended warranty. I walked in the door, gave them a cashier's check, and drove away within 10 minutes.
That's how it should be.
Re: (Score:2)
If you bought it from CarMax, you paid too much.
Re: (Score:2)
I had VERY SPECIFIC requirements and I wanted the extended warranty. I would have paid 2x at a dealer. I know what I was doing.
Profit motives and Sales (Score:4, Insightful)
The car dealer isn't looking to get you into the right car for you, they're looking to get you into the right for them. And they're a business, you expect that. The traditional issue is that car salesmen have zero shame about using every social engineering trick in the book to pressure you into spending more than you care to.
An AI kiosk won't be able to do that to anywhere near the same degree - the dealer will save on commissions but lose on sales.
how will AI do an 4 square worksheet on paper to c (Score:2)
how will AI do an 4 square worksheet on paper to confuse the buyer into paying more?
AI will never out perform a human car saleman (Score:2)
Hunger and greed cannot be underestimated. A car salesman will skirt and break the law if that is what it takes to get his commission.
An AI will lie to your face because it doesn't know any better. A car salesman will tell you one lie while agreeing to tell your wife a different lie.
"You can fit so many dystopias in this bad boy!" (Score:2)
AI is now taking the jobs of 100,000 falling pianos.
Useless profession these days anyway (Score:2)
Perhaps they had a role to play in the 80s. But now? Everyone just finds a car they want either online or by looking at other cars on the roads/driveways. Then we go online to use all the website configurators to get the right spec.
It's actually more efficient and peaceful than speaking to a sales rep who'd try to aggressively sell you stuff you don't need.
Interesting cut off point (Score:3)
"....except for closing the deal and signing the paperwork". In other words, the one step where it matters to the company that it got everything right. Previous steps where it only matters to you if it got things right? Pah.