December 01, 2025
Customer Experience As Critical As The Cars that Dealers Sell
CXM was investigating the changing face of car dealers in the run up to the Automotive Management Live (AM Live) event earlier this month.
During the show, which played host to car brands, dealer chains, technology providers and CX pros, a key session looked at the future of the forecourt customer experience.
During the event, the round table on “Customer Experience: Are You Getting It Right?” hosted by customer journey software provider, CitNOW and automotive and dealer management luminaries focused on CX being as, or more important, than the cars on the forecourt.
We Car(e) A Lot
Typical of the session was the insight that most of a retailer’s 350 sales people were new and in need of constant training. Explaining the brand and being knowledgeable about products are key, but doing so at scale is vital for dealers.
And there are huge benefits at stake. The panel noted that “Looking at the scale of the prize, when we get it right, it’s significant. If you look at some of management reporting, there are some nuggets. With one report seeing 80% of the value created in the top performing company came from their existing customers.”
“If you look at things a bit more pragmatically, there was a post on LinkedIn a few days ago from Airbnb. They’ve introduced real-time resolution of all of the issues at the point of booking. They reduced complaints by 25% and increased conversion by 18%. So the scale is significantly worth it.”
Another survey showed a six hour window for car dealers to respond to a customers’ query, otherwise they would most likely move to another seller.
You can pick up more insights from the replay, or AM Online’s coverage.
The Rise of AI on the Forecourt
With Chinese brands like BYD and Jaecoo increasing their profile in the UK, competition will only grow.
And as Chinese brands likely have a step-up on AI usage across business, the timeline for European and UK car sellers to develop their skills, boost their CX efforts and be ready to compete is a narrow one.
Chery (parent company of Jaecoo), recently launched an AI-powered robot assistant for a Shanghai showroom, and while that might be more for show than practical benefit, more pragmatic efforts will be a key part of their marketing and dealer operations.
