Automotive News’ Retail Technology report highlights the AI actually delivering results in auto retail, with Trade Agent AI featured as an example of what proven looks like.
Automotive News’ September Retail Technology report took on the question running through the whole industry right now: is AI actually working for dealers? For most tools, not yet. Against that backdrop, Trade Agent AI, inride’s autonomous used car acquisition platform, was featured as one of the tools already producing results in stores today.
Built to Solve a Real Acquisition Problem
The story starts where the best dealership technology always does, with a real problem on a real store. A Koons Motors Ford store was spending roughly $15,000 a month on direct mail to acquire used vehicles from past buyers, and getting almost nothing back. So inride built the fix. Trade Agent AI came out of a real acquisition problem on a real dealership, proven in live stores before it ever reached the market. That is the difference.
How Trade Agent AI Works
Trade Agent AI is an autonomous agent that texts a dealer’s existing customers, delivers real-time vehicle values, and books warm trade-in appointments that hand off to the sales team to close. The purpose is simple and it never changes: get more trade-ins.
Proven Results Across 75+ Rooftops
The results are why Automotive News took notice. Trade Agent AI now runs on more than 75 rooftops, re-engaging past buyers at response rates of 20 to 32 percent, well above the 3 to 6 percent norm for conquest outreach, at roughly a fifth of the cost of the direct mail it replaces.
Closing the Gap Between AI Promise and Proof
The report frames all of this against a gap running through the whole industry. Dealers expected AI to move their numbers, and most are still waiting. Trade Agent AI was built to close that gap by doing one job exceptionally well: acquiring used cars directly from the customers a dealer already has.
“The results that we’re getting are phenomenal. It’s a no-brainer.” — Alex Perdikis, owner, Koons Motors
Read the full feature in Automotive News at autonews.com. To see how Trade Agent AI acquires used cars directly from your existing customers, book a demo at inride.ai/get-started.
