For automotive retail IT leaders, a technology proposal earns its place when it supports a clear dealership outcome: more enquiries becoming appointments, smoother service bookings, or less manual work for sales and aftersales teams.

Getting there means assessing how automotive retail technology fits your customer journey, existing systems and capacity to deliver change across sites.

AI is making those decisions more immediate. Research published by Close Brothers Motor Finance in August 2026 found that 65% of surveyed UK motor dealerships were already using AI tools. ¹

The industry conversation is focusing on practical results too. Automotive Management LIVE’s 2026 agenda includes sessions on AI’s operational value and the relationship between aftersales data, customer retention and profitability.

Test the journey from enquiry to appointment

Consider an AI assistant handling an enquiry after the showroom closes. Capturing a name and number is one step. The evaluation should also establish whether the right dealership receives the enquiry, whether the context reaches the customer relationship management (CRM) system, and who owns the follow-up.

Ask the provider to demonstrate the full journey using a scenario from your group. Can the assistant book against live availability? What happens when the customer needs a person, changes site or asks something it cannot answer?

Separate features available today from configuration, third party connections or future development. Record any manual handovers that remain.

Make aftersales part of the same assessment

Take a service reminder as an example. The intended result might be a customer booking an appropriate service at a suitable workshop, with the booking recorded and confirmed.

Work backwards from that result. Which customer and service data identifies who should receive the reminder? Can the proposed tool access the relevant dealer management system (DMS) information and current workshop availability? Will it confirm a booking or pass a request to a service adviser?

Test changes, cancellations and exceptions. Check who maintains the data and connections, what access permissions are needed and how manufacturer requirements affect the workflow. This makes the work left with your aftersales team visible before you commit.

Agree how you will measure value

Choose measures with the people responsible for the outcome. Depending on the project, these could include:

• Sales: the proportion of eligible enquiries becoming appointments and the time to a useful first response.
• Aftersales: service requests becoming confirmed bookings and completed workshop visits.
• Team capacity: time spent on manual follow-up or repeated data entry.

Establish a baseline, agree a realistic target and review period, and name the data source and owner. Track completed customer outcomes alongside the activity reported by the tool.

If you pilot at one site, account for changes in demand, staffing and lead mix before attributing improvements to the technology. Agree with finance how the measured results translate into commercial benefit and compare that with the full cost.

Make cost, responsibility and capacity visible

Where telephony, connectivity, CRM and DMS providers are involved, agree who supplies each connection, who tests it and who investigates problems spanning services. An integration claim should explain what information moves between systems, in which direction and how quickly it needs to arrive.

Put those responsibilities alongside the full cost: implementation, licences, usage charges, integration, support and the work left with your team. Include data preparation, testing, training and ongoing administration.

Check the delivery plan against manufacturer-led changes, franchise additions and other projects. A suitable solution also needs a workable rollout.

Apply the same criteria to your current provider. The evidence may support renewing, changing the agreement or switching. Our guide to comparing technology suppliers explains how to assess different offers consistently.

What LSH Auto valued in its decision

LSH Auto’s communications review brings this wider picture together. The group describes working with multiple telecom providers and limited reporting. LSH Auto evaluated several options with Darwin before selecting 8×8.

In Darwin’s LSH Auto case study, CIO Chris Gensmantel explains how the work considered resources, requirements, timings and business strategy alongside other planned projects. He also describes the value of market knowledge that would have taken his team considerable time to research.

“They took a lot of pressure off us. We could just focus on our needs.”
Chris Gensmantel, CIO, LSH Auto

Build the evidence for your next decision

Darwin provides independent technology buying support. We work alongside your team to define requirements, research suitable providers, coordinate supplier discussions and compare technical, operational and commercial fit.

Our technology buying process brings the findings together into clear decision documentation, including costs, responsibilities and outstanding questions. Your team sets the priorities and makes the final choice.

Our support costs customers £0. We are paid by the selected provider after you choose to proceed; that payment is not added to your contract.

Join the conversation

We’re planning roundtables for automotive IT leaders in London and Birmingham to discuss how technology decisions can support dealership performance. Dates and venues will be confirmed. Register your interest with Darwin and tell us which city suits you.

You can also meet us at Automotive Management LIVE on 11 November 2026 at the NEC, Birmingham, on stand P82.