As we step into 2026, the market is shifting. Growth will no longer come from selling more cars. It will come from selling smarter.
With new vehicle sales projected to decline and affordability pressures pushing shoppers down-market, every conversation, every follow-up, and every offer matters more. The cost of missed follow-up, delayed response, or a disconnected customer experience is higher than it has ever been. That pressure is exposing the limits of how dealerships have traditionally operated—especially when it comes to CRM. The dealers who succeed will be the ones who can engage customers intelligently, personally, and at exactly the right moment.
The Path Forward
Consumers are more price sensitive, more informed, and more deliberate than ever before. At the same time, used-vehicle prices are projected to rise, while lower-priced inventory remains difficult to source. Dealers are being asked to acquire more precisely—finding the right vehicles, at the right price, for buyers who are increasingly selective.
Layer in margin pressure—slower retail turnover, rising inventory levels, and higher holding costs—and the challenge becomes even clearer. Operational efficiency is no longer optional. It’s essential.
In this environment, success depends on selling smarter, which starts with precision. Dealers need to know who the customer is, where they are in the buyer’s journey, and when to engage. Disconnected systems, manual work, and incomplete data make that nearly impossible—and increasingly expensive.
A Unified View of the Customer is Essential
Smarter selling is driven by one foundational requirement: a single, connected view of the customer.
Operational excellence now starts with data quality. When records are clean, connected, and up to date, every downstream process—marketing, sales, service, F&I, and acquisition—sharpens. When they aren’t, automation becomes useless noise.
A modern, customer data platform-powered CRM continuously unifies and cleanses customer data in real time, resolving identities across channels and rooftops, and protecting that information with robust governance. It also bakes in practical safeguards dealers need: suppressing obvious junk entries, purging invalid emails and numbers, deduplicating and auto-merging records, validating against national change-of-address and do not call sources, and maintaining a complete audit trail. With this foundation, a service advisor can pull up a record that reliably shows verified ownership, equity position, and recent browsing signals. A business development center representative (BDC rep) can call numbers that actually connect, and a marketing manager can launch a campaign confident that consent histories and deliverability rules are already in sync.
Just as important, this single view should travel with the customer. When a shopper researches valuations on third party sites, compares vehicles on marketplaces, or configures payments on a dealership website, those signals should inform the very next touch—without swivel-chairing between systems or rekeying the same details.
Where AI Fits In
AI is accelerating CRM processes, but its value isn’t in novelty. It’s in execution.
The most effective uses of AI help teams respond faster, follow up more consistently, and reduce manual work that slows them down. That includes managing inbound inquiries, prioritizing outreach, and supporting acquisition and service workflows.
AI works best when it’s embedded directly into existing processes and paired with clean, unified data. It’s not about replacing people. It’s about helping them focus on higher-value interactions and making better decisions under pressure.
And, trust always matters. Dealers will favor AI that operates with transparency and clear guardrails—enhancing customer relationships rather than undermining them.
Integration Becomes a Competitive Requirement
As dealerships add more systems to manage inventory, acquisition, sales, service, and marketing, complexity can quickly erode efficiency and detract from smarter selling. In 2026, integration will matter more than individual features.
Dealers will increasingly favor CRM strategies that unify their ecosystem, eliminate silos, and allow intelligence to flow across departments. When systems work together, insights become actionable, workflows become simpler, and execution becomes more consistent.
This is especially critical as customer journeys span multiple channels. Preserving context, preferences and progress is no longer optional. Customers shouldn’t have to start over when they arrive at the dealership, and teams shouldn’t have to reconstruct the journey from scratch.
Dealer Focus for 2026
The evolution of CRM reflects a broader shift in dealership strategy. In a market shaped by affordability challenges, acquisition complexity, and margin pressure, technology must do more than support activity—it must drive results.
As dealers strategize for the year, the most important business questions aren’t about adding more tools. They’re about whether their CRM strategy enables smarter selling, cleaner data, and more connected execution across the dealership.
Dealers who invest in intelligence, integration, and automation—grounded in a unified view of the customer—will be better positioned to protect margins, elevate every interaction, and adapt as market conditions continue to evolve.
Selling smarter isn’t a trend for 2026. It’s the requirement for success.
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Jade Terreberry is the Senior Director of Strategic Planning and host of the hit podcast For the Road Forward for