SAN FRANCISCO, September 18, 2026—Dealerships can track a form fill, phone call, or lead once it enters the CRM. What they cannot easily see is the customer who asks an AI assistant where to buy or service a vehicle and chooses another store before making contact.
This was a central takeaway from Spyne’s webinar, The Dealership Growth Playbook: Get Found, Capture More, Sell More, held on September 17. The discussion featured Adrian Marin, Founder of Storefront Audit, and David Purgason, Head of US Business at Spyne.
Marin, who spent 18 years in automotive retail, said AI assistants are becoming part of the research customers conduct before visiting a dealership website. Buyers can ask which dealership they should visit, where to service a particular brand, or which store offers the best experience. A dealership that is missing from those answers may never know the customer was in the market.
“You cannot track what you do not know,” said Adrian Marin. “You do not know how many people never put that inquiry in because you were never found or recommended by the AI engines.”
Marin demonstrated the gap using 15 questions similar to those a buyer could ask before choosing a dealership. One store appeared in 13 of the 15 responses but was the top recommendation in none. When he repeated the test 10 days later, the results had changed again. Marin said this is why dealerships should avoid treating one AI search as a fixed measure of visibility.
“If you have one reading, that is just a snapshot,” Marin said. “When you have multiple readings, this becomes a trajectory.”
The discussion also examined the information AI assistants use to form their answers. Across one set of 30 responses, Marin found 83 cited sources. The dealership’s own website was not among them. He also found examples of an incorrect phone number on a third-party listing, a service department carrying the manufacturer name without the dealership name, and review profiles that had not been claimed by the store.
Service deserves particular attention. In one test, an AI assistant continued to recommend a brand service center but no longer identified the dealership operating it.
“Customers are using these tools to get what they believe are qualified recommendations,” said David Purgason, Head of US Business at Spyne. “Dealers need to understand what the customer is seeing before that customer ever reaches the store.”
The conversation also connected AI discovery with what happens once a customer enters the CRM. Marin said older leads often lose momentum because ownership becomes unclear after the initial contact. For dealerships bringing AI into their operations, both stages matter. Teams need to understand how their stores are represented during customer research and have a consistent process for handling the opportunity once it reaches the dealership. As AI becomes part of how customers research dealerships, dealer leaders need visibility into a stage of the buying process that traditional lead reporting does not capture.
About Adrian Marin
Adrian Marin is the Founder of Storefront Audit and has spent approximately 18 years in the automotive industry. He began his career in vehicle sales and later held dealership leadership roles, including General Manager, across multiple U.S. markets. Through Storefront Audit, Marin works with businesses to understand how they appear in AI-generated recommendations and the information sources used in those responses.
About Spyne
Spyne is an AI-native automotive retail technology company founded by Sanjay Varnwal and Deepti Prasad. Spyne empowers automotive dealers with end-to-end digital solutions that eliminate inefficiencies, unlock more opportunities from their CRM, and accelerate vehicle sales. Today, Spyne supports over 3,600 dealerships worldwide in building AI-powered digital storefronts with premium merchandising and conversational agents that drive appointments through seamless lead handling and customer engagement. Serving dealerships and OEMs across the United States, Europe, EMEA, and APAC, Spyne is shaping the future of automotive retail with cutting-edge AI solutions. The company has raised over $25 million in funding from investors, including Vertex Ventures SEA and India, Accel, Storm Ventures, and Alteria Capital.
Visit: https://www.spyne.ai