In this transcribed episode of the Used Car Dealer Podcast, Zach talks with Jason Barrie, Chief Operating Officer of PromptPath and a longtime automotive retail technology leader, about how dealers can use AI to strengthen employees, improve customer conversations, and preserve the human element of buying a car.
Jason shares lessons from more than two decades across DealerTrack, Cox Automotive, Carmatic, and DAS Technology, including how the shift from faxed credit applications to real-time digital decisions shaped his view that the best dealership technology should make people more capable, efficient, and effective rather than simply replace them.
The conversation covers digital and AI fatigue, why promising dealership technology often fails when product, process, implementation, and employee buy-in are misaligned, and how conversation intelligence can help managers uncover blind spots in phone and in-person interactions. Jason also explains why dealers should start with their vision, customer experience, and processes before chasing the latest AI tool, and warns about the compliance risks of uploading sensitive customer information into consumer AI platforms.
Whether you’re an independent dealer with a small team or a larger operation trying to improve sales, BDC, and F&I performance, Jason’s perspective offers practical takeaways on using AI to coach rather than replace employees, create better handoffs, improve affordability conversations, and help dealership teams become more effective without losing the trust and human connection customers still expect.
Zach: All right, Zach here, and I’m back after a quick summer break. Today’s guest is Jason Barrie, the Chief Operating Officer of PromptPath and a longtime automotive retail technology leader whose career has included DealerTrack, Cox Automotive, Carmatic, and DAS Technology. Jason joins us to discuss how dealers can use AI to strengthen their employees, preserve the human element of buying a car, and turn everyday customer conversations into better operational and financial outcomes. Jason, thanks for joining me today on the podcast.
Jason: Yeah, thanks, Zach. Appreciate you having me.
Zach: You’ve spent two decades at the intersection of automotive retail and technology. Looking back at your time with DealerTrack, Cox, and others, what experiences most shaped your view of where technology genuinely helps a dealership and where it can possibly get in the way?
Jason: It’s funny. In 2005, I was talking with a friend and told him I had gotten a call from this little company called DealerTrack. They were trying to do something with credit applications, and at the time it didn’t sound very sexy or cool. He asked what they did, and I said dealers were using fax machines to send in credit applications and DealerTrack was using the internet to change that. We laughed about fax machines, but we know what happened from there. The F&I space transformed through efficiencies. Dealers began getting real-time decisions, creating efficiencies and automations, and the fax machine essentially died. What stayed with me was the passion and vision the leaders at DealerTrack had: technology should make people better in our industry. Automotive is a people industry. Technology continues to flood into automotive and other industries, but my core pillar is that technology should enable humans to do better, be more efficient, and create a better customer experience. That’s why we’re in this business, and that’s the passion I have for what we’re doing at PromptPath.
Zach: Very well said. What did your experience at Carmatic teach you about which parts of the transaction customers are comfortable completing digitally, and which moments still require a knowledgeable human being, whether that’s a salesperson or someone else, to be involved?
Jason: The experience at Carmatic was great. We built technology that allowed payments to be presented side by side across vehicles to create a really good customer buying experience, and we actually used that same technology to sell cars. It was my first experience actually selling cars. We had a team of concierges and delivery team members, and it was an amazing experience. Before that, I had really only been on the technology side, so I cut my teeth selling cars and got a much stronger perspective on the customer experience. Customers want an easy experience. We see consumers gravitating toward Carvana and other frictionless experiences because, at the end of the day, they don’t want to deal with the BS. They want confidence in the people they’re working with, confidence that the vehicle they’re buying is good quality, and confidence that they’re getting value for their money. Carmatic grounded me in the fact that if you are not upfront, open, honest, and direct with consumers, no matter how many technology touchpoints you have, you’re going to fail as a business.
Zach: When promising dealership technology fails to gain traction, is the problem usually the product, the implementation, the store’s process, employee buy-in, or something else?
Jason: All of the above. When anything succeeds or fails, it’s usually not one variable; it’s multiple variables. Anyone listening who retails cars knows you can have bad months even though the same people are sitting in the seats and the same technologies are supporting you. Sometimes it’s hard to identify exactly where the failure is. Is the website working? Is the CRM working? Is the compliance tool working? Is the chat tool working? Pick your poison. For a retailer or dealer principal, it’s important to think through the investment before you make it. What will the return on investment be? How many more vehicles can it help you sell? What happens to PVR, front-end and back-end profit, and efficiency? Those variables matter both when deciding whether to buy the technology and when evaluating whether it’s actually working after implementation.
Zach: Along that same wavelength, dealers are being presented with more and more AI products, or products that say they have AI. Customers can also increasingly recognize when an interaction feels automated rather than personal. How do you define AI fatigue, and what warning signs should dealers watch for in the customer experience?
Jason: AI fatigue is a good term. I think of it more broadly as digital fatigue. A car is the second most expensive asset most consumers are going to buy, and they want trust and confidence that they’re working with a dealer who is open, honest, and direct. Especially after COVID, consumers are armed with so much information because digital retailing exploded. They can get payments, submit credit applications, and research almost everything online. A dealer friend of mine in the Dallas area made a great observation: before COVID, customers called because they were seeking information. After COVID, customers call to test, push, and challenge the dealership because they already have so much information. Sometimes they know the differences between model years, packages, CPO and used vehicles better than the salesperson, and the salesperson starts tripping over themselves. At the same time, there is digital fatigue on the dealership side too. Go into an average dealership and employees may have six, seven, eight, or nine tabs open: inventory management, credit tools, CRM, chat, and more. Their brains are overloaded. So in a world of too much technology, AI, and digital noise, the question becomes: how can a dealer use AI to actually create a better customer experience?
Zach: PromptPath says its mission is to improve the performance of a dealership employee rather than simply replace them. Which tasks should AI take off an employee’s plate, and which parts of the customer relationship should remain firmly human-led?
Jason: At PromptPath, we’re very focused on the conversation: using AI to support and enable a salesperson, F&I manager or director, or BDC employee to create a better customer experience. Our philosophy is to use AI to support and make people better rather than replace them. There are a lot of great technologies in the industry creating good customer experiences, but we believe dealership personnel remain incredibly important in that process. Think about a basic inbound call: ‘Thank you for calling Barry’s Motors. This is Jason. How can I help you?’ The customer says they’re interested in a third-row SUV and asks what you have. Traditionally, the salesperson has to pull up the website, inventory, and other information to answer. Our approach is to make that information succinct and simple for the frontline employee so they can answer effectively in an open, honest, and direct way. At the same time, the dealer gets visibility into what’s happening in the conversation: whether the team is asking the right questions, engaging effectively, creating a good experience, asking for the appointment, and getting the customer into the dealership. That’s where we see AI being highly effective, both on the phone and in person.
Zach: Many independent dealers operate with small teams. They may not have a formal BDC or a large technology budget. What would be the best first use case for a dealer like that, and how much process discipline needs to be in place before technology can help?
Jason: People, process, and technology go hand in hand. I’ve talked with used-car dealers starting new stores and asking where to begin. Before you hire a single person, you need to think about your vision and mission. What are you trying to accomplish? What customer experience are you trying to deliver? Are you trying to sell a car online, over the phone, in the store, or through a combination of all three? Once you outline that, define the ideal procedures that get you there. What should the customer experience look like? What is the average time of sale? What steps do you expect to happen? Then technology supports that process. Too often dealers jump at technology because it’s a shiny object: ‘I need that AI thing.’ I pause them and ask why. What is the true intent? What are you trying to achieve? How will you measure success? How will it help you sell more cars? There are a lot of shiny new technologies and big ROI promises right now, but the important question is how the technology fits into your process.
Zach: Recent research shows buyers generally don’t want an entirely online or entirely in-person transaction. They prefer a connected or omnichannel experience that moves between digital tools and dealership employees. How should dealers decide when to automate, when to assist an employee, and when to get technology out of the way?
Jason: I’ll answer through the lens of PromptPath. One of the powerful things about our platform is that dealers gain intelligence around blind spots they didn’t know they had. Imagine a dealership receiving 100 inbound calls a day and making 300 outbound calls. Managers cannot sit over every employee 24/7 listening for whether they introduce themselves by name, say the dealership name, communicate the dealership’s value, ask about a trade, and consistently cover the things that matter. We provide that insight in real time. When a salesperson or BDC employee answers or makes a call, they can use prompts to support a better conversation. We’ve essentially gamified the conversation so the frontline person can hit the important prompts the dealer expects—not follow a rigid script, because scripts don’t work, but cover the important conversational points. Then the manager can see something like, ‘Why are only 60% of my salespeople introducing themselves and asking for the customer’s name?’ That sounds basic, but having the data lets you train the team, reinforce the basics, and build from there. When it comes to deciding what to automate or assist, it comes back to the basics: arm your team with tools that make them more effective. Don’t jump immediately to replacing people because they aren’t doing a good job. First look inward and ask whether you’ve actually equipped them to do a better job.
Zach: Dealers are becoming more skeptical of generic AI and are asking for tools that understand the automotive ecosystem, inventory, and dealership data. What does an automotive-specific AI system need to understand before its recommendations become genuinely useful rather than just impressive in a demo?
Jason: First, a public service announcement: if you’re a dealer and you’re allowing people to use ChatGPT, Grok, Llama, Gemini, Claude, or any similar consumer AI tool—especially a free version—and they’re uploading customer lists, credit applications, or other sensitive information for analysis, stop. You are creating a compliance risk and putting your dealership at risk. There’s a reason technology companies focused on automotive put compliance guardrails and data-management controls around these systems. Lean on trusted partners that understand those complexities. I’ve talked to dealers who tell me they’re analyzing the last 30 days of credit applications in a general AI tool, and my immediate reaction is: please delete that right now. Beyond compliance, finding the right AI partner still starts with your vision, your process, and supporting your people. Every dealer has phone conversations and some form of process, documented or not. As a partner, our job is to identify the gaps in that process and create solutions that improve the phone conversation as a whole.
Zach: With affordability and monthly-payment pressure continuing to shape purchasing decisions, where can conversation intelligence improve the handoff among sales, F&I, and lenders without creating compliance problems or making promises the dealership cannot keep?
Jason: Affordability is very real right now. Rates are up and vehicle prices are higher across both used and new cars. Through our technology and through my broader experience, we see that when sales and F&I communicate effectively, there is a higher probability of increasing product per sale and PVR. I was recently at a dealer partner in Orlando reviewing calls, and we found a great example of a missed opportunity. A customer was buying a car for her daughter, who was going to the University of Florida and would have about a three-hour drive. There was a clear opportunity for products such as tire-and-wheel protection, but the dealership didn’t capitalize on the information that had already come up in the sales conversation. We trained the dealer to have the F&I team continue communicating with sales while also using insights from PromptPath to connect those dots. Instead of entering the F&I interview cold, the manager can immediately understand the context: ‘Mary, I’m excited for you and your daughter Janice going to the University of Florida. Congratulations. Let’s talk about the vehicle and go through your options.’ Those connection points improve the handoff, product penetration, and PVR. It also ties directly back to affordability. Conversation intelligence can identify the consumer’s concerns, sentiment, and sensitivity, and carry those insights into the next part of the process. In F&I, that can mean discussing alternative term options or down-payment options. Those small details often get lost, but they are captured in the conversation and can be leveraged throughout the transaction.
Zach: For the last part of the podcast, let’s do a rapid-fire round. First question: what is one dealership conversation that should never be fully automated?
Jason: From my point of view, F&I. There is a lot of automation going into it, but this is one of the most emotional components of the purchase for the consumer: affordability, financing, cost, and protection. Technology should enable the human at that point, not replace the human.
Zach: What is one customer question that dealership employees consistently handle poorly?
Jason: I’ll stay with the theme: ‘What is my real payment going to be? What is this actually going to cost me every month?’ Too often people are afraid to talk about numbers. They dodge the question because it’s hard, complicated, and has a lot of variables, then they kick the can to a manager or someone else instead of having the conversation effectively.
Zach: Three years from now, will the best salespeople outperform everyone else because they use AI, or because they know when not to use it?
Jason: That’s a good question. I was in Tennessee last month and a salesperson using our tool made a comment that really stuck with me. He said, ‘I know a lot of people are paranoid that AI is going to take over jobs. The way I look at it, AI isn’t going to take my job. Someone who uses AI could take my job.’ It comes back to self-education. I don’t care if you’ve been in the industry for 40 years or you’re 20 years old and just getting started. If you’re not at least baseline-aware of the tools and capabilities artificial intelligence provides, you’re putting yourself at a major disadvantage. You shouldn’t necessarily worry that AI will simply replace your job one day. The bigger risk is the person sitting next to you who becomes highly proficient at using AI to make themselves better.
Zach: Definitely agree on that one. Jason, it’s been awesome having you on the podcast. I’ve learned a lot. For anyone wanting to get in contact with PromptPath or with you, how can they do that?
Jason: Go to promptpath.ai. We’d be honored to have a conversation about how our technology supports dealers in phone conversations, coaching, and using data to identify blind spots in the process. Zach, I really appreciate the time here. Thank you.
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