AEO and GEO for car dealers

How car buyers use ChatGPT and other AI tools to shop, and what it means for your store

By , Co-founder, AutoLander · Updated

Short answer

How car buyers use ChatGPT and other AI tools depends on the study you read, but each major survey finds a real share of shoppers already doing it: Cox Automotive found 19% of recent buyers used AI sites or AI overviews, Cars.com found 44% of its respondents had used AI car search tools, and CarGurus found 26% of recent buyers and sellers already use AI. Shoppers use it to compare models, estimate prices and check reliability, many want it to summarize dealership reviews, and Cox found a majority still completed every step at the dealership. For a store, what AI can read about you on your website, your Business Profile and the review sites can shape who makes the shortlist.

How many car buyers use AI to shop?

It depends on the study and on how each one defines AI use. Cox Automotive found 19% of all recent vehicle buyers and 25% of new-vehicle buyers used AI websites or AI-generated overviews while shopping. Cars.com found 44% of its survey respondents had used AI car search tools, and CarGurus found 26% already use AI.

The three numbers measure different things, so read them one at a time and never add them together. Cox Automotive’s 2025 Car Buyer Journey Study covered people who bought a vehicle in the previous 12 months, surveyed in fall 2025, and counted anyone who used an AI website such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, or an AI-generated overview such as Google’s. Among used-vehicle buyers the share was 17%. It was the first year Cox tracked AI at all, and its study summary puts the sample at 2,344 buyers (1,574 new and 770 used), surveyed online from August 6 to September 5, 2025.

The Cars.com survey asked 936 people between November 4 and 10, 2025, and 44% had used AI-powered car search tools. Among those AI users, 97% said AI will affect their purchase decisions, a figure that describes AI users only and never all shoppers. CarGurus’ 2025 consumer study of 3,030 people who bought or sold a vehicle in the previous four months found 26% already use AI and 80% are open to it.

Every one of these studies finds a real share of buyers asking an AI tool something before they buy. Helping AI tools find, trust and name your store is the job of AEO and GEO for car dealers: answer engine optimization shapes your pages so an assistant can lift a direct answer, and generative engine optimization builds the consistent facts and reputation that help it decide to name you.

Which AI tools do shoppers use?

ChatGPT leads by a wide margin. In Pew Research Center’s February 2026 survey of US adults, 44% said they use ChatGPT, 24% Gemini, 17% Microsoft Copilot and 6% Claude. For local business recommendations specifically, BrightLocal found 31% of consumers used ChatGPT and 23% used Google AI Mode.

None of these surveys splits out car shoppers, so treat them as a guide to which assistants matter most, not as a car-market share. Pew’s survey of 5,119 US adults, taken February 17 to 23, 2026, also found about half of adults (49%) use AI chatbots, and the most common use was searching for information. BrightLocal’s follow-up analysis adds the local angle: among AI users, 63% trust AI recommendations, yet 97% sometimes double-check them against real reviews. For a dealer, the AI answer and the review profile work as one first impression.

Google’s AI features count too. Cox included AI-generated overviews like Google’s in its 19%, so watch Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode alongside ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot.

How do car buyers use ChatGPT and other AI tools while they shop?

Mostly for research and comparison. Cars.com found shoppers most often used AI to identify and compare models, find price estimates and answer reliability questions. CarGurus found the uses people most wanted were comparing vehicles, finding listings and summarizing reviews of cars and of dealerships. Each use points at a page or profile your store controls.

  • Comparing models. Cars.com lists identifying and comparing models among the most common uses, and 44% of respondents in CarGurus’ study wanted AI to compare vehicles. Your answer lives in model comparison content and in vehicle pages that list trims, packages and features as text.
  • Estimating a fair price. Price estimates were another top use in the Cars.com survey. Your answer lives on the vehicle detail page (VDP): the price, the mileage and the VIN written as plain text an assistant can read.
  • Answering reliability questions. A service department that publishes plain answers about the maintenance it sees on the brands it sells gives an assistant local material to work with.
  • Finding listings. In the CarGurus study, 40% wanted AI to find listings for them. That only works for your store if your inventory is readable on your own site and in the feeds you send to marketplaces.
  • Summarizing dealership reviews. CarGurus found 36% wanted AI to summarize reviews of dealerships, and 39% reviews of cars. Your answer lives in your Google Business Profile, DealerRater and the other review sites, and in how you reply.
  • Turning a question into a search. In the Cars.com survey, 73% of AI users said it saves time to have AI turn a conversational question into targeted search results.

Where does AI fit in the buying journey?

Near the start, and as preparation for the store visit. Cox Automotive says shoppers now often begin with a question to an AI tool instead of a marketplace or dealer site, and use AI to research, compare and prepare for dealership conversations rather than to avoid the dealership. Only a small share buy entirely online.

The wider journey explains why. In Cox’s Car Buyer Journey release, 71% of buyers started with an open mind, unsure which vehicle they would buy, and just 29% were certain at the start, down from 37% in 2020. An open-minded shopper asks open questions, such as which midsize SUV fits three car seats or which store nearby treats people well, and an AI tool answers those with a short list.

The same release found 53% of buyers completed all steps at the dealership and only 7% bought entirely online, while 63% said the ideal experience mixes online and in-person steps. Cox’s article on AI and vehicle discovery draws the dealer conclusion: shoppers use AI to arrive prepared, not to avoid the store. If your store is missing from the AI shortlist, your sales process may never get its turn with that buyer.

Will more buyers use AI next time?

Most shoppers say they will. Cox Automotive’s AI in Auto Retail Tracker found 63% of shoppers say they will definitely or probably use AI on their next vehicle purchase, while only 29% of dealers have started adjusting to AI-powered search. That gap between shopper intent and dealer readiness is the opening.

The tracker surveyed franchise and independent dealers and consumers planning to buy within 12 months: 504 dealers and 1,505 consumers in the first quarter of 2026, and 483 dealers and 1,502 consumers in the second. A separate Cox article citing the same tracker put the share of shoppers planning to use AI at 61%, likely from a different survey wave, so read either figure with its source.

Looking further out, Cox’s Car Buyer Journey release reports 83% of consumers say AI will affect how they buy vehicles within 10 years. No one can say how fast that happens in your market, and no one can promise you a share of it.

What does this mean for a dealership?

Cox Automotive’s own advice to dealers comes down to three jobs: give AI richer inventory data than year, make and model, keep your business facts the same everywhere, and publish content that answers the questions shoppers ask. None of the three needs a new tool. All three need someone to own them every month.

  • Richer inventory data. Cox recommends going past year, make and model to features, packages, fuel economy, safety tech, seating and towing. On your VDPs that means the equipment list, the price, the mileage and the full VIN as text on the page, never only inside a photo or a script that loads later.
  • The same facts everywhere. Cox also tells dealers to keep business information, hours, locations and services consistent across the web. An assistant that finds two phone numbers and three sets of hours has less reason to be sure it is looking at one store.
  • Content that answers real questions. Cox lists comparisons, trade-in guidance, financing FAQs, family vehicle picks and EV ownership as topics worth publishing. Short, direct answer pages on your own site give an assistant something specific to quote.
  • Know how the assistants choose. Each one finds and weighs sources its own way. Start with how ChatGPT recommends dealerships, since ChatGPT is the most-used assistant in Pew’s survey.

What should a dealer do first?

Start by looking, then fix what blocks AI from reading your store, then fix the facts it reads. Much of this is ordinary housekeeping seen from an assistant’s point of view, and the order below shows you where the real gaps are before you spend anything on outside help.

  1. Ask the questions your buyers askOpen ChatGPT and Claude with web search on and ask three or four questions a local buyer would ask, each naming your city. Note who gets named and which sources get cited, and ask each one more than once, because answers change from run to run.
  2. Make sure AI crawlers can get inYour robots.txt file and the security service in front of your website decide whether AI search crawlers can read your pages at all. Check whether ChatGPT and Claude can read your website before you change anything else, because nothing downstream matters if the door is locked.
  3. Put the car facts in textOpen five of your vehicle detail pages. If the price, mileage and VIN appear only inside images, or load after the page does, an assistant may never see them. Ask your website vendor to show them as plain text on every VDP.
  4. Line up your business factsCompare your name, address, phone number and hours on your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp, DealerRater and the listing sites. Fix every mismatch at the source.
  5. Answer every reviewReviews and the way a store replies are part of what an assistant sees about it. Reply to every Google review with something specific to that customer, and keep the replies free of sales pitches.
  6. Get an outside readThe free scan does step one at scale: up to 20 local buyer questions asked of ChatGPT and Claude, 3 times each, plus your AI crawler access, up to five vehicle pages, a score out of 100 with a margin and the 3 fixes to make first. A person walks you through it in 20 minutes. Request the free scan.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

How many websites does a car buyer visit before buying?

In Cox Automotive’s 2025 Car Buyer Journey Study, buyers visited 4.6 websites on average. Third-party sites were used by 75%, dealership sites by 59% and AI sites by 12%, a category Cox tracked for the first time that year. AI is one stop among several, so your store needs to look the same at each one.

Do car buyers use ChatGPT more than Google’s AI?

None of the studies here splits that out for car buyers. Among all US adults, Pew found 44% use ChatGPT and 24% use Gemini. For local business recommendations, BrightLocal found 31% of consumers used ChatGPT and 23% used Google AI Mode. Google AI Overviews also appear inside ordinary Google searches, so many buyers see Google’s AI without choosing it. Watch both.

Do used car buyers use AI as much as new car buyers?

Somewhat less, in Cox Automotive’s data. Its 2025 Car Buyer Journey Study found 25% of new-vehicle buyers and 17% of used-vehicle buyers used AI websites or AI-generated overviews while shopping. That is still a real share of used buyers.

Will AI replace dealership websites for car shoppers?

Nothing in the research says so. Cox found shoppers use AI to research and prepare for the dealership, and the assistants that search the web read dealer websites to build their answers. Your website becomes one of the sources an assistant reads, so it has to be readable: AI crawlers allowed in, and price, mileage and VIN on each vehicle page as text.

See what AI tells buyers in your town

Find out what ChatGPT and Claude tell local buyers about your store. The free scan asks up to 20 local buyer questions, 3 times each, and shows who gets named, which sources get cited and the 3 fixes to make first.

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