A shopper researching a unit today is increasingly starting that search with an AI assistant instead of a search bar, asking a full question and expecting a full answer before they’ve even settled on a dealership. Dealer Spike has built three tools around that shift, each aimed at a different point in the shopper’s path: getting found, getting browsed, and getting answered.
Found: your inventory shows up in AI answers, automatically
Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are increasingly answering questions like “where can I buy a Sea-Doo near me” directly, without sending the shopper to a search results page at all. They do that by reading a file built specifically for AI systems, similar to how a sitemap works for Google.
AI search is changing how customers find dealers, and so tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are starting to answer questions like, when can I buy or where can I buy a Sea-Doo near me directly? They do that by reading a file called an LLMS TXT. It’s like a structured map of your site, but built specifically for AI systems to read in the same way that a site map is built for Google. Every Spark site now automatically generates this file. There’s nothing that you have to configure or turn on.”
Alexzandra Caldwell-Wenman, Senior Director, Product, Dealer Spike
This one matters more than it might sound because 63% of shoppers now plan to use AI to shop for their next vehicle, while only 29% of dealers have adjusted their site for AI-powered search. A dealer whose inventory isn’t structured for AI to read simply doesn’t get considered in that growing share of searches, no matter how good the units on the lot actually are.
Browsed: shoppers can describe what they want instead of filtering for it
AI Search, rolling out soon, lets a shopper type something like “a dirt bike for a first-time buyer” instead of working through a filter panel built around spec sheet terms they may not know yet. It doesn’t replace your existing filters; it’s a second path in for shoppers who think in plain language rather than model numbers.
That’s not a small shift. Google’s own reporting on AI-powered search has found that queries are now longer and more conversational than traditional keyword searches, which means the shoppers typing full questions instead of short terms are exactly the ones a filter-only site is built to miss.
Answered: questions get resolved on the page instead of sending shoppers elsewhere
AI Product Expert answers a shopper’s specific questions about a unit using the actual spec data on that page, so a question that used to send them to Google or a competitor’s site gets resolved right where they are.
AI Product Expert allows your customers to ask questions about a unit without having to leave your site. Historically, if customers got to your site and they had extra questions, they were going to have to call or e-mail you or go to Google and a lot of customers would just leave. But rather than having people just fall out of your funnel, we want to make sure that they can continue to engage and get answers for those questions.”
Alexzandra Caldwell-Wenman, Senior Director, Product, Dealer Spike
Dealer Spike’s The State of the Dealer: 2026 report backs this up from a different angle: shoppers are already using AI tools to narrow their choices before they reach a dealer’s site, and incomplete pricing or inconsistent inventory data doesn’t just hurt conversion once they arrive, it reduces visibility at the discovery stage entirely. A tool that keeps a shopper engaged and answered, using accurate data, is working against exactly that risk.
The thread connecting all three
None of this replaces the fundamentals. Accurate pricing, real photos, and a fast-responding team still matter more than any single tool. What’s changed is who’s reading that information first, and how quickly they decide whether to recommend you based on it, a shift we’ve unpacked further in Beyond the Buzz, and from the search side specifically in AI and SEO in the new age of online search.
