“You're Already Late!” Why AI is No Longer Optional in March 2026 (+ How To Hire Your First Agent)

Roman Spriggs, General Manager of All Things Automotive, a small, independent used-car dealership, tells host Sam D'Arc how he skipped a planned human hire and instead brought on a Podium AI agent he named Alex after his own son. Alex now fields customer inquiries and books service and sales appointments around the clock, including overnight, and Roman credits it with reinvigorating his sales floor and helping the store post two record sales months in January and February 2026.

Ross Tinkham, VP of Automotive at Podium, joins to explain why independent dealers tend to lag franchise stores by a year or more in AI adoption, and why he thinks that gap is closing fast. For dealers of any size, the conversation is a practical case study in what it actually takes to onboard an AI employee: treating it like a real hire, giving it feedback, and letting it learn a store's own culture and voice rather than expecting it to work on day one.

Key takeaways

• Roman hired Alex instead of a fourth salesperson, and the dealership posted two record sales months in January and February 2026.

• Ross Tinkham says successful AI rollouts take a 30- to 60-day investment of training and feedback before the agent reflects a dealership's own culture and voice.

• Ross estimates independent dealers are roughly a year to a year and a half behind franchise stores in adopting AI, largely due to budget and reputational hesitancy.