How much does AI cost for a car dealership?
AI for a single-rooftop car dealership costs $1,500–$3,000 CAD per month, depending on lead volume and feature tier. Multi-rooftop and franchise pricing is custom. Most rooftops recover the annual cost before the second monthly invoice through one or two incremental deals.
Joshua
Co-founder · Automotive AI
last updated
May 15, 2026
Typical tier structure
- Entry ($1,500/mo): up to ~150 monthly leads, SMS conversation engine, DMS integration.
- Mid ($2,500/mo): up to ~500 monthly leads, intent scoring, database reactivation, BDC alerts.
- Growth ($3,000/mo): up to ~1,200 monthly leads, bi-directional DMS sync, buyer dossiers, custom workflows.
- Enterprise / dealer package: custom — auto groups, franchises, custom integrations.
What changes the price
- Monthly lead volume per rooftop
- Number of rooftops
- DMS used (Tekion native vs custom integration)
- Outbound campaign volume
- Whether you need a dedicated performance lead
How to ROI it on the back of a napkin
Take your current close rate. Apply it to the leads you miss because nobody followed up. A 5% recovery on 200 monthly leads at $4,500 average front-end gross is $4,500 in extra GP — enough to cover the highest AI tier with margin to spare.
The bigger lift usually sits one layer deeper: reactivating the aged database. Those leads are already paid for. The marketing spend happened months ago. The only cost to work them now is the SMS pass-through fee.
Frequently asked questions
- Is AI cheaper than hiring more BDC reps?
- Substantially. A 3-rep BDC team runs roughly $135,000 loaded annually. AI runs $18,000–$36,000 annually per rooftop and covers 24/7 — including the 53% of leads that arrive outside business hours (Visquanta).
- Is there a contract or can I cancel monthly?
- Most credible AI dealership platforms are month-to-month. Watch for vendors pushing 12–24 month commitments — that is usually a signal that customers churn off them at month 3.
- What hidden costs should I look for?
- Twilio / messaging carrier fees pass through (small — usually under $50/mo). A2P verification is one-time. Some vendors charge setup or per-integration fees; reputable ones do not.
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