Impel announced new integrations to pair its artificial intelligence-powered customer lifecycle management and digital merchandising platform with two of the auto industry’s major players – ACV and CDK Global.
The integration with ACV’s ClearCar, an advanced trade-in condition and valuation system is designed to provide Impel’s dealer customers with an end-to-end solution for managing dealer-generated and third-party leads from consumers wanting to value and sell their vehicles.
The companies said bringing their technology to the process of qualifying and valuing vehicles those vehicles allows dealers to “consistently and cost-effectively source inventory directly from consumers.”
Impel said Car Buying AI, its newest application, manages and qualifies “buy my car” leads submitted through third-party marketplaces or generated directly from dealer websites and advertising initiatives. ACV’s ClearCar Price, a digital pricing engine, and ClearCar Capture, an AI-based imaging and self-inspection tool that allows consumers to submit photos of their vehicle for further documentation of condition, are designed to provide increased transparency and accuracy in vehicle valuations.
With the integration of ClearCar, Impel’s Car Buying AI supports vehicle sellers through the entire appraisal and valuation process, the company said, creating a fully automated solution that provides a seamless experience for consumers while enabling dealers to effectively distinguish between serious sellers and casual price checkers.
“The need for consumer-sourced vehicle inventory has never been greater, but the effort required to manage the time-consuming process of responding to consumer inquiries, evaluating vehicle condition and following up on opportunities poses significant challenges for resource-constrained dealers,” Daly said. “Our launch of Car Buying AI and this integration with ACV provides the most efficient and scalable solution for dealers looking to expand their private party vehicle acquisition efforts.”
Andrew Sweet, vice president of ClearCar, said Impel’s generative AI capabilities “set the industry standard when it comes to delivering exceptional customer experiences.”
“We launched ClearCar to bring a greater level of trust and transparency to the remote vehicle valuation process,” he said. “Through this integration, dealers will receive a completely turnkey solution for guiding consumers through the process of selling their vehicle.
Integration with CDK Global
In its partnership with CDK Global, Impel’s generative conversational AI platform will become a capability of CDK’s Modern Retail Suite within the CDK Dealership Xperience, an open and integrated platform that the companies said “transforms how dealers sell and service cars and operate their businesses simply in a modern and digital world. “
The new offering is designed to provide CDK customers with hyper-personalized, human-like engagement at scale, 24/7 responsiveness, sophisticated conversational lead handling workflows, consistent long-term follow-up and automatic appointment setting directly from their CRM system.
“CDK is constantly looking for ways to seamlessly embed technology into our solutions and help dealers get the most out of their investments in our software,” CDK president and CEO Brian MacDonald said. “With the combination of Impel’s leading AI technology and our ability to utilize the quality, quantity and diversity of anonymized data across all aspects of the dealership, we have a unique opportunity to develop the industry’s best AI algorithms.
“This offering further cements our leadership in delivering the most advanced modern retail solution that puts both consumer experience and dealer results at the forefront.”
Impel’s generative conversational AI is designed to automatically engage every incoming lead with natural dialogue via SMS/text and email, delivering “nuanced and empathetic” conversations and automated appointment setting, and pre-qualifying shoppers without the need for human intervention.
Impel said its verticalized AI platform was built specifically for automotive retailing, going beyond open-source large language models, and includes an automotive optimization layer that “maximizes the accuracy of responses while preventing hallucinations and missteps that are prevalent in generalized LLMs.”
Impel CEO and co-founder Devin Daly said the collaboration advances his company’s mission to “power the automotive ecosystem with the most sophisticated AI-powered customer lifecycle management solution.”
“AI-powered automation and communication offers auto retailers the ability to drive transformative operational efficiency improvements at every touchpoint,” he said. “Lifecycle management with AI not only maximizes customer lifetime value, but also dramatically enhances the customer experience.
“By pairing Impel’s generative conversational AI technology with CDK’s modern retailing platform, we can significantly enhance dealership productivity and enable staff to focus on what matters most: building meaningful personal relationships, providing white-glove customer service, and closing more deals. That’s a powerful combination for dealers and consumers alike.”