How Tekion Is Redefining AI in Car Dealerships with Jay Vijayan (NADA26)

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What if the biggest risk in your dealership isn’t AI… it’s using the wrong AI?

Live from the Tekion booth at NADA 2026, in what might be the busiest corner of Las Vegas that week, I sat down with Jay Vijayan for a conversation that goes way beyond buzzwords.

And trust me… this one matters.

Because while everyone is talking about “AI agents,” very few are asking the harder question:

What happens when those agents don’t talk to each other?

In this episode, Jay and I unpack what real platform innovation looks like, not marketing innovation, not slide-deck innovation, but foundational, ground-up, security-first innovation.

We talk about Tekion’s unimaginable growth. From roughly 100 rooftops just a few years ago… to over 3,000 today. That kind of acceleration doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when product, people, and philosophy align.

Here’s what we also dive into:

• Why most AI solutions fail dealers and why many get turned off just as quickly as they’re turned on
• The difference between “AI features” and a true unified data platform
• Why disparate systems + AI is a disaster waiting to happen
• What it actually takes to build compliant, secure, responsible AI in a dealership environment
• The real risk of uploading your financials into public AI tools
• Why security certifications like SOC, ISO, and responsible AI governance aren’t optional anymore

We also tackle something most vendors never talk about:

The indirect impact.

Retention.
Associate satisfaction.
Hiring Gen Z talent.
Backend gross.
F&I index.
Dollars per RO hour.

When dealers move from treating their DMS as a utility expense… to a value-driving operating platform… the numbers shift in ways that surprise even the most seasoned operators.

If you care about eliminating friction for customers and associates
If you care about protecting your data in an AI-driven world
If you care about extracting profitability in a flat SAAR environment

You’ll want to hear this one.

Because the future of your store won’t be determined by whether you adopt AI.

It’ll be determined by whether you adopt it intelligently.

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The 2026 Dealer Reality Check with Inga Maurer (NADA26)
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How Dealers Are Accidentally Wasting Millions Because of Bad Data with Todd Smith