The Niello Company, a large dealership group in Sacramento with eleven new car rooftops, is using artificial intelligence to improve how its staff works. Sales and finance director Dennis Gingrich said the technology does not replace workers but helps them get more done faster. He said the group uses the tools to gain efficiency and make compliance easier for employees who do not always understand complex legal terms.
Automating compliance and pay plans
The group works with Automotive Systems Analysis, which performs manual audits of “deal jackets” to ensure all required documents are present. This process creates a detailed report that is often too long for store employees to read thoroughly. Gingrich noted that the team uses ChatGPT to review this information and suggest policies for the whole group to follow. Employees can also ask the AI about specific issues without needing to understand legal jargon.
For employee compensation, Gingrich uploads pay plan details into an AI tool. The system analyzes sales compensation plans to suggest changes that might encourage more new car sales. He said the tool helps spark new ideas rather than writing the plans from scratch. In the finance and insurance office, the group uses Google Gemini to let staff ask questions about their pay and how to sell more products. Gingrich believes this helps employees feel less embarrassed about asking questions and drives overall productivity.
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Dealers often struggle with pricing inventory across multiple third-party sites like AutoTrader and CarGurus. Each platform has different criteria for what makes a vehicle a good value. Gingrich downloads inventory files from these providers and uses AI to determine a single price that optimizes results across all four sites. He said this saves time compared to trying to read across multiple Excel files.
Quality control and future goals
Tully Williams, the fixed operations director, uses an AI tool to monitor and score service videos that technicians send to customers. This allows the company to quickly identify areas where video quality can be improved. Gingrich also noted a gap in service data across different dealerships. He said a customer might buy a protection product at one store but be unable to access it at another because the data is not shared consistently.
Looking ahead, the company hopes to use AI to track customer claims and protection product history. If a customer returns to buy another vehicle, the initial sales proposal could automatically include details on every previous product purchase. Gingrich said this would make the process smoother for both the customer and the staff, assuming the technology can accurately track data across different systems.
