Asking ChatGPT About Cars? Some Results May Point to Lenders

A car-industry founder says ChatGPT may be nudging car shoppers toward online finance sites instead of local dealerships. Corey Lydstone, CEO of CarGenius AI, studied tens of thousands of car searches across the U.S. He shared what he found in a podcast episode.

What the research found

Lydstone is also a former co-founder of Autolist. He says ChatGPT often asks shoppers follow-up questions, including whether they plan to pay cash or finance. It then shapes what it shows them, including custom on-screen elements. Some results pointed buyers to third-party finance sites rather than local dealerships.

He compares this to traditional search engines, where paid links crept in over time. The open question is whether AI chat tools are following the same path.

What is not known yet

The episode description does not say whether any of those links were paid placements. It also does not say how many searches showed the pattern or how OpenAI responds. These are one company's findings. CarGenius also publishes its own dealership AI rankings.

Lydstone also expects AI agents to soon deal directly with dealership systems for trade-ins, service scheduling and price talks. That is his prediction, not something shoppers can use today. For now, look at where a link leads before sharing financing details.