“Your Data Is Dirty!” How Bad Data is Cannibalizing Your AI Strategy (+ How to Fix It) | Brian Abrams, VP of Data and AI at CDK Global
Podcast:Car Dealership Guy Podcast Published On: Thu May 07 2026 Description: Today, I'm joined by Brian Abrams, VP of Data and AI at CDK Global, to discuss the critical shift from viewing AI as a "tool" to an operational strategy that prevents massive profit leakage. Brian explains why nearly 60% of dealer data is currently "dirty," how consumer AI agents are already calling stores to negotiate deals, and why a unified customer profile is now the only way to protect your margins. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Podium - The AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. Podium helps dealers consolidate sales, service, messaging, and voice into one connected system that actually runs the work. If your AI isn’t driving real outcomes, it’s time to take a closer look @ here. 2. Veramatic - Meet Veramatic: the accuracy layer your DMS never built. Get clean, consistent, trusted accounting data, normalized before it hits the GL, automatically. Learn more @ here. 3. CDK Global - Dealership challenges are constantly evolving—your technology should too. The CDK Dealership Xperience Platform unifies your operations with AI-driven tools built to grow with you. Visit @ here. Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ https://cdgcircles.com/ Industry job board ➤ http://jobs.dealershipguy.com Dealership recruiting ➤ http://www.cdgrecruiting.com Fix your dealership’s social media ➤ http://www.trynomad.co Request to be a podcast guest ➤ http://www.cdgguest.com For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ http://www.cdgpartner.com Industry job board ➤ http://jobs.dealershipguy.com Request to be a podcast guest ➤ http://www.cdgguest.com Topics: 03:52 Why Dealerships Already Talk To AI Every Day 05:50 The Fix For Endless Screen Hopping 12:45 Why 60% Of Dealership Tasks Still Slow Teams Down 13:35 The Profit Leak Bigger Than Vendor Fees 14:05 Why Sales Reps Chase Phantom Leads 16:30 The $2 Million Warning Dealers Miss 18:10 The CDK Upgrade Dealers Already Have 20:40 The Marketing Burn Rate Dealers Ignore 28:40 The Sentence That Makes AI Tools Work Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ x.com/GuyDealership Instagram ➤ instagram.com/cardealershipguy/ TikTok ➤ tiktok.com/@guydealership LinkedIn ➤ linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy Threads ➤ threads.net/@cardealershipguy Facebook ➤ facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683 Everything else ➤ dealershipguy.com