‘The CSI Illusion’ : The Death of the Survey and Why Speed is the Real Driver of Dealer Profit | Pre-NADA AI Spotlight #1
Car Dealership Guy Podcast
Business impact: retention and fixed-ops growth
Bill shares metrics: 80% retention and tripled fixed-ops gross tied to improved responsiveness and NUMA use.
This year, auto retail crossed a real inflection point with AI — not just experimentation, but actual adoption inside dealerships. With that shift came a flood of questions from operators trying to separate signal from noise. AI is everywhere right now. Claims are loud. Results are uneven. And it’s not always clear what’s actually working.
So we’re launching an seven-part series, Pre-NADA AI Spotlight — conversations with the most forward-leaning AI companies in auto retail, focused on what they’re building, what’s delivering real results in dealerships today, what isn’t, and what dealers should realistically be paying attention to heading into NADA.
Today, Sam sits down with William Camastro, Dealer/Operator, Gold Coast Cadillac, and Derek Simonds, Executive VP Automotive at Numa.
This episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast is brought to you by Numa:
Numa - Numa is the first AI agent platform for auto dealerships. Address communication breakdowns with customers and get full visibility into all service interactions. Numa answers every call, rescues and books service appointments and lets service teams see all customer communications in one place. Increase Repair Order revenue, expand your customer base and increase CSI. Visit @ https://www.numa.com/
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Topics:
00:36 What is Bill Camastro's customer service philosophy?
04:13 Why is satisfaction more important than CSI?
05:19 What is the main challenge with CSI metrics?
07:58 How can AI track satisfaction in real time?
19:15 How is AI revolutionizing customer outreach?
19:39 How can AI streamline communication?
20:40 Why is speed crucial in customer service?
21:55 How can AI improve retention and satisfaction?
34:31 What future innovations are you most excited about?
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