What does AI say
about your yard?

carsales' Consumer Sentiment survey of more than 2,000 Australians, published in January 2026, found just over half of millennials and 45% of Gen Z use AI in their car search. That compares with 27% of Gen X and 18% of baby boomers. ChatGPT was the clear favourite, chosen by more than 70% of AI users.

Its bigger Car Buyer Report put AI sixth among research influences, its first time in the top 10. Use was strongest among new migrants and very detailed researchers. 42% of the buyers who used AI relied on it daily.

So the people asking skew younger and more thorough. That's the buyer who reads every listing and every review anyway. AI just gets them there faster.

Car questions are rarely one search. Google calls it query fan-out. It's a set of related searches the model runs at once to gather more information before it answers. 'Best hybrid SUV for a family under $50k near Newcastle' can fan out into questions like these:

Owners ask different things: 'will an independent mechanic void my Kia warranty', 'how much is a 60,000 km service on a RAV4', 'mechanic open Saturday near Tuggerah'. Every one of them has a factual answer a workshop can publish, and most workshops haven't.

• Which hybrid SUVs seat a family of five, and what they cost drive-away in NSW.
• Fuel use, safety ratings and warranty length for each.
• Which dealers near Newcastle have stock, and what reviews say about them.
• Whether to buy new or near-new, and what similar used cars sell for.

Stock and prices change daily, and AI answers can lag. A car that sold last week can still be described from an old listing or a cached page. The fix sits with you: mark sold cars or take the pages down, and keep the price on the page the same as everywhere else.

Warranty answers are another weak spot, because the myth is so common. 44% of people believe they must service at the dealer to keep a warranty, so plenty of pages online say or imply the same. A workshop page stating the ACCC position, that consumers can choose an independent repairer, with the manufacturer's-schedule condition, gives AI a correct source to quote.

Regulated details help in NSW. Dealers selling online have had to show their licence number on their website since 1 September 2025. It's one more checkable fact tying your business name to a real, licensed dealer.

Pick your business, add your suburb and a make, and run the questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode. Then tick what came back right.

Google says there's no special schema or AI-only file needed for its AI features. It also says a Business Profile, along with Merchant Center, can help products and services show in AI responses as well as normal results. For a dealer or workshop, the profile is the base.

Dealers have their own rules there. Google's guidelines say auto dealers have specific and separate guidelines. They say to use car sales hours (new car sales hours if new and used differ), and that publicly-facing departments that operate as distinct entities should have their own profile. For a dealer with sales and service, that often means a profile for each, so a service question doesn't get sales hours.

Comparison sites and review sites are the other big inputs. Keep your dealer profile on them complete and identical to your own site. These are the facts worth publishing in plain words:

• The makes you sell, service or specialise in.
• Services by name: log book servicing, brakes, tyres, wheel alignment, and pink slips if you're an authorised inspection station.
• The suburbs you serve, by name.
• Hours by department.
• Your dealer or repairer licence number.
• For workshops: a plain warranty servicing statement, with the condition.

AI answers vary with how a question is worded, where the person is and what they've asked before, so one test proves little. Run the same questions monthly, note who's named and what's said, and look for trends.

Watch your analytics too. Some visits from ChatGPT and Gemini show up as referrals in GA4, but since October 2026 many ChatGPT clicks have been reported arriving with no tag or referrer, so treat the number as a floor.

And keep it in proportion. Most car buyers still finish on a comparison site, a dealer site and a test drive. AI is one more stop on the way, not the last one.