Infiniti Dealers Rank Highest in 2026 Web Lead Response Study; AI and Automation Drive Industry Improvement

Customers received 'perfect' responses more than half the time, a rate that has doubled in 5 years, but risks of automation remain

Published on Feb. 23, 2026

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Infiniti dealerships ranked highest in the 2026 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Industry Study, which measured and ranked responsiveness to sales leads submitted through dealership websites. The average Infiniti dealership achieved a score of 82 out of 100, while the total industry averaged 71, an improvement of nine and six points respectively since last year's study. Dealers improved primarily by increasing proactive, multichannel outreach and deploying smarter AI-powered automation for simple inquiries. However, overreliance on AI-powered automation introduces risks, as system-to-system breakdowns and unreliable human follow-through when AI requires assistance can undermine performance.

Why it matters

The ILE scores are valuable to measure as they represent an average of web inquiry response behaviors of individual dealers, including top-performers and poor performers. Historically, individual dealers who improve their ILE performance from scoring under 40 to scoring over 80 on average sell 50% more units from the same quantity of internet leads. This highlights the importance of dealers improving their responsiveness to online customer inquiries.

The details

The study found that 51% of auto dealers industrywide provided a 'perfect response' (answered customer's question fast and through multiple paths - fully utilizing emails, texts, and phone), twice the rate from five years ago. However, the study also identified risks of overreliance on AI-powered automation, as system-to-system breakdowns and unreliable human follow-through when AI requires assistance can undermine performance. The study also measured how consistently dealerships appear, and how effectively they are presented, when local shoppers rely on AI tools like ChatGPT as their guide, finding that in 9% of cases, the dealership was not mentioned at all despite having the requested vehicle.

  • The 2026 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Industry Study was conducted in 2026.

The players

Infiniti

An automotive brand that ranked highest in the 2026 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Industry Study.

Pied Piper Management Company, LLC

An Austin, Texas-based company that combines artificial intelligence and trained human evaluators into the proprietary Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) to measure how effectively each retail location follows proven sales and service best practices.

Cameron O'Hagan

The Vice President of Metrics and Analytics at Pied Piper.

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What they’re saying

“Automation and AI have improved dealer responsiveness, but the greatest risk is in the handoffs; between systems and from AI to dealership staff. Teams assume automation is working and that someone will step in if it fails. Too often, no one does. Independent measurement such as ILE reveals those hidden breakdowns before they cost sales and erode brand trust.”

— Cameron O'Hagan, Vice President of Metrics and Analytics (Pied Piper Management Company, LLC)

What’s next

The study highlights the need for dealers to ensure their staff are prepared to step in when AI-powered automation reaches its limits, as well as the importance of strengthening their AI search presence to improve visibility for local customers using tools like ChatGPT.

The takeaway

The 2026 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Industry Study demonstrates the potential benefits of AI and automation in improving dealer responsiveness, but also underscores the risks of overreliance on these technologies. Dealers must strike a balance between leveraging automation and ensuring reliable human follow-through to provide a seamless customer experience and maximize sales opportunities from online leads.