How Cars.com Is Using AI to Transform the Way People Buy Cars with Matt McDonald

The David Spisak Show

The David Spisak Show
How Cars.com Is Using AI to Transform the Way People Buy Cars with Matt McDonald
Jan 29, 2026
David Spisak

Buying a car should feel exciting… so why does it still feel like pulling teeth?

In this episode of The David Spisak Show, I sit down with Matt McDonald, Director of Product at Cars Commerce, for a conversation that hits right at the heart of where automotive, technology, and the modern consumer collide.

Matt isn’t just another tech leader, he’s a lifelong car guy with deep roots at Amazon and GameStop, now standing at the center of one of the most important inflection points our industry has ever seen. Together, we unpack how consumer buying behavior is shifting, why 70% of shoppers don’t even know what car they want when they start, and how AI is finally poised to turn car shopping from painful into pleasurable.

This isn’t AI-for-AI’s-sake. We go deep into Carson, Cars.com’s new AI-powered shopping assistant, and why it’s fundamentally different from generic chatbots. We talk about natural language search, intent-driven shopping, and how dealers can finally meet customers where they actually are, not where we assume they are.

In this episode, we cover:

  • Why car shopping is one of the only purchases people want but still dread
  • Matt’s journey from Amazon’s customer-obsessed culture to leading product at Cars Commerce
  • The surprising data behind undecided buyers, and why that changes everything
  • How Carson helps shoppers go from “I have an idea” to “this is the car” faster
  • What better data means for dealers, without being invasive
  • Why AI might finally bridge the gap between online research and in-store experience

If you care about where automotive retail is headed, how AI can actually create value, or how dealers can deliver a better experience without adding friction, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

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