Voice AI failures are eroding dealer credibility with car buyers. Ari Polakof, CEO & Co-founder of Flai, explains what dealers need to pressure-test before putting voice AI in front of customers.

Watch it on X, or stream it on your favorite platform: YouTube: carguymedia.com/3M54mab Apple Podcasts: carguymedia.com/4aaA1jz Spotify: carguymedia.com/46doSfx

Why Most Service Departments Leak Calls – And What Actually Stops It | Pre-NADA AI #5 Stream the full episode now, hosted by @samdarc: 02:27 What are Kissee Ford's operational challenges? 08:45 How can AI solve service call problems? 14:46 What is "The Flai Solution"? 20:45 What were the early AI successes? 21:53 How were vendor issues solved? 23:57 How did "Amanda" impact operations? 26:00 How was AI integrated at the dealership? 32:03 What are future AI plans?

Flai in Times Square 🦅

Congrats to @useflai on their $4.5M seed round! Flai helps automotive dealerships bring in more customers by handling all communication before they walk in the door — across calls, text, and email. techcrunch.com/2025/10/03/fl…

Today we’re excited to share that @useflai has raised a $4.5 million seed round led by @firstround with participation from @ycombinator @svangel , @Liquid2V, and many other terrific funds and angel investors. This funding fuels our mission to bring customers to automotive dealerships by handling all communication before they walk in the door. 
After visiting hundreds of dealerships and speaking with service advisors, BDC managers, GSMs, and GMs across the US, the pattern was clear: missed calls, full inboxes, long hold times, and customers who don’t try again. In fact, 70% of people who hit voicemail call a competitor within 30 minutes, translating directly into lost revenue for the dealership.

Flai has already handled tens of thousands of customer calls and is live in dozens of dealerships. Some dealers have told us Flai has paid for itself on a single Sunday and we’ve generated millions in revenue in the last two months. For our biggest location, we’re generating about 150k in revenue each month. 
With this funding, we’re pushing the product to new levels to build the AI communications platform for auto dealerships where every customer interaction outside of the store is taken care of.