COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The mission was clear for Route 66 Network leaders Tuesday morning: Not only give dealers a pep talk after what has been a challenging year, but also help them wrap their minds around Artificial Intelligence.
After the rally’s opening presentation from Route 66 – North America’s largest RV dealer network – co-founders Rob Merrill and Steve Francis and co-directors Cooper Merrill and Connor Francis, Dan Chuparkoff took the stage as keynote speaker.
Chuparkoff, a veteran of Google, led dealers through a presentation on how to understand and use AI to improve productivity, collaboration and performance.
Throughout his presentation, he stressed that AI is a tool. It isn’t a co-pilot, despite the name of one of the popular companies developing AI technology. It is a means of gathering information that can be used to understand trends, business ideas and how to reach customers.
It also can be used to enhance marketing and other departments of a dealership, but as Chuparkoff noted, AI can’t feel and it also can’t always tell what is real. So, AI is not a replacement for the human element of sales.
“Expertise doesn’t come from intelligence,” he said. “Expertise is guided by memories and hope.”
Chuparkoff also said customers and internet users in general are becoming overwhelmed with the amount of pure noise online.
So much of what is floating around is flat-out untrue, and AI bases its knowledge upon what it finds online.
He told the story of a lawyer looking through AI for supporting legal cases to help him in a trial who came across three cases. He saved them and turned them in to the judge as supporting legal documents only to find out the cases were not real but were plots on television shows.
“Generated content will drive an in-person renaissance,” he said. “People are growing tired of the noise and want more experiences and personal relationships, which will drive them back to your dealerships.”
AI can’t solve, decide or imagine, so it is best used as a tool to help inform rather than something to base a business model upon, he said.
A presentation from Route 66’s Ride Digital also explored AI using gathered data.
Statistics showed that Chat GPT, the most popular AI developer, had its users more than double since February.
Drawbacks include the fact that it provides answers and not clicks on the dealers website. It also acts on prompts rather than keywords.
But even with the growth of AI, traffic to Route 66 members websites increased 11% during the same period.
The presentation also noted Google has 16 billion daily inquiries compared to a billion for Chat GPT.
Route 66 Network News
Route 66 presented its Dave Francis Partner Award to Blue Ox. CEO Mike Hesse said the company is celebrating its 100th year in business.
Five dealerships have been added to the network. They are RVs of Sacramento; Sun & Fun RV of Tiffin, Iowa; Waylon Parker’s Camper’s Choice RV in Napavine, Wash.; D&D RV Center in Helena, Mont.; and RV Land of Kyle, Texas.
During his remarks to the dealers, Rob Merrill acknowledged 2025 has been a tough year for independent dealers, but he said challenges and adversity can be a good thing – as long as they don’t last too long.
“You’re either winning or you’re learning, so this is a great opportunity,” he said. “Find those opportunities to change direction. Tough times make tough people. We are here to provide you with the tools you need to get better together.”
