Mark Miller Subaru Completes the First Known AI Agent-to-AI Agent Car Sale

Mark Miller Subaru is not waiting to see where automotive retail is heading. We are already there. In what is believed to be a first in the industry, our team completed an AI agent-to-AI agent car transaction, a deal negotiated, structured, and confirmed entirely between two artificial intelligence systems, with no human-to-human interaction required.

No other dealership has publicly completed or claimed a transaction like this. We have been discussing it openly for six months. No one has come forward to dispute it.

This is not a concept or a pilot program. It happened here, at our Salt Lake City location, and it is shaping how we think about every customer interaction going forward.

What We Built and Why It Matters

Two Agents, One Completed Deal

The transaction began when our General Manager, Chris Hudson, used a buyer-side AI agent from CarEdge, the only third-party company currently offering this technology to car shoppers, to negotiate with our own sales team. His team had no idea. They worked the lead earnestly for four hours, treating it exactly as they would any real customer inquiry.

After observing how that interaction played out, Hudson built a dealership-side agent to match. When both were running simultaneously, they completed a transaction. CarEdge confirmed they had never seen it done before.

The result is a new lane of automotive retail, one where buyers who prefer efficiency over negotiation can send an agent, receive a fair confirmed price, and arrive ready to sign.

The DMC-12 Protocol: Our Open-Source Contribution to the Industry

Rather than keep the framework proprietary, we published it. The DMC-12 protocol, named after the DeLorean from Back to the Future, because getting ahead of where things are going felt like the right spirit, is available free at dmc-12.ai for any dealer or developer to implement.

The protocol solves a real operational problem: when AI agents contact a dealership, they would otherwise pollute CRM data with non-human interactions, distorting the metrics sales teams depend on. DMC-12 routes agent inquiries into a dedicated relationship management tool, keeping the two lanes clean and separate.

It is also built to work with the Universal Commerce Protocol, the shared transactional standard being developed by Walmart, Home Depot, Visa, and American Express. That alignment means an AI agent shopping for a Subaru can theoretically move through pricing, financing, insurance, and scheduling without friction at any step.

The Bigger Picture: Where Automotive Retail Is Going

Small Numbers With a Familiar Pattern

AI agent-to-AI agent transactions currently represent roughly half a percent of total automotive volume. That number is easy to dismiss until you remember that internet car sales started at approximately the same share in the late 1990s. What happened in the decade that followed reshaped the entire industry.

CarEdge alone has already facilitated more than 100,000 AI agent-to-human negotiations. The buyer-side infrastructure is further developed than most dealers recognize. Adoption will not build slowly and then plateau. It will build slowly and then accelerate.

Two Lanes, Both Fully Supported

Expanding into agentic retail does not mean replacing the experience that matters to most Utah drivers. Many of our guests in Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Park City, Murray, Millcreek, Holladay, Magna, and West Jordan want to sit with a person, ask questions, and test drive a 2025 Subaru Outback through the canyon roads before they decide. That path is not going anywhere.

What we are building is a parallel lane. Buyers who would rather skip negotiation entirely, who want a confirmed fair price and an efficient path to signing, now have that option at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown. After any AI-completed transaction, a human team member remains available for financing conversations or anything that benefits from real dialogue.

The goal is removing friction without removing people.

Why Promise Price Makes This Possible

The reason this experiment worked cleanly at our dealership, and not at a traditional negotiation-based store, is our Promise Price philosophy. Every guest at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown pays the same fair, transparent price. There is no back-and-forth with a manager, no outcome that depends on how assertively a buyer pushes, and no version of events where one customer walks out having paid less than another.

An AI agent operating on parameters cannot be worn down, and it does not respond to charm. What it can do is evaluate whether a price is fair and consistent. Promise Price was built for exactly that kind of scrutiny long before AI agents existed. The two fit together naturally.

Whether a buyer sends an agent or walks through our door, the number they receive is the same. That consistency is the foundation everything else is built on.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an AI agent-to-AI agent car deal?

It is a completed automotive transaction where an AI agent representing a buyer communicates directly with an AI agent representing the dealership, structuring and confirming a deal without direct human-to-human negotiation. Mark Miller Subaru Midtown completed what is believed to be the first publicly known transaction of this kind. Both agents operate on defined parameters and a shared protocol that allows them to exchange information, confirm pricing, and finalize terms.

What is the DMC-12 protocol?

The DMC-12 protocol is an open-source framework built by our General Manager, Chris Hudson, and published free at dmc-12.ai. It routes AI agent inquiries into a dedicated management tool separate from a dealership's standard CRM, keeping human and agent interactions cleanly separated. It is designed to work with the Universal Commerce Protocol used by major retailers including Walmart, Home Depot, Visa, and American Express.

Will AI agents replace the human experience at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown?

No. We are building two parallel paths, not replacing one with the other. Many buyers across Salt Lake City and Utah will continue to prefer working directly with a person, and that experience remains fully available. The AI agentic lane serves buyers who prefer to skip negotiation and arrive at a confirmed outcome efficiently. Human team members remain involved for financing and any conversation that benefits from real dialogue.

How does Promise Price connect to AI agent transactions?

Promise Price means every customer receives the same fair, transparent price, no negotiation required and no outcome that depends on who asks or how they ask. This model is inherently compatible with AI agent shopping because an agent needs consistency and clarity, not persuasion. Whether a buyer sends an agent or walks in, the price at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown is the same.

How widely used is AI agent car shopping in 2025?

Hudson estimates AI agent-to-AI agent transactions currently represent approximately half a percent of automotive volume. However, CarEdge has already facilitated over 100,000 AI agent-to-human negotiations, indicating that buyer-side adoption is further along than most of the industry acknowledges. The parallel to early internet car sales suggests the curve ahead is steeper than the current numbers imply.

Can I buy a Subaru using an AI agent at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown today?

Yes. Mark Miller Subaru Midtown is actively building and refining its agentic retail capability. If you are interested in exploring what that looks like for your next vehicle purchase, reach out to our team directly and we can walk you through how it works.

A New Standard for Automotive Retail in Utah

What happened at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown was not a publicity stunt or a theoretical exercise. It was a real transaction, built on real infrastructure, completed at a dealership that has spent years creating the conditions that make transparent, efficient car buying possible.

We are not suggesting every future car deal will be agent-to-agent. We are saying that buyers across Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Park City, West Jordan, Magna, Murray, Millcreek, and Holladay now have more options than they did before, and that whichever path they choose, the experience at Mark Miller Subaru Midtown will be consistent, fair, and built around them.

If you are ready to explore our 2025 Subaru inventory or want to learn more about how we are approaching the next generation of car buying, we would be glad to show you what is possible.