Mark Miller Subaru’s online buying approach combines a fixed-price policy with an AI concierge called Nell. Developed by General Manager Chris Hudson, Nell is designed to guide car shoppers through the buying process remotely, including people outside Utah.
A 24/7 Assistant With No Sales Pitch
Nell is designed to help with the car-buying process but does not sell cars to the people who use it, according to FOX 13 News. Hudson told the station he had not found a dealership tool that was “this clean.” He said he built Nell so family members across the country could make reliable car purchases more easily and with less pressure.
According to FOX 13, Nell runs on a deterministic model built from a knowledge base Hudson and his team created. Hudson said it is designed not to make up answers when it does not know something. The station tested whether Nell would try to sway a potential buyer and reported that its test did not lead to a Subaru purchase.
Built On Top Of A No-Haggle Pricing Model
Nell did not appear in a vacuum. Mark Miller Subaru, which operates a Midtown store in Salt Lake City and a South Towne store in Sandy, is a registered Benefit Corporation that has run on a fixed “Promise Price” policy since 2015, under which prices are non-negotiable and interest rates are not marked up, according to the dealership's own account on its South Towne blog. That no-haggle foundation is what makes an AI pricing tool workable in the first place, since Nell never has to be programmed to negotiate. In August 2026, the dealership built on that model by launching Promise Path, an online buying route featuring Nell alongside upfront non-negotiable pricing, a firm trade offer within three business hours, and home delivery, as reported by Car Dealership Guy News.
Price Quotes and Consumer Recourse
For buyers considering an online purchase, Utah DMV guidance says a quoted automobile price must include everything the customer has to pay except sales tax, title and registration fees. The state’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division says it regulates the automobile industry, investigates motor vehicle fraud and helps consumers who have trouble with auto dealers, according to Utah DMV.
Hudson's AI ambitions extend beyond the customer-facing concierge. In May 2026, the dealership completed what Car Dealership Guy News described as believed to be the first AI agent-to-AI agent car purchase in U.S. history, when a buyer-side AI agent built by consumer platform CarEdge negotiated directly with an AI agent Hudson had developed. Following that deal, Hudson published an open-source system called the DMC-12 protocol, meant to route AI buyer-agent inquiries into a dedicated channel rather than cluttering the dealership's standard customer relationship database, aligning it with the Universal Commerce Protocol used by companies including Visa and Walmart.
Cutting Costs By Building In-House
Hudson has also used in-house AI development to trim overhead. He said the dealership eliminated more than $100,000 in annual software vendor costs by partnering with its chief technology officer to build custom workflow tools after employees flagged routine operational friction points, according to a report from CBT News. That cost-cutting push sits alongside broader industry momentum: a Cox Automotive study published in July 2026 found 82% of U.S. dealerships were actively using AI tools, mostly for routine task automation and customer follow-up, even though 52% of dealers surveyed felt they were falling behind their peers.
Consumer-side AI adoption is accelerating too. CarEdge’s buyer-side AI agent had conducted 155,202 negotiations with dealerships nationwide by October 15, 2026. A PwC global survey released that same month projected advanced AI adoption across the automotive value chain will climb from 47% in 2026 to 72% by 2030, with 51% of industry executives calling AI crucial to their overall strategy.
Third-Party Validation And Local Roots
The dealership's transparency claims have drawn outside scrutiny. CarEdge gave Mark Miller Subaru South Towne an A grade, 96 out of 100, on its Dealer Transparency Index based on verified quotes.
Hudson has said he does not expect Nell to replace the dealership’s salespeople. He told FOX 13 that customers may still choose to speak with a person once they have specific questions, positioning the concierge as a way to make it easier to begin the buying process.
