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Monik Pamecha is turning chaos into clarity with AI that actually understands what customers need.

In this episode, the Auto Collabs crew welcomes Monik Pamecha, co-founder of Toma, for a deep-dive into the noisy, often-overlooked world of dealership phone calls. With a background in engineering and a journey that spans from health tech to nipple covers on Amazon (yes, really), Monik shares how he and his team stumbled into the auto industry and found their niche by transforming chaotic call data into actionable AI. Through humor and honesty, he recounts the growing pains of early development—including one rogue cowboy-themed AI voice—and explains why dealerships were the perfect testing ground thanks to their willingness to embrace fast-paced innovation.

The conversation shifts gears into the philosophy of building with AI, where Monik emphasizes separating what should be automated from what needs a human touch. Having listened to over 4,000 calls (often at 3x speed), he reveals just how much of dealership communication is repetitive and ripe for automation. From reducing friction in service booking to futureproofing voice AI with better data integration and customer intent understanding, Monik paints a vision of a dealership experience that’s faster, smarter, and still deeply human where it counts.

Timestamped Takeaways:

[0:00] Intro with Paul J Daly, Kyle Mountsier and Michael Cirillo

[4:08] Cowboy AI Goes Rogue: Monik shares a hilarious early bug where a forgotten prompt turned the AI into a Western character—proving even bad builds can lead to great stories.

[5:32] Why Dealers Move Faster Than Banks: Monik explains why dealerships were quicker to test voice AI compared to risk-averse industries like healthcare and banking.

[14:30] The Real First Step to AI in the Dealership: He outlines a simple rule: if a task doesn't need creativity, it's a candidate for automation.

[19:41] Beyond Voice—The Real Work of AI: Monik emphasizes that voice is just a channel; the real innovation lies in what the AI does after the call starts.

[23:24] Plumbers of the AI Age: As AI capabilities explode, Monik likens his team to plumbers—connecting tools, data, and insights to create seamless customer experiences.

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