Joe Thistle

Joe Thistle is Director of Marketing at New Smyrna Beach Chevrolet and the Founder of AI Authority Engine, where he helps dealerships understand how AI is changing customer communication and dealer discovery. Working at the intersection of hands-on dealership marketing and emerging technology, he has become an early, practical voice on what "AI search" actually means for franchise retailers.

Through AI Authority Engine, Joe has run hundreds of AI visibility audits for franchise dealerships, measuring how—and whether—stores appear when consumers ask platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity where to buy, service, or trust a dealership. His findings challenge conventional SEO thinking: visibility varies dramatically by brand, by market, and especially between sales and service, where many dealers quietly disappear. His work gives dealers a standardized way to benchmark their presence, see which competitors AI recommends instead, and identify the sources shaping those answers.

Grounded in the day-to-day realities of running marketing for an active Chevrolet store, Joe brings a rare combination of frontline dealership experience and forward-looking technical curiosity. He is a frequent commentator on AI search, automotive marketing, and fixed-ops visibility, and he studied at the University of Central Florida's College of Business Administration. He is based in the Daytona Beach area of Florida.