Financial Performance - Cars Commerce achieved record Q3 revenue of $181.6 million, a 1% year-over-year increase[37] - Adjusted EBITDA increased by 7% year-over-year to $55 million[45] - Adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 160+ bps year-over-year to 30.1%[15, 45] - The company repurchased 5.2 million shares year-to-date in 2025, totaling $64 million, compared to $36 million in the same period of 2024[12] Key Metrics - Average Monthly Unique Visitors increased by 4% year-over-year to 25.5 million[15, 46] - Total traffic (visits) increased by 1% year-over-year in Q3, reaching 156.2 million[19, 46] - Dealer Customers increased QoQ by 114, reaching 19,526[15, 32] - Average Revenue Per Dealer (ARPD) was $2,460, up 1% QoQ[15, 34] Business Growth - AccuTrade appraisals increased by 56% year-over-year, surpassing 1 million quarterly vehicle appraisals[24] - DealerClub active dealers increased by almost 40% QoQ[26] Outlook - The company anticipates low-single digit year-over-year revenue growth for the second half of 2025[53] - The company projects an Adjusted EBITDA margin between 29% and 31% for the full year 2025[57] - The company targets share repurchases between $70 million and $90 million for the full year 2025[57]

Core Insights - Cars.com has launched Carson™, a multilingual AI-powered search tool designed to enhance the car shopping experience for its 25 million monthly users by converting conversational queries into targeted search results [1][2]. Group 1: AI Implementation and User Engagement - Carson aims to simplify the car shopping process by allowing users to input natural language queries, addressing the fact that over 70% of shoppers are undecided about make and model at the start of their search [2][5]. - The AI tool has shown strong performance, assisting approximately 15% of web and mobile searches on Cars.com, and users of Carson return to the site twice as often as other shoppers [5][6]. Group 2: User Behavior and Search Trends - Shoppers are utilizing Carson for various types of searches, including practical needs (e.g., "reliable"), emotional needs (e.g., "cool"), lifestyle needs (e.g., "good for a new teen driver"), and specific automotive terms (e.g., "c6 vette") [6]. - Carson users save three times more vehicles compared to other shoppers and exhibit a nearly 30% higher conversion rate from search results to vehicle detail pages [5][6]. Group 3: Future Developments - The company plans to evolve Carson further by providing AI summaries, search refinement prompts, and personalized options for users, reinforcing its commitment to innovation in the automotive industry [4][5].