"175 to 400 Cars a Month" — The Used Car Reframe That Changed Every Department | Rob Dell, VP at at Bob Ruth Ford
The Dealer Playbook
"175 to 400 Cars a Month" — The Used Car Reframe That Changed Every Department | Rob Dell, VP at at Bob Ruth FordThe Dealer Playbook · Jul 7, 2026
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Concept
department-by-department reporting
They’re describing a system where each department has to update its own numbers regularly. Those updates get combined so the dealership leadership can see what’s happening overall.
The acquisition team is the dealership group that finds and buys cars to sell. If they bring in the right cars, it makes it easier for the sales and finance teams to make deals.
Term
crazy spreadsheet
They’re talking about a detailed tracking sheet the dealership uses to collect daily updates. It helps everyone stay on the same page about how the dealership is doing.
It means looking at the big picture instead of getting lost in small details. They combine daily updates from different departments to understand how the whole dealership is trending.
Term
AI is a tool
They’re saying AI can help, but it won’t magically fix problems by itself. You still need good processes and people to make it work.
Concept
new car dealers are used car dealers
This is a dealership strategy concept: even franchises that sell new vehicles still depend on used-car inventory, largely because customers’ trade-ins create the used supply. The episode argues that recognizing this early changes how departments prioritize marketing, pricing, and customer experience.
A used car dealership mainly sells cars that have already been owned. The point here is that even dealers that sell new cars often rely heavily on used cars coming from trade-ins.
At a car dealership, the acquisition department is the group that focuses on getting cars into the inventory. That can include buying cars directly and handling trade-ins, so the dealership always has vehicles to sell.
Trade-ins are the vehicles customers give to the dealership when purchasing another car, with the trade-in value applied toward the new purchase. For dealers, trade-ins are a major source of used inventory, which then feeds the used-car sales pipeline.
Concept
COVID shortages
“COVID shortages” refers to the supply disruptions during the COVID-19 era that limited vehicle availability and affected production and inventory levels. In dealership terms, shortages can shift sales toward whatever inventory is available (including used cars) and change how departments plan acquisition and marketing.
A “used car operator” is basically a dealer that focuses on selling pre-owned cars. They have to know what they’re buying so they don’t end up stuck with cars they can’t sell for a profit.
Concept
used car data
“Used car data” is the dealer’s information about what similar cars sell for and what it will cost to fix them up. It helps them buy cars at the right price so they can resell them without losing money.
Concept
buy them wrong
“Buy them wrong” means the dealer pays too much or buys a car that needs more work than expected. Then they can’t sell it for a profitable price.
Concept
acquiring buying off the street
“Buying off the street” means getting cars from people directly, not just from auctions. It’s another way dealers build inventory.
“Bullish on used cars” means you think the used-car market is strong and you expect to be able to sell them for good money. Dealers use that confidence to decide how much inventory to buy.
They’re about to ask what basic rules the dealer uses to decide which used cars are worth buying. It’s like the checklist behind their buying decisions.
Historical data is just past sales information. Dealers use it to guess what a similar car will sell for now, so they can decide what price to pay and still make money.
The Ford F-150 is a popular pickup truck. When dealers talk about buying and selling used ones, they often use recent sales data to estimate what a given mileage example should cost.
Term
market percentage
Market percentage means pricing the car compared to what similar cars are selling for. Dealers use it to figure out what price will actually get the car sold while still making money.
Profitability is the overall ability to make money on a deal, not just the difference between what you pay and what you sell for. The host notes it includes more than front-end margin, implying back-end factors like reconditioning costs, warranties, financing/insurance, and other deal expenses.
Front end margin is the money a dealer makes on the car deal itself. It’s basically the difference between what the dealer pays for the car and what they sell it for.
Concept
every trade is worth $3500 profit
They’re saying the dealership should think of each used-car trade as making money in a few different ways, not only on the price of the car itself. The goal is to plan the whole dealership around turning every trade into profit.
The service department is the dealership’s repair and maintenance operation, which can generate repeatable revenue after a customer buys a car. In this segment, it’s part of the “whole dealership” profit model tied to getting more trades and customers into the system.
The parts department sells the replacement parts used to repair cars. In their strategy, parts sales are one of the ways the dealership earns money after the car is sold.
In dealership context, “finance” refers to arranging auto loans and leases, and it can be a major profit center through lender fees and interest-rate-related compensation. The speaker’s point is that the overall deal can still be profitable when front-end profit is assumed to be near zero.
Concept
47% of the time
This is a dealership forecasting assumption: a stated probability that customers will return with another trade. It supports the speaker’s “scaling” argument—if trades lead to repeat business, the profit model compounds across departments.
Dealers often make money in two places: the car sale itself and the add-ons that come after. “Front-end” here means the profit from the sale transaction, not the later money from repairs or financing.
“Scaling” here means increasing dealership volume (more cars per month) so that fixed costs and staffing are spread over more transactions. The speaker argues that profitability grows disproportionately when you add revenue from multiple departments tied to each sale.
When a dealership buys a used car, they often have to fix it up so it’s ready to sell. A reconditioning estimate is their estimate of how much that “getting it ready” work will cost.
“Variable” costs are expenses that go up or down depending on what you’re doing. In a dealership context, it means some costs change based on how many cars need work or how much business you’re doing.
“Fixed” costs are expenses that stay about the same even if sales go up or down. Think of them like the dealership’s baseline bills that don’t instantly change with each car.
Concept
blend the two together
The idea is to look at both types of costs together—some that change and some that don’t. When you manage them as a combined system, it helps keep things steady rather than unpredictable.
Concept
gentle waves
“Gentle waves” means things should ramp up smoothly instead of suddenly jumping around. It’s a way of talking about keeping the dealership’s workload and costs under control.
Topic
industry average sells 80 to 100 cars
They’re talking about how many cars a typical dealership sells in a month. That number helps explain why planning and costs work differently at different store sizes.
“Large inventory” means the dealership has lots of cars available to look at. The point is that customers can find what they want more easily instead of getting stuck with the wrong car.
It means the dealership acts like a personal assistant—fast responses, proactive help, and taking care of the details for you. The host is saying used-car customers should get that same kind of attention.
This is a specific version of the Saturn Ion that’s a coupe and typically a more equipped trim. The point of mentioning it is to show that even when the car is inexpensive, the dealership can still treat the buyer well.
The Peugeot iOn is a small car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It’s meant mainly for city driving and shorter trips. People talk about it because it’s an early, simple electric car option for everyday use.
The Saturn SC2 is a small two-door car made by Saturn. It was designed to be an affordable, everyday vehicle. People bring it up because it’s a recognizable older model that was common on the used market.
This is how the whole buying process feels to the customer—from the first contact to the final paperwork. The host’s point is that dealerships should treat used-car shoppers with the same care as new-car shoppers.
A “lead” is a person who might buy a car and has contacted the dealership. The faster the dealership responds, the better the customer experience tends to be.
Negotiation is the part where you and the dealer talk about price and deal details. The host is saying the dealership’s process matters even when you’re trying to negotiate.
A down payment is the money you pay first when you buy a car. It helps lock in the deal and can help the dealership move faster on delivery and paperwork.
A wire is an electronic transfer of money directly from your bank to the dealership’s bank. It’s often used for speed, but it’s important to confirm the details are legitimate.
Concept
layers of communications
This is about how a dealership handles messages and updates through different people and teams. The idea is that customer feedback can move upward to leadership so problems get addressed.
Concept
blow market value
The phrase means the car is already priced lower than what similar cars usually sell for. The point is that the customer’s request for more discount may not be justified if the deal is already strong.
An objection is when a customer has a concern that makes them hesitate. The host is saying you can often prevent or handle it by asking the right questions instead of waiting.
Term
facility work out of space
They’re saying the dealership is running out of room, but still managing to operate smoothly. It’s about using the space they have really well so cars can move in and out without chaos.
Term
cars on top of cars
They’re describing a dealership that stores a lot of cars in a very tight space. It usually means they’re moving inventory quickly and organizing the lot carefully.
They’re using “mindset” to mean the way the team thinks and decides what to focus on. It’s about whether they treat obstacles like “we can’t” or “we can figure it out.”
They’re talking about how the dealership runs its business—how the team handles the day-to-day. It’s more about teamwork and execution than just selling cars.
Term
cars in and out of service
They’re talking about cars coming into the shop for service and then leaving after the work is done. It’s basically how busy and organized the service department is.
Dealerships sometimes use small electric carts to get around the lot quickly. It helps employees and customers move faster when the property is busy or spread out.
LIVE
The team of Bob Ruth, Ford, that you have built are champions.
Agreed.
How much of that experience you had are you able to now convey to them?
And what does that look like in kind of day-to-day operations?
You know, I always say, who said?
Like, these people will tell me, well, you can't do that.
Who said?
Who said you can't sell 40 cars a month as a salesperson?
Who said you can't be a technician and make X amount of dollars a year?
I mean, there's so much just to be inspired by in the way that you guys operate.
And I'm just, I feel proud to know you guys and to have been able to witness it
because it's like the application of destroying every excuse
and just not being willing to accept it.
And what's so inspiring about it to me is people that are not confident
to know what they're looking for don't make comments like that.
So I'm like ever since and knowing I wanted to have you on the show.
I'm like, what is Rob Dell's baseline criteria for feeling confident
buying the right used car?
Well, let's start with first off.
One of the things that I enjoy most about producing the dealer playbook
is hearing from you the messages that I get of people who are getting
so much value out of the podcast, applying it to their day to day
workflows and finding a thriving career right here in the retail auto industry.
It means the world to me.
And you know, one of the ways that we make doing this possible
is through my agency, Flex Dealer.
And of course, in the spirit of providing value, I think this is a perfect
time to head over to triple W dot flex dealer.com to show even further
support for you.
My beloved DPB gang right now, if you go to my website, flex dealer.com
you can get a full free PDF of my number one bestselling book.
Don't wait dominate.
And the reason I think it's so special is that a lot of the topics
that are discussed in this book are even more relevant today than ever
with this surgeon popularized AI and people wondering, well,
what can I do next?
How can I have a competitive advantage?
Well, that's all here in this book.
And so I'd love to be able to offer you a free copy of this.
If you go to flex dealer.com, it would mean the world to me
because that is how we continue to produce this show for you.
Okay, I got to ask you this because I'm genuinely curious any time
I get to sit down with an industry operator, somebody that's like in the trenches.
And this is one I actually don't know the answer to.
How did you get into the car business by mistake?
That makes 700 and 86 people.
I've asked that question with the same answer.
No, it was so I got in when I was 18.
I worked for an engineering firm when I was in high school and I thought
I wanted to be an engineer.
I was always good at math and I loved cars.
So I was like kind of in the engineering world, great opportunity.
I didn't like school full disclosure and I passed on going to college
just because I didn't feel I wanted to go and my employer was going to
send me to college to go to the next level of my career.
And I was like, man, this just isn't for me and I couldn't sit still.
I'm shocking also, right?
So I bought a car and I was like, I think I could do that and my sales guy
who's still in the business to this day was like, man, I'm going to
get you in here and I thought this is going to be great.
I'm going to deal with cars and thankfully I figured out it doesn't
really have a whole lot to do with cars.
It has a whole lot to do with people.
And the rest was history and I just I learned who to listen to
and who not to listen to.
And I thankfully had a couple good mentors along the way and stuck with
them and just went from there.
So I don't know, almost 30 years later, 29 years later, here we are.
You've said something that so years ago when I was a young pup,
hair and no beard and no gray hair, young pup, I had to
quantify that for a minute.
And I was dealing with struggles and these sorts of things and I
attend this seminar and one of the lessons that they wanted to really
sink in is success breeds success.
Like so the proximity effect of like getting in the room with
the people that are doing the thing and know who to listen to.
And you of 700 and however many episodes we've done are the first
person who said those exact words in that sequence.
I knew who to listen to.
So I want to ask you this.
How now at this phase of your career and the lived experience you
have, Rob, how do you know who to listen to?
Um, I mean, it depends on the setting, but you know, I remember
they told me how much I could expect to make and I thought I'm
gonna be rich because I was very short sighted at the time and I
figured out with one of my managers, he was serious and he
took that responsibility serious for me to go down my career path.
If that makes sense.
And I was like, well, if I just listen to what he tells me to
do, I'm gonna be successful.
Now it was a bigger organization.
I had some other managers who I watched do things that I didn't
agree with and I watched them in a short period of time kind of
burn out.
So I think it was just.
I could identify with who treated people the way I wanted to
be treated and it seemed like the success path just followed
that and maybe it wasn't like the instant immediate gratification
success.
Maybe I could have made more money going in a different way,
but it was going to be the long term path and I don't know.
I just it's like a good human.
You sometimes you meet somebody and you know they're a good
human.
Sometimes you meet somebody and you're like, huh, right?
Like that's how I just it was more of a gut feeling of who I
went with.
But then once I saw that pattern repeat itself in multiple
stores, multiple companies, I'm like, all right, you got to
find somebody that you can trust that trust you going to give
you opportunity and not hold you back.
And that that is like one of the most difficult things for me
being a dad now is is not now I've been a dad for 18 years
almost.
But but but it's like that what you just said is that lived
experience of meeting enough people finding out which ones
are just like the con men and but and which ones are legit
and then seeing your your kids or maybe your newest employees
going through the same motions where they're like, no, they
seem like such a great individual and you're you're
reading them all wrong and you just like so desperately want
to be like, they're a turd blossom, you know, which makes
it so difficult.
But I mean from that experience now and more in your seat as
you're growing your organization, by the way, for those
listening, I've been in the store.
I've seen how this team interacts when Rob is not in the
room and the team of Bob Ruth Ford that you have built
our champions agree.
How much of that experience you had? Are you able to now
convey to them? And what does that look like in kind of day
to day operations?
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a huge part of it, right? And
you know, there's a lot of you know, we have 180 employees
I think is the total count when you count part time right now.
And you know, whether that's somebody I worked with in the
past that came here, you know, and we're working together
again, or if it's somebody brand new, but it's a relationship,
right? I mean, just like you and I, we didn't in person meet
until probably within the last year, right? And then our
relationship has grown through that. So it's the same thing
that I'm going to talk on the manager level. You got to be
clear on the expectations. And just because you're clear,
like, look, I could say, hey, we want to sell 500 cars this
month. That doesn't mean that we can do it, right? We got to
realize where we're at and where we're going to go and go
from there. And over a period of time, and it depends with
every department, that communication then comes to
life, like, hey, and I'll use the example I have one manager
who didn't know anything about a franchise dealership, he came
from the independent world. He would always ask me questions
and I mean, some people would just think it's annoying,
I'm just going to be honest. But it's my responsibility to
educate him on what he wants to know that's going to help him
grow and be a better leader. And he was the guy that was
terrible at holding people accountable, having a hard
conversation, which there's no such thing as hard conversation
unless you tell yourself that, right? Right. And, you know,
we've been together three years now, and I just told him the
other day, I was like, man, I'm so proud of how far you've come
and that's how you got to do it. But in this organization,
we believe you can only effectively manage six people.
So everybody, there's teams the whole way down through. I only
have six people that report to me. Now, obviously, I'm available
for everybody when they need me. But right, people I work with
every day is there. So it's just building a relationship and
you got to be able to listen to the feedback, whether you want
to hear it or not, because as a leader, sometimes the feedback
is not great, right? Well, you got to own it and you got to
figure out what you're going to do with it. But I think if
you're doing it for the right reasons, it's all going to work
out and everybody's going to grow together and don't go
from there.
You said I want to break this apart operationally because I
think it's brilliant. And it's something that I would imagine
most people would just gloss over because we're always
chasing the the shiniest thing like what you did not just
say Rob is and so we developed this AI thing internally and a
whole department for AI that helps us optimize our people
and blah, blah. You said we break our team
into six person pods and you oversee specifically or you
work specifically with six people who then go work with six
people who then go work with six people so on and so forth.
That is such a powerful principle of delegation that is so
tangible and and feasible for anybody that's listening to
this. What led you to that structure?
That a lot of smarter people than myself. I mean look in
life, you know, you go through and I still think I'm 26 years
old. I'm not as I told you and you see how what things worked
and what didn't work. And you know, if especially in today's
society with technology and every everybody is a showman,
right? Let's just be real. But how many of those people did
you watch who are now gone? You don't even know where they
went. They just vaporized in my opinion, right? But then you
saw there's a select few people that you've watched for a long
period of time and they've been very consistent or very
successful and success doesn't mean they tripled their amount
of sales or profitability or anything. But those are the
people to pay attention to because they're building some.
So yeah, there's been a lot of people that have I've looked
to and said, hey, they how did they do it? I don't want to
partner with somebody that says they're going to take me to
the moon tomorrow. I'm looking for somebody that's built
something that's proven over the course of time that is going
to put us on that long term trajectory that everybody's
going to grow. And this organization like we want to
treat everybody as though they're learning how to run a
dealership because we're going to get there faster.
It's kind of this reconciliation. I've been thinking about it
the other day. It's like because there's so much hype around
AI and everybody's answer seems to be AI and yours is very
practical real world experience. And it's that AI can like
give you an answer about something but it can't give
you the experience about that something.
And that right like I'm hearing you say like no, but I've
experiences in forming how I operate not just getting a
quick answer. I mean, you look at the encyclopedia for it.
For those that remember getting the encyclopedia, you could
read the encyclopedia till you were blue in the face and you
could know everything that was in it. And if you didn't have
the experience of that thing, then you were captive that
there's a ceiling on that and I'm seeing that so much with
AI now. But I want to ask you this sitting in your seat
directing the organization. What does what you look at differ
from what somebody in one of those other six pod teams look
at? Like what is the most concerned to you? And what is
the biggest concern for them to be to be making sure that
everything maps on the right trajectory?
Well, I think they're looking at because again, it's by
they should call them pods. I love that word, but it's by
department, right? And they know what their department needs
to do where from my vantage point, I'm looking at how do
all those other departments feed that, right? And like I
spend 25% of my week with the acquisition team because I
believe that feeds sales, finance, arts, service, right?
We know this. So I think a lot of times they're reporting.
So we have this crazy spreadsheet we built that anybody
could do, right? And you've seen it and that's why you're
probably smiling, right? And everybody's like, who inputs
all this and it is it's overwhelming if I show it to
you and say, Hey, you can go run a dealership and be successful
with this. Well, that's not how it works. Every one of those
sheets that manager of that department is responsible to
make sure it gets filled in every day. Then all that
information feeds up as a whole picture called the 30,000
foot view. So I think what I'm looking at is okay, what's
coming next? And it's usually three to six months down the
road, you know, and go back to AI. I know AI is a tool, but
you can't just plug it in think it's going to do something
magical in a people business. Remember, this is where it all
started in a people business. So I had to learn more about it.
I took the time to invest the time and effort money to take
an MIT class, which was a base understanding, which I probably
knew most of it already. But yeah, the motions. And then and
we use some AI everybody does in your life. I mean, if you go
to a red light, technically, that's AI, if you want to be
real, right? So, you know, but then what I envision there is
AI can just create engagement. And then the team of super
humans can actually transact and offer the service. So, you
know, those are the kind of things I'm looking at is how
can we engage our customers with technology? And it doesn't
have to be an AI bot or anything crazy like that. It can be
that it could be other things. And then how can we make sure
that the team is prepared to give the best experience and be
different than everybody else? Because at the end of the day,
everybody wants excellent service.
Oh, okay, this oh my gosh. I didn't think I didn't know that
we were going to go in this direction. But I'm so glad we
did and it's like we're running in parallel. See, I had to take
my glasses off for those that are just listening. I'm like,
I'm doing the iRub thing. I posted earlier, I guess yesterday
I posted a video about the idea of quality over quantity. And
everything you've shared so far leads to a quality interaction,
a quality experience, a quality customer experience or work
experience. And it's like the downstream impact of quality
on an organization versus just quantity alone. Of course, our
all of our nature is we want quantity, but but quality like
being the starting point of like guiding the guiding principle
championship to me is quality. It's not quantity, right? And
what you're talking about here, this customer experience, I
mean, part of my post was like, if we're so focused on
quantity, and never focus on quality outputs, to get quality
inputs, then we're never actually going to get to this customer
experience that we all covet, because we won't have the time
we will be so busy putting our effort and energy into busy
work perpetually that we won't have the bandwidth to to actually
be like, Well, what does a great customer experience look like
and and do I even have the energy to care about it? It's like
my wife after a full day of cutting hair, and she's taught
two fitness classes and cut hair all day, and she's been
standing and she's like, The last thing I care about tonight
is the experience my children and it's kind of that in the car
business, right? It's like, you just want to sit down on the
couch because we've been doing so much chasing papers, chasing
data, chasing, you know, whatever it might be, we can't
focus on the customer experience. You guys are in a position
where you're like, No, we can focus on the customer experience,
but it's come from all of like what I'm hearing you say,
which is why I'm laying it on so thick for those that are,
you know, paying attention. It's like focus on the quality of
your inputs.
100%. I mean, think about your personal life and I use this
analogy with my team all the time. I have somebody in my
phone for every problem that's going to arise in my life,
right? Like, okay, whether that's a contractor, a plumber, cool
guy, a car guy, a watch, kind of whatever it is, right? And
when you think about it, how do you get into my phone? It's
because you made my life better somehow, right? And 99% of
time, that's not price. It's usually time and just you get
you did the right thing. And, you know, I think that's a big
differentiator, like, look, the customer has more information
than they ever had. And guess what? In the next three months,
they're going to have even more than they've ever had in
history of man, right? We all know this. So how do you stand
out? I mean, it's based on customer service and standing
behind what you're going to do. And it's, are we perfect? No,
nobody's perfect. But do we do better than most? Yeah, does
it do repeat referrals happen in every department within a
dealership? 10,000%. You know, people are like, Oh, in the
sales department, you have to give referrals. Well, the parts
department gets referrals too. You know what I mean? So, I
mean, I think it's, I think the quality is longevity is what I
really think, you know, because you're just people are going
to come back and you can see it time and time again. And you
know, if I did business with you, and you took care of me,
I'm probably not going to question you on price unless
you try to gouge me the second time around, right? I know
you're going to come through and I expect you to earn a living
on what you do. Right. Just that simple and that difficult
all at the same time. I mean, well, that's kind of that is
our experience being a partner with you. It's like, and it's
also my philosophy, I think is why we were able to kind of
like run at the same speed, which is like, if you ask for
something, and it's a genuine need of yours, I'm like, I'm
going to do everything I can to make that happen. Even if it's
like, we don't need that service anymore. And it's like,
okay, cool, like, where so many people in the world, they just
like, hang on to this because it's very transactional. And I
think what you're saying is the greatest tell between a dealer
and their market or between the vendors that are listening and
their dealer partner, it's like, the tell is, do you genuinely
care about the experience that the other party is having
before your own, knowing that it will inform the quality of
experience you have in that partnership as well. You guys
have been bullish on used cars. This was funny at a Sodu con
I heard from I want to say they're a marketing direct
no, they were. Yeah, they were a marketing professional at a
dealership who you know, it's like we go to our 20 group and
it's new car,
the dealer then therefore says new car, and
you're like, used cars, and they're like, we need to sell
more new cars, because that's how we're scored. That's how
we're the you guys are so bullish on used cars. Actually,
my response was new car dealers are used car dealers. Like
the sooner they get that, the better off we're all going to
be you guys are bullish on used cars. Like you just said, you
spent 25% of your week in the acquisition department. But
what what informed that? Where did where did you guys get
comfortable being like we're a used car dealership with a Ford
logo? Yeah, is essentially my read on it. Well, you know,
it's funny Rob Ruth, I've been here eight years and when and
Rob and I knew of each other and that never really met. So Al
the blue, I contacted him just said, Hey, here's the deal.
I'm looking for a new home. And we met right and he was a used
car operator. So he always had that vision that he grew up
as a used car operator and I was a new car guy. And you know,
in several different roles, I could go in and be the number
one new car dealer in the state. And to me, that was easy
because it was math. We all pay the same for the cars. If I
just market and I'm aggressive and have the best experience,
we're just going to do it. And that will also in turn give us
trades and we will have more used cars to sell. So when I came
here, I was a new car guy, and they were struggling on new
cars. So I command boom, take new cars up. And then COVID
happened and shortages happened and working with Rob like,
okay, use cars, there's a lot of things that now we're in
control instead of shortages and mandates and everything. So,
you know, at the time we were selling, I don't know, maybe
175 200 used cars. Now we're closer to 375 400. But it's just
you have to understand the data to be a used car operator
because you can get you know, anybody could go out and buy
300 cars, whether it's at the auction or wherever. But if you
buy them wrong, you're going to go out of business just like
that, right? So, you know, just it kind of worked and in our
market and everybody knows the story a town of 2,700 people
there's a Ford dealer every seven miles in every direction.
Like, we can't sell 300 new cars. So, but we can sell 300
used cars. And that just kind of all comes together and you
know, it grows every other department, how every department
needs off of used cars. Well, new cars that doesn't happen as
much in the short term in the long term.
I want to ask you about the mindset of this all in a second,
especially piggybacking on the we live in a very small area,
but you guys have figured out how to blow the lid off of your
own brains here. But but first, in all of your experience
acquiring buying off the street, being bullish on used cars,
what is the kind of the baseline criteria that you are looking
at? Like because I mean, we were together in in Scottsdale
and you're like, we're buying used cars while we're in Arizona.
People that are not confident to know what they're looking for
don't make comments like that. So I'm like ever since and
knowing I wanted to have you on the show, I'm like, what is
what is Rob Dell's baseline criteria for feeling confident
buying the right used car?
Well, let's start with first off, if you tell me that something
is not possible, that's that's the first motivator, right?
There we just covered the mindset question I was going to ask.
That's it. I mean, I was literally on the plane to Scottsdale
and I was like, you know, how cool would it be if I just bought
a car out here? Why couldn't I do it? And there was I couldn't
come up with a reason we couldn't know I could transact.
I mean, I might have to jump through some hoops, but whatever
we could do.
I think the biggest criteria when you're buying a car and I
don't care if it's $1000 or $300,000. I don't prefer to
play in the $300,000 space because there's more risk, but
I will. But where do I believe based on our data that we're
going to transact and a lot of that historical data we have,
right? So if I know, hey, in the last 30 days, 60 days,
whatever 22 F 150 with 150,000 miles, I'm transacting at a
certain dollar amount, a certain percentage of the market.
It's a simple math equation. I just need to figure out how far
behind that number I need to be in order to move the car and
be profitable. And look, profitability isn't just front
end margin. There's a whole lot of other things that go into
it. You know, like I said, every department eats off of it.
So, you know, the one big shift I had, and this is probably
two years ago, I believe every trade is worth $3500 profit.
Worst case scenario. And if you think about it, it's going to
go through the service department. It's going to go through
the parts department. Assume we make no money on the front
end of the deal, then it's going to finance, then you have
whatever else you have and then 47% of the time you're going
to get another trade and I'm probably low on that. So I think
when you switch your brain, you know, because look, I grew up
in the world of, hey, you got to be $2,500 or $3,000 on the
front of every deal. Yeah, well, it's real simple math. Okay,
if you sell 100 there, that's 250 to 300 grand. Take it to
500 on the front times 400 cars now start adding in all these
other departments and that's where the scaling and the huge
profitability can come from. With that being said, there's a
lot of personnel and a lot of expense you got to cover, but
I think it's just looking at the thing differing, you know,
and you've known me enough by now, like I can sit there and
drown everybody's spreadsheet and that's been one of my
hardest things is I can't train somebody off the way my brain
operates. So but what I can do is go back and show them to say
they're a buyer for us. Hey, this worked. How do we get more
of them? These didn't work. How do we eliminate them and just
it's really that elementary, but it takes discipline.
Yeah.
No, but it's brilliant because it is the economy of scale at
play very practically at a dealership level, where I think
and I'm curious your observation here. Mine is that too many
people get so stuck on variable operations that they that
they they never even. I mean, if I only think about variable
and I can't think about fixed in my other departments, then
I'm never going to be able to think about how this loop
feeds itself.
Yeah, you're 100% right.
What I heard you say is no, like I've heard you say it a
couple of times now. It's like, no, that that feeds the whole
every other department and I'm going to get profit out of
every other one of those departments as well that there's
there's multiple touch points for profit. What do you think
keeps an operator so focused on variable?
Honestly, it's the way the industry's been forever. It's
most people aren't open minded like we have key people
within every department that don't just get paid on their
department. They get paid based on all those departments
because it's the whole machine, right? Because what happens
if you just if I just pay you on variable and I just get paid
on fix. So you're the sales manager. I'm the service manager.
We literally think we get paid to screw each other.
Is that not true? Like, oh, yeah, imagine that, right? He
looked in and saw I put $2,500 as a reconditioning
estimate. So he made it $2,505 like, you know, so but when
you and when you open it up and look, they call variable
variable for a reason. They call fixed fixed for a reason.
So this is what we talk about all the time. Like when you
blend the two together, there's gentle waves and make sure
the waves grow, right? Like we do want that to happen. But
you know, I think it's just the industry that every dealership
in America on average sells 80 to 100 cars new and used,
right? And I always and I think we talked about this when
we're in Scottsdale together. It's like buying a shirt. Okay,
when I grew up and let's just say in the 90s, once I started
getting a little bit of money, I could go to the mall. There
was all kinds of choices to buy stuff. Now not. Okay, there's
these big conglomerates that have all the inventory or I buy
it online, which just irritates me to death because it comes.
It doesn't fit. I don't like it. It wasn't the right color
or whatever. And I got to return it. So if you tie all that
together and it creates a great, you know, we have a large
inventory so people can shop here. And I can't tell you how
many people come here thinking they want to buy X and they buy
Y but you tie it all together. You tie our team together that
they were just going to take care of you and find a solution
for you and everybody wins together.
You know what? I've never thought about it in this way until
just now as I'm listening to you. You're solving the original
problem. Online outlets created a new problem that they now need
to solve. So for example, when you described like ordering the
thing online and then you get it and it doesn't fit, introduce
new problem. How do I return this stupid thing? Right? I now
I got to drive to a whole foods because they're the only ones
with the Amazon. You're like, oh, you know, you know how many
things I've bought that just sit in my garage now that should
have been a return. But I didn't deal with it. And now I'm just
like, see, I got blurred out like it was trying to censor this
for me. And like, dude, I have a motorcycle battery that doesn't
even fit my motorcycle that's just sitting on because it was
more of a hassle to me. And so what do they do? They're like,
Oh, well, that's a problem. We should figure out how to solve
it. Okay, well, now all you have to do is print the thing and
put on your front door and the guy will come and pick it up.
You're like, that's still a hassle. And that problem didn't
need to exist to begin with. So thank you for being our savior
on a problem that didn't need to exist. I appreciate it. Oh, how
nice of you. What I'm hearing you say, though, which which is
standing out to me and I hope really like people listening
this lands for them. You're solving the original problem
which is come here, have a great selection, meet the human
being who we guarantee you're going to want to have in your
phone. And then be done with it. No worries. You need that
thing serviced. We'll pick it up for you. We'll get it. You
know, like, that's the original problem. That's all we ever
want. We want to feel like kings and queens and have this
concierge level service. Even on a used car, you know, I
remember my first car I bought with my own cash
without anybody's help was a 1990. I don't know 1995 Saturn
Ion. No, a Saturn SC2 coupe, the three door plastic. Yes. And
I was like, I remember one time because it looked cool for
the time I thought and I could afford I mean $7,500 Canadian
dollars. Come on, it's basically free. And I remember the guy
at the dealership was like because it was dirty, you know,
like storms had come through and it was kind of dirty and we
had already committed to buy it and the detailer I remember
walking the lot and the detailer was like, so should we clean
this thing up? And the sales manager is like, he only paid
$7,500 for this thing. Like, it's not worth it. You guys are
giving a king and queen experience to people even with
the used car purchase. How do you reconcile that?
Yeah, I mean, look, I have a car problem first off. And I tell
this story, I bought a car at the end of last year from another
dealership, right? I didn't have to buy the car, but I went
through just like the customer experience, right? So I submitted
a lead within three minutes, they called me, which in the
industry is amazing, right? I think we all agree to that. And
we started talking, I wanted to negotiate. They were very up
front with me. I was very upfront with them, you know,
they're 500 miles away. And I was like, look, I want the car
delivered here tomorrow. And I want to do this and I want to
do that. And they were like, alright, wire us the down payment
this that the other thing. And I was like, I think wires are
dirty. Okay, like I don't know why. Long story short is they
overcame all my objections. And I had the car here the next
day. Okay, well, I'm no different than you buying that
Saturn, doesn't matter what the price of the car, right? So
that's the big thing, like, and we have so many different
layers of communications. But like if we have a review that
is not exceptional, our team, Nikki, who you met, right, will
communicate to the leadership team here and be like, Hey, what
happened? And sometimes we'll get a response within that our
own group. Like, you know, this guy wanted another five grand
off and blah, blah, blah. And with the price was already
great. It's blow market value, whatever. And like, I have to
interject and be like, So what? Call the customer and figure
out what we have to do. You know what I mean? Like just like
be heard sometimes. And, you know, a lot of times you don't
come up with the objection because you never asked the
right question. So sometimes just saying, Hey, looks like you
think we dropped the ball. How can we do better next time?
Well, if you give me a free candy bar, I'll come pick it up.
Great. You know what I mean? So I think you just you got to
just look at everything and you got to communicate and just
really that is communication within the team. And that is
the biggest thing here. Like the team knows like, Hey, this is
what we have to do, but we're going to do the right thing.
And that's going to just help build more and more and more.
You know, you saw the facility work out of space. So we got
to be efficient as all can be, right? There's cars on top of
cars, but communication.
It kind of ties into the whole mindset thing I want to talk
to you about and how you guys have blown the lid off of your
own mindsets. I mean, approaching your store and I don't
mean this in a disparaging way, kind of an endearing way. We
thought it was like on the side of the road motel. Like, you
know, with the balcony, there was like a dining room table or
something. And we were like, No, that's not it. That must be
the old building. And then we walked in and you guys were like,
this is the building packed deals flying the gong being gonged
banged bombed excitement cars in and out of service. You know,
the golf carts zipping around the lot showing people and it was
kind of rainy too. Most dealers would be like, I don't have the
brand new flagship for 2.0 $42 million, blah, blah, blah,
blah, therefore I can't or we're in a town of 2000 people,
therefore I can't you guys take all of this and you're like,
therefore I can. How? Why? It is such a mold break for our
industry. Go back to Amazon, right? So here's another problem
on Amazon. I order stuff and it's like a $7 thing. And I ship
it. I have a second house, I ship it to my wrong house, like
it. And I get all mad at myself, right? And I'm like, Oh,
whatever $7 but with technology and with everything, I mean,
how much do you really touch and buy in person? And it's no
different than a car, right? So give the customer all the
information, like that's where it all starts like, Oh, you got
to come in and then we'll make a deal or then I'll tell you
what your trade's worth or then then then no, they're calling
to eliminate you. Am I wrong? Like, if like, if I'm called, I
hate calling anybody, how many times have we talked on the
phone once, right? And but if I am calling, I'm calling to
eliminate something or I'm in desperation, just those two
things. So then with the internet, right, you can reach
everybody and people will travel and okay, so if you're in
Dallas, Texas and you want to buy this vanilla truck that I
have, I can ship it to you. I mean, why not? Right? There's
avenues there. So it's just again, it goes back to, you know,
I always say who said like, because people will tell me,
well, you can't do that. Who said? And you know what their
answer is? Well, I don't know. Yeah, somebody. Well, until you
introduce me to somebody, it's not that's not true, right?
And that you just have to have that mindset with everything.
Oh, who said you can't sell 40 cars a month as a sales
person? Who said you can't be a technician and make X amount
of dollars a year? Right? It's a full circle moment here for
me because we started the conversation with know who to
listen to and you're coming all the way back around in favor
of your mode of operation, which is yeah, who said who should
I be listening to right now? Oh, they who are they? Someone
who what someone I don't know. Okay, so nobody I mean, there's
so much just to be inspired by in the way that you guys
operate and I'm just I feel proud to know you guys and to
have been able to witness it because it it's like the the
application of destroying every excuse and just not being
willing to accept it and what's so inspiring about it to me
is for all that are listening watching this is available to
you. There's like, you know, it's just being willing to do
something and to try it and to test it. I'm sure in all of
this you guys have experienced your fair share of failures.
I know people go to the 20 groups and only want the
highlight reel and you know, when we come to stage, we want
to be inspired by the highlight reel but also like, I'm sure
there's moments where you're just like, holy crap. How do you
make sure that those micro moments stay in the micro and
don't bleed into your macro? Well, I think again, if you're
just let's just stick in the sales world that you can relate
into data a lot, right? But the one thing I communicate with
every manager here is I view every mistake as a $5,000
mistake. And it's real simple the way I explain it is like,
look, we can make a $5,000 mistake, but we can't make it
again. Now as we grow, we can afford to make more $5,000
mistakes, but we can't duplicate, right? So that I think
gives people the understanding of, hey, we got to take risk.
And if we make a mistake, we're going to do the right thing
and we're going to correct it, but let's not do it again.
But I think, you know, and we have made plenty of mistakes
and there's been plenty of heartache and burn and you know,
in many different areas, but you, again, if you hit a wall,
are you going to stop and retreat and go backwards or are
you going to just keep finding a way around it and go forward?
It's just that simple. So, you know, I have every day somebody
comes to me and they're like, hey, I hate to tell you this,
it out. Like that has to be the mindset every single time.
Like is the only way I'm not going to say we're going to figure
it out is like if the building is going to burn to the ground
right now, right? Then we're all going to rot. But other than
that, like, okay, let's how did it happen? Who was involved?
How can we correct it? How can we prevent it?
Well, and what I know about you guys is I'm convinced that
even if the building did burn down, you would have 35 guys
downstairs grabbing keys and cars away from the building like
right now. And they're like, and they'll be like, well, we're
now selling from the trailer over there. Like you guys
totally figure it out. I know what I love about it, Rob, is
like, there's this sense of like, what's really a catastrophe?
Right? You know, like, because we all always are here, I am
being absolute. We some tend to think in absolutes about
everything, which causes them to not be able to be absolute
in anything. And you guys are like, no, like, I love that the
the $5,000 mistake because it grounds it actually, it's like,
hey, we can afford to make one, we can't afford to make two of
those. And it because it makes it so practical for the recipient
of that message to be like, okay, and I love it because it's
rooted in gosh, what's the is it how to win friends and influence
people book where he talks about the test pilot who crashes
the plane and it's like a big mistake and the owner of the
company, you know, the pilots is shamed and afraid and you can't
face the owner and the owners like, well, you probably won't
do that again, huh? You know, and it was like, what? That was
it. And it was, I guess, at scale, that was the $5,000 mistake.
It was very grounded and very like, you probably won't make
that same maneuver mistake again. And, and forward we go. I
was talking to our pal Charlie Spradlin over at art main. And
I'm hearing this from you, which is why I want to share it.
Um, the spirit animal of automotive. We always think
lions, oh, lions not sheep and bears. I'm a bear. Dude, the
auto industry is a freaking bison, dude. Not a buffalo. Those
are in Africa. I'm talking bison, big beefy. And you know
why? Because bison are a rare species that when a storm is
approaching, they herd together and run into the storm. Because
they know that if they run into the storm as it passes, as
they intersect, they'll actually be in the storm for a lot less
time than other animals. And, and I'm like kicking that around
on my brain because everything you said, like this idea of
everything being figure outable, they're not being a ceiling.
Don't care about a pandemic. Don't care about the building
burning to the ground. Don't care about that. It's like you're
dude, freaking bison, dude. Bison. We run into a storm. We
thrive on it. We go, is that all you've got? And I just love
it. I think it's so inspiring. Well, listen, you've shared a
lot of wisdom with us today, which I deeply appreciate. We
talked used cars. We talked about your your method for
analyzing a used car at a high level. We learned about this
secret cryptic spreadsheet that I secretly somehow wish I
could devoid of data and make available to the dealer playbook
listeners. It's incredibly insightful. I appreciate not
only our friendship, but who you are in the industry and what
you're doing, I think is incredibly inspiring. So thank
you for joining me on the dealer playbook. How can those
listening or watching connect with you?
I mean, best ways connect with me on LinkedIn. I mean, I try
to post relatively consistent and look wins and losses, right?
Like the real numbers like last last month back one month
here. Yeah, we were down a little bit 20 cars year over
year. That's not like us. We're not happy about that, but
it's real. And you know, don't be afraid to reach out. I'm glad
to offer advice, help eat up whatever. Let's go. Thanks so
much for joining me on the pod. You got it, man. Hey, thanks
for listening to the dealer playbook podcast. If you enjoyed
tuning in, please subscribe, share and hit that like button.
You can also join us and the dpb community on social media.
Check back next week for a new dealer playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
About this episode
Rob Dell, VP at Bob Ruth Ford, explains how his team rethinks used-car performance and leadership. The conversation centers on “destroying excuses,” knowing who to listen to, and building confidence in buyers and employees. Dell shares his accidental entry into the business, the “success breeds success” proximity effect, and how he identifies trustworthy leaders. Operationally, he describes clear expectations, accountability, and a six-person “pod” structure for delegation across departments—emphasizing real experience over AI hype.
Rob Dell runs a Ford store in a town of just 2,700 people, boxed in by a competing Ford dealer every seven miles. Instead of fighting for new car volume he could never win, he rebuilt his store around used cars, taking monthly volume from around 175 to close to 400.
In this episode, Rob breaks down the shift in thinking that made that growth possible. He explains why he stopped chasing a flat front-end profit number on every deal and started valuing every trade at a baseline of $3,500 once service, parts, and finance are factored in. He also gets into the historical data his buyers use to price a used car before it ever hits the lot, the five-thousand-dollar rule that keeps his team taking smart risks, and the six-person pod structure that keeps every manager focused without being stretched too thin.
You can connect with Rob on LinkedIn, where he posts regularly about the real numbers at his store, wins and losses included.
Michael's takeaway: the number that matters isn't how many cars you sell. It's understanding what one deal is actually worth once every department gets its share.
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