Auctions are events where cars are sold to the highest bidder. Dealers use them to find inventory, but they have to be careful about price and condition.
Here, “data” just means the real numbers from your business. The point is to use past results to decide what to buy next, not just feelings or hunches.
DMS means dealer management system. It’s the computer system car dealers use to keep track of inventory and sales data.
LIVE
Hey, welcome to the Monday Minute, a quick reset to lead better to think clear and build
your dealership with intention.
But before we get started, make sure you've read the newsletter and it outlines the full
thing.
Today, we're talking about the Monday Minute, it's a mindset, it's in the newsletter, it's
a roadmap.
So Jeff, what we got buddy?
Oh man, well you've heard it a thousand times, but you actually make your money when you
buy.
But there's the problem, most dealers don't have a buying plan, they have buying habits,
right?
I can tell you right now, my buying habit is to scroll the auction, chasing deals, and
then just kind of buy when I'm bored, right?
It's not really a strategy, it's just window shopping, like I'm just constantly looking
at my list, I'm constantly looking for deals and if I see a deal, I buy it and that's probably
not.
So the reason sales do this, Jeff, they go up and down, and just standing
in the lane and looking at shiny objects is not necessarily, I know there's some dealers
that do that, if they see something that looks shiny and is a good deal and whatever, hasn't
been smoked in or they believe that if the oil's been changed and the cabin air filters
new, then it's been well taken care of.
I don't understand it, you know, like they have this sixth sense, but what really operators
do is they take the guesswork out of it, they define it and they plan ahead of time.
So your buying plan should answer a few very simple questions.
What makes and model fit my store?
What price range works best for my customers?
And then also, you want to know what you refuse to buy, no matter how cheap it is, right?
We talk about this in previous episodes as being your strike zone.
Also, what is on your no buy list?
You got to keep those.
Dealers are always asking each other, hey, what's on your no buy list?
What's on your buy list?
You know, these are things that you should have in writing.
And I have a spreadsheet that my team puts together and we review it, you know, annually
or quarterly on what we want to buy, what we say yes to what we say no to.
So that's a good place to start.
Now we want to go a level deeper.
Where are we getting those cars from?
Auctions, street purchase, trade-in, private sellers.
Now the best operators build relationships with all their buying sources, right?
They know where the best cars come from.
They know how to look back, where there's consistency and quality from certain sellers.
And that brings us to the most important part is you cannot figure out any of that
unless you have data.
The big D, the D and data is super important.
And Jeff, when we moved into the retail space, we didn't have any back data to go to.
So we had to actually go and get software to produce some data that would tell us
what we should be buying.
Now we're starting to use it, starting to figure out.
So what I want people out there to do is go into your DMS and pull the numbers, right?
Look at the most profitable vehicles.
Look at what you've been selling.
Now, I don't want you to look at your favorite deals or easiest deals, but the most
profitable ones, ones where you can see a pattern, what price, what mileage, what make,
what models, that should be your roadmap.
And before you go and buy more cars, hey, just just do this.
Buy the right cars over and over again, and you'll sell more cars.
And, you know, as owners, we don't like to delegate, right?
And this is one of the highest impact zones in our dealership is buying cars.
But if you could create a buying plan, you can start to farm this out to other people.
And that's what I'm doing right now.
And it's actually working pretty.
Yeah, and it might add that you could take all of that data, dump it into AI, have it
parse it down and dissect it and decide what cars make you the most gross, which ones turn
the fastest and also what those sources are as far as where you bought them from that make
the most sense. And then you could hand that buying plan off to a buyer to go drive the
auctions and find the best deals, right?
And you could even use AI to source the auctions, too, which, you know, there's a lot of AI
we could use here. But what I want you to do this week, Jeff, is just write down the buying
plan. Yeah, use the data you have in your DMS, figure out patterns using AI, however you
want to do it, tighten your discipline, write it down, work on it.
You know, great dealers don't just wonder what's happening in the market.
They build a plan, they execute to it.
So let's build this together.
About this episode
Jeff draws a sharp line between dealers who “have a buying plan” and those who “have buying habits.” Instead of auction “window shopping,” he recommends building a written buying plan using DMS data—starting with what makes/models fit your store and what price range best serves your customers. The plan should include a strict no-buy list and be grounded in profitability patterns from your most profitable vehicles, so sourcing decisions are intentional rather than reactive.
Welcome to the Monday Minute, brought to you by Collections Boot Camp with AI from Godwin Consulting — your weekly reset to lead better, think clearer, and build your independent dealership with intention. You've heard it a thousand times: you make your money when you buy the car. But here's the problem most independent dealers won't admit — they don't have a buying plan, they have buying habits. Scrolling the auction. Chasing shiny objects. Buying when they're bored. Standing in the lane trusting a sixth sense about whether the cabin air filter looks fresh. In this episode, Luke and Jeff get specific about what a real buying plan looks like and why most used car dealerships are leaving serious money on the lane. They walk through the questions every plan should answer — what makes and models fit your store, what price ranges work for your customers, what's in your strike zone, and what belongs on your no-buy list no matter how cheap it is. They go deeper on sourcing — auctions, street purchases, trade-ins, private sellers — and why the best operators build relationships across all of them. Then they get into the real unlock: data. Pulling your most profitable units out of your DMS (not your favorite or easiest deals — the most profitable), looking for patterns in price, mileage, make, and model, and using AI to dissect it for you. Build the plan, write it down, and you can finally delegate buying to somebody else — which is exactly what Luke is doing right now, and it's working. Your assignment this week: write your buying plan. Use your DMS data, lean on AI, tighten your discipline, and put it on paper. Great dealers don't wonder what's happening in the market. They build a plan and execute it.
Let's build this together. SPONSORED BY COLLECTIONS BOOT CAMP WITH AI — Godwin Consulting Group 📅 May 14, 2026 | 📍 Atlanta, GA Learn more & register: www.godwinconsultinggroup.com/training
