“Time to line” means how many days it takes a car to get from when you get it to when it’s ready to sell. Shorter time usually helps you make more money because the car isn’t sitting around costing you money.
“Recon” is the process of getting a used car ready to sell—usually cleaning it and fixing any small issues. If it takes too long, the dealership loses money because the car sits there longer.
An auction is where dealers buy cars by bidding. After the dealer wins, the car usually has to be cleaned and fixed up before it can be sold to a customer.
Term
flash flow
“Flash flow” is about how quickly the dealership can turn a car into sales and get paid. If the car takes too long to get ready, the dealership’s money is tied up longer.
Term
turns time
“Turns time” is how long it takes for the dealership to sell a car and get a new one in its place. If it takes too long, the dealership’s money is stuck in inventory.
“Inventory aging” means how long cars sit on the lot without selling. The longer they sit, the harder (and sometimes more expensive) it can be to sell them.
LIVE
Welcome to the Monday Minute, a quick reset to help you lead better, think clearly, and
build your dealership with intention.
But before we get started, make sure you've read Sunday's newsletter, subscribe, all that
good stuff.
It lays out the theme for the week, the why behind it, and simple exercises you can work
through.
The Monday Minute is the mindset, the newsletter is the roadmap.
Jeff, what is our focus this week?
Ooh, this is one of your favorites.
Every dealer likes to watch how fast they sell a car, right?
We talked about that a couple weeks ago, it's our turn time.
Now, what we also need to track is how fast we get the cars ready.
So that's what we call time to line, right?
Yes, sir.
The moment, the vehicle, well, from the moment the hammer drops at the auction, yes, moment
you get it through recon and get it to the front line.
Ready to retail, stickered, cleaned, photo like ready to go because you can't make your
money sitting in recon.
All that is is extra days and extra costs that just eat into your profit.
The more the car sits there, waiting to get touched, cleaned, your missed
turns time, you delay flash flow, inventory aging gets to be an issue.
So for a lot of dealerships, recon, it's not a process.
It's just a big series of figure it out steps, right?
One person inspects it, another one looks at it later, parts might get ordered, they
might not get ordered.
Who knows where the repair order went, who knows what decided to what, then it shows
up and it's the wrong part or you got too many of them or you forgot a piece that it
needed clips for.
And so now you're back getting the clips, right?
There's no clear flow and when there's no flow, there's no speed.
So the first step isn't just to go faster, it's not to just, you know, I really dislike
ordering parts before the car shows up because you really don't know what you're
getting into, but it's to get more clear.
So that means a couple of things in each step you go through.
From a rival to frontline, you want to write down what's going to happen.
So something like this is just an example of kind of the way we do it, right?
We see, receive the vehicle from the transporter, right?
You want to document that to make sure it's showing up in the condition it left
the auction or wherever you bought it from, inspect it, make sure it's good.
And then do your initial test drive, right?
That is a lot going on there, right?
You diagnose it.
You want to, you know, make sure you do this, this, this, the same test drive
every time, make sure it's up to temperature.
There's a whole lot you can build into that.
But then you also want to start working up an estimate.
You would pass that off.
Once that estimate gets built, you want to approve the work, order the parts.
Once the parts come in, they all get put together, the mechanic handles it.
Then you get it reinspected and signed off by somebody.
Maybe have a final test drive on it.
Then you would send it over to detail, make sure it's spotless, get it cleaned,
and then merchandising where they're going to throw all the stickers and
balloons and all that nonsense on top of it and get it photographed.
And hopefully sold right out the door, right, Luke?
Right out the door.
There were so many questions on this when we were in Vegas and I could go on
the days for time to line, but it's so important.
So here's where it gets powerful.
You got to write it down.
If you don't write it down, you can't improve it.
You can, once you write it down, you figure out where the delays are,
where the handoff breakdowns are and why cars are sitting and that cars are sitting.
Some people buy so many cars, they don't know they have them sitting, right?
You know, time to line, it's hard work.
But as soon as you start removing the friction, it gets going.
And top operators treat recon like an assembly line.
And that's the way it should be.
Cars should move step by step every day.
So here's your assignment this week.
Map the recon process, write down every step, measure how long each of those
steps take and identify the bottleneck to fix it.
Sometimes bottleneck is so easy like it's in the detail department.
You need to either outsource some more or you need to hire some more.
Get them going because the last thing somebody wants to do is a ready
car sit in the detail for a week and a half.
It's nonsense.
Anyway, the faster you get those cars in front line, the faster you can sell it.
Your term time goes up, your cash just starts generating that revenue.
And, you know, in business, speed doesn't just happen, man.
You just got to build it and start behind the scenes.
So let's get going.
Let's build this together.
About this episode
Recon isn’t just a shop task—it’s a profit and cash-flow process. The hosts connect delays to lost money, pointing to metrics like time to line, flash flow, and inventory aging. They recommend mapping recon step-by-step, measuring each stage to find bottlenecks, and running the workflow like an assembly line. A clear, documented sequence is emphasized, including inspecting before ordering parts so teams don’t get stuck with surprises.
Welcome to the Monday Minute — your weekly reset to lead better, think clearer, and build your independent dealership with intention. A few weeks ago, Luke and Jeff broke down turn time. This week, they're tackling the other half of that equation: time to line. From the moment the hammer drops at the auction to the moment that car is sitting on the front line — clean, photographed, stickered, and ready to retail — every day in between is costing you. You can't make money on a car sitting in recon. In this episode, Luke and Jeff walk through what most independent dealerships actually have when it comes to recon — not a process, but a series of "figure it out" steps. One person inspects, another looks at it later, parts may or may not get ordered, the wrong part shows up, clips get forgotten, and the car keeps sitting. No flow means no speed. They map out a real recon flow step by step — receiving the unit from the transporter, initial inspection, test drive, estimate, approval, parts, repair, re-inspection, final test drive, detail, merchandising, photos — and explain why writing it down is what unlocks improvement. You can't fix what you can't see. Top operators run recon like an assembly line, and cars should move step by step every day. Your assignment this week: map your recon process, measure how long each step takes, and identify the bottleneck. Sometimes the fix is as simple as outsourcing more detail work or hiring another tech — because the last thing you want is a ready car sitting in detail for a week and a half. The faster cars hit the front line, the faster they sell, the faster cash flows back into the business. Speed doesn't just happen. You build it, and it starts behind the scenes. Review this week's Sunday newsletter at TheIndependentDealer.com for the full theme and exercises. Not subscribed yet? Sign up now. https://theindependentdealer.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=603446580871d8522a454418d&id=50aae74348Let's build this together.
