#393 - What's The Scuttlebutt?
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Hello, and welcome to the independent dealer podcast brought to you by Buckeye Risk Services.
Luke, how is your August going so far?
You know, consulting wise, good, dealership wise, not so good, and service, pretty good.
Oh, yeah. Well, that sounds like great. For me, it's, you know, I don't know what happens in our
little neck of the woods, but it has been busy, like gangbusters busy, right? Like chickens with
their heads cut off running around the last probably two weeks. So I don't know what's in the
water out here, but obviously the EV tax credit expiring, so that's been a real push.
A lot of phone calls on the fuel, Tesla's, I can still get my hands on.
But a lot of our other cars have been moving too, some of the high end stuff. So
it's been mixed. But for me, obviously, Recon is still the hang up,
getting cars through, getting them quickly, just making sure my shop, I'm
trying to teach them to outsource to a bunch of different shops because we can't handle
getting things done and handling customer cars at the same time. So yeah,
it's been a real mixed bag here for us. Well, walk us through this EV tax credit
ending thing because not everybody's into it, Jeff, like you are and
talk to us maybe about how that ends on a certain date. Well, what's going to happen to all the
Tesla's you have prior to that? Like, when do you stop buying? Tell me what you got going on here.
I don't know the answer to when I stopped buying. I thought I was going to stop buying
a while ago and I don't carry that many. So in context, I'm not a huge sample size.
You know, we'll carry five to six at any one time, only model threes, model wise,
and they have to be under 25 grand purchase price to the customer. So that includes dock fee,
25 grand's the cap. The only thing that can go above and beyond that is taxes. So
it's a tough thing to fit, right? Because right now all the dealers are so desperate.
Everyone's bidding these things up to 24 grand and then you pay fees and transport.
You're making a dollar 50 on them. I don't understand that.
That sounds like great damage. Yeah, it actually is on some of them.
And what happens in those situations is we just say, look, man, I'm into this 25 grand.
If I have to sell it to you for 25 grand, I've got to have a trade in.
As I was wondering, okay. And so we've been a little picky on those, which is a really,
really delicate issue. I mean, you got someone that comes in and wants to buy the Tesla because
it's a steal of a deal. They don't have a trade in. You basically have to ghost them.
And that is really an awkward conversation or interaction to have.
Yeah. I mean, do you say, I tell you what, I'll sell it to you, but you got to bring me a bag
of cash for $2,000. I mean, is that what's good? Well, that's technically also illegal to say I'll
sell it to you for 25 grand, but come in tomorrow and buy this charger for three grand, right?
That is, that is very sketchy. And are people actually doing that?
I think some here in my area are, I think all over it's happening and there's documented
cases here in town. They should lock most people up. They should lock them up.
I think there's, it'll be tax fraud. Yeah. I think some people, if they ever audit
their deals and see that they were, they were selling a car below their cost and then making
the customer come in the next day and give them a bag of cash, that's straight up avoiding.
I can understand the trade in situation. Yeah.
And say, all the time, we sell cars. I'll break down on a car if I'm getting a good trade.
And if I'm ripping the trade, right?
You know, but I'm not going to, I'm not going to give you more for your trade.
Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's a real delicate area too.
Because yeah, you kind of have to let them know, like, look, man, I'm making zero selling
you this car. I've got to make money on your trade and hope you're cool with that.
Because net, net, you're in the same spot, Mr. Customer.
Yeah. Now you get a $4,000 ED credit. So the rule is you have to take delivery by September 30th.
So it's going to be a full speed between now and then.
So you're still buying? You're still buying? Yeah. Yeah. Because we're turning fast enough.
Now here's what's going to happen, my opinion after September 30th.
All Teslas are gravitating to that 25,000 number, right? Right now, if you get online
and you look, you can buy a 2021 with 80,000 miles for 24 grand, you can also buy a 2023
with 80,000 miles for 24 grand. So everything's been pulled down to that number.
And all the cheap 2018 model threes have been pushed up to 20 or 21 grand. So
there's a big difference between the 18 and the 23, by the way.
Oh yeah, huge. And so I think everything's kind of been compressed to the 25 number.
So when that's gone and the motivator is not there, obviously your cheap stuff is going to get
cheaper, right? Because everyone knows it's propped up by four grand. The wholesalers know that.
Do you think there's going to be some good buy here, pay here, or at least here, pay here,
cars, model threes or model wise after this? Because it sounds like there might be.
And that's my philosophy. I really think that because so much demand is being pulled forward
right now to that date that if you wait till October and then all the inventory starts building
up and then by the end of October, November, all the wholesalers get real desperate.
I think you're going to see a huge drop in those cheaper Teslas. And now you're getting
a 2018, 2019 with 80,000 miles for like 12 grand or I should say we're talking 10,
are we talking 10, 12 grand? I think so. I don't know that the model three is such
a commodity car that I think the used ones are going to become insanely cheap. And of course,
the liability on the batteries scares people. So if you think you might have to put in a six
or $8,000 battery in the next year or two, you kind of price those in just like we do with,
I mean, look at the Ford Fiesta's, right? Or the Focuses or the GMC Acadia, like you're
buying these cars just factoring in that you're going to need to do these repairs
right off the bat or within 12 months. So yeah, what is it? And then we kind of went off
our normal topic, our original topic. What's recon like? And because we're going to lead
into our first question. Oh yeah, good point. What is recon? Yeah, that's also it. And it's
got to be you buy them at the auction, you bring them home, you'll wash them,
you vacuum them and they're ready to go charge the battery. For the most part,
I take it for a drive. I don't send them through my normal 50 point inspection,
right? Because typically my A mechanic takes all my cars does the 50 point inspection.
What if it needs belts and hoses? What's that? What if it needs belts and hoses,
you don't change all and no belt. Okay.
And very rare. So here's what you have. There's there's two to three things.
Tires, you're always going to do tires. Yep. You might have to do some curb rash.
Every single one of them has curb rash. Ask my wife how I know. Yeah, yeah,
then there's a handful of defects in like the tail lights that get moisture in them.
The steering wheels get rubbed off. I become a master Steeler steering wheel
swapper. I mean, I can do it in like five minutes now. You're a master or something.
That's about all I mastered. Cabin air filters. And here's one thing that a lot of people are
overlooking is the cabin air filter. They're not doing they're not cleaning the radiators.
Every single Tesla we've got in over the last three months, we've opened up and
cleaned the radiator and they are atrocious, like full on rats nests. The way that the radiators
manufactured into Tesla is it's on a backward slant because they can't stand it straight up.
Yeah. So it's on a backward slant and it actually has a plastic cover that catches the air and
forces the air up and then down on like a downward slant. So what does that create?
A little nesting area, a little platform for every single debris, stick, dirt, dust
to just settle right on the radiator and then get sucked into the fins. It's the worst design in
the world. Well, I'll have to check that on my wife's car, but the the okay, the freaking cabin
air filters. If you don't change them on Teslas, everybody, there's this smell that comes out
when you turn the AC on that will run you out of the car. It is. Yeah. And sometimes that's just
the evaporator or the exchanger coil. Well, that's you have to clean those. Yeah, I got to clean those
too. So anyways, there's there's a handful of maintenance issues, but but not a ton. The
recount is pretty low and thank goodness because the margins are so slim on some of the model
wise. I mean, I've told people like I've got one out here, man, I can't put tires on it.
Like you got to buy it as is and you're going to need to put tires on it tomorrow,
but I can't do it for you because I would make no money because tires are expensive on these things
too. Well, then you sell you sell the tires at that point. Yeah. Yeah. Well, within reason,
I don't want it to look sketchy. So I tell him to go, I'm not going to have you come back in
and buy tires tomorrow because then it looks like I was trying to dodge the $25,000 max.
You could defend that unless you charge them $5,000 for a set of tires.
I wish I could. So what that leads us into, Luke, is we wanted to go over
some of the questions that we get to our email. And you guys can, if you have questions,
obviously the Facebook forums are a great place to get answers from all dealers. But if you
have something more specific or maybe even something more private that you want like a
real detailed education on, we love to talk. We love to respond to emails. We'll give
you a call. So obviously info at theindependentdealer.com. But a couple that we've got over
the last few weeks, I wanted to go over because I felt like they're timely and we don't do this
very often. We don't. And of course, we're going to remove all the names and delicate
information. But one of them that we got not too long ago that leads us through this
recon conversation is this dealer was specifically concerned that his mechanics were padding
the recon tickets and his recon was out of control, right? Out of control. And you dug into this a
little bit deeper. So maybe give us some context on what was going on and what you did to help
resolve this. Yeah. That's one of those things we can all worry about. And
there's all kinds of metrics to use to see this, right? Your recon, if it is drastically
over $1,500, you've got a problem. That problem could be you're buying the wrong car. The problem
could be the recon, the people you're using to recon. That could be an outside company or your
shop is spending way too much money on the recon. You could, you can look at that and that's an
easy metric to look at. And also how long is it taking me to get my car to the line?
So you got that, that metric as well. Then also, what is my warranty expense? What is,
what's that ratio? And if it's over 40 to 50%, you got all kinds of problems, right?
Either you're not reconning enough or you're buying the wrong inventory.
So what I would recommend, if you're using that, look at this two ways. If you're using an outside
company and you've been using them forever and you really love them, but the recon feels
expensive, well, shop it. Take the same car. Well, for one, give them a true and special list
that's your own. These are the things I want you to look at. And then when they, they check it,
you need to audit each RO and go, okay, we're going to do this, this and this. Don't say,
just fix it. Because if you do that, they're going to treat you like somebody off the street.
And their technician is going to go, it needs brakes and these tires, these
rotation alignment, these, both more control arms, these all four should actually struts.
And they're going to, they're going to crush you because that's what a retail shop is supposed to
do. I own one. I run one. If it is, if a shock is got any sort of moisture on it,
we're going to call that it needs a shock. So that's just the way it is. So take that car
after that shop inspects it and drive it right down the street and get them to do the same
inspection and then compare and contrast. That way you can get a happy medium and you could also
see if you need to find another recon facility or you need to have a conversation with the people
that's been doing it for you for 10 years. Outside shop is pretty easy. Yeah. So, so your first
advice, if you're suspicious, because when you say average recon, the first thing that sticks
out to me is it's all relative. And that's the issue we run into, obviously, depends on the price
point of car you're buying. For some people, $1,500 would blow their freaking mind. If they're buying
near off lease new stuff, all they're doing is a set of floor mats, right? Yeah. So it's very
relative. And then you've got the other end of the spectrum of folks that are buying a co-part
and it's like, okay, if you're buying a co-part, like, yeah, you're going to be spending
more than $1,500. I'm talking about without, without body work and things like that, you know,
and a typical independent dealer. Yeah. But, but if you're also trying to find bargains,
because you have guys that have capacity and are out buying builders, like, you know, we interviewed
some dealers in the past that they go out and try to find the, the two CRs or the 1.5 CRs
that they can build value in. So, so when we say that, obviously look at it and say, okay,
well, within reason of what I think I should be doing. And one good metric I like to do,
and I pull this through my DMS is I look at my total cost into car. So after my purchase,
after my recon, and I compare that to retail, like JD power, you know, clean retail. So
I'll pull that report of all the cars I sold in the last six months. And I'll say, okay,
what's my percentage of cost into car compared to retail? And I'll look at from my different
inventory sources, you know, Mannheim, off the street, trade in, repo, just to kind of see,
okay, when all is said and done on this car, which source is getting me the best bang for buck
or the best cost to retail potential? It will always be your trade ins and the ones you buy
off the street, FYI. You just can't source enough of them. Yeah, it is actually probably
street purchases. I just don't have a large sample size for that. Yeah, that's, that's
a problem. But even repos are okay for me because I bring my repos in at MMR, knowing exactly what
they need, right? ACV. So even though they cost me more per ticket, I'm into them better compared
to retail, most of the time. Most of the time. You know, when people have this theory that,
oh, if I can just have my own shop and control the process, that they're never going to get
screwed. But you're going to, you know, at some point, you're going to hire a technician
or a manager that's very service focused and something's going to get out of whack because,
probably because you didn't train them, right? Didn't train them for what you really need.
So if you're selling, let's say if you're selling 50 cars a month, you should have
somebody, maybe it's 40 cars a month, maybe it's 30 cars a month. I don't know the
exact number, but it's somewhere in there, 30 to 50. If you're selling that many cars a month,
you need one person that is dedicated to getting your cars ready that that is their job. They
sit on top of the funnel and they jump up and down to get them out the bottle.
And that'll save you time to line. But also part of their job is to
dictate what is repaired and what is not repaired. And so quality control.
Quality control and their pay plan has to be built around that, around how many cars you need in a
month, how fast they get there and how much it's spent. We can control all of that. We need
to make sure that we remember we're selling used cars, not new cars. And they need to be
reconned properly to what you are selling and what your customers expect. We've gotten into
this rut where our customers, and I'm talking about everybody's customers,
believe they are buying new cars. And this, I think this happened during COVID because
the price of the used cars went up dramatically. And when that happened, what people used to
pay $6,000 for is now $10,000. $10,000 is a lot of money, right? And so
they have this mindset to buy a new car. So how we can work around that, Jeff,
is we have to train our salespeople on expectations of the consumer and WIO.
What happens a lot of times in dealerships, WIO forms get used by salespeople to
sell the product, to sell the car. Because the customer go, well, I want that rear bumper
painted. And instead of the salesperson going, well, you know what? This is a used car. And that
rear bumper, the car is priced the way it is because of that rear bumper. So it's going to
stay just like it is. Now, what we can do, Mr. customer, Mrs. customer, we have a body shot
right down the road. They'll charge you $350 to repair that bumper. Would you like that
to add it to the price of the car? Or would you like to go get it done yourself?
And I can tell you what that customer will tell you.
That's good. We'll just go get it done ourselves. And it's never done. And so we do have to train
our salespeople how to handle things properly. Because if not, the WIO will be used to sell
cars. And then the service department, if they don't get the WIO form, customer shows up
in the IRA, then you're in trouble, right? So you got to make sure that all that lines
up and have a good process of using the WIO and the promises and policy type stuff,
so that you don't get in trouble. But salespeople have to be trained.
And we do that with our sales team. They have the WIO statement. It's a max of $200
that can be put on the WIO. And it's a 30-day fulfillment. And we actually
try to require that the salesperson is the one that coordinates any WIO items.
Because they made the promise they need to help fulfill it. If it's, hey, I had to throw in a
set of floor mats or hey, I had to throw in a stereo fix. Like, all right, that's cool.
If that's what you had to do to get the sale done, we allow it up to $200.
But now you have to be the one to coordinate that. Because they have to have some ownership
of that. They can't just throw it all on there and then just dump it on my service
manager. I got a question for you. What is your average WIO?
My average WIO? I don't know what my average WIO is, but I know what my average goodwill is,
which has got a combination of the two things in it.
What I was going to say is, if you allow up to $200 in WIO, you're probably going to get $200
every WIO. That's where I was going with that. Well, I mean, again, but when you have the
salesman has to fulfill it, he's not motivated to put it on there because he's not just
passing it off to somebody else just to get the sale done. So maybe I get it.
And so what I would say is I would tie, if you're going to do something like that,
tie the total amount of WIO back to the salesman's commission for each month. And if you do that,
I think you would see that number get into the spot where it needs to be.
Instead of they just know they have $200. They can use any time they want to.
Anyway, it's just an idea of ways to make sure it doesn't get out of control at $200.
Typically, if you give somebody a limit of something, they go right up to that limit
every time. Of course. Yeah, absolutely. And that's one thing, just to give a plug to
Buckeye right now, being able to track those types of things. And you've got those three
buckets where you can move that stuff around. You've got recon, you've got WIO, and you've
got warranty repair work. And so you've got to be careful not to just play with those numbers to
make the other one look good, right? Yeah. I could push everything into goodwill and all of a sudden
my warranty claims look amazing. Or I could push everything into my warranty claims just to keep
my goodwill and my recon low. I may know a few dealers that have pushed everything into
goodwill instead of warranty just so their taxes are better too. I may have known some
artists, doesn't it? Yeah. And that's what Buckeye can help you do is make sure your ratios are
correct so that your warranty company is a real warranty company. Because guess what? You do have
to have claims. It's great to not have claims on your warranty company, but that's not how the
real world works. And it's just so great to be able to control your own warranties. It makes
your customers happy. It makes your bottom line better. And it saves you some taxes. So that's
very good. Yeah. I call the guys at Buckeye get set up if you're not already. It does
surprise me sometimes when people say, hey, what service contract company are you using?
Oh, man. PayHearCars. That's wild, right? Where have you been? Where have you been?
This is so wild. So 50 people will jump in. Oh, call Buckeye. Oh, call Dealerie. Oh,
call this guy. And it's like, yeah. It's so funny. Yeah. Sometimes you got to look before
you post. But we talked a little bit about that touched on the pay plans. So we continually
debate the pay plans for both buy or pay here and retail customers because things are
changing on the sales side. It's not typical sales like it used to be. Our salesmen are
evolving to be a little bit of a different breed. And so I think our pay plans have to evolve to
motivate what motivates, you know, some of these younger sales people we might be bringing in that
aren't just straight commission based. They're not just motivated off a dollar or they don't
want to work on straight commission. They want some security. What are you seeing and what
advice would you give folks that are trying to reinvent their pay plans for their salesmen?
Man, I've seen salary, just straight salary, which I don't mind, because a lot of times in
buy or pay here world, your salesmen are really no more than order takers. So even,
especially if you're using the product like secure clothes or something like that and you're
using NEO and you have BDC people doing everything, really what they're doing is the
customer is showing up and they're signing paperwork. So in a situation like that,
and they're not even signing paperwork, they're doing old secure clothes, in a situation like that,
salaries aren't bad, right? But is there something better? I think so. I think there's
a combination of salary and number of car sold based on a 90-day average. I like that idea
and then different tiers as you move up and selling more deals and then working in something for
referrals maybe and definitely reviews they got to be in there. And then if you've got that
sales person selling aftermarket, tie something in with that. So I don't like straight commission
and I tell you what I hate. This is, this drives me crazy. And it's prevalent in the buy here,
pay here world is the garbage of paying a percentage on the down payment as a commission.
Oh really? I hate, hate, hate it because it loses sales.
How so? Because people, sales people get so enamored with getting these high down payments
and they'll lose a deal on a customer that is fantastic that has $1,000 down,
but they'll take the deal where the customer sucks that has $3,000 down. So you're, you're
missing deals. Get away from it. I know this has been the 20 group thing forever, but I go into
so many dealers lots and they say, oh, we pay this and I'm just like, oh God, stop, stop.
Because I just think it's, it's, I think it's old, it's antiquated. They get paid too much
and they lose deals. And I said, oh, how many cars they sold them on? Well, 10, 12. Well,
yeah, they're missing other 10 or 12 because of your.
It's interesting that it doesn't seem like if you are going to pay for down payment,
it's not your salesman's decision on how much down that customer should have. It's your sales
manager or your underwriter, the show you go on that, right? Cause they're the one coming back
and bumping them and saying, Hey, you know, Hey salesman, we can't, you know, these guys
look good, but try to get another 500, try to get another thousand. Well, yeah, yeah,
I mean, you could, you could do that on your, on your underwriters. I would, I'd rather pay
my underwriters on performance of the loans than on the down payment because, but you definitely
shouldn't pay your salespeople on the down payment. It's old. It's an old idea. I just think it,
it's costly. Yeah. What do you think about over complicating pay plans? Because, you know,
we've had this argument before in the past where you're like, oh, everyone should just
be motivated. And I just want to put them all on a salary or an hourly and forget this
complicated bonus, this bonus, that it's, it's complications create
demotivating factors for, for your, for your staff because it is demotivating for them because
they don't know what they're making really. I'm truly, and it's, it's timely and it's,
it's time consuming for the person figuring out their pay plan. Yeah. So that puts,
puts aggravation on the backend staff. And what, what usually happens when you complicate things
like that and then put all these bonuses in is that if two, two things, if they hit the
bonuses for eight months and then miss it a month, they're not going to work next one.
This is just not going to do it because they're going to be mad at you because
you already built it into their salary and all of a sudden their salary is $1,000 less than
it was. There's where the demotivation comes in. And the problem is this is we change them a lot.
Just if you have these bonus structures, you end up changing them a lot. And that's demotivating
because, you know, you started out as having a really good person that was making, you know,
$10,000 a month and you're going, and then all of a sudden you go, uh-oh, I jiggered the,
the payroll wrong. So I'm going to rejigger it. And when you do, what happens is
there goes, it goes down to $8,000 a month and then they're mad and they leave. So I think if
you have just a basic, simple to understand, motivating salary with a commission structure that
you don't change is highly motivating. Yeah. I do like having components of motivation,
you know, whether you want to put it on a per sale, a volume for the total store that gets
bonus, uh, you know, paying a little spiff for aged units, paying a little spiff for getting a
Google review, you know, paying a little bit when you get them set up on autopay. You know,
I think there's some complication and there's probably a fine line between finding that, but
unfortunately money motivates. And if you're not getting Google reviews at the time of sale,
I guarantee if you put a $10 bounty on those Google reviews, you'll get them.
Yeah. Right? I've seen that. If you want people to sign up and get signed up on autopay at the time
they're sitting at the desk, the salesman will get that form signed if there's a $5 bounty on that form.
And if you wouldn't do that, I would say tier it is all I would say. I wouldn't pay per, right?
I would say if you get 10 this month, we're going to pay you $100. If you get 11 to 15,
we're going to pay you $120. If you get 15 to 20, we're going to pay you $200. So whatever
that is, I would just tier it. That way you're not, you're motivating him to get to the next level
instead of, you know, being, being worried about the one. That's just what I like.
Interesting. I like tiers.
Yeah. And then that, of course, plays into our Blitzpay ad of making sure you're getting people
signed up on autopay. It's crucial for us. You know, it's part of the sales process.
Mr. Customer, we take your monthly or bi-weekly payment through debit or credit card.
Let's go ahead and get this filled out and get you set up initially. And then
you'll have your portal where you can log in and adjust your credit cards and change out
whatever you need to do with 15 different cards that you're using, but you can split it up
however you want. So it's really, really helpful at the time of sale to get them established.
But then once they get their Blitzpay portal, it's very easy for the customer to
self-help change their debit credit cards, get themselves going.
Yeah. Super easy. And we, we can't say enough good things about Blitzpay. Our money comes in.
That's more, most important. And our customers find it easy to use. And our,
I'd say our collectors like using Blitzpay way more than IDMS.
Yeah. Yeah. It is easy. Let's close out with this, Luke, real quick. It's slow.
That's a lot of the emails that we get are how can I get more foot traffic and plays back
into last week's episode or the week before. When we talked about marketing and, and
advertising and your dollars, just real quick, put a pin in that because last episode,
we covered it in depth. But what can dealers do to get foot traffic and get more eyeballs
during these slow times? Man, that's, it's, it's tough. I mean, that's the hardest thing.
When it's slow, it kind of, you get this attitude. I think you have to change your
attitude. You have to use social media. You've got to brand yourself. You've got to have the
right inventory. You got to get yourselves, people motivated by, by posting and, and these
type things. The answer is this, what can I do? You got to do a little bit of everything,
but you got to have a plan, a marketing plan. If you don't have a marketing plan,
you're just throwing money haphazardly in different directions and it just doesn't
got to concentrate. Yeah. Yeah. I would, I would say, um, like, like you said, Luke,
you got to try everything. And I think that's what happens is dealers sit back and they get like
analysis paralysis and they don't do anything. Well, what works? I don't know. I tried a
little bit of Facebook. I tried Craigslist. I tried auto trader. I tried, I'm like,
you tried them all for like a week. That's right. You know, that's not going to work. Like
you a Facebook just number one post and post to marketplace and run ads. So post on your page,
run paid ads and post to marketplace and potentially boost those if you'd like,
that alone will turn things around. And to add to that, it's okay to lose money on a car.
And I think a lot of dealers are very scared to lose money selling a vehicle.
Like if you need to lose money on that car, cause it's been sitting too long and you're
out of market price wise, or you just need to get the ball rolling. Like just get the ball rolling.
Cause I guarantee you once your salesman sells a car, he will sell another one.
But if he's got to drive for three or four days, he will go dry for another three or four days.
And then he'll quit the day after that. Attitude's a big deal. And you're right.
Sometimes just sitting in the car out the door, that's a loser will change the entire
floor's attitude. The next thing you know, you sold 10 cars.
Take two or three of your most aged units and just put a ridiculous price on them,
lose a grand or two or three, be okay with it because you're taking bad money.
You're getting it out the door and you're going to replace that inventory with something
more attractive. So just make those things happen. And then the ball starts rolling,
you know, that, that motion creates a motion. I always tell my guys, it's,
it's very similar to like when, when you were in college and you were trying to get that girl
that every other guy wanted, that's attractive. That attracts more people when you are desired,
right? So when you become the pretty girl at the, at the ball, like more people come in,
you know, the attitude of like, Hey, Mr. Customer, you know, buy it or don't,
I don't care because I got someone coming in at four o'clock that will buy it,
you know, but when you have the aura of desperation and I tell my salesman this all the time,
don't be desperate. Ask for the sale, but don't beg for the sale. You know,
you've got to have an attitude of like, dude, man, things that, yeah,
I might be able to fit you in at two o'clock today. I don't know, but, but come on by,
I'm going to try to give you my full attention.
Set appointments on the 15s. I said this so many times. It creates,
it creates a different atmosphere. You say, Oh yeah, just come in anytime this afternoon.
I need you here. I'll just be staring at the paint, watching it dry.
I need you here at 315 because if you come at 345,
I've got another customer that's going to be here and I got somebody at 215 or two.
So make sure you're here at 315.
Yeah. All right, guys. Well, I hope everyone has a great week and a great end to August.
We've got some exciting things coming out for the podcast in September.
Reinventing, rebooting, relaunching,
some more exciting content.
Yeah. If there's any dealers out, I mean, vendors out there that listen,
we are rebranding and possibly putting in some more advertisers.
So please contact us if you're interested and we can get you in touch with the right folks.
And always subscribe, Jeff, right? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.
And like us and all that comment.
And the newsletter.
And the newsletter. Please subscribe.
Still rolling.
All right, buddy. Talk to you next week.
See you.
Thank you for listening. Please leave us a review.
We'll catch you in the next episode.
About this episode
August has brought a mix of challenges and opportunities for dealers, particularly with the impending expiration of the EV tax credit. The hosts discuss the complexities of pricing Teslas and the delicate balance of recon costs. They dive into the importance of effective communication with customers regarding trade-ins and recon expectations. The episode also covers strategies for improving foot traffic and sales, emphasizing the need for a solid marketing plan and the willingness to take losses on aged inventory to boost sales momentum. Insights on pay plans for sales staff are shared, highlighting the need for motivation without complicating structures.
Original notes
In this episode of The Independent Dealer Podcast, the boys dive into a grab bag of dealership hot topics and burning questions that have landed in their inbox lately.
They break down:
⚡ The latest on the EV tax credit — and what it means for your inventory
🔧 Smart strategies for recon efficiency and cutting unnecessary costs
📬 Real dealer questions answered — from operations to profitability
🧠 Tips to navigate the ever-changing dealership landscape
Whether you’re wrenching in the shop or running the show, this episode delivers insight, humor, and no-BS advice for every independent dealer.
👇 Like, comment, and subscribe for more dealer-driven content every week!
#IndependentDealerPodcast #UsedCarDealer #EVTaxCredit #ReconTips #DealerQandA #BHPH #CarBusiness #DealerTalk
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Used car dealer, independent dealer, automotive, car sales, entrepreneur
The Independent Dealer Podcast
Jeff Watson & Luke Godwin
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34:34