#432 - The Other Side of the Glass: What Vendors See That Dealers Don't
The Independent Dealer Podcast
#432 - The Other Side of the Glass: What Vendors See That Dealers Don't
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Term
payment reminders
Payment reminders are automated messages that nudge customers about their payments. In this context, they’re part of an automated system dealers can turn on to follow up without manual work.
Term
DMSs
DMSs are the software systems dealers use to manage their business. Think of it like the dealer’s main computer system for tracking customers and work.
Term
starter interrupt
Starter interrupt is a security feature that can stop a car from starting. In this episode, it’s described as something dealers can enable to prevent starting when a customer is late or the vehicle is flagged.
Concept
GPS automatically identifies that as an attempt to start
The idea here is that the car’s connected system can notice when someone is trying to start the vehicle. It can then automatically react based on the situation, instead of relying on a person to intervene.
Term
GPS enable the vehicle
They’re describing a system that uses the car’s GPS/connected features to control whether the car can be driven. After the customer pays, the system can allow driving again from the background.
Concept
compliance safeguard
A “compliance safeguard” is a safety/controls feature that helps enforce the rules. In this story, it’s meant to stop someone from driving if they haven’t paid what they owe yet.
Concept
vendor feature discovery
They’re saying dealers sometimes pay for something they already have in their current software. The software vendor may add new features, and the dealer might not notice until they go looking for replacements.
Term
CRM
CRM is “customer relationship management.” It’s software that helps a dealership keep track of customers and manage things like messages and follow-ups.
Term
GPS shutoffs
“GPS shutoffs” means a system that can use GPS to remotely disable a car. People bring it up because it can help with unpaid accounts, but it can also create problems if it happens at the wrong time or creates legal headaches.
Term
compliance module
A compliance module is a safety/rules feature in software. It helps the system follow policies and blocks actions that shouldn’t be allowed in certain places.
Term
integration
In dealer/vendor software, an integration is a connection between two systems so they can share data and work together. The question here is asking which software connections dealers use so well that they become hard to replace.
Term
CBE, critical business event
A CBE is basically an important “something happened” flag in the dealership’s process. For example, if a car was in an accident or is entering the system, it can be marked so the dealership treats it as more urgent.
Concept
automotive recyclers industry
This is the business of taking old cars apart and selling the parts that still work. The point is that it’s not just “scrap”—it’s organized so parts can be found and shipped.
Concept
inventory management
Inventory management just means keeping track of parts—what you have, where it is, and how to get it to the customer quickly. They’re saying recyclers do this in a more organized way than many dealers expect.
Company
United Recyclerist Group
This is one of the big groups in the auto parts recycling world. The hosts mention it as part of how recyclers connect so parts are easier to find and move around.
Company
Automotive Recycler Association
This is another major group for auto recyclers. The hosts are saying these organizations help recyclers work together so parts can be found more easily.
Concept
Amazon Fulfillment Center
They’re comparing recyclers to a big shipping warehouse. The idea is that parts are stored and sent out efficiently, so you can get what you need faster than you’d expect from a typical junkyard.
LIVE
We know we're in the middle of this huge paradigm shift
with AI, obviously.
What is it doing to us in terms of search
and how we show up?
First thing is that they are no longer searching
by your payer, Peoria, Illinois,
by your payer dealer near me.
They are now treating Google like Chachi, Thierge, and I.
Organic search has been down probably 20 to 30%.
Your cost per click has gone up, cost per lead has gone up,
and people are ignoring,
and if you don't have the data it needs to answer
that question, you will not show up in an AI overview.
Hello everyone, welcome to this episode of the Independent Dealer Podcast on location,
and by your pay here, United 2026.
Yeah, Jeff, this was fun.
It was so much fun.
We're giving a pre-introduction to what was a great not dealer panel,
vendor panel.
I think it may have been the first of its kind.
And I think we pioneered something.
And we somehow got them not to sell.
We were dancing the line for a minute with a few.
I think some company out there plugged something.
What you're about to hear is six founding members of Buy Here, Pay Here, United
that are going to talk about what they see from their side of the class.
Yeah, because it's an interesting perspective.
We talk to dealers every day, but all of us don't.
I talk to a lot of vendors,
but a lot of people don't get to talk to vendors like maybe you and I do.
To hear what they hear from other dealers,
and it's super important because they have an introspective
that we don't as dealers.
Yeah, they touch hundreds of dealers within a month,
and they know what the pain points might be
or which way the winds are blowing.
And so that's what we discussed today.
So you're going to hear six great perspectives
on what these vendors want you, the dealer, to know.
All right, welcome back.
How is he on the new Brakels?
All right.
Oh, the Adriatic bars.
It must have been great for the other year.
Doctor, thank you for that.
So thank you to our speakers this afternoon.
I appreciate your big mention and sharing your expertise and knowledge.
So those of you that have been here know that we traditionally close out
the day with a dealer open forum session.
And historically, we've had our dealer advisory board up here
to kind of be the catalyst of the conversation.
This year, the dealer advisory board wanted to switch that around
and have the dealer open forum session be guided by industry perspectives
across the industry from some of the service providers.
So we've got our buy here, pay here, United partners up here.
You may notice that one of them is not here.
So we have a better substitute.
We can say that for sure.
So Rob Fox, unfortunately, could not be with us.
So you have Jason Gosnell, the Chief Revenue Officer for Buckeye.
That's going to tag in for, yeah, give it up for Jason.
Say goodbye to Arrow.
So I'm going to turn it over to Luke and Jeff,
or we're going to moderate this, which, by the way,
it will also be recorded as an upcoming episode for the independent dealer podcast.
So stay tuned.
Get your questions ready.
Don't be bashful in asking this group stuff.
Certainly Jeff and Luke are going to egg you on.
When we finish, we will have a happy hour immediately through that wall.
You can use the doors, or you can go outside.
But if you have the capacity to go through the wall, be my guest.
Caesars will bill you, Tim.
Anyway, think of those good questions.
I'm going to turn it over to Luke and Jeff.
All right, you need to tell all your friends out there
who are not here in the room right now
that the only way you could get to happy hour is by coming into this room.
Spart, we're the only thing standing between them and happy hour.
Yeah, that's unfortunate, right?
It's the next happy hour.
So before, this was a dealer panel like we talked about,
and it's great to have a dealer's perspective,
but sometimes it's better to get another perspective
because we interact with dealers all day long.
Especially at these events, we network.
And it's super important to do that,
but we figured that it's time to hear from the vendors
because vendors have a unique insight a lot of times that we do not have.
They talk to more dealers than we do,
and they hear from dealers the issues that might be going on.
So today, that's what we're going to talk about,
is what are vendors seeing that maybe is a blind spot to dealers?
And we're going to get feedback from them maybe as to what they see that we don't see.
But then we're going to ask you all to participate in asking questions to the vendors.
Yeah, one thing, don't be disrespectful and don't be crude.
And if a vendor up here feels you feel like you've been taking advantage of my will,
don't say that because you do, I'm going to smack.
And so, can I smack him?
Was that okay?
He'll do it, he'll do it.
I don't see him do it.
I've been watching the rest of the day, I can give one of those backhands or something like that.
Anyway, so that is the concept and we're going to introduce everybody.
Super quick.
I know y'all like to be long-winded at times, so take it over, Steve.
Steve Levine with Ignite, if you don't know me right now, I don't know what to tell you.
We got, see, that's super quick.
All right, guys, Bill, you see how easy that was?
Super quick, Terry.
Okay.
Mike Downey, president of AutoMaster Systems.
Not as popular as this guy.
See, that was very, very good, Bill.
Bill Nielsen, president, CEO of TaxMax.
I gave you guys all the money this year.
See, this is how, see, see, man.
Area.
I'm concerned.
I area at Solmer, each one, you say, CEO of each one, you say, the GPS provider.
Good, I said.
Jay, I have more.
No, no, you're good.
Jason Doss will buck out of his services.
And Terry McAulay, big-time advertising and marketing.
And I know you guys are thinking this looks more like a, a firing squad or something.
Like they're gonna like take these guys are lined up like little ducks in a row.
I feel like I'm in a carnival.
But gentlemen, humor me real quick, because this is gonna be something that's near and
dear to your heart, near and dear to my heart.
Raise your hand to, raise your right hand for me, gentlemen.
All the vendors only.
Benders on the stage, raise your right hand, repeat after me.
He has to build.
Lawyer is very scared.
He's like, I don't know.
I don't know.
He has to be.
I promise to tell the truth.
I promise to tell the truth.
The whole truth.
The whole truth.
And not pitch my product.
And not a pitch my product.
Thank you, gentlemen.
We may proceed.
There we go.
That's pretty good.
You think they're gonna do it?
I think they're gonna be very well behaved.
Okay.
All right.
So first question.
Yeah.
What is it, Joe?
Let's start with Steve.
We're gonna start on the left.
So the number one question, the overall concept, Steve,
what are you seeing out there that dealers are not seeing?
And we're gonna pose this question to all of you guys.
What are you seeing?
Because again, Luke said, you have this vast view of hundreds of dealers.
What are dealers missing right now, Steve?
What would you say?
I think there's a lot of good use of AI,
but the way your, your personnel are using AI,
that there's a lot of risk involved.
And I think, especially at the ownership and azimuth level,
they don't see that, that they just see the efficiencies of it.
That's interesting because I encourage the use of AI a lot,
and even with my employees, but you're saying that I'm maybe not
cognizant of what they're doing with it.
Well, what they're doing with it and are there limitations?
Do you want them deciding to take action or not take action
based on what AI tells them?
Well, what are the rules and limitations?
Should I repossess this car right here, right?
So, AI goes, of course you should.
Let me, let me ask this question, you guys, of the audience.
Let's raise hands.
Who here is using AI in their office?
Is it at every workstation?
Raise your hand.
You're paying maybe for it, or you're letting your employees pay for their own.
Okay.
How many people think that they're uploading sensitive information to AI,
documents, and asking it questions to take actions?
Yeah, they're a lot more, which probably are.
Okay.
How many think they're taking actions that may or may not be legal?
Maybe.
I'm glad nobody raised their hand.
I mean, that was something, because I'm sure this is not recorded,
and I'm going to go to legal counsel right after this with Steve.
But this is the text message I literally received at three o'clock,
just now, from my collector.
It's three pages, and it says, I mean, I should read it.
Yeah.
I'm going to read it.
I said, Mr. Customer, no name, called and said he wants to pay the truck.
Do we still want to honor what the balance was left
when bankruptcy lawyers were paying us?
So she sent me the core file, and he fell out of bankruptcy, Steve.
Anyways, long story short, NVM, I asked Chat, lol.
Keep going.
Doesn't need me.
I mean, as long as Chat said this, okay.
She asked Chat if we could repo or let this gentleman pay off his car loan.
Oh, he was hurt.
So we're good, Steve, no problem.
So I'm glad you did a lot of training there, Jeff.
I ain't going to call you.
But seriously, Steve, is that what you're talking about?
Yeah.
It was exactly.
It's that.
It's folks making decisions.
I mentioned one yesterday that they asked Chat whether they need to send a
right to cure a letter in a certain state missing the fact that their contract was on
the low off, totally different state.
Yeah, I can see that happening in my dealership right now.
So what's the right way to do it?
Give everyone advice real quick before we move on from you.
Is there like, hey, don't use it.
Come talk to me.
Or is there, hey, use it and then come talk to me.
I think there is.
Here's our policy.
Here's what we're comfortable with.
Here's the tools I want you to use.
Here's the type of questions I'm comfortable with.
And if there's things that you don't want them doing,
you say that too and have everybody sign that that's our company policy.
I love that.
That who in here has an AI company policy?
It used to be.
Can I use AI to write my AI company policy?
Yes, you can.
No, but it is.
It's an interesting idea of having a written policy in place
for your business when you can and can't use AI
and into what parameters you use.
I like that idea.
I hadn't even thought about it and we said that later.
I don't want you to be surprised.
Because some of you have different list tolerances.
You have to decide what's right for you.
Just I don't want you to be surprised by the outcome.
I'm always surprised without them.
It is a very good point.
You know, our salesmen use AI to write the description on Facebook marketplace.
And I had one do one for me the other day and I posted it.
And then I went back and looked and I was like, oh my goodness,
it said this.
Where does it get that from?
Like I didn't promise this ever in my ad.
And so I had to quickly jump in there and delete something.
But it just it just takes off and does what it wants.
And your salesmen are doing it.
Does anyone have any experience or questions on that?
Before we move on for Mr. Steve.
If you do, I'll run with run to you with vibraphone.
Yeah.
We want to make sure we're covering everyone's questions here
and getting some feedback.
Should an AI company call today?
Well, she says, what should an AI company policies say?
Give us a little bit.
If we're going to prompt our AI agent to give us an AI policy,
what are we asking it?
If there are certain tools that you want them using,
if there are certain tools, you don't want them using it.
If there are certain decisions that you're not comfortable with,
them going to AI to make that then just say those things.
They just built some some boundaries around what they can and can't do.
I had a client recently.
The owner was very astute with AI and he was very comfortable with it.
Didn't train his team though.
And they were using poor tools and making all sorts of decisions
that he had no idea about.
I could see that in making inexperienced collectors
and experienced people in your dealership.
Think they're more experienced than they really are
and making really poor choices.
Right?
Exactly.
That's what's going on.
Okay.
Hey, sorry to break into real quick,
but make sure you guys know about Buckeye.
Long time, awesome sponsor of the podcast
and who I use for all my reinsurance products.
I can't thank them enough for teaching me so much about reinsurance
over the years and coming up with new products
and new ways to get my portfolio secured.
My customers have options of warranties
and service contracts, gap.
I think it's just been great, Jeff.
It's absolutely been a great way for me to build wealth,
put away some money.
So if you are a buyer, pay here, lease here, pay here,
or a retail dealer, it works for all dealers.
You can set up a reinsurance company.
You can ensure your own stop giving money
to those third party providers
that aren't going to cover your stuff anyways.
Keep it in house, call the guys and girls over at Buckeye,
risk services and get set up ASAP.
Any other questions before we move on there?
Yes, we have.
Yeah.
Can you summarize that?
So her question, her statement was,
are you uploading non-public information to your LLM?
Are you jumping on chat
and dumping someone's personal information
like photos of a bankruptcy filing into a...
Yeah, LLMs, I like that.
Yeah, non-public information.
So there's ways to do this, right?
I mean, there's closed MLMs,
I think you can pay and subscribe to
through different providers.
So yes, you're doing it right.
Neither.
Yep.
Cool.
Let's move on.
Mike, you're up.
Same question.
Same question was taken, Chris.
No, not what they are, with your question.
Oh, my question.
What are you seeing?
What are you seeing?
What are you seeing in the market?
Yeah, so I think a lot of things
is that everyone's trying to do more with less, right?
So from technology, which we talk about AI a lot,
not just from your DMS provider or CRM provider,
run your writing solution, et cetera,
but also outside of that.
You know, we were talking earlier, Jeff,
about bank reconciliations
and uploading different reports out of your DMS
into the actual chat GPT or Claude
or whatever LLM you're using.
So that's what we're seeing a lot of right now
is how to get more with less.
How to get more with less.
How does that affect people?
Yeah.
So, okay.
How does that affect a dealer on a day-to-day basis
if they are trying to not succeeding then?
Well, again, I think the,
everyone's, yeah, I was talking to a dealer earlier today
that, you know, got rid of two collectors
or laid off two collectors
because of they were using more texting automation
and AI pieces.
They're getting more payments coming in with less people.
Interesting.
You out here is getting more with less
by using those hyperonics.
Yeah.
Yeah, some of them.
Yeah, I am.
So I want to ask you, Mike,
because here's the issue the dealers run into, guys.
We have our hands tied on some of these integrations
and implementing agents and AI
into helping us do more with less.
Because of the API situation, we don't have access.
We're not allowed to plug chat GPT directly into our DMS
and query it and let it have conversations
and harvest data and give us stuff.
We have to do it through bulky Excel downloads
or whatever the case may be.
So talk to us about that from a vendor standpoint.
What should dealers be doing to help our vendor
see the importance of putting AI at a foundational level,
right?
Because there's some safety issues.
Sure, we can't just start plugging in MLNs
and sucking data out of whatever we have.
How can we, A, help our vendor see it,
B, work around it in the meantime to be more productive?
I think there are some vendors that do allow APIs, right?
And API can be used in many different facets, right,
about adding collection notes
or looking at balances of accounts.
You know, when you get into restricting things on APIs
as far as PII is concerned,
social security numbers, full names and addresses,
those types of things.
I think, again, right now there is a lot of movement
and a lot of trial and error, right?
So when you don't have an API,
downloading the reports in Excel,
like an aging report, for instance.
So, you know, bank reconciliation we talked about,
but an aging report is a good example of one
that I had one of my clients do
where they were uploading a Excel document,
their aging report, every single Friday night,
and then they would keep the track of that, right?
So instead of just having a bunch of emails,
they were using chat GBT to see those trend lines
and then ask it questions.
Well, we can't do this only.
There's no easy way to do this.
Is this coming, Mike?
So there's...
Well, I'm not going to pitch my product, but...
So there's tools out there that...
I didn't want you to bid your product.
I was just talking in general.
There's tools out there right now.
It's data warehouse, right?
So if you guys have heard of data warehouses,
there's Google BigQuery, there's Wii U Snowflake.
There's many different versions of this
where you're uploading your data,
the non-KII data into these data warehouses,
and then that's with the chat GBT or Anthropic
or any of those you're going to be attaching to.
Not your live production database of your DMS.
So kind of a safe space, if you will, with data warehouse,
but it's also not just your DMS data.
So it could be your accounting data if you use QuickBooks
or any of those tools.
It could be your service data.
It could be your phone calls,
your recorded Ring Central phone calls,
those types of things that you're going to be able to have
to combine all that data into one data warehouse
and then be able to get a more clear picture
all the way around in that ecosystem,
not just the DMS provider or not just the SCRM.
I like that.
I'd never, yeah, thought about it like that.
I guess I'd ask, because this year
is full of a lot of business owners and managers
that make those decisions, who would use an AI agent
to replace an employee right now
if it was fully integrated into their BDC collections tool?
Okay, the majority of the room would say,
I think AI's come a long ways.
Who would pay more to their vendor
if they had a very robust AI solution
to replace that employee?
No, I have.
Thank you all.
Yeah.
He's going to send you a bill.
So the question is the opposite of that.
Who would?
Okay, here we go.
I like it.
All right, let's go.
I just absolutely do not trust AI for anything.
I'm not going to give in my data.
My feeling is AI is there to ultimately replace humans.
I'm not going to participate in that.
I'm not going to take the liabilities
of having an AI inside my business
and expose me to liability.
I trust the human more than I trust the machine.
So you're not going to give me a new AI.
I think if you look at Poli in the country right now,
he's kind of with the majority of the Poli.
Anybody else?
Oh, you were together.
I'll tack on to that.
We have a dealership that's been in business over 40 years
and I think our shortest employee that's been with us
is out of year and the employee that's been with us
for the longest is at 36 years.
So I'm not trying to eliminate any of those people.
They're their friends, their family.
You know, maybe a bigger operation where employees
are kind of faceless folks out there.
But to us, I mean, we were friends with these people.
We go to their daughter's kinses.
We're godparents.
I mean, it's not just saving money by using AI.
We actually care about our group.
So I have nothing to say about that.
She actually cares about people.
I mean, I love it.
She cares about people.
Yeah, I argue that.
I'm not going to argue against people.
Enabling the dealership's world famous auto.
Yeah, I mean, but you can still be way more efficient.
That's the point where people can be more efficient.
Yes, that would be my argument.
Not necessarily replacing them, but doing more with the same.
And I'd ask one more question on that.
I think what you're speaking to,
I think we all ethically are dealing with a little bit,
but I even ask the question of my own people is this,
I want my people there 20 years.
That's the goal.
But if I could keep them longer by them enjoying their job more,
not doing the laborious stuff that they could do quicker
with the assistance of AI, am I preparing them
for the future more so than just ignoring it?
So trying to find that balance for me, I'm with you.
I don't trust it fully, but I think I got to be open
to the opportunity to make my employees happier and having fun.
Yeah, I think that's a very good point, Terry.
Anybody else has anything to say about this?
Because I think it's super interesting topic.
Okay, y'all aren't interested.
It is.
I think we could argue that forever.
We're going to be arguing that for many, many more years.
That's for sure.
We'll have the same discussion next year.
Yep.
Bill, what is the number one thing dealers are missing the boat?
This is a big one.
So obviously tax season started to generate a second,
things were going well, and then started getting cold.
Careful, buddy.
Care.
That's a big reveal.
Bye, Lai.
As far as we go, started getting cold, then it started to snow,
and then it started to rain, black eyes freezing rain.
A lot of our dealers, some of them were closed for as long as nine, 10 days,
and their customers were trying to file and make their payments.
They were contacting us because they couldn't get in touch with a dealer.
And we had people we need to reach out to the dealer to get cards for tax returns and stuff.
What we realized is that you dealers really did not or do not have a contingency plan to be closed
more than a day.
So whether it's a natural disaster or just weather, I think it was Oklahoma,
Mississippi, and Arkansas with the black rain, and one thing with black rain,
you probably know in Carolinas is that the branches of trees get really heavy.
They snap the fallen power lines.
So we had some dealers that had no power for almost a week.
And then they couldn't get out of their houses, and then they get to the lot.
And then it took another couple of days to get to the lot, clean the lot,
and fall lines were down.
And so all of a sudden, now it's February 7th,
and tax season really fell off the cliff at the end of January,
and a lot of dealers missed the boat.
It affects collections, it affects sales.
Who out here has the ability, if for some reason your staff can't get to the office tomorrow,
or I don't even know what day it is at this point in my life,
if they can't get there, who here can essentially turn their business home
without the business being open?
Raise your hand if you have that ability.
You could lead your employees at home to remote work and still function.
Everything is remote.
Everything is through web-based.
You have communications.
You have the ability to desk deals, work deals, and so on.
Who doesn't have that ability?
And to Luke's point too, while you go out there and pester people,
sometimes it's not that you don't have the ability,
it's that you don't have the culture.
What are your employees thinking?
Oh, snow day!
I'm going to stay home and hang out and play with the kids.
Work from home.
Bust out your loud, hop and respond to leads.
Somebody over here raised their hands,
so let me see your hands back up.
Who doesn't have that ability?
Bob Zeep.
Oh, come on, you got it.
Bob you're in Boston.
You know better than me.
It's not because of him, it's because of Gary.
It never stands there.
It's Gary's fucked.
The people who would be able to work remotely are the managers,
but the individual employees don't have the same access we do to work from home.
Like, I'm privileged because I live the furthest away.
I can plan if the weather is going to be bad,
I can bring some work home with me,
and I can work remotely from home.
My bookkeeper doesn't have the same availability
because we never really set up individual employees
to be able to work from home in the case of a natural disaster
or the three feet of snow we got earlier this year.
Like, the collection manager could work from home,
but none of her staff could.
What if the folder rang?
Like, who answers the phone?
Yeah, who answers the phone?
He and I is responsible?
I don't.
This has to be some of that liberal stuff coming out of Massachusetts.
Come on.
All right, there was somebody else on here that said it.
Come on, raise your hand if your staff can't work.
I talked to you at lunch today.
Yeah, no, we can't.
We don't have the ability for our collectors to collect money.
We've talked about doing that.
We just haven't done it to this point.
Obviously, if the weather is bad outside
and there's snow and ice,
we're not going to let people test drive cars anyway,
so I don't think we miss anything both cells will not be in there.
Good to see you.
Hey, guys, real quick to interrupt the episode
and make sure you know about a great sponsor
and supporter of the podcast, Blitz.
Blitz.
I love it, Jeff.
That is kind of like goes from the Facebook to just Facebook.
You're going to reuse that joke, aren't you?
It was funny.
Y'all will get that reference in a future episode,
but Blitz has changed their name a little bit
because they're launching more products.
You know, they're not just a payment platform,
not just a processor,
but they're also a collections platform and analytics platform.
And who knows what else Robin and the team are going to get into.
But they've got the technology.
They've got the know how to help dealers
in a lot of aspects of their business.
Yeah, data is hard to process from just everyday dealers,
but Blitz is going to harness that.
They're going to harness AI and they're going to
combine that with payment platforms and payment process,
which is amazing.
So if you need a payment processor,
you need a friend in the industry or a partner,
Blitz is the only company I would recommend.
But to that point, are we still taking cash in our offices?
Yeah, I guess.
Yeah, you're not driving around picking up cash
if the office is closed, I guess.
But do you have those contingencies in place to your point?
Have you authorized it?
And Steve, I would ask Steve Levine to chime in on this.
What legal protections do you need to have
if someone's logging in from their home laptop
and their home IP address?
Does that change anything?
Yeah, actually during COVID, this came up in several states
where the state statute talked about what functions could be done.
They had to be done at the licensed address.
So folks were collecting and doing things remotely
and states came back and said,
well, wait a second, those are activities
that need to be done at the licensed address.
So created a big mess.
But plus there's the liability issue
with folks being on their home computers possibly,
that there are home networks taking information.
Yeah, probably not as secure as your home one.
So Bill, let's talk to you about not only is it an ice storm
and we're stuck in,
because obviously we're not sending people on test drives,
but the ice storm or the EMP or Russia comes over
and crushes the internet, something like that.
How are we functioning at our dealership even?
Do people have backups for power?
Who here has a backup generator in their dealership?
There's people out there.
Everyone's here, but power in line.
How's it got the lines to go back up?
Who's got internet?
You do.
You have a backup internet system,
whether it's a hotspot or Starlink.
Like yeah, fiber gets cut.
That would be, yeah, it happens.
Yeah, fiber gets cut.
I mean, it easily puts everybody in about a way.
Everybody here should have a backup to their internet
in their dealership,
because that's the first thing that goes down.
Starlink.
Who, yeah, Starlink 100%.
Who has the ability,
the phone system that can work from anywhere?
Right?
You got to have that.
Okay.
Yeah, either a voiceover IP,
you could plug in any internet.
Or use your cell phone.
Yeah, and so many voiceover IPs have apps
that they can use from their cell phones.
They're calling through the dealership.
Yeah, so we have a contingency plan
where obviously we're in Florida.
Actually, this is the first time, I think,
at one point all states,
continental United States had snow.
I think there was one day at the end of January
or being in February.
But our contingency plan
is that we could forward phones to somewhere.
One of the backups is my house.
We have an area that if the office,
you know, let's say we have a hurricane,
tornado, whatever,
that we can literally,
we have our server backed up
that we could literally go somewhere else,
fire up a server.
If we had to go,
like if Tampa was destroyed,
we could drive to Jacksonville
and get a hotel conference room and fire.
Howdy goes to Jacksonville, bro.
That place is true.
Or Miami, which is where we, you know, yeah.
That'd be the last place to be targeted by, like,
that's true there.
Yeah, so you're probably safe there.
But we could be up and running
in a real, like, severe emergency.
We could be up and running
able from three to six hours.
All right, that's, that's awesome.
And you may think that cars aren't that important.
Like, who's going to buy a car in a natural disaster?
But people still need to get a ramp.
And we had a flood that wiped out, you know,
wiped out half our town in 2015.
And our first concern was,
how can we help the community, right?
And so we came to the dealership.
We got open.
We were there.
I sent a truck to about a thousand gallons of water
so we could hand it out, right?
But I was also there because some people lost cars.
And when those people lose cars,
they got to be able to get back full.
So cars are super important.
And just because there is something going on
doesn't mean they don't need,
the customers don't need to buy a car.
Yeah.
I want to ask real quick too about,
what if it's a natural disaster at our vendor?
You know, what if our DMS provider
doesn't pay their AWS bill and gets shut off?
And we were hit, we're hitting a bid rate,
trust something like,
do we have contingency plans in case we can't log in?
Do we have backups?
I don't know.
Do we have redundant systems?
Like I can take payments to my DMS.
I can pay payments in my payment processor.
I've got a CRM, but all those leads also go through
my website and get recorded.
I'm doing a backup every Friday of my whole CRM,
names, phone numbers.
I don't know if you can do all that.
Mike, can you do all that?
Yeah.
There you go.
But one thing one blind has commented too is that,
you guys may not have internet,
but your customers do.
And if they're snowed in, they are propped
and they need a car.
They're shop-ish.
Yeah.
And that's why we were actually
interacting with a ton of customers
because they were calling us.
Guaranteed that your customers are shopping
if there's a snowstorm because they're at home, right?
And if you have a contingency plan
to where your salespeople, your BDC,
can contact that customer or your collections
can contact that person when they are at home,
the chance that you sell in a car
goes up dramatically because somebody else
may not have that contingency.
Or you can send an appointment, at least say,
hey, we're snowed in, but I can meet with you on Monday.
I'll be there tomorrow.
Because the leads are still coming in.
People still owe you money.
So maybe you don't have the ability
or want to collect from your website
that maybe have a contingency plan
where you can turn a switch on
to take money through your website
if you're going to be closed for 789 days.
I'll give two examples.
I mean, Harvey in Houston, right?
Hurricane Harvey.
So I mean, I had dealers that couldn't sell cars
because cars were under water,
but they're still collecting payments, right?
Because that was all online.
People with ACHs still going through, et cetera, et cetera.
Katrina was another one.
We had customers in Louisiana that they drove to Memphis
where they drove.
They actually left New Orleans
and they were running their dealership there.
But again, they had certain cars.
They didn't bring all the cars.
They could only move so many.
So I guess it depends on the natural disaster.
Yeah.
You got a plan for all of them, everything.
But you don't know until you're in it.
You don't know it.
Yeah.
I bet all you can do is chop the worry out of it.
All right, area.
What are you seeing that we are not?
I think that what we see the last year, a year and a half,
I think a lot of dealers are missing on the opportunity
to automate and automation integration in general,
that basically, and I promise myself not to say AI,
so I'll try very hard,
but give the dealers the opportunity to work account more,
but less in a reactive way, but more in a proactive way.
What I mean by that, systems today are integrated very nicely,
the GPS, the payment reminders, to the DMSs.
And your work can be way more efficient, for example,
in many aspects.
I'll give a few examples.
What people are missing is to actually utilize on that.
What people are missing,
what we keep seeing dealers that have integrations built into their system
that they pay their train, but they never turn it on.
They never know how to do it.
And they keep going back to the old, I used to do stuff this way.
I'll give you a few examples.
An easy one is to, payment reminders and starter interrupt,
for example.
First of starter interrupt,
we see more and more dealers going back to starter interrupt,
those that did not are utilizing starter interrupt,
but they do it very differently or in a smarter way of doing it.
So, for example, a brilliant way how systems communicate is,
if a vehicle, if a customer is late and a vehicle is disabled,
and now the customer is trying to start the car,
the GPS automatically identifies that as an attempt to start,
will send the message to the payment processing or to the DMS.
The DMS or the payment processing will immediately send a text to the customer,
hey, you are in your car, you cannot drive because you're late.
Here's a link to pay your late amount.
As soon as they pay, the payment processing system communicate with the GPS,
GPS enable the vehicle, is holding to 30 seconds,
and you know, you communicated with your customer without ever being involved,
you collected money without ever being involved,
and you have a compliance safeguard because in reality,
this can happen in two years right now,
but it needs to be the dealership.
I think it's a great point that so many people will have all these toys and these tools,
and they don't use any of them.
Jeff, you talked about this a lot of times, that some of your vendors out here,
a product that you're paying another vendor to have,
the vendor you already have and been doing business with for years,
has that product and you just don't know and you're not taking advantage of it, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah, we don't think about what features our current software has until we go out shopping
for that replacement software, right?
And you're like, oh, I need a new CRM, mine's old and sad and blah,
and then you start interviewing these sad CRMs and you're like,
wait a minute, mine does have all those features.
I've just never engaged the vendor to find out that that feature was added six months ago
and I missed the press release or whatever it was,
and you're like, oh, I do have that stuff.
That's the reason it's so important to communicate with your vendors and really
like your vendors.
I jump with these guys up here, but they're all great guys and I talk to them
a good bit and there's tons of other vendors that I have actually made friendships with
and it's helped my business.
Ariel, at the risk of this getting salesy, and I would call you out because I'm scared of you,
technically, but...
You hit the list.
I trained a sass.
It's a...
You said more dealers are using GPS shutoffs.
Yeah, that blows my brain.
I missed the boat on that.
Speaking of someone that hasn't paid attention, who here is stuck?
Back to using GPS shutoffs.
I'd never stop, bro.
Never stop.
Who is not using GPS shutoffs?
That's like, oh, 50, 40, 70, 30.
So the part of the reason we don't use it is because it's scary.
What am I legally going to step on by shutting off someone's car?
What if they pay it nine o'clock at night and no one's in the office to cut it back on
and now they're angry and I got an issue because they actually did pay and get current?
But you're supporting the point that I was trying to make.
Yeah, I know that.
For example, compliance module allows you the system to monitor what your people are doing
and to verify or to protect you from sending a star disabled if a vehicle is parked in a place
that you cannot disable.
Let's say army bases or Indian reserve locations and so forth.
Yet we see, again, we're talking about what dealers are missing.
We see dealers that are not activating that specific module.
It's there to protect.
So I guess the point and I totally support what they're saying,
speak to your vendors, no matter who your vendor is,
to see what can they offer you, what they have already built in me.
Yeah, we call it SAS Crete.
That sounds kind of dirty, but it sounds dirty.
The sponsors downstairs, they probably have new products that they've rolled out the last
six to 12 months in the opportunity rooms downstairs.
So whether you use them or don't use them, they probably have new things that may
have solutions for you that you didn't need.
You didn't know you didn't need it.
Right, good.
You didn't know you needed it.
What's it?
If anybody wants to comment on this, what's the best integration that you've used
between softwares that you couldn't live without?
Does anybody want to answer that?
Okay, that we can't show.
Well, I got to think that through.
It's got to say, hey, best integration that you feel like has brought the most value to you.
Yeah, like between softwares.
It's got to be payment process.
Again, it's helping to make the point even if it's longer.
Everybody can collect on a queues, right?
That obviously you know your accounts, if you're late or if you have a broken promises,
you need to call it.
But can you be smarter about it?
Again, integration today will allow you to bring in some other data point,
what we call the CBE, critical business event.
If a car was involved in an accident, if it's inbounded, if it was told,
do you want to give it higher priority?
Integration can allow you.
That's it, yeah.
There's so much data.
It's hard for us as smaller operators to crush the data and using AI tools and other data from other
DMSs or whatever software they were using allows us to crunch data we've never been able to crunch
before.
And that's the easiest.
When you get integrations, that's the easiest thing to do.
Yeah, and I remember the days back, I mean, if you guys remember when you used to buy a car,
you would have to enter that information into like three different systems.
You would enter it into your shop system with the car make miles.
And then that system didn't talk to the DMS.
You'd have to enter it there.
And then when you got it, you'd have to upload photos to your website with the VIN number and the
mileage and everything because nobody was talking to each other.
And so you had this triple quadruple entry type lifestyle.
And luckily with ADOs, we don't have all of that reward.
It's gotten better.
It's gotten better.
It's still not perfect.
Yeah.
All right.
Can I have questions on that?
No, moving on.
Karina, they want to take questions.
So I'll go with just a kind of a fascinating thing that we've stumbled on, I would say 18
months ago.
I mean, going back as far as COVID, inventory acquisition has been one of the hardest things
in our industry.
And then our customers are keeping the car longer.
And we're doing everything we can to keep recon costs down and keep those cars on the road.
I'll credit Brett Briewik.
We stumbled across an industry and for those that don't know Brett, he's the guy that looks
like John Bon Jovi from Notice.
The guy who looks like he's doing a magic show later tonight at the clock.
He's taking a very computer.
Yeah.
He just got an IL deal of per plus.
Such an easy target.
Yes, he is.
Yes.
Should we go on?
But about 18 months ago, we were introduced to the automotive recyclers industry.
And, you know, going over the days of what I thought we told them about that,
all junkyards, right?
Thinking high chain link fences, grass everywhere.
You got the dog with the chain, bark and everyone they come on.
It is fascinating to see the level of sophistication, organization, the inventory that they have.
There are two large organizations.
So you got the United Recyclerist Group and then the Automotive Recycler Association.
And again, the level of sophistication and inventory management that they're able to do.
And I think it's something to consider from a call setting standpoint for either hard to,
you know, find parts for what you have.
They have effectively networked together.
All their inventory is together in one spot.
They are shipping millions of parts monthly amongst one another.
So logistically and geographically, there's not an issue.
So again, don't think, you know, junkyard anymore, think Amazon Fulfillment Center.
That's the level of sophistication there.
So we are starting to, you know, through Brad, we've introduced some of our clients to the
associations and it's from an availability standpoint, a call saving standpoint.
It's making a difference.
Hey guys, real quick to jump in and make sure you know about a new exciting sponsor here,
a supporter of the podcast and a supporter of all independent activities.
To be honest with you, Adiron GPS.
Adiron GPS, they have really, really great products.
I've used them before.
They're wonderful.
They don't break if you install them right, right?
All that good stuff.
But like you said, a big sponsor of the industry with Buy Here, Pay Here, United,
and they're at every conference, Jeff.
So make sure you're using the best possible GPS on the market and that's Adiron.
Yep.
Give them a call.
Go to our website for more information.
Who in here daily uses, I guess, Cardos-parts.com or some website like that to source cars to
fix your bars for recon or for warranty repairs or things.
Hands up.
Good luck.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, you know, years ago, you would just call up your local junk car.
Well, your junkyard, yeah.
And if that particular junkyard didn't have exactly what you needed, you kind of felt like,
oh crap, I'm out of luck.
I got a new part or whatever.
Today, you can source sparks from, you know, a thousand miles away.
And this is hitting the worst day at 48 hours.
And you can get it very quickly.
It's a super, super poor.
And what's interesting is the economics is making more sense now as cars become more expensive,
right?
You guys remembered you, it wasn't like two plus two equaled four with a car.
You have a $5,000 car, you put in a $3,000 engine.
That doesn't make it an $8,000 car.
No.
It makes it a $5,000 car still.
And so the math didn't add up when you had a $3,000 car that needed a $3,000 engine.
You're like, this, this makes no sense.
But, but now it's starting to make more sense because you have an $8,000 car.
I say, what a $3,000 engine.
I tell you what I love about this, this thing that you're talking about is when you buy a car that
has, let's say it has a right front fender that's damaged and it's damaged past the point where
you're going to have a, you're going to have to put a fender on it, right?
Well, I can get on one of these, these websites and actually source the exact color that I need
and have it there.
It's already painted as factory made.
I just bolted off.
I mean, it was really hard to do that five years ago.
Well, we're to the point now where we can do that and get our car recon faster.
And it's actually going to cost you less than buying a new fender and get the paint.
It's an amazing way to source parts and it's super helpful to recon.
And by the way, they're standing behind the parts just like you would be buying a brand new part.
Yeah.
Your warranty comes in, and that's exactly right.
Yes.
It seems like a combination of the technology that's making those things, right?
I mean, inventory management from a, it's not a pick apart anymore where I'm showing up with a
range and I'm hoping the panel is still on there.
There's the harness or the piece.
Yeah.
They're inventorying all these.
They got them ready to ship and you're getting it faster, easier.
I've noticed that with my unique stuff, even off eBay, you know, stuff that I'm grabbing and
I have a part number and I don't know where else to find it.
There just happens to be one on eBay coming from the East Coast and I get it three days and
slap it on and just save myself a grand from buying only ever do off the shelf.
Exactly.
Anybody else having those experience or having any input on that?
Have you seen that happen?
We got some on the right there.
Brent said something that I didn't know.
They're actually launching a new website that kind of correlates all the,
all the parts into one spot.
They're down in the garage.
Go talk to them.
Get signed up on that website.
I mean, that's Cardash Parts.
So I don't know when it.
Okay.
Hold on one second.
The question was from Cornell, from Cornell Grant.
There we go.
Cornell says, what is that website?
Now they please go see these people though.
They've made a lot of money to do here.
Come on.
So let's say it's autopartsearch.com.
So like you mentioned, it's a great website that we just launched this week.
It connects you to over 750 of our salvage locations throughout the US and Canada.
So that sources millions and millions of parts.
And it does have the ability for you to check out on our site.
You can also create an account.
You can create charge accounts and it's free for you guys to set up an account.
So there's no cost to you and it's really at your advantage.
It tells you exactly when those parts will be delivered.
And it tells you the final cost as well.
So we definitely designed this so that you have an easier way to buy parks.
What is that for you?
It's called it's autopartsearch.com and auto part.
So just one S in the search, autopartsearch.com.
And like you mentioned, we do have a
barrage or opportunity room, I believe is what it's called.
Yeah.
And then our CEO, Percy, will be speaking at breakfast.
Where's the opportunity?
And the opportunity zone.
The opportunity zone.
And we have those allow 26, I think, Charles, I'm sure they are.
So let's wrap this up.
Put a pin in the idea because I think it's something to be said.
And we talked about this.
And you guys were here last year and the year before we talked about service.
And the dealers that are making large investments in their service department
because they know that's the future of an affordable car, right?
It's builders.
It's like, you know, the Bryant's that are focusing on one making model
and they're buying them racked.
They're buying them and blown engines and they're rebuilding them
because that's the only way to get an affordable car.
So an order bill is as real as your service department.
Yeah.
All right.
Last and least, Terry.
Thank you.
All right.
Pre things are all tied together that I think I'm definitely seeing
and dealers are missing.
And I think the industry is going slow.
So we know we're in the middle of this huge paradigm shift with AI, obviously.
What is it doing to us in terms of search and how we show up?
First thing is that they are no longer searching buy here, pay here,
Peoria, Illinois by your payer dealer near me.
They are now treating Google like Chachi or Gemma.
And they're asking things like I have a five, 10 credit score,
two refossessions, who's the best buy here, pay here,
where I could get approved with no money down and they will not pull my credit.
Their searches are getting this long.
There's no keyword game that you have at the moment to attack that customer.
So there's only one place you can show up and that's an AI overview.
And I'll kind of give everyone an easy
cheat code to go back and talk to website providers to make sure you
have an opportunity to show up an AI overview.
We are seeing in Google analytics start the people that are doing this correctly.
We'll start seeing leads from Chachi and leads from Gemini articulating in.
But there's a reason and because of AI overview,
that's the reason your organic search has been down probably 20 to 30%.
Your cost per click has gone up, cost per lead has gone up.
And people are ignoring their website.
So what is AI looking for when it tries to solve that question this consumer just asked?
It is scanning as fast as it can auto providers in that area.
And it only scans the top 10% of your website.
Right? So one quick scroll and if you don't have the data it needs to answer that question,
you will not show up in an AI overview.
So how do you make that show up?
It's text, right?
So the old web sliders that we have or our words are embedded in our sliders or hero banners.
That you need to be thinking pictures fine, but words sitting on their own on top.
And unless call action, I know that's hard, call action up top of the top 10%.
Google also doesn't want to sales pitch because they are treating AI as information
gathering for that consumer.
So the more transparency you have about your process,
how they get approved, how easy it is and not just buttons,
that's how you're going to start showing up.
So you need to really think that through,
start looking at the top 10% of your website and you need to start putting a gameplay together.
It's surely a different error for advertising something that is jumped on us quickly.
And so I think it's very important to understand that AI is going to matter with your website.
So interesting, pull out your chat GPT app that's on your phone and type in what I typed in,
but specific to you.
I just barely said, find me a buy here, pay here dealer in St. George, Utah, right?
My home, my location.
Who do you think the top research, the top result was?
Four seasons autos.
I actually was.
Hey, awesome.
So I don't know if that was specific to me.
Terry, does chat know me enough to refer my own business because it knows what I typed?
Well, the more active you're in it, the more active you're in it.
You probably have good content.
The research pages, the more frequently asked questions on websites it's picking up.
So you're probably more active than us picking it up.
I'd be curious, or you guys find, if you type it in, do you hear a result of your dealership?
It's funny though, the map that it gave after it gave two other,
three other dealers, it gave a map to a different,
but it also knows me.
It also knows it's your account and your, it's mass her to the serving you.
I get fear.
Yeah, it's super smart.
It doesn't.
Who has ever gone to an LLM and asked that exact question before right now in the room?
Anybody?
Only one person, two people, three people.
That's pretty incredible.
I wasn't smart enough to do this.
My wife did this a couple of weeks ago and she said,
if I wanted to buy a used car called the South Carolina, where shall I start?
And we were in within the top half.
And so I was, I was kind of floored at that, that we had done nothing to make that happen,
except our Google reviews are, you know, we got great Google reviews and we've been in business
for 40 years, but all of a sudden, like immediately it came up and I was like,
well, man, that makes me feel a little better.
And Terry, would you tell us that, you know, as we, as we explore this frontier and we try to
figure it out, you know, obviously I'm perplexed as to why my dealership would come up first,
other than we do have good Google reviews.
So I imagine a chat would give me me first, but after like going to Claude or Grock or one of
these other non-indexed off of Google, what am I going to find?
Yeah, that'd be great to find that right now.
Claude's gathering that data and I'm, and again, I'm speaking about your customers.
Our customers by your airspace are still using Google like chat.
You can see, and that was the point.
The Claude and some of that.
So that's in our customers are using Gemini or Chad, correct?
Probably not using much of anything else, right?
Right, right.
But the point is here, the tech's moving so fast guys, I may have a different opinion here.
Stay agnostic.
This is very important.
I mean this, even myself, I fall in love with a channel for our consumer and it's working for a
dealer, but all of a sudden stuff drops and it's the tech change, not maybe your gameplay.
There's gameplay.
It's probably fine, but the tech's changed faster than we're changing.
So that's the point.
Stay agnostic.
And then the second tool with AI is going to be make sure every single person in here
is really looking into AI chatpots on websites.
That was last thing.
Conversion can go up 10, 10 times better by responding, you know, at night when your leads
come in and that tech's changing quickly too, right?
They're learning faster and I think we'll see different partners come in and different vendors
come in and out and some of the ones that figure out how to talk to a buyer, payer customer
and not sign up for an OEM chatbot.
We need to stay agnostic.
So that's kind of what I had.
That's interesting.
I'm the copying Claude as well.
Did you try to call?
I'm in the top in Claude, but I'm not too.
It's not 23 and four different than what you gave me.
That's interesting.
There's something going on there.
Hey, quick thing out here.
Who out here gets leads that come into the website and you, you know, you call them 20
times and they never responded.
Come on.
Everybody's hands go, right?
Okay.
They did a number.
It's bad number.
Huh?
It's a bad number.
They don't ask over.
They don't ask.
All right, guys.
Benders, you all get leads and nobody ever responds to raise your hand if so.
Okay.
All right.
Anybody out here that you recognize and hadn't responded.
You got it.
The point is this, that vendors and dealers aren't that much difference, right?
Everybody's trying to sell something.
And these guys and vendors, they're trying to make your, for the most part,
trying to make your business better.
So be polite.
Be nice.
We don't care if you don't use us.
Just tell us you don't want to versus just not answering the phone 20 times.
Yeah, because there's never, we've never said,
man, I wish they could just tell me not to call them back.
That's really what they want to say for real.
We'd rather waste our energy with somebody who wants to talk to us.
That 100% is like, you know, we tell our staff just keep trying because at some point
they wanted us to reach out and plus two, we don't know if you're getting the message.
Yeah, probably not.
My receptionist is very good at screening people.
All she's paid on.
So we, we have five minutes before happy hour.
Any closing questions from the audience?
You got vendors up here.
You could probably you again.
I know your immediate response is you don't have any competition,
but how closely do you monitor competitors in your industries to what they're doing?
And does it make you react to make your product better in any way, shape or form?
This has got to be a real quick response between all of y'all because I think it is,
it relates y'all to us.
Go ahead.
I'll start.
I think you have to.
Yeah, you have to, of course.
I'm a competitor and nosy.
I look every single day.
We go undercover to other tax businesses and find out their fee structures and whether
they're obviously, are you like undercover?
Yeah.
Like you put all like, oh man, I got to see this.
We need a picture.
Yeah.
But we're going there for the new competition is good.
It keeps you on your toes and makes you better.
So yeah, you know, and you look to get your tail kicked.
Gaisley.
That's right.
It makes you better.
Yeah, great question.
Elizabeth, you had a question?
What are you all doing to work with us as your customer to make sure that we're reducing
expenses?
I think everyone's looking at that.
How do you help us in that arena?
Great question.
Well, we do is we put our mission is we put your customer first, we put you second, we put us last.
So we make sure that whatever prop we have is valuable for the customer.
Therefore, you're happy.
And then if we make sure you're happy, then by default, we're happy.
So that's our mission.
So we, we work closely with our dealers to make sure that that value prop is aligned.
I think it's also just listening to your, your customers listening to your dealers, right?
When they come, especially in the software business, they come with, I want this, I want that,
you know, this is new, this, I want this, et cetera.
And taking all that in, you can't do everything, but taking all that in and saying, okay,
this really makes a lot of sense to put this in the system, right?
I mean, I worked with one dealer, it's in the room that for our AI collection fees, right?
And it's been an eight month project.
I mean, it isn't something that you just turn on and then, oh, thank you, it's done, right?
You got to work with your clients.
But then that one dealer might do business completely different than the other dealer.
So that's where the software side and all those vendors do that.
We had a few disciplines earlier.
I think to second that, you know, we ask our, our, our partners, our dealer all the time,
what's your pain point?
And because we are a GPS provider, they usually will answer only, oh, on the GPS,
we don't have a pain point or fix this.
When we ask, what's your pain point?
Tell us what's your pain point?
Because we have a lot of relationship.
Let's see.
That's so it.
Oh, a lot.
No people with no dealer.
We see so many different situations of dealers that we can help.
I'm going to call you on conversation we had yesterday that we just, we were just talking
and you expressed a pain that, you know what, we can do something about it.
We never did it to anybody else.
It's not in our regular process, but it's a great idea.
Let's start doing it.
So when, when somebody either go to the vendor and, and communicate what's your pain point,
or when you've been asked, just share really what's been, this is, this is a great one.
Say, I want to save on cost.
Yeah.
What can you do?
And don't ever leave a vendor just because of cost, Joe.
You mean, you know, sometimes you just automatically just quit a vendor and the vendor doesn't know
why if, well, it's like a voluntary surrender showing up at your house on.
Yes, sitting in your dealership on a Monday morning, right?
If never communicated, they just dropped the car off.
I could have saved it.
I could have helped them out.
I could have fixed it.
I could have made a payment arrangement.
I could refinanced them, but they just dropped the car off.
So it's like us sending our vendors a cancellation notice before we even talked.
Exactly.
And yesterday we had a focus group actually with a bunch of dealers from in here that we invited.
And we had a focus group literally just asking what to use a dealer want from our program and
how can we change it to adapt it to you as a dealership?
And we got a lot of feedback and we're going to get to work since we get back.
All right.
Last question.
I'm saying the best for last, it better be good.
What you got?
He said a high bar.
I got a question.
I'll ask it to the panel real quickly.
What do you see the future of buy here, pay here being 10 years from now?
If you had your crystal ball and you could just give us kind of the one or two line tag
lines of what our industry is going to look like in 10 years, what's our future?
Long terms.
Long term.
Longer terms.
A little more on your car.
I just threw up in the path.
I had to allow it's in a loop, but I know it's not going away for sure.
Bar and ownership and good E-Dem sub.
I'm financing in your house, financing.
Correct.
Okay.
I don't know, but I think self-driver has me the most nervous.
Self-driver.
That tech, as it goes, I can see less people needing as many vehicles
because you're going to see cul-de-sacs, sharing a car, husband and wife.
It'll take you to work.
I'll go later.
It could run me to work.
I love that model and I agree with you.
I totally agree.
Jason.
Yeah.
I think just like I think in today's world, there's a lack of liquidity in our industry.
I don't see the lack of liquidity to our consumers.
They're going to need transportation and they're going to need ways to pay for that.
And I think that's what we serve.
And I don't see that being solved in the next years.
Area.
And as I said, there's no doubt that technology, I mean, we can't even see,
forget about 10 years.
We can't even see five years.
Yeah.
But if they're not going to buy cars, you'll, you know, I don't know, they'll buy drones.
I mean, just tell what they do.
They'll fly trees or not.
The base of the system will stay the same, I believe.
I think there's always going to be credit challenge people,
no matter if it's, you know, cars or other items.
And, you know, we're seeing a lot of us right now that are actually expanding into,
expanding into other verticals, trailers, RVs and stuff like that,
that never would have looked at it five years ago.
So I think the future is pretty bright on the buy your pay your side,
or the self-financing side.
Maybe that's what you found.
Truly buy your pay here, if you will.
Yeah.
Steve, do you start us so you're going to finish what you get?
I'm optimistic as well, just because I've been working with dealers a long time.
You all are the most resourceful, creative, great entrepreneurs.
And so you're going to figure it out and you're going to look for opportunities to succeed.
Amen.
Awesome.
Gentlemen, thank you so much.
Happy hour is next door.
It starts right now.
Find these gentlemen.
Ask them more questions.
And thank you for being here.
We're all free.
We love you.
About this episode
Dealers and vendors compare what each side notices—especially as AI reshapes discovery, lead flow, and compliance. Organic search visibility is down, AI overviews reward the right on-page data, and paid costs are rising. The panel also gets practical about AI risk (sensitive info, legality), AI integration limits (no direct ChatGPT into DMS), and how modern dealer systems automate texts, payment enablement, and even GPS-triggered actions. Disaster planning and vendor redundancy round it out.
Original notes
In this special episode of the Independent Dealer Podcast, recorded live on location at Buy Here Pay Here United 2026, Jeff Watson and Luke Godwin flip the script with a first-of-its-kind vendor panel. Instead of the traditional dealer open forum, six of the industry's top service providers take the stage to share what they see from their side of the glass — the blind spots, pain points, and opportunities that dealers are missing right now. Featuring Steve Levine (Ignite Dealer Compliance Group), Mike Downey (Auto Master Systems), Bill Neylan (Tax Max), Jason Gosnell (Buckeye Risk Services), Ariad Sommer (Ituran USA), and Terry MacCauley (Big Time Advertising), this panel pulls back the curtain on AI, automation, compliance, disaster planning, parts sourcing, and where the BHPH industry is headed next.
What You'll Learn:
-Why AI in your dealership can be a compliance time bomb — and why every store needs a written AI policy
-How dealers are "doing more with less" using data warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake) instead of dumping PII into ChatGPT
-The heated debate over AI replacing employees — and why some 40-year dealers refuse to use it at all
-Why most dealers have NO contingency plan to operate when an ice storm, hurricane, or outage shuts the doors during tax season
-The backup systems every dealer needs: power, internet (Starlink), VOIP phones, and remote-ready staff
-How starter interrupt and GPS integration can collect a late payment automatically — without you ever picking up the phone
-Why you're probably paying for features your current vendors already offer but never turned on
-How automotive recyclers became the "Amazon fulfillment center" of parts — and how it's lowering recon costs
-The massive shift in search: customers now treat Google like ChatGPT, and organic traffic is down 20–30%
-How to get your dealership to show up in AI Overviews (and why the top 10% of your website is everything)
-What vendors wish dealers would do: communicate your pain points, stop ghosting, and never cancel over cost alone
-Where six industry insiders see Buy Here Pay Here heading over the next 10 years
If you're a buy here pay here or independent dealer trying to navigate AI, automation, compliance, and an industry that's changing faster than ever, this vendor panel is packed with insider perspective you won't hear anywhere else. These are the people who touch hundreds of dealers every month — and they're telling you exactly what's working, what's coming, and what's quietly costing you money.
Support the businesses that support the podcast:
Buckeye Risk Services - Reinsurance and wealth strategies for independent dealers. https://theindependentdealer.com/buckeye
Blytz - BHPH payment processing with fast funding and text-to-pay. https://theindependentdealer.com/blytzpay
Ituran GPS - Asset protection and customer management for BHPH and retail dealers. https://theindependentdealer.com/ituran
Follow & Connect:
Website: www.theindependentdealer.com
Facebook Group: @independentautogroup
Luke Godwin: @lukegodwin
Jeff Watson: /sendtojeffw
Like, subscribe, and share this with a dealer who needs to hear it.
The Independent Dealer Podcast
Jeff Watson & Luke Godwin
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62:58