7 Critical Tactics for Dealership Growth in 2026 (& How to Apply It) | Nick LaSorsa, Director at LaSorsa Auto Group
Car Dealership Guy Podcast
7 Critical Tactics for Dealership Growth in 2026 (& How to Apply It) | Nick LaSorsa, Director at LaSorsa Auto Group
Car Dealership Guy Podcast · Jul 9, 2026
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Term
compliance
Compliance just means “following the rules.” For car dealers, it’s about doing things the law requires—especially paperwork and customer information.
Term
buyer's guides
A buyer’s guide is a document the dealer gives you so you know what you’re buying. It’s meant to clearly spell out important details and protections.
Term
consumer bill of rights
A consumer bill of rights refers to a set of protections and disclosure expectations intended to ensure customers are treated fairly in the marketplace. In dealership sales, it typically ties to required transparency around vehicle condition, warranties, and other key terms.
Concept
government agencies look at a car dealership like a bank
He’s saying regulators treat dealerships like they’re handling something sensitive—similar to a bank. That means the paperwork and records have to be kept secure and organized.
Concept
feed the machine
It’s a business idea meaning you keep the dealership’s “engine” running by constantly bringing in cars and work. In this case, they’re saying they needed lots of used cars to sell so the whole operation stays busy.
Term
units for service
This means the dealership wants enough cars coming in for maintenance and repairs. More cars in the shop usually means more money from service work.
Term
Highline pre-owned cars
“Highline” here means the more expensive, nicer cars—usually luxury or performance models. “Highline pre-owned” just means they’re selling those kinds of cars used, not brand-new.
Car
AMG Mercedes
AMG is Mercedes-Benz’s performance brand. Cars with AMG badges are usually faster and have more specialized parts, so repairs and maintenance can cost more.
Term
recon
“Recon” is short for reconditioning. It means getting a used car ready to sell—fixing issues and doing the work needed so it’s in good shape for the next buyer.
Term
break job
A “brake job” means work done on the brakes—like replacing brake pads and sometimes rotors. It’s a common service item, and the cost can vary a lot by car.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
A Corvette is a performance sports car from Chevrolet. The host is using it as a reference point to show that some other performance cars (like Porsche) can be much more expensive to service.
Car
Porsche
Porsche makes high-end performance cars. The host is saying that when they need brake work on a Porsche, it can cost around $6,000—much more than many other cars.
Term
warranty
A warranty is a promise that if something covered breaks after you buy the car, the cost to fix it may be reduced or paid for. Here, they’re saying they offer warranty as part of how they structure the sale.
Term
financial statement
In this context, the financial statement is the paperwork that shows the deal details—what you’re paying and what add-ons are included. The host is saying warranty is shown as part of that deal sheet.
Concept
bus work
“Bus work” means they were working with customers that run buses—like schools and local agencies. It’s more like ongoing fleet business than just selling one car to one person.
Car
Volkswagen Bus
The Volkswagen Bus is a van made to carry several people instead of just one or two. Because it has room for passengers, it’s often used for group trips like school or camp transportation. In the podcast context, it’s being discussed as a type of small bus used for everyday hauling of people.
Car
Chevrolet Express
This is a Chevrolet van that’s often used for businesses and groups that need to move people around. Here, they’re saying their school-transport vehicle is basically a Chevy van, just set up like a smaller bus.
Term
recall
A recall is when a car maker says, “We found a problem, and it needs fixing.” The fix is done through the dealer network, and the manufacturer/warranty system covers the repair.
Term
VIN numbers
A VIN is like a vehicle’s unique ID number. Recalls are often based on the VIN, so only certain specific vehicles get the repair.
Term
airbag inflator
The airbag inflator is what makes the airbag pop out fast in a crash. If it’s faulty, the car maker may recall the vehicle to replace or fix that part.
Term
brake booster
A brake booster helps you push the brakes with less effort. If it doesn’t work correctly, the brakes may feel wrong or not work as strongly, so it can be recalled.
Concept
fleet
“Fleet” means a company’s vehicles—like buses or delivery vans—used for work. Because there are many vehicles and they’re needed every day, repairs and recalls are managed differently than for one-off personal cars.
Term
reflashes
A reflash is like updating the car’s computer software. It can fix issues or improve how the car runs without replacing major parts.
Term
oil change over oil change
It means doing lots of repeated basic oil-change appointments back-to-back. The point is that it can be slow and time-consuming compared with other service types.
Term
rotations and fills and filters
They’re listing common quick maintenance jobs: moving tires to even out wear, topping up fluids, and swapping out filters. These are usually faster than major repairs.
Concept
consistent processes and systems
It means running the dealership in the same way at every location. Instead of each store doing things differently, everyone follows the same playbook and uses the same tools.
Concept
bespoke for each store
It means customizing how each store operates instead of using one shared method. That can fit local differences, but it can slow down growth because every store needs its own approach.
Concept
hybrid
They’re using a mix of “same rules everywhere” plus “some customization.” That way they can scale without losing the ability to adapt to each location.
Term
comptroller
This is a finance/accounting leader role. They help keep the dealership’s numbers organized and make sure financial reporting and controls are handled correctly.
Term
service director
This is the person who runs the dealership’s service department. They help make sure repairs are scheduled well, customers are taken care of, and the department performs strongly.
Term
sales director
This is the person who leads the dealership’s sales team. They help guide how sales are handled and work to improve results across the store.
Term
chat GPT dashboard
They’re using an AI tool like ChatGPT in a dashboard to help the dealership run tasks more consistently. It can help staff find answers faster and follow the same process every time.
Term
sales process
The sales process is the dealership’s sequence of steps for selling a car. It’s how they guide a customer from first conversation to buying the vehicle.
Term
window sticker
The window sticker is the official paper (or digital equivalent) that shows what that exact car has and what it costs. Salespeople use it to answer customer questions about the vehicle.
LIVE
Every dealer wants to build something that outlasts them.
The problem is, most only think about who takes over,
not how the next generation actually earns the right to lead.
Today's guest has a unique perspective, Nick LaSorsa,
is director at LaSorsa Chevy running two stores
with completely different personalities.
He's a second generation stepping into a business's father,
started building in 1988.
And instead of running from that legacy,
he's using 38 years to make smarter new school calls.
Nick LaSorsa on the CDG Podcast, Nick, welcome.
Thank you so much. Happy to be here.
One of the most active members in circles.
But you came from nothing. You came up quickly.
Yeah, I was like, you know, how much action can I get out of it?
And I finally took the dive and says, you know, let's support you
and, you know, get everyone together.
And we all deal with the same headaches, wins, losses.
So it's hard to find other people without joining a 20 group
and, you know, spending, you know, $5,000, $10,000
to meet everyone, you know, every quarter.
So it's great. I love it.
People talk at night, in the day, whatever, on the weekends.
So it's helpful to everyone.
So we are not $5,000, $10,000. That's the...
Yeah, no, I know. That was a big drive for me.
We're a lot more efficient than that.
No, but hey, I'm glad you're getting value out of it.
That's the goal.
Nick, we're going to...
We'll touch on many different topics here
in no particular order because I think you're an interesting operator.
I've seen your...
The way this came to be was I actually...
I saw your messages and the insight you were providing.
And I said, huh, like Nick seems like a very sharp operator.
Let's start with a non-automotive question,
which is you have this line that I read in your intake forum
which says, choose your heart.
So I'm curious. Like, I've heard this line before.
I subscribe to it 100%.
Like, everything's hard. Like, choose your heart.
What's your content diet?
Like, where are you...
What are you listening to nowadays?
So I...
What turned me on to all the podcasts and things of that nature
was Apple gives you that, you know,
hey, you listen to, you know, 5,000 minutes of music
and I'm like, damn, 5,000 minutes of music.
I kind of got nothing out of it besides learning every song
to, you know, whatever I was listening to in the car.
So I started listening to, you know, people like yourself
and other, you know, entrepreneurs, business owners,
business builders content.
And I'll spend a lot of my time, you know,
listening to those people for, again, motivation, insight.
Because when I get here to the dealership,
yeah, I'm an operator,
but, you know, you have people underneath you
anywhere from, you know, 100 to 200 to 300 people
where you got to kind of help them and coach them along as well.
So I really try to broaden, you know,
my scope and my horizon on how I can help, you know,
the people either in the community or, you know,
within our organization as well.
So talk to me about what it's like
between the two stores, right?
These are, as you say, pretty different stores operationally.
Can you explain that to us?
Like how did they differ in their operating model?
So here in the...
the location of the Bronx here is very dense,
a lot of compliance,
being that we're in one of the boroughs in New York City.
So we have a lot of compliance there
as far as, you know, labels on cars,
buyer's guides, consumer bill of rights.
Obviously, a lot of us know that, you know,
the government agencies look at a car dealership like a bank.
So I always explain to the salespeople,
I know you're selling cars and you're having fun,
but all the paperwork has to be secure.
Everything has to be, you know, put away at night.
Offices have to be locked.
So we have that aspect of it.
And then at the other store, you know,
it's more clientele, higher ticket items, more volume.
They have a lot more expenses than what we have here.
We're very expense controlled here because, again,
our rent is high, our bills are high just as a fixed cost.
So we really hammer down on expenses at this location
where the other location is, you know,
they kind of throw money at it at a problem
instead of, you know, figuring out how we can,
you know, streamline it or, you know,
make it a better process.
When you say they, is that not you?
Or like, what type of autonomy does your team have here?
How can they throw money at a problem and solve it?
What does that mean?
So I do have, we did have an executive manager there.
He wound up retiring.
So we have an interim GM there.
I do let the stores operate.
I am involved in a lot of, you know,
meetings and high level stuff, reports at the end of the month
and then the beginning of the month goal setting.
But people will come to me and say, you know,
we're looking at busy car.
We're looking at, you know, other vendors like that are on the pod
and things of that nature.
So I'll get on that AI for, you know,
service calls, overnight service calls,
and these products all have to kind of gel with,
you know, your DMS, your, you know, CRM.
So that's where the expense comes from really.
It's not, you know, losses and things of that nature.
It's always looking to find, you know,
something that's going to jive with us.
You know, you go from Kirby to busy car.
You go from an outside, you know,
detailing company to in-house.
So, you know, there's a monthly expense there,
but now, you know, you're showing it on payroll,
paying, you know, health benefits,
payroll tax and things of that nature.
Have you recently gone from an outsourced detailer to in-house?
We actually did the opposite.
We were doing it in-house.
You know, who's calling out sick,
who wants vacation time, stuff like that.
I do know my friend.
We outsourced it and if a guy, you know, calls out sick,
he's on vacation, whatever that area is filled with,
you know, his counterpart or whoever,
and I kind of put the onens, you know, on that vendor.
But it's been good.
Yeah. That was one area where I had a lot of success
outsourced detail.
So take me back.
You mentioned expense control in one store versus the other.
I want to understand how are you, like,
at the end of the day, you need to optimize toward an outcome
at your dealership.
So how can you possibly control expenses further?
Like, is it coming at the expense of the value
that you could be driving?
At the end of the day, you need certain things
to make the sale happen and as best as possible.
So how do you really expense control?
In today's day and age, by the way,
when everything is technology and it's so ingrained
into every part of the sales process.
I'll give you a few examples.
One recently was Uniform Company, right?
Everyone has Uniform Company.
They drop off the uniforms, they show up.
Before you know it, you're with them 10 years
and the bill, you know, keeps creeping up, creeping up,
and you started at X and, you know, five years later,
you're, you know, 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 more than that.
But there's always someone out there looking to earn,
you know, a dealership's business.
I don't care what, you know, vendor, topic it's on.
So every few years, I'll go out with our service director,
you know, me with other companies and, you know,
have them put in bids to keep everyone honest
and to look to pivot.
Some guys, you know, want to grow a whole market
and want to be in a heavy metro.
So I'll look at that.
We just changed Uniform Companies.
We'll save a bunch of money there.
That's already in place.
Banks, a lot of our cars now, credit unions,
want our lease deals, not mine per se,
but any, you know, franchise business lease deals.
So they have, you know, monthly costs associated with them.
So I'll look at their statements,
whatever, it could be anything from $500 to $1,500 a month.
I'm doing one deal with them.
You know, is it worth that?
Sometimes the guys will forget about them
and it goes to the bottom of the list.
And, you know, we stroke a check for $1,500
and we haven't sent them a deal in two months.
So little things like that.
Do you cancel credit cards every year?
No.
I'm going through that with the change
with our executive manager leaving
one of the, you know, the store in Westchester.
The bills go somewhere.
Then someone says, oh, here's Nick's email
and then I get a bill and it's a nice email
just saying, hey, these invoices are past due.
I look at them and I'm like, oh man, you know,
there's so many things on a company credit card
that you don't really notice that's on it
until, you know, when that person leaves,
you terminate that card and so on and so forth.
So we are catching up on that.
And at the end of the day, we do pay everyone
what we say they're going to pay.
Here's another one for you.
Do you subscribe to the practice
of submitting a cancellation
for any service you sign up for right away
so that the shot clock starts?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, we were big on, that's a juggle source of thing
that's something I'll always take out of his book is,
he's like, you know, put him on notice.
I'm like, you're sure?
Like, what if we don't leave?
He's like, it doesn't matter.
At least they know.
Sometimes they'll come back with, you know,
big discounts.
Sometimes the service will improve
if it's, you know, a service vendor.
Sometimes it stays the same and we do leave,
but we do that a lot with the third party vendors
for, you know, new and used cars.
So that tech stack can get pretty expensive quick,
right?
Everything's, you know, 500 more, 250 more, 500 more.
And that bill goes from the original pitch of $2,500
to, you know, $37.50.
And technology is ever changing too.
So it does get cheaper to a certain extent.
So we do sometimes, you know, go that route
and it does hold true and it does sometimes,
most of the times, save us money
or let us go look for another vendor who,
like I mentioned before, does want to earn our business
and start a partnership.
This episode is brought to you by Digital Dealer.
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Yeah, let's like, let's broaden this out a little bit.
By the way, cool tactics there.
But Nick, how much of your day, your month,
your week, whatever, is focused on this like
operational efficiency excellence,
call it expense control, versus, you know,
growth, you know, growing volumes, expanding grosses.
It's both important, different initiatives
for each, you know, some overlap.
How much of your day is that?
Especially being in the market you're in
with, you know, such elevated rents,
I'm sure, and costs overall.
So yeah, how much of your day is that really?
Me and John have a good relationship.
It's a working relationship when we're home, we're home,
and, you know, we can hang out.
But he's been doing it so long that he knows what to look for.
So I kind of let him go on what he's good at,
which again is, he could read a financial statement
in two seconds, so he'll tell me,
hey, let's look at this, that.
And then I'll take it and run with it
and see how we can work on the expense.
You're taking on the initiative,
you guys are identifying it together,
and then you're getting down to the root cause
of, you know, what can we actually do here to make an impact?
Right.
So in regards to the growth aspect,
I've been, that's been my hunch since, you know, 2026.
And I know we spoke briefly prior that
I started doing all the hiring,
meeting the candidates first.
It doesn't matter if it's a director of any sort,
a porter, a parts person, a parts manager,
service advisor, salespeople,
because I believe that you need to hire for culture now.
And what I mean by that is when I had the sales managers
or the department managers doing the initial hire
and kind of taking it all on,
we found out that the person starts,
they might not be onboarded correctly,
they might not have a working, you know,
workstation stuff like that.
And I took it upon myself because I felt like guilty,
I guess in a sense, to have these people,
at least let's put our company's best foot forward
in order to set these people up for success.
So since then, you know, these people would leave,
you know, six months later, they'd last, you know,
not even a year.
And we're spinning our wheels, you know,
with all these hiring, you know, headhunters and indeed
and LinkedIn and all these, you know, platforms,
which again, at the end of the month or the end of the year
become a big expense.
So I do recommend, you know,
people who are doing a lot of hiring to, you know,
hit up your indeed rapper, hit up your, you know,
LinkedIn rapper or whoever headhunter you're at and say,
you know, what have I spent this year?
What have I spent this quarter in acquiring talent?
And you'll be like, whoa, that's a lot of money.
You know, we were spending, you know,
over $15,000 with indeed.
And I was like, that's a lot.
But again, goes back to expense control.
So if I could run the ad premium, get the right person,
you save in the long run.
And what has worked best for you from a retention perspective?
Or like when you're saying you're so involved
in these hiring processes, what are you doing differently?
I think I just break down everything to them in one shot.
And what I mean by that is we are in the New York Metro market.
Our shops are unionized.
I know those guys out there in the Southwest Midwest, you know,
and they're like unionized shop.
But the union does play a benefit to the employer and the employee.
We offer free health coverage for all union members.
It's a big expense for us, but, you know, we do offer it
and I do pitch that as well.
Because a lot of people come into a dealership and, you know,
it sounds good and this and that,
but they're paying 20, 25, 30%, 50% of their medical into their check.
So they're expecting to make X, the 25% comes out weekly
and, you know, it wasn't painted a full picture.
So I make sure that we touch on things like that.
I'll take them around the dealership.
I'll show them the shop.
We're across the street from each other.
So they'll come into the, you know, the nice office,
the shiny cars to go be a technician.
They like what they see here.
But again, the shop, our shop is clean.
Our shop is nice, but it's just, you know, different.
So I'll take them there.
So they have a lay of the land and, you know,
know where they're going and where they're reporting to work for.
I'll show them bays.
I'll show them the parts department, the technician window where
I don't think that they were getting that type of hand holding.
And I think that's what separates us from other places as well.
From other dealerships.
You're saying, you're like, you're hiring process.
You break down obviously the role to, you know, specifics,
atomic unit, but then you take them, like you said, place by place.
And you've seen that that's, you're basically just setting
very, very clear expectations.
Yeah. I send them home with the pay plan.
If they're sales, here's the sales pay plan.
If they're service advisors, here's the service pay plan.
So it's not like, you know, oh, I jumped into something that,
you know, didn't really work.
And I don't expect the service managers and sales managers to have
all the pay plans on their desktop.
You know, I run a tight computer.
Everything's alphabetical and stuff like that.
So I could just, you know, click into seconds,
hit print and get what I need from that.
Just like buying the car and servicing the car is transparent.
I think, you know, hiring and onboarding people should be
transparent as well.
Tell me about your store, that the Westchester store,
which you said you built to feed the machine.
Yeah.
We just look and do, you know, get more units for service
or what's the, tell us about that expansion in general.
You had this one Bronx store, you opened up another store.
What was the strategy behind that?
We went to go on a venture to sell Highline pre-owned cars.
I told the guys, I say, you know, we'll invest in it.
It's heavy cash flow.
You know, generally all of our techs are Chevrolet certified GM
certified, but when you have, you know, an AMG Mercedes coming in,
anything high performance, you know, red eyes, all these,
you know, high performance cars coming in.
We were kind of getting burned on the servicing of them and the
recon of them because we're expecting the break job to be,
you know, a little bit more than what a Corvette would be.
But, you know, a break job on a Porsche is, you know, $6,000.
So I had to group the guys back in with that and kind of pick
and choose how Highline we were looking to go.
So would feed the machine.
What I mean by that is we had a lot of use cars coming in,
which means we had to sell a lot of use cars.
We had, you know, big wins.
We had big losses.
You know, we broke even on some.
So we still continue with that.
They have a lot more land as well.
So the cars are all out decked out, colorful, nice.
When, you know, customers roll up looking for,
again, a newer pre-owned car there.
We also have a lot of warranty, you know, on the financial statement.
Our secret sauce was we had a service director come on board
and heavy metro, school, camp, municipalities.
So we did a lot of bus work.
Essentially a small bus that would take, you know,
your child to private school or public school is a Chevy Express van.
So again, it has, you know, Chevy engine, Chevy components,
Chevy wipers, Chevy blinkers, Chevy, you know, seats, everything.
So we kind of...
You're not talking about, you're not talking about a yellow bus, are you?
I'm talking about a yellow bus.
Yeah, like the smaller yellow bus.
Oh, the short version.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because again, like, you know, private school, this, that,
we do have private schools in the neighborhood and then some kids,
you know, they don't need the full bus or generally the smaller children,
you know, elementary school, you know, for whatever reason, I don't know.
Yeah.
They operate the small buses to get them around better and more efficiently.
So when those things come out with a recall, who has to fix it?
The franchise, the origin.
So again, it's a win-win because you're not charging the bus company,
essentially, it's going to, you know, warranty receivables.
And the bus company has a, I guess, a quota where they need to provide,
you know, safe buses again for the driver, the children,
like they really won't spare an expense with that.
But again, at the end of the day, it's not an expense.
So through the years, these VIN numbers of these Chevy Express vans,
come out of little recalls, little airbag inflator, little brake booster,
things of that nature.
So have you ever found yourself getting into lots of fleet?
Yeah, with that.
Yeah.
So we do it.
We'll send guys to the bus depot.
I'll send 345 technicians.
We do have a mobile van.
We'll have all the technicians drive out there.
We'll bring the mobile van out there with one technician.
They'll spend all Saturday there.
We'll buy them lunch.
They'll hang it and not hang out, but they'll do work, hang out and just keep,
you know, chipping in all the buses and we write repair orders for them right on
the spot.
It is a big receipt.
So you're doing mobile fleet service.
Essentially, yeah.
How's that working for you?
Like what's the economics there?
We want fast moving repairs, programs, reflashes, recalls, things of that nature.
We're not really big or we haven't expanded enough to do, you know,
oil change over oil change because that is time consuming.
We are in New York state where you can file for a half time over the warranty
time, which is, you know, something nice that greater New York dealer associations
was able to pass for all New York dealers here, which is nice.
So it's quick moving.
Like I mentioned, recall stuff like that.
If Mrs. Smith needs a service at her house, we'll set that up.
That'll be a block of a day, you know, we'll go to customer houses and do, you
know, rotations and fills and filters and stuff like that.
But we try to schedule the van to do, you know, align a recall work a day, you
know, mechanical work a day and things of that nature because once you start
taking off, you know, nuts and bolts and, you know, what's rusted, what's seized,
it's harder to, you know, do outside than in the shop.
Yeah.
What's the biggest friction for you nowadays running your stores?
Whether, you know, geographically, go ahead and speak.
I'm just, why?
I'm just always thinking I'm always up, you know, I'll wake up in the middle
of the night and be like, you know, why, why haven't we got to this yet?
Like why, you know, has no one brought this to my attention?
So I've learned through all my years is that my brain works faster than it is
to, you know, break out the plan to everyone.
Some things I want done in a few days and I'm like, you know, the month already
passed, you know, where are we at with this?
So I might come off overbearing, but I just love staying busy and being innovative.
What about like geographically, do you think that New York auto retailing is
underrated right now or overrated?
Well, I wouldn't say overrated, but I think in general, there's a flock to, you know,
the southern states, the red states, right?
Look at the dealerships.
I mean, the buy cells have been on fire.
How do you feel about the state of auto retailing in New York nowadays?
I think people who are here know what to expect.
What I see happen is, you know, some dealers from, you know, New England area
or, you know, other areas outside of the metro come in and they're like, wow,
I really wasn't expecting, again, cost of living, overhead, rent, and just the volume.
We're close to New Jersey.
New Jersey is a total different state, operates differently.
Their dock fee is, you know, more substantial than ours.
In New York state, it's $175.
I'm sure a lot of people, you know, laugh at that.
Before that, it was $75.
You know, Florida's in the, you know, plus 800.
I'm sure other states are way up there as well.
So it's all I know.
So I don't think too much of it, but it is getting more, maybe not difficult,
but more challenging to, you know, find your ways.
And it's just a hot market.
It is competitive.
The cost of living is a big driver for everyone as well.
We want to pay our people well.
I'm big on people coming into my office saying, hey, I'm leaving for another, you know,
$5, $10, this, that, whatever.
I look to pay people fair market.
I don't have people leaving saying, you know, hey, they're going to pay me, you know, $5 more.
I look to stay competitive and keep...
We were saying you avoid that.
Yeah.
I look to pay it up, you know, give them what the market is and what I think they're worth as well.
Of course.
How often do you do those assessments?
Is this like a quarterly exercise?
I'll do it quarterly.
I'll do it quarterly.
I have the payroll for them.
And then I have like a master list.
So I'll always true up the master list, you know, we'll give them a raise.
It'll show up in, you know, our system, but our system doesn't talk to our Excel.
So every quarter I'll run through everyone quick and, you know, put it in Claude and stuff like that and make it all messy.
So going back to between the two stores, I mean, you mentioned the difference in just, you know, location and operations,
but are you running consistent processes and systems across them?
Or are you really creating a bespoke for each store?
Right now, to answer that, it's a hybrid.
Recently, in the past six months, I've onboarded a service director, a single point comptroller,
and I just hired two months ago a sales director.
Personally, you know, John LaSorsa has done very well for himself.
We own the real estate with all the locations, things of that nature.
But I see what's going on, especially with social media and obviously platforms like this that I want more.
So really where I'm going with this is that if I can get the sales director service director,
comptroller, myself and John LaSorsa aligned, when the opportunity comes, you know,
six months next year, year and a half from now to go out and, you know, obtain more stores,
I can kind of copy and paste, then continue to copy and paste, you know, five times over, six times over and grow our company.
Yeah, you know, I was talking with the dealer the other day and he was showing me how,
and maybe he'll come on the platform and we'll talk about it,
but he was showing me how he's been like systemizing different roles within the dealership through like a chat GPT dashboard.
He has someone doing this full time now.
And I thought it was interesting, like I'll give you an example, right?
As a salesperson, when you're going through your sales process,
instead of just having that in your head and going through the different stages of the sales process,
he has like an iPad or the computer as like a companion to the salesperson.
So the customer may ask, hey, what can you tell me about this car?
And in real time, it's already pulling up the window sticker of that car,
but it's not showing the customer the window sticker.
It's explaining like the five things you need to know about this car through this window sticker or, you know,
leveraging this window sticker.
And it's just, well, he showed me this example.
I know it sounds a little, a little vague as I'm speaking about it,
but it's a cool way that he's really created this culture of the AI is your companion and it's chat GPT.
I mean, it's pretty much free in your store so that you can actually, you know,
help the client in a richer way.
You're not just saying, oh, here's what I know about this car.
It's like very, very precise and it gets you done just the best of the best.
I do like that.
It's probably less overhead than what we're currently doing.
I do have an outsourced sales trainer who will pick up and train the sales staff on things like that.
You know, family comes talk about safety, security, things of that nature.
Yeah.
You know, it's a, you know, bachelor looking at a Corvette.
How fast is it? Check out this package, blah, blah, blah, things like that.
So I'm doing it, you know, person to person.
It is expensive.
I don't mind investing in our people.
But yeah, we're going to have to chat that one out or chalk it up in circles and see how we can roll that out on the mainstream.
Nick, how old are you?
I'm a young 30.
So I asked you that because one of the things you say, which I saw is you say we need to go back to relationship selling.
And typically you don't hear that from a 34 year old.
It's typically something you hear from, you know, someone who's been Gen X at the minimum.
So what about your experience, life experience, work experience has led you to that belief?
Like, what does that even mean to you?
People still come in asking for me and I'm here.
I have a glass front office.
My office is, I don't know, three steps above the showroom so I can see.
I have an ivory tower. You can't get into my office.
I want to see you and I'm scared.
Well, I started with John.
John's always here.
People asked for him and then, you know, through the years, all my sons, you know, joining the business, this is 10 years ago.
And I would get those types of referrals and, you know, oh my God, I can't believe, you know, you're here or this or that.
Whatever.
So, um, so it started with that and then I built, you know, business from there.
So what I mean by relationship selling is we're here every day and we're a neighborhood store.
People know us.
We've been here for a long time.
We haven't moved from one area to another area and with the relationship selling, everyone sells the same car.
You look at a Kia, you look at a Hyundai.
It's an affordable payment.
It's all wheel drive.
It's safe.
It has Apple CarPlay.
Where do people feel comfortable, you know, transacting and coming in and doing business?
So I'm big on that.
We have no, you know, games, no gimmicks.
It's, you know, the price of the car, dock fee, tax and whatever, you know, ancillary products you want.
And I'm big on just selling the car.
You know, some guys are like, you know, oh, we're going to make 500 on this car, you know, on the front or whatever.
I'm like, but get the car out.
Let the people see it on the block.
Let them people see it in the, you know, in the driveway.
The wheel seal the deal.
Yeah, exactly.
And they're like, oh, where'd you get it?
Oh, I got it from, you know, Juan, I got it from, you know, Joel.
Like, you know, I have all these people here and just continue to grow your book of business.
But yeah, it comes down to everyone makes a stylish car.
You know, it's who you know.
And, you know, go see so and so they'll help you out.
And coming to a dealership could be nerve wracking.
Obviously we're in them all day and we don't think twice about it.
But, you know, some grown men don't want to go into a hospital.
You know, my wife works there every day.
She doesn't think twice about it.
So it's all with what your wife works in a hospital.
Yeah, she's registered nurse.
But it's what you're comfortable with that we like to make people, you know, feel comfortable and coming in here.
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So I asked you in the beginning of the podcast and I don't think you responded to it directly.
But I asked you like choose your heart.
You love this line.
You have this line.
So what is that for you?
It's hard to be a salesperson.
It's hard to be a whatever a dad, a mom.
It's hard to, you know, show up every day.
I don't care if we're talking about at the dealership, you know, practice this, that a hobby.
So it's hard to be broke.
It's hard to be rich.
It's, you know, a hard to grow business.
It's hard to work for someone.
So anything at any level is hard.
And I put it into perspective of, you know, choose your heart.
You know, the end of the month comes, you know, the stress levels build, the numbers start coming in and it's hard.
So I always wake up every day and, you know, I choose my heart and I always come here and then show up.
And another thing is, you know, quit tomorrow.
Tomorrow comes, you know, you get ready, you get in your car and, you know, you come back to work and, you know, another day goes by.
So I tell a lot of people to choose your heart.
So what's your future heart?
What do you want to expand within New York?
Do you want to, you know, not expand in New York just because like the roots are here, you know, my family's here.
I've, you know, a brother or sister and people like that here, you know, grandparents and everyone and uncles.
The South, you know, is hot.
Florida is obviously a great place to do business.
You know, the Carolinas, Tennessee over there, that area, Texas is super hot as well.
I poke around, but I'm really looking to expand and, you know, get into some stores that, you know, have opportunity.
So it's easy for me to jump into a New York store and, you know, do what I do.
But I'm open.
It's hard to really move the kids.
You know, you have young kids and so do I.
So, you know, you got to pull them away from friends and this and that and grandparents.
So, but it's your heart.
You're really, you're really thinking far.
I was thinking, like, you know, across the bridge, maybe, but you're thinking.
I don't look at, I'll look at any deal within, you know, the two hour drive.
Pennsylvania seems to be kind of strong.
I'm all over the place.
I don't think I would go more north unless it was a, you know, a real opportunity, but I would say New York down.
Why not north?
I don't know.
I'm not crazy about the cold.
I mean, obviously we're in New York.
It's freezing.
So if I can get something out of state, I'd prefer it to be downstate to, you know, get a tan like you and enjoy the sun.
This guy in my 10 right now.
Do I look 10?
But I can tell you, Florida is working out for you.
So it looks good.
Yeah.
I mean, dude, here you step outside and it's a beaming in your face.
Yeah, you melt.
You actually, you look for shade.
Yeah.
When we first came here, we're talking to the agent, like, oh yeah, we want like the exposure with the sun for like the backyard.
They're like, think about that.
Think about that wisely.
And I can see why they say that now because at a certain point you're like, you know, it's just freaking hot.
Yeah.
It's you kind of want shade.
Yeah.
Dude, amazing.
So before we wrap up, I think you're someone that many operators can relate to you in that or is to say like second, third-gen operators in that, you know, what you're doing and how you've grown up in the business.
What's your, what's your advice to the next generation?
Like, what would you, you know, given your experiences, what advice would you leave them with?
Learn everything you can.
I tease, you know, the younger people and I say, you know, I used to sit on the sales manager's laps and this and that and, you know, why are you doing it this way?
Why'd you, you know, put something here and not there?
So I look to learn anything I can.
I'm big on, you know, be, get comfortable at being uncomfortable.
So anything, you know, people above me would say, you know, hey, can you do this for me?
Can you, you know, look into this for me?
Sometimes I didn't know where I was going to start, but today we're lucky enough to have, you know, the internet, chat, AI, whatever, to at least have you break some stuff down and put some stuff together.
And also the first or the second generation, let's say our parents, they had it hard, you know, building the cash flow, building the reputation, things of that nature.
But I don't think the next generation gets enough credit on the pressure to maintain the business.
If you want to maintain it at what it's at or grow the business, you know, it's a different market than it was, you know, 20, 30 years ago when whatever your grandfather started it or your dad started it or your mom started it.
So there's a lot of pressure, you know, to the young people on that scope where my dad always says, you know, we got cash in the bank, we got the money, you know, the flow of everything.
But, you know, one day he's working up.
Yeah, one day he's not going to be here.
And, you know, I don't want it to, you know, say, hey, we sold it or, you know, it's not working out.
I don't have a backup plan.
I don't have a side hustle.
I don't have anything, you know, outside of the car business.
So I put 110% into it.
I love it.
It's something new every day.
And again, anything from managing people, monies, cars coming in, products, the future, you know, you go to these dealer meetings and stuff and they, you know, get to really ramped up on, you know, the next lineup of cars and innovation and stuff like that.
And plus I just like people.
I think we're all in it for people as well.
So back to relationships selling.
Some people will stop by.
I'll say hi, whatever.
They don't necessarily need a car.
And they come to the dealership for help, whether it's sales, service, you know, they're looking for, you know, a hand or something to give them some guidance on.
Not everyone knows everything about a car.
You bullish on Chevy?
Yeah, it gave us, you know, a lot of opportunity and things of that nature.
I was entertaining going for a third Chevrolet store, but I'd rather divvy up the portfolio and, you know, get some other aspects to find the brand mix.
Yeah.
And see what other franchises are doing and how they, you know, operate and maybe take that out and brought it on the horizon.
Well said.
Nick LaSorsa, L A G N Y LaSorsa Auto Group, New York on the map.
Nick, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
It was a pleasure.
Anytime.
Thank you.
It was great.
All right.
Hope you enjoyed that episode.
Please give the podcast a rating.
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Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you guys next time.
About this episode
Nick LaSorsa, director at LaSorsa Auto Group, talks about building dealership growth that outlasts the next generation—using decades of experience while making “new school” decisions. He runs two Chevy stores with very different operating realities: one in dense, compliance-heavy NYC (tight expense control and secure paperwork) and another with higher-ticket volume and more spending flexibility. Nick shares practical cost-leak tactics—re-bidding vendors like uniforms, auditing bank/credit-union lease deal costs, canceling unused credit cards, and using vendor “notice” tactics to keep tech stacks from creeping upward. He also discusses how he balances efficiency with growth and leverages hiring and coaching.
Original notes
Today I'm joined by Nick LaSorsa, Director at LaSorsa Auto Group.
Nick runs two very different stores in the New York metro, and he lays out the exact playbook he uses to keep both profitable heading into 2026.
He explains how a single hiring platform audit uncovered more than $15,000 in wasted spend, why he cancels every vendor contract the day he signs it, and how a mobile fleet service built around school bus recalls became one of the highest-margin corners of his business.
Topics:
03:00 Two Stores, Two Personalities.
09:00 The Cancellation Trick That Works.
11:40 Nick Interviews Every Single Hire.
16:20 The Fleet Business Most Ignore.
22:00 New York Auto Is Different.
25:20 Nick's Copy-Paste Growth Plan.
31:20 The Pressure Of Being Second-Gen.
This episode is brought to you by:
1. Digital Dealer – Join dealership leaders from across the country for two days of expert-led education, practical AI strategies, networking with industry peers, and hands-on access to the latest products and solutions. September 22–23 in Detroit. Register today here.
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