This refers to a local shop that sells tires and does car service work, not a big corporate chain. The point here is that the speaker’s dad learned the business by running that kind of shop.
Bridgestone Firestone makes tires. The host is mentioning it because his dad worked for the company before moving into growing and running his own tire business.
Concept
KPI stack
KPI stack is just a fancy way of saying “the most important scorecard numbers.” If you’re at the top of the KPI stack, you’re doing best on the key measurements that matter most for the business.
They’re saying buying dealerships can get risky when the market isn’t growing. If sales and income aren’t improving, it’s harder for a new owner to make the numbers work.
They’re describing how they used to judge each dealership purchase separately. Instead of one universal rule, they looked at what each deal was actually like.
They’re implying that running a dealership well gets easier as you sell and service more cars. More activity can help the business use its people and systems more efficiently.
Brand equity is basically how strong a car brand’s reputation is. If it’s “volatile,” it means customers’ opinions (and sales) can swing quickly.
Concept
OE side
“OE” means the stuff the car maker supplies for building the car in the first place. When they say “winners and losers on the OE side,” they mean which automakers are doing well or poorly in selling new vehicles.
Tesla is a company that makes electric cars. It’s often mentioned because it changed how EVs are sold and marketed, which affects how traditional dealerships compete.
Lucid is another electric-car company, focused on luxury. The point in this conversation is that newer EV brands can pull customers away from traditional dealership brands.
This means selling cars more directly to customers, instead of going through the usual dealership channels. That can make it harder for some traditional stores to compete for customers.
Small dealerships can be tough because they don’t sell enough cars to cover costs as easily. Even if you work just as hard, the smaller volume can make it harder to stay profitable.
Scale benefits mean bigger businesses can often run cheaper per car because they spread costs out over more sales. Smaller dealerships don’t have that advantage, so they may need to work harder for the same results.
Dealerships usually make money in two big ways: selling cars and running the service/parts department. The service/parts side is often more consistent because people still need oil changes, repairs, and replacement parts.
When they say the new-car business is “softer,” they mean fewer people are buying new cars than they want. That’s why they’re leaning more on used cars and the service department.
Pre-owned business means selling used cars. When new-car sales slow down, used cars can sometimes stay in better shape and keep the dealership’s cash flow steadier.
This is the part of the dealership that sells coverage for repairs after purchase. It can help customers pay for unexpected problems and helps the dealership earn steady income.
He’s using “rainy day fund” to mean money you rely on when business slows down. The dealership builds that cushion using service and finance-related income.
Capital One Auto is Capital One’s program/business aimed at helping car dealers. The host is saying their goal is to support dealers so they can do better for customers.
The “Navigator platform” sounds like a dealer-focused software system. The point here is that it helps dealers operate better, and the company initially made it easy for them to try it.
“Dealer navigator” is likely the part of the software that dealers use day-to-day. The speaker is grouping it with other tools meant to help dealers succeed.
Term
protect ID
“Protect ID” sounds like a safety feature or service to help prevent identity theft or fraud. The speaker is listing it as one of the tools dealers get to help them succeed.
“People first” means you make decisions with people in mind—your team and your customers. The idea is that if you treat people well, the business performs better too.
Close rate is how often someone who talks to you actually buys. It’s important, but it doesn’t tell you whether you’re getting enough good conversations in the first place.
This means working on the early steps before the sale—like getting people to respond and actually talk to you. If you fix the start, you usually have an easier time closing later.
This is the network of other dealerships and industry people. Staying connected can help you learn what works and get support when you’re trying to grow.
Manufacturer reps are people from the car brand who work with dealerships. They can help with guidance, programs, and keeping you on track with what the brand wants.
The speaker is saying that helping other dealers can actually pay off later. It’s about building relationships and sharing know-how, not just competing for customers.
“One rooftop” is a metaphor for a single dealership location. The point is that a smaller dealership can compete with larger groups by leveraging better tools, processes, and leadership rather than relying on sheer scale.
A “level playing field” means everyone is competing with roughly the same starting advantages. The idea is that you shouldn’t need a huge operation to win—you can still succeed with good leadership and smart work.
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on this episode of Three Key Insights.
You've built an amazing outfit.
We've been able to grow our business
throughout these 20 years.
For me, as I think about the future,
the tightrope really is how do we continue to be
Morgan Automotive or the United States of Morgan
with all these extremely talented operators
who skin the cat differently
and still pay attention to the desire of the consumer.
That's, I think, the biggest challenge
that we kind of face in the near term
is how do we recognize what makes us great,
but also lean towards a world that's forever transitioning.
The auto industry is moving fast
and it's getting more complex.
Success today takes more than instinct, it takes insight.
Welcome to Three Key Insights with Sanjeev Yajnik,
president of Capital One Auto.
Today, Sanjeev sits down with Brett Morgan,
CEO of Morgan Automotive Group,
home to more than 70 rooftops.
Sanjeev and Brett break down what it takes
to grow your business without losing performance
and what dealers can do to take the lead.
Well, hello, everyone.
I'm here with Brett Morgan.
Brett is an inspirational leader
and one of the towering figures
in the world of auto and of dealerships.
In fact, he's the owner and the creator
of one of the largest dealership,
privately held dealership groups in the United States.
I am super excited about speaking with you
because Brett, you've really built
this amazing auto group from the ground up
and what I'm really interested in
is picking your brain and finding out
what are the key insights.
But before we go there, Brett,
can you just talk a little bit about your background
and how you came into this job?
Having been a TV executive producer,
I mean, I talk about building ships
and coming into finance, but that is like a huge change.
So just give us a little bit of your background.
Yeah, maybe not as fascinating as your background.
And again, the Morgan story really is a,
there is a family story here on the sun
and like you kind of obsessed with entrepreneurs
because I had a back seat to my father.
I would consider Morgan kind of like his third
real big run in entrepreneurship.
The first was when I grew up,
he was in the independent tire and auto service business.
He was the youngest, I think,
regional vice president for Bridgestone Firestone
and then he went to work for a family
and he helped them grow their business
from three retail to 160.
And then he went into business for himself.
And when I was a young person,
my dad used to say things like they were catchphrases
but they caught on and unfortunately now
I repeat them to my daughter
and she has to hear them all the time.
But things like if it is to be,
you know, it is up to me, you know,
success comes in cans, not canots, you know, just,
we had a, you know, it was all about making it happen.
And he had sold his business tires plus
when I was in college and when I graduated,
I'd kind of just went and chased a passion of mine.
So I worked for an ABC radio affiliate
and Fox Sports affiliate in Richmond
where I'd gone to school.
And then I think Larry had retired for like two weeks
and called me up and said, you know,
I'm gonna invest into a car dealership
as a minority investor.
And it wasn't until about a year later
and several more phone calls,
I came down and sold cars for his majority partner
and began to learn the business.
And, you know, it was great in the sense that,
you know, had I transitioned directly from college
into dad's business, it wouldn't have really felt like
I had much in the creation of the business.
Whereas because, you know, I joined him even before
we had our own, you know, our first dealership,
it really does feel like something that we've done together.
One of the great things about you is,
you know, you have, you're a great leader,
but you also have a lot of humility.
And just like you did right now,
you kind of deflect off much of your success
in different directions, whether it's your team
or your family.
And clearly you have an inspirational dad
who's instilled so much in you.
Can you talk about some of your leadership principles
that you believe have helped in building
this amazing organization that you've built?
So a lot of our principles that we pounded
in the early days, they're people-oriented.
So they're things like, I'd say,
a couple of our 10 commandments would be that
no one's entitled to let a good person leave the business.
So if there's an employee who wants to leave,
maybe it's for another opportunity.
Maybe it's because the store that they're in
cannot promote them.
They're not allowed to let them go
until Larry and I talk to them.
And, you know, this has been something that we practiced
even when I was still selling cars.
I would jump off the floor and meet with, you know,
an employee who maybe had reached the ceiling
or, you know, or didn't see the opportunity
in their current position that they wanted to see in life.
You know, secondly, we tell our operators,
they're not allowed to go to bed at night
if they know that they've got an upset customer
or a customer issue that's unresolved.
You know, right wrong or indifferent,
we still handle a lot of our business
the same way we did with one store with 75.
Now I could probably write a book on time management
and how the way I view time has changed
in going from handling what that noise looks like
in a three or five store basis, verse 75.
But Larry and I are still extremely accessible
from both an employee or a customer perspective.
We say it all the time, it's all people.
The dealership business is fascinating
because it's a very detail-oriented business.
And I think you've seen historically,
there's been many who have tried to kind of commandeer
that full control of that dealership
from a corporate perspective.
And they end up kind of throwing out
a lot of the entrepreneurial values
that make those enterprises great.
And we have partners in our store like Terry Taylor,
but we don't have them in every store like Terry Taylor does.
We even like our operators that frankly aren't partners
to feel like it's a partnership.
We want them to feel like it's their store
and that at the end of the day,
they're ultimately not only accountable
for the financial results,
but for the well-being of their employees
and their customers as well.
And yeah, that's-
I just wanted to-
Yeah, I think that is really powerful, Brett.
I know that you have talked about a couple of things
in the past.
There's on the leadership front,
you've talked about the no ego rule,
and then you've also talked about vulnerability
in leadership about the internal five-year-old
and in every CEO.
You want to talk a little bit about those two things?
Yeah, I'm a huge, I'm a huge-
I don't want to say fan of psychology,
but I've just gone through some certain things in my life,
personally, that have brought so much emotional maturity to me.
And I've always kind of understood the benefit
of kind of understanding the psychology
in the management of people.
But people are very complex,
especially as we mature and get older.
And I really do put a high priority
and especially someone who's kind of cut my teeth
in a family business of having
a higher level of emotional maturity.
I can remember as a young leader
having some of the pitfalls
that a lot of young leaders have, right?
We want what we want, we want it now.
Don't do as I say, do it now.
I had an almost militant part of me as a young leader,
and it was hard to also let it go
when people wouldn't get on the bus.
I took it personally.
And it was tough to navigate some of those early years,
especially when I became a general manager
and was running my own store.
And for me now, kind of seeing where I've been able to go,
I want to bring other people along.
A lot of times we just see the behavior
and we see the external effect that,
and the same thing is true in parenting,
that we kind of miss where the real fire to put out is.
And I think that as much time as you spend
as a leader in a car store
with your personnel and your people,
that you shouldn't just be in the dealership business,
you should be in the people growth business.
And again, I don't have all of the answers,
but since I was in my teenage years,
I have been fascinated, captivated.
I feel like I'm always picking up a book
and trying to understand better the relationship
between our lives, especially as young people
and the psychology involved
and how it brings us to be as adults.
And it can create things that are either healthy
or non-healthy.
And I think it's given me a capacity
to handle some really difficult situations
with some of our leaders
that has ultimately made Morgan a better place.
And it's made my life more peaceful, fulfilling and rewarding.
One of the really important traits
of any great entrepreneur and great leader
has always been the way they think about people.
It's not just talent in this standpoint
of what is your technical skills and what do I do,
but really diving into what makes a person tick,
what makes you tick, teaching that, teaching humility,
teaching vulnerability,
but then using that as a platform to do amazing things.
Now, one of the things that you also really drive
is a relentless discipline in operations.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
I mean, where did that come from
and how relentless is that in your 75 rooftop stores?
I think we can argue there are times
where it's too relentless.
You know, we're students of this business.
Even though we're 20 years into this business,
we still don't know what we don't know
and we're still learning.
But when we were early to this business,
we used things like NCM 20 groups,
you know, in various seminars and meetings
to really network and gravitate towards
having a better understand of our business.
And we've been lucky enough to meet
some really outstanding operators.
Florida's full of them.
All of our stores just happened to be in Florida
of really good dealer operators.
But yeah, we were keen early on.
We wanted to know who the best of the best were
and what made them the best.
And it was this kind of relentless pursuit
of being at the top of the KPI stack.
And we do raid ourselves.
We have a monthly report where we pit
all of our KPIs against the publics.
And you know, historically, we've always done very well.
So I think the first step is you need to know
where you are from a business perspective.
You know, have the ability to get real-time analytics
out of your business, but also understand
and be able to define what a good job is.
And you know, we've kind of, you know,
joke that in the early days,
we had a report for the report for the report.
And whether our people opened them or not,
we just have always been 100% transparent.
And you know, even today, our operators
can see the financial statements of their peers.
Every item line, you know?
So, and there's some probably, you know,
a little good and bad, a little give and take
that comes with that.
But I think being transparent,
there's a lot of dealer operators
and they're not trying to keep their people dumb.
They just, they're probably afraid
that it'll invite problems
and they're not as transparent, right?
Or they don't let that information bleed down
any further than the general leader.
And I think they're doing their organization
to disservice.
So I think the, you know, the first is
to have really good, you know, accounting and analytics.
And the second is to have, you know,
a great deal of transparency.
The third is to define what a good job is.
And then we just pound that rock.
And, you know, I just, you know,
say that sometimes we are so persistent
if we've got an operator that's falling short on a KPI,
they've got to be able to stomach, you know,
that critique, that insight,
because it's coming at them daily.
And again, just always been open-minded
and made really, really good relationships
with great operators.
And when you have that level of humility
that says you don't have all the answers,
what are they doing?
You know, that can create a really uniquely,
uniquely good environment at times.
You know, if I just connect some dots here,
because I've worked in many industries
and you talk about operational effectiveness
and really driving that even to a fault, you know,
you grew through acquisitions,
but more recently you're focused
on very high quality acquisitions.
You're paying more for intangibles
than you've ever done before.
And that's a pretty massive change.
And that's a strategic kind of a shift.
So how do you think about that?
What role does strategy play
and what is the defensive strategy
if that's not revealing too much
of your kind of secret sauce?
What is the thinking behind that?
I almost want to make an acquisition joke here,
Sanjeev, and say that if you think that we paid up
for some of those intangibles,
you should see what the others are paying currently.
It's wild out there.
And for the right brand, you know,
I had a call from a dealer friend who's a dear friend
and he's probably, hopefully he'll watch this.
He's one of the smartest operators that I know
and I'll call him when I'm lost on something
and he's terrific, but he's building
a very good sized business
and he's only been at it for a few years on his own.
And we were trying to reverse engineer in our heads
an opportunity that he has
and it didn't make any good near term business sense.
But both of us, you know, could look out four or five years
and construct a very optimistic universe
where this was the right move.
So I think, you know, for us at Morgan,
you know, we've always been long-term players
and people ask us all the time and it used to bother me.
Employees and people in our industry,
well, what's the game here?
What are you guys doing?
When are you going public?
What's the, you know, how many rooftops when you go public?
When are you going to sell?
When are you going to do this?
And look, we have capital partners
and we've gone through different iterations
and in fact, we have, you know, the greatest capital partners.
We're the second only private to go through a boundaries
in automotive, but we're always looking, you know, long-term.
And I think when you do,
you can see some of these acquisitions a little differently,
you know, than somebody who might be looking, you know,
almost like a, you know, private equity looks at investment
or, you know, somebody who's just got a shorter term clock
or who wants to, you know, take advantage of, you know,
how, you know, specific brands are treated.
And acquisitions get really dicey,
especially in a market where revenue is stagnant
or moving backwards, which is kind of the environment
that we're in today.
But to get, yeah, to get you back to your point,
you know, in the beginning, we looked at every acquisition
as it came to us on a one-by-one basis.
We didn't have kind of a one-size-fits-all thesis
for buying or what we liked.
We just looked at them all for what they were
and then kind of made a grade
and decided was it a business that we'd like to have
as Warren Buffett likes to say?
That's a business I'd like to have.
But over time, I think what we've realized
is when you can have really powerful operations
from a volume perspective.
And I think post-COVID, Sanjeev,
what I've noticed too is there's been bigger,
I think more volatility in brand equity.
And what I mean by that, there's, you know,
winners and losers on the OE side.
And some of that's because of, you know,
the disruption of Tesla and Lucid and Rivian
and some of the direct consumer options.
The consumers never maybe had more choice.
So for us, when you can have, you know,
a brand that's got the right trajectory in a market
that can do a lot of business,
then things get really exciting, you know, really exciting.
And we've always said the smaller stores are the hardest.
And I ran one of those,
but the smaller volume stores are always
the hardest to operate.
It's kind of interesting you say that
because, you know, they're the hardest to operate
and you have to put the same amount of effort,
maybe more effort in running a small store than a big store.
And you get this scale benefits and things.
But for a dealership that is going to start up,
is the high quality business luxury that comes later?
So do you have to start with something
that has to make money and that's pretty cheap
that you acquire?
And then down the road,
you can then have the luxury of thinking about something
that is, you know, that is higher value,
but you're paying more for the intangibles.
Yeah, I would think so.
But if I was talking to somebody who had their first store
or was looking to invest in their first store,
I think the one piece of advice I'd give them
is to understand the fixed operations,
the service and parts business.
It's the highest frequency of touch
that you have with your customer.
And again, I think, look, when the economy's good,
people still need vehicle service and maintenance and repair.
And when the economy's bad,
they still need vehicle service, maintenance and repair.
And we've seen how world events,
even what we're going through now,
our new car business is a little softer than we'd like.
But we are heavily reliant right now
on our pre-owned business,
which is relatively healthy at this time
and our service and parts business.
And I would tell anyone who's newer to automotive,
the quicker that they can understand the power
of running a good fixed business.
Your F and I, your finance and insurance,
your warranty business,
and your fixed operations are your insurance.
That's your rainy day fund
for if things ever really get dicey out there,
because the first place that we see
that typically suffers is your new car sales.
Yeah.
I just love, I love, you know,
this is one of your basic philosophies,
which is F and I and the products
that you sell along with the car.
But very importantly,
when you talk about full absorption and the fixed thing,
what you're really talking about is your servicing business.
And one of the great innovative things
that you've driven, Brett,
is a mobile servicing business
that has become a powerhouse in your dealership.
I was just gonna say, and it's a compliment to you,
you know, we probably look at that mobile service opportunity
in the same way that you do your technology stack
at Capital One.
You know, it's the way that you can stay
ahead of what other people are offering in the marketplace
who might have on the surface of things
a competitive offering.
If you can, you know, make things more convenient
for the customer, you know,
if you always put customer convenience at the forefront,
you know, we think on the service side,
eventually they'll pay for it,
meaning they'll pay a premium for a premium experience.
We're still early, early goings there,
but there are just dealers that don't believe in it.
And you know, I think about it within your technology stack,
you know, you're at every corner
making it extremely easy for consumers
to engage and transact and to get information
and to find the right vehicle.
And I think for us, we really wanna use that mobile service
as a way to retain our customers,
stay in front of them by bringing the dealership to them.
Yeah, you've really leveraged technology,
being an engineer and coming into auto
and loving what I saw in dealerships
and having a great belief in dealerships
and the service that y'all provide.
I've always felt that dealers are at the center
of the car buying journey
and that customers benefit tremendously.
So my mission in life ever since I took over
and created the new Capital One Auto
was really to serve the dealerships.
And I've spent over a billion dollars
building the Navigator platform
and giving it to dealers first for free
and then for a very low price
because I want dealers to succeed.
And so everything that we built, dealer navigator,
the tools, protect ID because we want y'all to succeed.
But let me ask you, if you pull way up
from all the things we talked about,
and I know that all the dealers and listening to this
are gonna be massively inspired,
what are the top three things you picked up
in your major success?
What would the three insights, the key insights be?
Well, I think it's, you know,
I think number one would be people first.
And, you know, we've all learned that from our chairman
who's somebody who really is enriched,
his life is enriched by watching others become successful.
And I think in today's day and age,
people crave, you know, crave that
rather than some stale corporate situation.
Just like you have that care and passion for dealers,
people need to feel that.
Now, I say at our size, you know,
we can have that for our leadership teams,
but it's really, if it's gonna bleed down,
it's really up to all those leaders
to have that same passion for their people.
So I would say, you know, number one, you know, people first.
And I would say, you know, two is, you know,
on the analytic side, you know, we're big,
we drive a lot of custom reporting through Power BI now.
And that's usually when we need to aggregate data
from multiple sources.
But, you know, make sure you have a good handle
on your data flow and are able to deliver that
in real time to your operators
and defined what a good job is.
There's so many, you know, I think in so many parts
of our business that we just look at the end result.
I think about it like on the e-commerce size.
You might just have an operator,
he's fixated on close rate.
But really where the battle's won and lost
is in your engagement rate, your contact rate.
So you need to be swimming way further upstream
because that's really where you're winning
or are losing the battle.
So making sure that you're focusing on the right data points,
the right places in your business.
And I would say, number three, so, you know,
people data, and really I would say number three is,
you know, to never rest on your laurels.
You know, keep a strong network.
You know, the dealership community,
I've met some fascinating people
and I learned from all of them.
And I'm grateful to have that.
We've done a much better job,
I'd say of making outstanding relationships
with fellow dealers than we have anyone else on the spectrum.
Whether that's, you know, manufacturer reps or vendors,
we've just made some fantastic relationships
in the dealer body and in time and time again,
that's been so beneficial.
So for us, you know, being a good community partner
isn't just about sponsoring the local Little League team.
Being a good community person is also about, you know,
looking beyond the walls of your dealerships and your employees
and making sure that you're, you know,
supporting your fellow dealers.
And I think that that's come back
to benefit us time and time again.
I love that.
Brett, thank you so much for spending the time.
It's amazing.
I know you're a really, really busy person
with an amazing business to run,
but I think this is gonna be great
for other aspiring dealers and newcomers
to hear from your wisdom and get inspired.
So thank you so much.
And I just wanna say, I can, you know,
and again, I'm reminded of your heart
and passion for the entrepreneur, the dealer,
and I appreciate your support.
You know, your tools, you know, it wasn't lost on me.
A dealer with one rooftop can compete on the surface of things
as well as a dealer with 12 rooftops with your tools.
And, you know, I think that's beautiful.
And I think that, you know, having a level playing field
that can't be bought or acquired into in our business
is healthy and helps keep our business honest.
And, but I just appreciate you having that respect
and appreciation for entrepreneurs.
There's people who wanna see car dealers go away.
I hop on Reddit from time to time.
Like I said, I have a lot of self-awareness.
I know what they mean and I take that to heart,
but there's also so much good that dealers drive
that people aren't cognizant of.
So thank you for giving me a little bit of a platform
to talk about it.
This has been Three Key Insights with Sanjeev Yajnik.
Now let's turn those insights into action
and take the lead.
We'll see you next time.
The views and opinions expressed by guests
on this podcast are solely their own
and do not necessarily reflect the official policy
or position of Capital One Auto, Capital One, NA,
or its affiliates.
This content is provided for informational
and educational purposes only
and is not intended to serve as financial,
legal, tax, or business advice.
Viewers should consult their own independent professionals
regarding their specific individual or business needs.
About this episode
Brett Morgan, CEO of Morgan Automotive Group (70+ rooftops), shares how his dealership empire scales without losing the entrepreneurial spirit. He credits people-first leadership—protecting good talent, resolving customer issues immediately, and treating operators like partners—plus emotional maturity and humility in leadership. Operational discipline is driven by real-time analytics, KPI transparency, and defining “what good looks like,” even if it’s relentless. Morgan also explains why high-quality acquisitions and a strong fixed-ops base (service/parts, F&I, mobile service) protect the business during new-car softness. Key takeaways: people first, focus on the right data, and never stop learning.
What’s the difference between a dealer group that plateaus at 10 stores and one that explodes to 75?
In this episode, Sanjiv Yajnik sits down with Brett Morgan, CEO of Morgan Auto Group, the #1 private dealer group in Florida and a top-10 powerhouse nationally. This isn't a high-level corporate lecture—it’s a deep dive into the "ground-and-pound" discipline required to run an $8 billion empire with the soul of a family business.
Brett pulls back the curtain on the "United States of Morgan" model: how he balances decentralized leadership with relentless data transparency. From his "No-Ego Rule" to the mobile service strategy that’s protecting his margins in a shifting market, Brett shares the three definitive insights that transformed his father’s legacy into a national benchmark. If you’re looking for the playbook on long-term equity and operational dominance, this is the episode.
