Brunell on New Car Acquisition, Kilway on Cost Per Sale, Kaulback on Subaru | Daily Dealer Live
Car Dealership Guy Podcast
Brunell on New Car Acquisition, Kilway on Cost Per Sale, Kaulback on Subaru | Daily Dealer Live
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Company
BYD
BYD is a car company from China that makes electric vehicles. They are becoming more popular around the world, especially for their innovative technology.
Term
used EV
A used EV is an electric car that someone has owned before. These cars are becoming more popular because they can be cheaper and better for the environment than gas cars.
Term
gas car
A gas car is a vehicle that uses gasoline to run. It's the most common type of car, unlike electric cars that use batteries.
Term
ICE vehicles
ICE vehicles are cars that run on gasoline or diesel fuel. They use engines that burn fuel to create power, unlike electric vehicles that run on batteries.
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is an electric car that is known for being affordable and having a long driving range. It's popular among people looking for a modern, tech-savvy vehicle.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is an electric SUV that carries the Mustang name. It's designed to be fun to drive and offers a modern electric experience.
Car
Tata Motors Aria
The Tata Motors Aria is a type of car that can carry a lot of people and their things, making it great for families. It's designed to be comfortable and useful for different kinds of driving, whether in the city or on rougher roads.
Term
LFP battery technology
LFP battery technology refers to a type of battery used in electric cars that is safe and lasts a long time. It's becoming popular because it can be cheaper than other battery types.
Brand
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a luxury car brand from Germany that makes high-end vehicles known for their quality and technology.
Brand
Sprinter
The Sprinter is a type of van made by Mercedes-Benz, often used by businesses to carry goods because they have a lot of space inside.
Car
Toyota A90
The Toyota Supra is a fast and stylish car that many people love to drive. It's famous for being fun to race and has a cool design that makes it stand out on the road.
Brand
Subaru
Subaru is a car company from Japan that makes vehicles known for their ability to drive well in tough conditions, like snow or mud. They often have a unique engine design that helps with performance.
Concept
trade-in
A trade-in is when you give your old car to a dealership to help pay for a new car. It can make buying a new car cheaper because they take the value of your old car off the price.
Term
lease penetration
Lease penetration is how many people choose to lease a car instead of buying it. When more people lease, it shows that they might prefer lower monthly payments and getting a new car more often.
LIVE
hey everybody welcome back to another episode of the daily dealer lot
I'm your host Sam Darkin and thanks for choosing to be here on this Wednesday the 18th of February and today
We've got a heck of a show for you
We've got a GSM who beat OEM objectives by a hundred and fourteen percent by building an alternate
Allocation network. What does that mean? Well, you're about to find out a well
We also have a digital VP measure measuring deflected sales most dealers don't even know they're losing plus we head back to Subaru in
Canada and we'll throw in a little NAD a
For good measure even though it was a couple weeks ago seems like it was just yesterday
Many of us are still recovering if you think 2026 is about waiting for better margins. It's not it's about control
It's about discipline. It's about ownership and today's owner operators will show that they'll reveal their formula
But before we go to them today's in auto industry headlines
First up today in breaking news
Stilandus is tightening its dealership ownership rules effective January 6th
By the way interesting or mid-February dealers can now acquire only one
CDJR store within a rolling 12 month period
This according to a dealer memo sent to CDG news the broader limits on ownership and trade zones remain in place
But this seems to be a clear move to slow consolidation and keep the dealer network more balanced
It's a developing story. We just got it today
We'll share more details with you as they become available
But we'll probably talk with a few of our guests today about that news piece. Many of us may guess what's behind it
We'd love to know your thoughts. We're streaming across all CDG social media platforms post your comments in today
We'll bring them into the show. Obviously, they always enrich and net next up today
Ford CEO Jim Farley in the news has reportedly been in discussions with Trump
administration officials about potential frameworks that could allow get this
Chinese automakers into the US market
Fascinating to me Trump said it at the in Detroit several weeks ago
And you see the market slowly shifting in that direction
Back to the news the idea being floated would require
Chinese brands to build vehicles in the US with an American partner holding a controlling stake and sharing in the profits and
technology
Farley hasn't publicly pushed for the model
But he's been blunt about one thing the US is in a global competition with China and ignoring that reality
He says isn't an option Chinese automakers are winning on cost structure
Speed software to find vehicles and Ford is already reportedly exploring text sharing arrangements overseas
Including talks with Geely in Europe consumers are paying attention to recent survey data shows awareness of Chinese brands is climbing
Obviously as US consumers travel abroad. They see them
I saw in Mexico more than half of respondents say they'd consider buying one and at the same time
Privacy and national security concerns remain high, especially around connected car data. Well, we know where that went with
What was it the social media platform tiktok? It's still here
So the real question back to the news isn't if Chinese brands eventually will enter the US market
It's how and when that entry will happen and we've
We've we've pulled that thread. We've talked about this time and time again on the show
I'm excited to have Michael Spiegel up here in the next couple of weeks. He actually toured BYD in China
Love to get his take on the technology and what waits awaits the automotive marketplace in the United States from a competitive
standpoint is China inches or seemingly inches closer to entering this
Marketplace next up today according to a new first quarter report from recurrent used EV sales are up
35% year-over-year with December alone up more than 10% both month over month and year-over-year
The reason is simple value under
$20,000 the average used EV is about two years newer and has roughly
40,000 fewer miles than a comparable gas car and more than half of used EV inventories priced under
30,000 bucks with nearly 40% under 25 grand in a market where sub 20k gas cars are getting harder to find
That age and mileage mix is turning heads dealers say customers are cross-shopping
late model EVs against older ice vehicles at the same price and in many cases the EV
They say feels like more car for the money
Tesla still sets the tone making up about 30% of used EV
Inventory model threes are averaging around
$27,000 model wise in the low 30s and that pricing tends to anchor the rest of the segment
Including the ID for the Aria and Mustang Mach-E
Bottom line here a wave of late model off lease supply combined with cheaper longer-lasting
LFP battery tech could give dealers a much needed
affordability lever in a used market where
Traditional inventory remains tight and my own prediction aside
It's going to be that demand for less surprise vehicles
It is going to boy up that used EV lease return market and it's going to make EVs competitive in a market where
Many have asked post government support subsidy and and whatnot. Does it fall off a cliff?
I think not back to the news auto credit access basically held flat in january cox automotives dealer track index came in at
100 that's unchanged from december and it's the strongest reading since late 22 and up nearly 5%
From a year ago
But underneath that steady headline the story gets more complicated
Approval rates slipped to 71.8% month over month even a subprime share rose to 15 7
And lenders pushed deeper into longer terms to keep deals moving
It's the affordability crisis that is automotive with consumers today rates are still climbing the average contact rate
Moved up to 10.9%
Yield spreads widened and more buyers are stretching past 72 months at the same time negative equity jumped to 56.3% of loans
That's more than half of customers rolling something in down payments ticked up slightly month over month
But they're still lighter than a year ago and with more borrowers upside down structuring clean deals is getting tough
Or even if lenders are technically quote open for business bottom line
Well, there's more lender oxygen in the room
But the math is tighter and as payments rise and equity gets thinner dealers who control structure early term cash down
Vehicle choice lender routing. Well, they're going to separate themselves from stores that wait until the box
Wait until the box to finish a broken deal and that's a wrap on today's industry headlines
I do think that you know we uh at nada talking about that
I spoke at the afsa conference affordability is a key issue in automotive today and in finance
I think we've got we've got more of an obligation to the consumer and
To the store than ever before to help bring that conversation up earlier
To help better place a customer in a vehicle that's affordable
But then also match that customer so that the trade cycle shortens
We don't want customers in a hundred plus month old loans. That's not a win for everyone
Um
Somebody said good job for the work. I'm not going to even try the the the pronunciation there and that for some reason
It's not showing up on my social media dashboard
So note to the producers hook me up
But post your comment into the uh into the feed
We love to bring it into the show and we're going to actually jump right into our first guest today coming up first
Richard Brunel general sales manager at Toyota of Bellingham. Welcome to the show
Welcome welcome welcome aboard. It's good to have you here. So awesome to be here. Hey, uh, so for our audience
Daily dealer live listening audience that may not know you uh, tell me tell our audience a little bit about you
Where you are and and who you work with
Sure. Um, my name is Richard Brunel. I'm general sales manager for Bellingham, Toyota
Mercedes Benz and sprinter uh here in beautiful Bellingham, Washington
um, I've been at this store for 14 years
uh
Proving that you could stay in one place and find a home and I've done that here. Um, I uh
Proudly serve as general sales manager on both ends, but uh, we're about to open doors on a brand new Mercedes
Building next door here. Uh, it's about done about six weeks out from opening that store and
passing that baton on and
Getting excited for that team to go over there and make a make a huge impact in our community and
And I'll stay here at the Toyota side and try to make a bigger impact
Because you know, we are sister stores, but I'm sure we'll be competitive
So back up just a minute. I think some people listening to the show today are astonished a dual point
Toyota Mercedes Benz store. How did that happen? How long has it gone on for and give us a sense of the volume that you sell
Currently out of that single point location new and used combined
Sure. Um, it's it's been a community dealership. The wilson family had wilson motors in our community for over 60 years
Uh, I started with mr. Wilson. He's a wonderful man still doing his thing
Looks the same as when he left, uh, you know, almost 11 years ago and
And uh, we've we've passed the baton to a different owner, but we've kept the culture the same
The bend side of business for our small little store does really well
We sell anywhere between 15 and 20 on the new side on the bends business and then on sprinter
We uh have been making an incredible impact with some new leadership
On the sprinter side of business and uh, we've been facilitating anywhere from
You know 10 new sprinter deals and anywhere from, you know, 10 to 15 use sprinter deals depending on on the month
So, uh, sprinter business mercedes business is good. It seems like it's picking back up
Uh, obviously there's some, uh ups and downs with bends last few years, but
The the the feeling is that everything's on an upward trajectory and especially at the new store
We're really excited about the opportunity and I think it's going to provide a lot for our community
That's awesome. And what do you what?
Tell me what you said on the Toyota side. How many units uh, Toyota?
We've always been a pretty even store. Um, we we vary anywhere between 80 and 125 new Toyota's month
And okay, we're between the same unused 80 and 125 used. Um, okay
the store
Yeah, so you get props from online paul solzman says bellingham is beautiful their store has a stellar reputation. So
There's a fan of somebody that knows you so so so you will uh, you will take the helm or you will
Transition into the Toyota store. You've got a great new GM there. We're going to talk about that in just a minute
We want to kind of pull the thread on something that you mentioned in your intake
You exceeded your I think it was your toy to objective 114 percent in january and you did it in a very
Unconventional way tell our audience a little bit
How are you getting toyotas in a marketplace where it's so tough to get additional toy to inventory?
There's not a toy to dealer in the entire united states that would say don't give me an extra
Allocation right everybody wants more units, which is smart white Toyota
Yeah, or two or three allocations. We'll take as many as we can get because they sell. Uh, that's the beauty of the brand, right? And uh
No, I I would love to take credit and say this is a one pony show, but um, truly this was uh, uh, the effort of uh, at the at the beginning
It was you know trade relationships and maintaining those I came from domestics that had adversarial relationships with other dealers and
Because we built a book of good trade relationships with other dealers. We're able to make those calls
It's still tough. Nobody wants to give them up
But you know that we look for the inventory that was sitting on the lot the dealers
were not moving and
My new car manager Devin DeValio here at the store
Did an incredible job
Using those relationships to leverage the inventory and get us some extra cars
So I think we we pulled an extra 14 units, uh, which allowed us to really you know
It made the difference between us
hitting objective let alone going over it
With the inventory shortages that exist
So when you talk about new inventory a new unit in the Toyota world is money, right? Because that's something you can you can retail
What do most dealers make them?
You know, how do most dealers make a mistake as it relates to sharing inventory or trading inventory?
You're able to call up a dealer and say hey, we need this vehicle and you get it
Not everybody's willing to do that either make them make the call or uh, or share that inventory
Why are you willing to make that call and how are you willing? How are you able to get
Dealers to share inventory in 2026?
bribery um a lot of a lot of a lot of goodies during christmas
me and dev this year and the year prior
The year before that I did it myself
We go to Costco and clear them out on their chocolate baskets and go store to store within you know within reason
We start down on Olympia, which is about 150 miles away and then work our way back up
And we stop it as many of these stores that we have relationships with as possible to let them know that we
value those relationships because you know the
Dealer partnerships are what allow us to to accommodate our customer and at the end of the day if we're treating each other well
We're able to accommodate more customers
so
I gotta tell you I've I've been in the business for over 30 years and I've never heard of a dealer taking
Easter baskets to a
Competing dealer. What made you think that was a good idea and and what's the reaction you get when you walk through the front door?
You know the the first year
Everybody thought we were coming into like we're a vendor
We're coming into solicit business or something. They didn't really understand what was going on like there's some angle being nice
But there isn't um, it's christmas time. No better time to do something like that in my opinion and
You know quite frankly that the relationships are different. Um with Toyota this this brand
Walks to beat up a different drum and so when we
show up at other stores
A little bit of surprise second year very welcoming this year was incredible. We talked to people. We haven't met
Talked to some gms that were like covering the desk while you know their their guy was gone and we got to have some interaction and
You know start some relationships with other people outside the the the folks that we you know deal with day in and day out
But I think I think that uh, you know, we're we're not alone in this thing
This is a regional thing the portland region the dealers the other sales managers like myself
They all get along really well and it is unique and and we don't take it for granted whatsoever
So actually this is a good transition into cdg circles. You're a member of cdg circles. You have been for a while. You're active in that
You know you you're giving with information and you also learn as you listen
What is it about automotive in 2026 where we're better sharing?
than uh competing to just you know
Run people under the
Bridge or whatever, you know, I mean, yeah, we're better. We're better learning from each other than we are competing to each other's disadvantage
Yeah, my my background is hospitality. I was in restaurant business before I ever got in the car business
I've been the car business over 20 years
But I was without backstake house for six years and my team gets tired of me here
Hear me talk about it, but I learned a level of hospitality with that company that is kind of
unmatched and you know from opening doors to
Getting eye level with customers cadence and timing without we communicate. I think I was just very lucky and
You know the the store
wasn't really providing me with or stimulating me enough
To to to grow
Organically so I saw it out, you know extra and cdg circles ended up being that for me. It's been incredibly valuable
I've been very thankful for the resources that are within that
That that that chat room. There's multiple of them, but you know, there's there's so much content. It's almost
It's almost overwhelming to be honest
But I look at the stuff that works that others are doing and I try to implement it. That's you know
in true Toyota fashion, that's how we conduct business and
There's a lot of good stuff happening in there. So I'm just thankful to have access to it
I'm thankful that I've created some relationships out of it and it's pretty cool to watch people grow
So, you know, it's interesting to your point. Sometimes it can be a lot and sometimes you got to kind of you got to kind of
You watch and then you kind of jump in when it makes sense and engage
But I'm always continually learning much much
I interview people on this show today and and obviously what happens in circles stays in circles
So we're not going to like say who and what and all that
But one of the circles I'm in there's an incredible conversation going on right now
An an employee at a dealership passed away
And and and there was a very authentic heartfelt
Actually, it was a family member of the employee
About how do you support an employee in death?
And there was actually there are people in that group that are saying, hey, you know what?
I had a son or a daughter die dealer didn't do anything to help me
And it was devastating tough for me to recover from here's what I would do
It's not a hey, this is the answer. It's how do we do better for our employees?
How do we do better for our customer and then in the in that circle of conversation?
There was just some incredible takeaways and one of them I came up with is an automotive word our best we care about others
And you know what you can't solve
someone passing by paying money
But but people gathering and and making gestures like money or days off
There was an idea where some employees could actually contribute days off
That actually means so much to the employee. That's that's that's that's suffering from that loss
That's what I love about circles. I can just sit and watch it and and and I learn and I get takeaways
I don't know if you have a thought on that or not. Yeah, I uh, I had a tough time with that thread this morning
as a father of three and you know as a
A
Practicing good human being
Those are always tough really tough things to to to understand and to cope with and
Those those families are in my thoughts today
I don't you know, I don't have anything to share on it. It's just incredible that we have a resource like that and people
You know are comfortable enough sharing with others. What's going on something so personal
um, it's really uh touching and
To start our day, it was a heck of a way to start the day, you know
Yeah, yeah, it reminds you the humanity that exists in automotive and I think it is unusual compared to other industries
All right, just quick pivot away from that not to go too fast
But I want to cover two quick topics before we let you go today. Um, so you are a gsm
Are are you on the new car use car side or how do you break that down in your?
I operate on both. Um, okay, uh, you know
Gsm I I don't even I don't wear a manager title. This says customer service on it
That's what we're ultimately here to provide but I I've I've had a lot of experience at this store
And and so they I leverage that as much as I can to help the other managers
But I serve as their their their direct supervisor
Um, I have a general manager above me his name is Dmitry Mordekoff. Um, and I'm uh, uh, very fortunate to have his leadership at the store
It's made a big impact. He's relatively new
So I I want to just have you share one or two takeaways. We've talked a lot on this show
What's the toughest job in automotive to hire for people used to say technicians?
That's solved for it's been said on the show many times with the right pay plan
The general manager the gsm is some of the toughest jobs because you wear so many hats
You paid your new gm accolades saying hey, he came in with energy and he changed some systems that that drove some accountability
Give us one or two super hardcore takeaways that changed
The organization inside the store and resulted in higher performance as a result of that gm shift
What has he brought to the table? Yeah, I think it's a
Double way. I mean we we have a vice president. That's very uh active named, uh, Warren Smith and Warren's been very very good about
Injecting his wisdom over the last couple years
In his experience and when he introduced us to Dmitry, um, you know, we're it wasn't like
We're underperforming or the store wasn't doing well
but the energy was different and uh, Dmitry, uh, kind of has a
history of going in and and and and creating that energy and and he he did exactly that he came in and
You know instituted some policies that made a big difference from
You know giving cells people the availability to go out with the auto and scan a car and walk around it and and and actually
Take ownership of that process a little bit more before we were
You know taking it upon ourselves the sales managers to go out and do those things and and and it this was a miss in our process
That that he plugged in really quickly that made a big impact and he's also
Pretty genius with used cars, uh, which is so valuable as you can imagine. So his uh, he's a true car guy. I'm a I'm a people guy
Dmitry loves cars. He's into him. He finds the right one sources them
And provides us with them and and they move quick and so that's made a
A big difference when people are patting their pockets
They can go out and get in front of a customer a little bit differently and I and I feel like he's helping everybody here do that
So we're a big team. There's a lot of us involved in this
But the leadership starting with him has been pretty incredible
Well, Richard Bernal general sales manager Toyota Bellingham currently
Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. We wish you luck is you go through this transition in the coming months. We're excited to hear kind of
how that goes
And actually we got you know one last question
Maybe just briefly 20 second response on this yoga cars comes in with a great question
What's your experience with Toyota's smart path dr tool digital retailing tool? Yeah, that's a great question
I'm excited about that. Actually. I share that on circles
Because it's a part of who we are here. We started with smart path right away
So we're an early adopter
We'll entrench ourselves with most of smart path products because they serve the customer which is
basically the best news about it. Um, it's uh
It's a way that a customer could buy a car from home
They don't have to basically come into the dealership. They can go through the whole process
They could pick their payment lease purchase cash
The vehicle
The credits pushed everything in and we work those deals through that system here because our customer experience is better
The the sales person stays with the customer. There's no back and forth. We work the deal through
Basically a chat and in the in the web based system. So smart paths brilliance toy to introduce it. So of course, it's brilliant
Um, but it uh, it really moves the needle on how we work with our guests
And I do believe it provides them a better experience
Is this a program program they're rolling out right now? Is it something that's been out for
Smart pass been out for a couple years with the toyota team and they're they're rolling it with service
They're rolling it with track with our rental fleet. It's just uh, I mean it is really a great interface
And it allows us to not only like keep track of what we're doing with the customers
But integrate them into the toyota world and then it's just the big circle of retention
So it uh, it does a lot for us and we're proud to adopt her of it
And if anybody else would like to know about it message me anytime
I'm happy to go over it. Well richard brunel gsm toyota bellingham. Thanks for being on the show today and sharing your perspectives. Thank you
You know, I love the idea of of you know, it's not it's not my allocation
That's the limiting factor on what we can sell
It's hey, I'm going to go out and create relationships with dealers around me
And then as we need different types of inventory, we're going to find a way working together to to win and deliver our best to the customer
Um, not everybody's willing to do that. Not everybody's willing to trade those inventory units and props to them
In bellingham for creating a great relationship with other dealers enough in order to do that. That is definitely unusual
All right, let's talk stream companies
Today's episode is brought to you by stream companies. How much revenue is slipping through the cracks at your dealership?
Well stream companies missed opportunities report analyzes your strategy and highlights where you
Can drive more sales faster
Request your free report today at stream companies.com slash dd
m or
Again, you can request that free report today at stream companies.com slash dd m or obviously if you're watching the live show
You've got the qr code up on the screen. You can scan that to learn more or you can go into the show notes in today's
podcast once it's uploaded
props to stream companies for supporting today's comment
Content including that great conversation with richard just now as it relates to going out and getting inventory
And then you know what? It's not every day a gsm says. Hey, we brought a new gm on board
Learned a ton from him and here's three or two
Specific things that we do better today as a result and he is doing that next up today on daily dealer live
Let's turn to vp of digital marketing ops kasa automotive group jared killway jared. Welcome to the show
Sam good to see you again
You know, it's been a while when were you last on i feel like it's been four or five months something like that five six
Somewhere in that ballpark
Six seven, you know
All right, very good. It all blends together. Yeah, yeah, it all blends
You know, let's start let's start with uh nada. So it was only one a week and a half something like that ago
Uh, it was a big nada. Give me
Something you took away from nada or your thoughts perspectives on nada 2026 las vegas
well
I think they did a great show this year and uh solidify the reason of needing to keep it in in vegas because
The turnout I think
On the vendor side the oem side all the way around really showed up this year
Yeah, I know last year we battled the ice storms in new orleans, but
You know nadia was a great time this year
um, you know big takeaways is just the evolution of the tech that's out there
and really what ai is doing
but also just
What is out there to help us as dealers to be more effective and efficient in our day-to-day operations
Do you think dealers walked away from nada with a better game plan as it relates to ai tech and some of the new developments or
Where some dealers kind of frustrated just going there seeing all the different offerings and not really having a clear path
What's your take and what's your experience your own experience?
Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. I mean it is overwhelming everybody's thrown around
You know ai is an instance, but it's as a dealer. It's trying to determine. What are you going to utilize this for?
What is this going to solve? Is it a human capital issue?
Is it a communication issue?
Is it somebody just backstop and make sure all every phone call is getting answered to take care of your customers?
You know, what are you trying to solve with this? So I think everybody
Including the vendors were a little overwhelmed with all the different ai that's coming down market, but also
the existing companies that were newer two or three years ago
Have they evolved and caught up to the new companies coming out or is it
People coming out of the bell
That have a leg up on everybody else. That's already existing in the market. Yeah. Yeah
So last time you were on daily deal alive. Let's let's talk that technology. Let's talk that evolution a little bit
You talked about a private gpt
Basically a private ai that you were creating in-house there at the casa auto group your vp of your footprint is
New mexico area if I remember right
west texas
El Paso, new mexico, arizona
Very good. And your goal in creating this this private ai that secured data
You wanted to give the gms a tool where they could query dealership data
Um, what's the state of that? It's been september. That's when you were on last
So it's many months later. What how's it going? Uh, and what learnings are you taking away?
Well, I've learned what um, the existing companies that have been doing ai for a while or finding now
It's changing faster than ever before
um, and it's not just a
Speed of the evolution of ai, but it's also the technology and integrations, you know, big thing that i've
uncovered is
Do I even need the gms to go query it now?
And the answer is no
With the utilization of a gen tick ai. I can literally have an agent go and pull
commonality based upon each gms
Uh, you know historical so for yourself. Wait, wait, wait. What does that mean?
So so so it's interesting in in in our world
I have a question and then I can go get a report that answers that question
What you basically said is you don't need a person to have that question in order for that
How so if I don't have that question as a gm, how do you get how do you get that report?
Because it can learn from your initial queries. So the
gpt is actually learning on your behavior
And rather than you over time having to continue to log in and ask questions
You can literally get a text message notification or
In the gpt notification. Hey, you've pulled this report previously
Would you like to set this up as automation moving forward?
So you don't even have to go to the gpt to query it
It will just run the agent and provide it based upon the questions you are asking
So how many stores are using it?
So right now I actually had to pull it back down because you know, that's the beauty things technology breaks
So going through a little retooling of some of the infrastructure right now
But we did have two stores up and piloting
But the goal is to be
Middle of q2 to be back up fully live with all the agentic ai agents trend
What broke?
integrations
Yeah, the apis then so the connection back to okay, and then it just said hey, we're unable to return data
Is that a problem with certain providers and api connections? Are they intentionally breaking them or is it just
technology evolving
They're evolving their apis to make them stronger make them deeper rooted to be able to
Sustain the amount of queries that are coming not only from the gpt
But any and all integrations that are out there. So
I think we as an industry are realizing that integration part of this business is
Critical just like our data is our most valuable part of our business operation
Our partners that we partner with their integrations and strength of them is critical point for us to continue to be successful
But also at the end of the day take care of the consumers and make the job more effective for the team
So is there anyone in the industry that stands out to you that's doing a better job of
Strengthening those connections and preparing for what lies ahead in terms of you as as as
You know a creator being able to go integrate and and connect to your own data and use it
There's two
you know there's two that stood out met with uh out at nada about them and
It was pretty alarming the first was the team over at urban science which we talked about from deflection data
And I think that's monumental
um, and the other one was a new company out of the eu
That was like their first nada
But just a ginormous booth, but digging into their tech. It was uh incredible, which was the team over at pinewood
ai
Not sure if you saw them no no they saw everybody's what reynolds and
all the different dms providers and have been trying to do is the all in one
And they do it through the api system. They've built so
um big presence there go to come stateside here and you know 20 27 20 28
But um, you know, they had like 6 000 Porsche dealers all in europe and uh the UAE
So it was really interesting to see what they're building down to I don't know if you can see it
But my uh, you know applaud ai mic recording
Yeah, they have they have that functionality built into their crm for the salespeople
They can really just say we're recording and through that customer interview being able to gather your information sam
And it's querying the crm and the dms to see if your existing customer new customer
Measuring the sediment of the conversation and then pulling back being able to give you as a manager
Training information on this customer that's here right now. What's going on? What's the status?
Uh, I just think it's extremely powerful
To where we're going not there yet, but where this could be in five years is pretty exciting
So their goal is to use a gentek ai to use ai to just take everything out crm dms the whole thing
And connect everything into it as one ecosystem
Yeah, and if they've done that you mentioned they've got poor stores. Have they done that in the EU poor stores
They've had successful uh case case studies of it
Yeah, I mean it's been around. I found out I was shocked. They've been around for a long time. So
They just haven't made the president to the us yet
Yeah
So plot ai I think that's interesting you see ads for them on social media facebook and tiktok
That there's no shortage of ads for plot you see it. That's the the thing that you can wear
What are the privacy implications of that like?
Everyone you speak to gets recorded a do they object?
And then b, you know, do you do you need to have consent from a customer standpoint to have that going into a big database measuring sentiment?
What's privacy look like?
I think that's kind of the unknown in the mystery because it's so new
Uh, a lot of the state regulatory. It's uh recording, you know, your phone calls being recorded for quality assurance
I think we're all accustomed to that
yes, but
Your phone's recording everything anyhow
Is it really you know, what are the lines to it? It's very unknown
So do you believe so I've often thought this you'll talk you'll have a conversation with someone
Socially and then you'll open your phone and facebook will go to something related to it
Are are you of the mind that your phone is just constantly recording and that it tags keywords or?
Oh, absolutely
Really, okay
Yeah, my wife and I have done actually just
Fun times throwing random things at the wall that we'd never even talked about before to see if
Uh, our phones or our home devices. I'm not going to say the name. It's back there. It'll start yelling at me
But yeah, they're listening and able to serve up whether it's on social or google pmax or display or
Um, you know the amazon network
I've literally tested it comes up
So you're wearing the plaud
How do you use that in your workflow in your role as vp?
How do you use that to make your world better to help deliver better value?
It's for me. It's you know
Giving me the ability to laser into focus not only to uh, you know, stay organized and work efficiently across, you know
15 dealerships and uh, yeah all the gms and
Jugging the marketing needs and it needs and all the different vendor vetting that we're doing
But it's also to go back and measure
You know the sentiment of conversations and making sure that i'm not mistaking something so
You know, if you're having a meeting like we're having now and we were to sit there and replay
Your sediment and tone and inflection may be different than september when we talked and it'll pick up on that and it'll highlight. Hey
Sam mentioned this and a different tone than he spoke before
Ask questions for clarity and information. So for me, it's an organizational element
But it's also the ability to stay organized and be able to share data across the teams very quickly
I use this at all of nada. So every single vendor meeting I went to the hag event every presentation
Everything I had on and I'm literally, you know, you see everybody taking screenshots of
different screen elements
I literally was doing that inside the plot app while it's recording. So when it does a summary
It gives you the full takeaways the action items the details the next steps
But also a checklist of follow-up items to to do moving forward
So having that intensive note taking and sentiment taking and follow-up
Can you quantify the impact to your role? Like is there a quantifiable impact or is it just better organization? Is it what?
What's the impact to that? It's an efficiency standpoint
You know, it's an efficiency standpoint of one, you know myself and you know the support teams we have being able to juggle
As you know during your nada experience 14 hour days and it's crazy different media. You can't remember everything. Yeah
I mean you barely remember people's names sometimes let alone the structure and detail conversation
so I've played back every single one of the meetings and
Making sure that checklist items new vendors that we're coming to terms with
We're following up and staying on top of so it's a
Tool that I'm using for structure and information, but it's also helping myself
Utilizes for information, but also accountability
as need be
Okay, so now the question before we go on to our next topic because
We're almost there
Uh
Personal time do you continue to wear it at night in your personal relationships and have it take similar notes?
Or do you turn the thing off and say hey at the end of the work day? I'm done
I take it off at night. Yeah
All right, you'd be in trouble right with friends and everybody else like
There there has to be a line somewhere
But it's definitely there it's it's you've got to believe that being able to have those insights is somehow got to be a future
Something in automotive. Yes
Absolutely, it's and that's the the I think the challenge and the exciting thing for me is
How can this little piece right here?
Make our team's jobs more effective and efficient, but then also
Utilize this as almost their note taker for just daily tasks and things to remind them of
So that they're not forgetting issues and items that they're talking about through the day
Yeah, all right. Let's transition
Last time you were on the show. We talked about different metrics that that you look at and you trust lead volume vsr all that
You talked now about quiet leak deflection
Tell us a little bit about what that metric is why that's important to you
How you're tracking it and how it's moving the needle for you and your dealership stores in uh, february of 2026
Yeah, so uh, we did you know with our general motor store as part of our, uh, you know program of general motors
You know, we have the urban science data for sales alert traffic alert
Um, which are incredible to have and it's just a general awareness
But I don't think we had been using it effectively. So reaching out to them multiple phone calls with them
You know, what more can I get from this?
Yeah, so really digging in and i'm
Was looking okay. We have these lost sales. Why?
You know, what are these lost sales stemming from so working with the econ teams bdc teams
You know sales team sales managers. Hey, what's going on here?
Are we losing these deals because of price of poor follow-up?
You know, what is the stemming origin of it?
And through conversations over months. I'm like
There's so much more to this that i'm not looking at when we look at our
margin compression right now as an industry on on profitability
You know, we're a time where sometimes we have to make some cuts and we have to you know
Trim some of that off. We want to trim off the fat, but we also want to make sure we're not cutting into the muscle as well
Yeah, what are we doing to make sure that if I don't cancel this third party or pull back this budget from this component
That it's not going to have a disastrous effect. So how are you determining that?
Yeah, so what i've done now is i'm starting to utilize the deflection data
Of people who are coming in opportunity whether it's a lead a phone up or show and visit
whom are not purchasing with us but are purchasing a vehicle
and
tethering that back to the roi
On the cost per sale of the vehicles
We are selling to offset it because is it fair for us as a dealership to cut this company?
Who may be delivering us 35 leads?
And they're hitting all the kpi's for cost per lead, but the cost per sales out of whack
Is that that company's fault went out of that they're delivering eight people who are buying
So what have you found then it are these lost so you get a lead?
From a traditional digital lead source
And the rep says these are the best leads ever like it's a glengary glengloss proposition. You've got our you've got our best leads
And they're not closing are those lost leads dealer cost or what what is the route?
What have you found so some it's about 30 of it is you know
Dealer issues whether it's poor follow-up poor execution. Just we forgot to call them back and we're not perfect
It happens
You know or it's a situation that you know another 15 percent of it. We just passed on the opportunity
It just didn't make sense to uh
Compete with a store, you know
250 miles away when the customer loves 200 miles away. We'll never see them again
And they're just keeping their local dealer honest. That's okay
But is the same time are we utilizing the right information to make decisions on some of the vendors we do partner with?
so
I'm aggregating all of that cumulative sold data based upon that specific vendor
Of not only how many leads
They've sent us how many opportunities we sold from that but also how many bought elsewhere
because
If you're delivering me people who are buying cars that is your job as a vendor in market
Yeah, okay. So two questions here. Is there one digital lead provider in particular that you found
Hey, they've given us good quality leads and for whatever reason we there we've we've not closed on them or we've chosen
Not to or we've just fumbled it
Is there one that you've said? Hey, we're going to give you another shot because we think it's more on us
It's not it's not you. It's us. You've gone to them and said
Not yet. We're still doing a data download. We we've had the gm stores on now for above
Since it's been there, but really started digging in here
You know, november-december and we've actually just executed agreements to
Turn the remainder of the stores live
Okay, I have a small sample set of data from gm stores, but I want to turn it on
We're turning it on for every single march 1st and then it's a 90 day measurement
So with about 90 days sam when I see you in six come back
Yeah, yeah, come back because because the question I would have is you know gms sometimes will say hey
Traffic traffic traffic. That's the problem and I'd be curious your perspective once you get the data
You know, maybe even through your pilot stores. How often when gm say it's traffic. It's really process and it's fixable
Absolutely, and that's where it stemmed from. Is it the marketing person's fault?
or is it
a leadership opportunity or is it a training opportunity or is it a pure hate?
We had the opportunities, but I'm not going to go take those deals because it doesn't make sense for us to
Compete with those stores that are keeping the local people honest
And that's fine
At least we have the information to make an educated decision
And not cut the muscle, but there's opportunity to trim the fat off
Yeah, so once that's a little bit developed. We want to see it thinking about n a d a
Successful and and and high deliverables or or would you have liked to see more this year?
Um, it would my only feedback from any day this year in terms of what I wanted to see more it would have been
The fact of the timing it did it's trying to consolidate so much
You know the timing it's you know, you're kicking off the
The second month of the quarter, you know, I feel everybody's January was either really good or pretty brutal
So going into the second month with q2
um
It's hard to kind of get the month going with a lot of things but also stay focused on what the task at hand for n a d a was
But also, you know add another day
You know, we're we're killing ourselves out there, but align it to a better schedule better better timing throughout the year
Um, but also give us the ability to
As you were not have a 14 to 16 hour day. Yeah, it was the same mediums all the time
Just running all over the place. So i'm setting you up just a little bit for my next conversation
I've got a dealer up next who says, hey, you know what n a d a is great
But have you have you thought about canada's version of n a d a so I'd love to have you on back at the very end of the show
And talk about which is better n a d a or canada's version of n a d a
Jared so we'd love to have you back for that in just a moment. Thanks for sharing
Everything all plod with us. I thought that was a very cool conversation than this whole
Conversation about this quiet leak deflection and tracking it
We'll be interested to have you back at some point and learn a little bit about what you're finding your best digital lead providers are
And then those that are you know, is it us or is it them?
Um, we'd love to dig into that just a a little bit deeper
But jared killway vp digital ops cast auto group will have you back here just very shortly at the very end of the show
But we oh, you know what before we let you go though still anus. You saw the still anus announcement
What do you think about that limiting to one store? Why are they doing that? What's the play here?
I'm sorry. I forgot about that. I don't want to let you know
I mean that was that was very interesting literally found out about 45 minutes ago
You know that that had been announced and
I mean the elephant the room points to a
A block on carvana expansion to the new car market segment. That's what it points to but it's interesting
To see you know what that impact is going to do for
The amount of dealerships that are actually on the market right now on the buy sell side
Uh, and yosi actually talked really great about this at the hag event at nada
Of how many still anus stores are actually on the market for sale
What is
This new regulation going to impact
On the buy sell and actually transaction of cdj our stores and how is this going to affect their blue sky?
valuations moving forward
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see as this unfolds and we get more information. We don't know a lot yet
I wonder if that first glance that we have at it. We think hey, this is to prevent carvana from going deeper into stalinis may not be right
Stalinis can make
Obviously exceptions to this there's ways that they could bring carvana in I don't understand how
Uh, if carvana is delivering such ROI to to stalinis in terms of increased unit sales
They did it in the phoenix marketplace. They they've done it in each marketplace. They've been into
I guess I don't understand what their incentive would be. I guess other than keeping faith with the dealer body
I'm not sure why
What why do this and and yoga cars to that point comes into the chat says it might be deeper than carvana
They probably don't want too many buy sells happening
And I don't know if that's it either. Is it just to help lessen the buy sell workload? I don't know
I want I'd love to get the answers and and we probably
Don't know that right now
But anybody that has the perspective be willing to come on the show. He's sure would love to hear it
Because it impacts all of us where we are, right?
So absolutely. No, it's going to be interesting to see how this unfolds and what the root cause
Is and what this means for the business moving forward
All right, jerry killaway vp digital ops casado group hang hang back there for just one appreciate you being on the show
Always great to see you
All right, let's transition quickly to the north of the border a repeat guest devin devin callback general manager of subaru niagra devin
Welcome to the show
Doing fantastic devin you were just on the show uh november. So a few months ago
We absolutely loved having you on and hearing about being a subaru
Retailer in canada and some of the differences
So we won't dive a heck of a lot into that although I am going to put you on the spot here at the very end
And I am going to ask which is better nada or canada's nada
What what is canada's nada event called by the way just so we can get versed on this before we go to that round table
So it's called the ace conference. It's usually in october and it's in nega falls
okay, okay, and and
attendance wise
Roughly equal same different. Yeah, no again anything in the us. You guys are 10 times. We have
Around 70 vendors. I think at at nada. There's about 700
Yeah, so um, I know some of the vendors that we talked to and and that we know there was
A lot of money being forked out to have their teams there have their vendor space
Um, definitely a smaller scale. Uh, base conference. They do a great job
Um, but the nada show definitely opened the price
Okay, so we're gonna do a little round table here at the very beginning because bigger isn't always better, right?
And I wonder too if potentially a little bit smaller forum allows you to connect a little bit better
yoga cars comes into the chat says it's called
canada
C a and then a little play on nada, which that's a heck of a lot of fun
So yoga cars longtime commenter and poster into the show. Thanks for being here. So, uh,
Let's talk your last time here debon last time you were on you said drape drive ai
That was a folks far conversation was worth 20 to 30 extra units a month. Give us an update. Is that still holding true today?
Or is it different?
No, definitely still holding true. Uh, the last two months were about 21 deals each
From that platform
I just got our our yearly recap
from them
And the the interesting thing to see is with all the communication that goes out from their platform and that i'm sending out
We're talking, you know 80,000
Like contacts via email and uh and by text
And the unsubscribe rate is like less than 1%
So it tells us that our customers want want to hear from us and
Anyone that is thinking that uh too much contact
Um could be a negative. Um, I mean this is proving otherwise
Yeah, communication is it and respectful communication, but consistent communication is probably
Key you've made some changes in f and i as well. Tell us a little bit a little bit about that
What did you change people menu cadence compliance? What what did you change? Yes, so our um, I have one fsm
That's been with us since we've opened and and he does a great job and we have two other
Like f and i managers as well now and the idea
Someone else was on the show last week and was talking about the idea of not making decisions for the customers
And presenting 100 of the products 100 of the time and yes, um, we use a platform that's called, uh, fc drive
That essentially creates a tailored menu presentation
um
And all those products do get presented 100 of the time and
The the best thing about it is normally if you were to go through these products one by one
Um that meeting would take an hour an hour and a half
But with this fc drive presentation you're able to present all of the products and save time
Compared to doing like a step presentation
So is it it is it a person still doing the presentation or is it driven through the app?
So person is still doing it. Um, but there is a customer facing ipad that
Is grouping kind of three different options for them and then what different down payments work for them and uh
The customer is able to feel more in control of that situation with seeing everything in front of them
Interesting, huh?
And what's been the the the net effect to f and i have your dollars gone up down and if so by how much
So using fc drive, um, we have been seeing about a 700 dollar increase uh per contra. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay
um
So do you think?
What what caused that 700 was it the transparency and the consistency was it the the communication the way it's presented
What what led to that? What part of the system is working well?
Everything you just said, um, and I mean the big thing is not prejudging customers and
You know, basically taking a cash deal and saying well, you don't need this you don't need this
It's this is everything that is available to you
What do you see the value and let me talk about it and then see what it does
Overall to the big picture of the purchase
You don't see value in this and and again allowing the customer to kind of collaborate on that overall discussion
Yeah
Used is a big focus of yours. You've told us in your intake form here in february of 2026
You're doing some different things on subaru used be curious to learn a little bit about that
Yeah, so we I mean with drive ai and
Selling more vehicles into our database. We're obviously gaining more trades
I hardly ever buy any vehicles at the auction. Everything is in-house
Um, you know through through the service department through our database. We're pretty high penetration lease store as well
Uh around 50 and we're able to renew
Our customers at around 85 percent. So
We're able to kind of grow our use car inventory in house and the the thing that we're working on is
Within the subaru network in ontario
there's there's more used subarus on the market than there have been like ever before
And obviously seasonality kind of plays into it. We had like the worst weather
in january since 1938 in ontario, so it's
We had we had a ton of snow and and and crazy temperatures. So it's kind of like a chain reaction. That's that's built up the supply
Wow, so it's
You know, that's an astounding thing to say that you went from buying vehicles of the auction to now you're not
um, what what is the change?
With this ai that's enabled you to not go to auction and just
Get trade ins. How are you getting such a higher percentage of those trades and service drive vehicles? Everybody talks service drive
If you are truly successful at it
Well, it um, I mean again it there's a lot of dealerships out there that I I do not
Well, at least in ontario that I do not think are communicating to their customers constantly
and it's kind of you know, they're getting the the lease upgrade phone call when their lease is due in
16 to 30 days
And people's buying patterns and and and habits
Start a lot sooner than lease end and that's something that we've been able to get ahead of over the last two years
That's awesome. All right. Uh, we're almost out of time and I just want to have this little nada conversation real quick
So devon, uh, thanks for being on with us and sharing a little bit more about drive drive ai and how you guys are winning in canada
Here in february 26. Let's bring jared killway back real quick
and let's just talk about some of the differences that exist between
nada and
The event that you do in canada and I think devon you said this was your first time at nada in the us right this past year
Yeah, first time didn't know what to expect. I had a I had an idea
But it blew my socks off for sure. Yeah, do you agree with jared? It's just so big
It's tough to schedule it all you end up running all over the place, right? Yeah, there was it was um
Being able to see everything you wanted to see was next to impossible and then y'all
You want to carve some time out?
Me with some vendors that that you want to learn more about and maybe some that were we don't have the luxury to be as exposed to
um in canada, so uh, definitely hard to see everything and and some of the the bigger sessions
They reached capacity. So they had like overflowing and things like that too. So
Yes
The tool that you saw jared remind remind us what it was that's basically ai start to finish top down
Uh caused you to say hey, i'm gonna adopt the plot. I'd be curious if devon saw that while he was there
And if he has a take on it, what was it called? Yeah, that was um, you know pinewood ai pinewood. Yeah
Did you see anything like pinewood? There's a ton of ai on the floor this year? I I did not see them
Whether it was north building west we've made that trip 15 times a day
It was uh, it was pretty nuts
By the way, you had to take water and you had to take a backpack with you on the uh on the journey to west or the
I think it was north or whatever it was. So yeah, what what one tool what what's something you saw at the canada n a d a
That maybe we haven't seen here in the us that uh, we jared we might learn from
I mean all the there are very similar vendors. Um, and and they do migrate across, you know, both borders, but um
I wouldn't say there's anything that would be standout. That's different. There's there's all the same but ai uh in october
um when when the last ace ace conference was
It was not as kind of a huge
conversation point as it was
Obviously at at the n a d a show like there. I can't think of one
Ai vendor that I remember that was at ace conference. That was only like four months ago
And jared that probably goes a little bit to what you talked about just the astonishingly quick evolution of some of the tech, right?
Oh, absolutely. And to the to the point it's uh, you know devin was mentioning, you know
You got to wear comfortable shoes when you're out there at n a d a because uh,
Your average, you know close to 30 000 steps a day, uh going between the halls
It's very easily to uh to miss some of the pieces out there
You really have to go in with a plan to n a d a because if there's no plan
It's just pure chaos and uh, it'll overwhelm you very quickly. Yeah. All right. Well devin
We need uh jared and I need an invite to uh next year's ace conference and and then we'll all sit and compare uh notes
Some great comments online paul solzman says n a d a 28 will be in march in las vegas again
So we can look forward to that uh yoga. Uh, lauren kline says pinewood was super impressive. They're full suite
Take it or leave it
so
Anyway, jerry killway devin callback
Appreciate you both being on the show sharing your perspectives on all things ace versus n a d a. Thanks for being on today
Thanks, sam
Thanks, sam. Good to see you. Thank you. Good to see you as well
and uh
What what a cool bunch of conversations we had today. What a great show and to our daily dealer listening audience
Thanks for watching daily dealer live where you break down the biggest moves in the car business as they happen
Whether you're going to pace or n a d a whether you're looking for a i or you're quickening that use car turn
Don't forget we're here live every monday wednesday friday one p.m. Eastern
So if this is your world hit like hit subscribe turn on those notifications
So you never ever miss a beat and we'll see you next episode. Thanks for being here everybody. See you next episode
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About this episode
Sam Darkin hosts a lively discussion featuring Richard Brunel, a general sales manager who exceeded Toyota's sales objectives by 114% through innovative trade relationships. The episode dives into the challenges of acquiring new inventory in a competitive market and explores the implications of Stellantis tightening dealership ownership rules. Additionally, the conversation touches on the rising popularity of used EVs and the evolving landscape of automotive financing, emphasizing the need for dealers to adapt to changing consumer demands and market conditions.
Original notes
Today's show features:
- Richard Brunell, General Sales Manager at Toyota of Bellingham
- Jarrod Kilway, VP of Digital Ops at Casa Auto Group
- Devin Kaulback, General Manager of Subaru of Niagara
Stream Companies – How much revenue is slipping through the cracks at your dealership? Stream Companies’ Missed Opportunities Report analyzes your strategy and highlights where you can drive more sales, faster. Request your free report today at https://www.streamcompanies.com/MissedOpportunitiesReport/
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