Burnett on Ford 2.0 Launch, Lasky on Honing F&I Process | Daily Dealer Live

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Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of The Daily Dealer Live.

I'm your host, Sam Dark, and welcome to this space where automotive comes together to learn,

to grow, to share, and most importantly, we come together to execute.

Thanks for choosing to be here on this Wednesday, January 7th, and welcome to this, our 101st

episode of The Daily Dealer Live on our way to the 1,000th episode.

So that'll be coming up here in a couple of years.

But we're at 101, which is exciting.

We've got an action-packed episode today, including a great conversation about Ford

2.0 facility, F and I in the Northeast.

But before we hit that, let's hit today's industry headlines.

First up today, gas and hybrid vehicles still dominate shopper intent, but brand loyalty

is clearly cracking.

More than half of U.S. buyers say they're open to switching brands on their next purchase.

As brand ties weaken, what replaces is the ownership experience, especially service,

no shock.

Most U.S. owners still service at dealerships, and that's where trust is being built or trust

is being lost.

According to new data from Deloitte, what customers care about in service is basic, but unforgiving,

clear pricing, transparent expectations, and quality work.

And over-the-air updates or connected features matter far less than whether the last repair

order was well handled.

What's the bottom line here?

As brand loyalty erodes, service becomes the strongest retention tool dealers have, and

dealers know that if they deliver quality work, clear pricing, build long-term service relationships,

we will capture new customers and keep our own from leaving.

Next up today, we turn to the M&A market.

Home Run Auto Group bought five Bill Walsh dealerships in Ottawa, Illinois.

Then they quickly turned and sold two of them to former employees.

The group kept the Ford Kia, Honda, and Toyota brands and divested the rest to Joe Hamblock

and Sean Savore.

Meanwhile, Andy Moore Automotive Group entered the Chicago market by acquiring Arlington Toyota,

props to them.

That's a great store.

One of the highest volume Toyota stores in the metro area from the Vicari family

after more than 40 years of family ownership.

Toyota remains the most contested franchise in the industry with limited rooftops,

strong turn rates, and consistently high expectations for future franchise value,

especially in dense high-income markets like Chicago.

What's the big picture here?

Well, while some multi-store deals are creating downstream opportunities for smaller buyers,

premium Toyota points in major metro areas are being fought over by well-capitalized

groups willing to pay up to secure long-term scale.

And don't forget you can see this deal announcement many more throughout the year by visiting

the CDG Bicell Tracker at cdgbicell.com.

Next up today, Hyundai Motor Executive Chair Isung Chung says several long-fired industry

risks are starting to converge at the same time as 2026 gets underway.

Welcome to January 7th.

Case in point, a 15 percent U.S. tariff on Korean-built vehicles alone could cost

about $1.2 billion as of Q3 2025.

That cost to Hyundai.

In a labor-related disruption at a U.S. battery plant is slowing construction timelines.

Chung's message?

Well, traditional levers won't be enough anymore, and Hyundai thinks the next phase

is about tightly connecting vehicles, factories, robotics, and data behind them.

He also admitted Hyundai is behind in AI compared to global tech leaders, which

is why the company is leaning harder into partnerships and past bets like its

robotics work and acquisition of Boston Dynamics.

Looking ahead, Hyundai is preparing for a tougher operating environment, or

cost pressure, trade risk, and tech gaps are all colliding.

And last up today, big news from Nissan.

They're promoting Tiago Castro to senior vice president of U.S. marketing and sales

for Nissan.

Props to Tiago, a personal friend and friend of the auto group, while also

overseeing Infinity across the Americas.

Tiago's new role will take effect January 9th.

We hope to have them on the show soon.

Castro steps into the role to focus on brand strategy, sales execution, and how

products are positioned in the market at a time when Nissan is trying to

stabilize momentum and rebuild dealer confidence.

Castro has been with Nissan since 03 and previously ran the Midwest region,

giving him first-hand experience working directly with dealers before

leading Infinity across U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

He replaces Michael Souter, who returned from retirement in 2025, specifically to

help guide Nissan through a leadership transition, and is now stepping away

again after more than a decade with the company and only a few months in the

role.

And that's a wrap on today's industry headlines.

Julie, what's up?

Welcome.

Hey, buddy.

Happy to be here.

101 Dalmatians.

That's right.

As a reminder to all of our listening audience, you can post

across all social media platforms.

We'll bring your comments into today's show, including Lauren Kerline, who says

props to Tiago.

Get him back on the show.

We're excited to get him on the show, Tiago.

He's not waiting for it.

My Honda guy QGTM says go Honda with me.

That may be a little bit of self-promotion, but let's do it.

We'll take that.

And Julie, it's exciting to be back here in this first full week of

January as we kick off 2026 with best practices from all of our listening

audience and our guests.

We've got two great great guests coming up.

But before we get into our guests, Julie, what about that contest, the video

contest?

So I got to tell you, I did a live stream with the auto group here with

Ziggler Auto Group with Aaron myself.

We kicked this off inside our group.

And you, our daily dealer live audience may be saying, well, what is

the contest?

Here's the contest.

We know statistically, we've heard it on the show over and over and over,

that we communicate better by video than we do by email, by text, by

almost any other medium.

It connects better with the customer.

And we've heard about videos so much on this show in sales and in

service and throughout the dealership that we're like, we want to see the

best of the best.

And so we're going to crown the video champion here, car dealership

guy, first annual 2026 video champion.

So for the next month, during this month, shoot a customer facing video,

two minutes or less, shoot it on your phone.

You can do it on Loom.

You can do it on CoVideo, whatever platform you actually use every day.

Combine that with a real customer message.

So it's a walk around, it's a service MPI, it's a product demo.

It's introducing a customer to service or to parts or some other

department.

And from there, we're going to select the four top video communications

in the country.

We'll scan the QR code off to the side here in order to be able to see the

submission site.

We'll review them all.

I'm a judge.

Yuli, you're a judge.

I promise to recuse myself on any of the Ziggler stuff.

So there will be no cheating.

There will be no hanging chads in the voting.

Yosi is going to be a judge and I think we've got one other judge as

well.

We'll pick the top four and that's when it gets real.

We'll share with you those top four.

We'll bring them on the show, Daily Dealer Live.

And then they're going to get a customized assignment to create a

specific video.

It's almost like the old time walk around contest.

And we will look at all four of those videos here live on the show.

And we will, as judges, pick a winner.

But there's also a component involving people's choice.

So we'll also have a video or we'll also have online real-time

judging.

So I'm pumped, Yuli, because the COO of a large auto group,

I want to see the best of the best so that we can become better.

And I hope everybody out there is excited to see the best of the best

as well.

And I'll throw something out.

I did a live stream within the Ziggler Auto Group.

If you're out there listening to this and you're watching the show

and you want me to do like a Zoom type call with your group

to kick this off and stoke the competition, shoot an email

or go and actually, how do they get a hold of me?

Go to LinkedIn.

Go to Sam Dark at LinkedIn and DM me and we'll get that set up

where you can reach out to Cardiola Ship Guy through the show notes

and all do that.

It was a heck of a lot of fun in Ziggler

because we are very competitive, Yuli.

And we know that as we compete, we all get better.

So I'm excited for this competition to get underway.

It's a national public competition.

This is your shot to be with us.

Submissions are open now.

Deadline's coming up fast.

So make sure you get in on the competition.

So I'm excited to see all the great submissions

that we have coming up, Yuli.

So get it go.

I'm excited to see some headlights getting pounded on

like the old days.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, that's a Saturn or you used to like pound

if you used to hit polycarbonate headlights

and composite panels.

Yes.

And a great question online.

Caril Thomas, 4801 says, do most dealers use a video message

platform or video straight from their own phone messaging

service?

So there are, I think, dedicated platforms,

depending on what the product is.

So if you're doing, and we'll ask our guests today,

if you're doing a video MPI, there's

a whole host of different companies that offer services.

In your CRM, there's a whole different bunch of services.

So the Ziggler Auto Group is an example.

We use E-leads.

That's our CRM brought to you by CDK.

I think it's called CDK CRM now.

And embedded in there is co-video product.

So that's what we use.

Lauren Klein, 2520 says, let's get some people in trunks.

And we'll let Lauren.

And let's say that the quiet part

out loud to don't send videos from your personal cell

phone to customers.

That would be a privacy and potentially a TCPA infringement

as well to use your platform.

That's a lot of words.

Yeah, so you're right, Yuli.

Like there are privacy implications

on how we send videos, how we communicate

with customers in today's world.

We at CDG here are staying away from all that.

So that's up to you and your auto group.

What we do know is we know for a fact

that we connect better with customers by video.

And we're just leaning full stop all into that.

So all right, I promise to share a rant

from a LinkedIn post I made over the holidays.

I'm going to share that in between the guest block

because we want to go straight to JB Burnett,

Executive General Manager at Preston Automotive Group.

JB, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me back, guys.

Great to see you.

It's great to have you back.

You're a return guest.

You were not on that long ago.

Month and a half, two, three months somewhere around there.

It was September, right before we opened

the signature 2.0 store for Ford.

Fantastic.

And when you were here and we were having

that conversation, we're like, you got to come back.

You got to tell us what those 2.0 facilities all

about, what your experience has been.

So before we go into those questions,

tell us, how's Biz this January, 2026?

I'll tell you, coming off of December,

and I'll actually speak for all the brands.

I don't know if you remember, but I have Hyundai, I have CDDR,

Ford, and I have Lincoln.

And so coming off of a record-setting December

in the Hyundai store, record-setting December

in the Ford store.

And honestly, I'm seeing an uptick

on the Stellanus side, which is super promising as we all

have been watching that brand closely.

And so I mean, I'm bullish coming into 2026.

I know there's a lot of different reports,

but I think we're heading in the right direction overall.

Here on CDG, we ask you to pick your favorite kid at the moment

and asking that, thinking of Stellanus, thinking of Ford,

Hyundai, Lincoln, who's the meteoric riser right now?

Who's your best bet at the moment?

So I would tell you right now, just

with the difference in design and what we're doing

in the Signature 2.0 store, it's got to be Ford.

It's just too different.

The way we have transitioned what the automotive experience

looks like has really created a surge

that I don't think I expected.

Yeah.

So talk to us about that.

That was part of the conversation last time,

and your facility wasn't open yet.

So you moved from one facility,

you built this beautiful 2.0.

What is 2.0?

What's the focus?

And how has that transitioned into the new facility gone?

So I think the biggest thing, and just

to touch on, before it was all a little,

I don't know what it's going to be like,

but we're going to give it a shot kind of a thing.

So we had to pick technology.

We picked AutoFi to go ahead and integrate the showroom

and the online presence.

And then we got in the space.

And remember, there's no computers.

There's no desk phones, nothing like that.

It's all comfortable seating and hanging out in your friend's

living room kind of thing.

And so once we got in the space,

it was really trying to figure out.

And we've been pivoting every single day

because it's so different.

So everything's done on iPads.

You can do as much or as little from home.

We've really streamlined the process to such a point

that now my, and I posted about this on LinkedIn

the other day too, now my remote delivery percentages

are going through the roof with an increase in profitability,

with an increase in front and back profitability,

with an increase in perfect 5.0 NPS.

Wait, we've got to unpack that.

Let's unpack this, because this is crazy stuff, dude.

So you said a couple of things that would surprise our audience

and we'd be remiss if we didn't go there.

So you said, first of all, iPads, no computers.

So what's the DMS system that you're running on the iPads?

So we're running CDK, but the CDK, the DMS system

doesn't have anything to do with the sales experience.

It only has to do with the financial one.

OK, so you saw computers at a tower or somewhere

or in the back office.

You're just pushing everything else.

For the managers, and then we have finance

that still has traditional computers that run off CDK.

Got it, OK.

The entire rest of the experience

is all run through Autify.

Interesting.

And Autify is a separate system that delivers this basically

digital retail experience.

Is that what you would call it?

And it integrates with CDK.

Is that how it works?

Yeah, so it pushes back and forth through your CRM to CDK

and integrates with all the tools that we have.

But I don't think I'd qualify it

as a digital retailing tool so much.

So it is a digital retailing tool, but really what it did

is it created a lead that became more of a sales process

as opposed to a lead that then you

had to translate into a sales process.

So you can literally do as much as you want at home.

And then when you get here, I know exactly what you've done.

I just pick up the ball and roll.

And I tell you, I mean, transaction time,

I've done 50 deals under an hour from the time they.

On the remote deliveries, are you doing paper deliveries?

Are you doing everything digital as well?

Almost everything's digital outside.

Like I think the three forms that we

require the state to be wedding.

Yeah, so you're sending salespeople or finance people

offsite to an iPad to finish.

And you're still seeing an uptick.

So it's it's I'm telling you, this

was so excited to talk to you guys about this.

So it's been it's been a process where like you send them

you send them the the auto five, right?

And they can go in there.

They play with their own terms.

They play with their own down payment.

Then they submit themselves.

It goes through your route one.

It bounces back with three approvals for the guests

to look at and see in their hand on their phone

or whatever the case may be.

And they pick an approval and then they say, yeah,

I'm good with that.

And at that point, I mean, so many deals

don't even touch the desk before they are already done.

Salesperson comes up and says, hey, I just

need print paperwork for this one.

So auto fi, that's a Ford tool.

Or is it something you went out and found

to deliver in your experience?

No, it was remember Ford told me I had to go find something,

but they didn't really tell me what.

And so they gave me a couple of options.

I went and looked.

But a lot of them, like we said before,

they're really good digital retailing tools.

Like they'll, you know, they'll do it online

on the website and you'll be able to click through

and play with your payments and see what it's going to be.

But when it comes to translating digital retail

to what the showroom experience is

and that being seamless, I think that that's really

where the experience became over the top.

So as to Uli's point, as these salespeople and finance

people are going out of the facility with the iPad,

the iPad is ground zero for that transaction.

You haven't lost F&I dollars.

Have you increased?

And what is your average PVR as you've

gone through the process?

So I'm a little embarrassed to say where we were.

We were running about $1,600 a car

before we got on auto fi.

The last probably lower than industry average right now.

Absolutely, especially in a Ford store.

And so without changing personnel,

the only thing we changed was process

and adding the auto fi process.

It went from 1,600 to over two grand a car like $2,100

a car on average for the last three months.

Wow.

My finance managers are saying that's more,

that's not really a representation of anything

in the technology side.

It's more that the experience has been so seamless

that they don't even want to fight.

Their guard is already lower when they walk in the door.

So what does that process look like?

You've solved for the disjointed process online

to in-store, to customer drives off.

What are the key changes in that process

that from your vantage point that has been consistent

that's led to that increase?

What's the process been?

So we all know what the traditional process is.

So this process looks very similar in a quick way.

So the guest comes in, you qualify,

and we go through that.

And then you land them on a car.

Well, right when you land them on a car,

if there's a trade, you take that to the office

for the sales manager to take a look at.

While you're demo in the car,

you're going through that part of the process,

the sales manager's doing your trade appraisal.

When you step back in the door,

you pull out your iPad,

all of your numbers are already in front of you.

So the sales person never has to go back to the desk.

The desk manager put in the trade appraisal number,

and that's really the only number that they're messing with.

Other than that, we go off to internet pricing.

We're really trying to be transparent on that.

But the trade value's in.

Everything is at the touch of a finger,

a trade to term, change your down payment.

All of that's like right there.

So instead of running back to the desk and saying,

hey, I know you pinned me with zero down,

they want to see what it looks like with 10 grand down.

And that takes five minutes

because you're working two other deals.

So it eliminates all that sort of the arbitrary back

and forth.

We're really not talking about pricing.

We're talking about what fits your terms.

And then in turn, what I'm finding

is because we're making it so easy,

they're just not fighting it so much

because we're not arguing about price or trade anymore.

And it goes to my theory, our theory, I think,

that the easier we make the process start to finish

and the more contiguous it is, not disjointed but continuous.

It's better for everybody.

You don't have to start and stop and start over.

So as you've made the transition,

has CDK been a pretty good partner with AutoFI

and the integrations?

Is there any magic wand that you'd waive?

Is there anything you would change about the integration

or anything they need to open up either side

to make that experience contiguous?

Well, the one thing with AutoFI is it's not a database,

per se, it's more of that desking tool stuff.

So we still have a CRM that we still use

and that's all still VIN solutions.

And so we're still utilizing that as our CRM

to hold our customer data and all that.

This is more of a tool to bridge that gap.

You know what I mean?

So when we have that and just like you said,

that continuous experiment.

So the lead comes in, it feeds into the CRM, all right?

And as it feeds into the CRM, I'm assuming,

I mean, AutoFI has a connection to the CRM.

So you're able to then like pull that thread, right?

You mentioned the customer is submitting themselves.

Oftentimes, does that happen

when they're in the showroom as well?

And then the second part of that question is gonna be,

how do you solve for like rate markup?

So it's all pre-done.

So when you have an easy,

I have all this stuff set behind the scenes.

So depending on the bank, depending on what they allow,

all of that rate markup's already preset.

And one of the things that that does

is when the guest sees it, bounce back in 90 seconds,

you see the approval come back

and you're like, oh, okay, well, that's what the bank gave me.

It's almost like you went to your own credit union

and applied, you're gonna trust what you get

as opposed to giving me all your information

and letting me submit it.

And so for them, they do, it's funny.

It's Sunday night,

I got an alert that somebody had submitted themselves.

So Sunday night while they were sitting at home,

they come in the dealership on Saturday.

They'd gotten as far as they wanted to go.

We had texted them the auto-fi

so they could see it and work it themselves

and play with it over the weekend.

And by Monday morning,

I had a delivery from a Saturday deal

that I never had to reach back out to.

Wow.

I mean, that's pretty cool.

And if you're maintaining-

Pretty cool stuff, dude.

Yeah, if you're making, if you're maintaining,

has this allowed you,

have you reduced any labor expense?

Have you reduced any other expenses

relative to your traditional model

or are there any other advantages or benefits

you've discovered in that transition?

So I think a lot of desks,

the desk manager spent a lot of time submitting deals

and typing stuff in and that kind of stuff.

So we've eliminated 70% of that labor-intensive work.

Safe time.

Which has freed up my sales managers

to do the important stuff.

Like, be more training

and pay more attention to the used cars

and like do the stuff that we want them to do,

but a lot of times they get bogged down in the fray

and they're not able to accomplish

a lot of the stuff we want them to.

You've talked elsewhere about your new process

with this 2.0 facility has eliminated deal resets.

What do you mean by a deal reset?

Where were they happening in the past?

So I think anytime, any traditional process,

when you come back from the test drive,

there's that lull.

When you're waiting for your trade appraisal,

there's the lull.

When you're waiting for finance,

there's a lot of times a pretty large lull

because you're waiting on lenders,

working two or three deals at the same time,

you might have handed me yours,

I might have to submit two ahead of you.

Even though it's gonna be an 800 auto approval,

you might not get an approval for 20 minutes.

And so the cool thing about this is like,

if it fits my parameters on LTV, credit score and PTI,

then it just goes through the system,

bounce back and I got to log in the right one

to know if I just saw a car.

So how long have you been in the new facility,

new process, how much time do we have under the belt?

Just over three months now.

Okay, all right.

And December at that facility,

how many cars did you sell, new use combined?

127, which was our largest month so far.

So it's a record month period,

not just for December's in the past.

The last three months have been record months

in that facility and I would contribute to two things.

One, it's a hospitality first kind of mindset.

And so when you come in, we offer you food, beverage,

complimentary, everything.

Yeah, sit in a nice comfy chair, hang out.

And then on top of the hospitality advantage,

we made the sales anywhere advantage

and just made that part super seamless.

And so it's almost like, once you shot me,

if you've been to another dealership,

you don't even want to go to another dealership again.

It makes it that much easier to do business.

So how does that experience transition into service?

Is it similar with the iPads?

What does that look like?

So on the service side,

we went with the tool called My Carma,

but exact similar on iPads.

And so everything, right,

they still have desk computers on the service side

because you have to access a lot more of the CDK stuff.

But for the write-up process in the lane,

doing your walk around with the guest

and that kind of stuff.

And even when you're presenting your options.

So we'll take the iPad to the guest

wherever they're sitting.

This showroom doesn't have like a service waiting area

or sales waiting area.

It's all just one nice area.

And so from there, it's like, you know,

go find the guest and then you show them

everything on the iPad.

And again, I think that people always believe

what they see on technology

just a little bit more than what they see here.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

So, and are you doing My Carma does video MPIs?

So you're delivering a video MPI

to the customer through that, right?

I would assume.

We need you involved in our contest.

Will you be part of the contest for January?

Get your texts and...

Yeah, when you said something,

I would have scared it real quick.

I need you to send me the link for it.

Yeah, yeah, we'll send it.

We're excited to see all the different submissions

and especially in your brand new facility

with that brand new process.

How have you trained?

What does the training look like in the transition?

Because it probably has taken more training

with your sales staff, your service riders,

your technicians, your use car managers.

What does that training look like?

So I'll give Ford a lot of credit on it.

I'll give Autofile a lot of credit on it.

So launching Autify,

we had two weeks in dealership

where they were going through with everybody

explaining the process and following actual deals.

And then on the Ford side,

because this was the first of its kind in the world,

they came prior to our opening

and they've come twice so far

and they're coming back again next month

to just make sure that we're using the space properly

that we're understanding what the goal is

on the hospitality side,

that we're really embracing the sales anywhere side.

And I will tell you feedback from them.

I think I've been their little poster child

on what the facility's supposed to look like

and how it's supposed to operate.

Yeah, are you doing,

before we go into specific metrics,

before we have to wrap,

I just want to ask you about,

so Ford most recalled OEM.

We talked about that last time you were on the show.

We also talked about remote service

and doing recalls and other work

directed consumers homes.

Does this transition into that process?

Have you continued to lean into that as well?

So on the my karma side, it is convenient

because all my mobile technicians

also have all the same stuff.

So they have the same tablets with mobile devices.

And so we are able to give that service anywhere concept.

And we do a pretty good business

when it comes to Ford and Lincoln mobile

and pickup and delivery.

And as long as Ford continues to support that,

a lot of what we're seeing is people didn't realize

that it wasn't more expensive to do it that way.

And now that they're realizing it,

it's almost like, well,

other than to come in for a nice cup of coffee,

why would I go to the dealership?

Yeah, I think that's a big part of the future.

I mean, most customers would love

to have that experience coming to you.

And then eventually maybe one day

the car drives in itself, right?

Plugs itself in and services.

We're probably not far.

We're not far, but hopefully still a little far.

So talk to us as we wrap here

before and after,

have you tracked the metrics time in dealership

for a customer buying a vehicle?

Has it gone from X hours to Y hours?

What's been the change in that?

And then total combined front back gross before and after.

Sure.

So on the time, I will tell you

that's a little on the objective side.

It's where I didn't hit a stopwatch

when people are walking in the door,

but what you're seeing is that we'll go through

five, six, seven, eight deals in a day

and you almost won't see the same guest

for more than an hour or two.

Whereas, you know, in any traditional showroom

you walk in, you're probably two and a half,

three and a half hours on an average transaction.

And then from there, you know,

you walk through five times, you see the same people.

You're like, dang, why are they still here?

And so it has taken away that idea.

I'm gonna, every time I walk through that showroom

I'm seeing more and more different guests.

And then on the money side, I will tell you

so going from about $1,700 on the front

to 22 to 25 over the last three months.

That's a significant increase, yeah.

On the finance side, again, about 16 to about 21, 22.

But honestly, one of the cool metrics that I did track,

so Autify has a way to put in a couple of bits

of like protection plans.

So we have a thing we call precedent for life,

you know, oil changes, tire rotations, that kind of thing.

So I have that included in there

and then I have our ceramic product included in there.

And so this is products that the guests gets to choose

before they get to submitting their credit application

in that part.

They get to work it into their payments

and see what that looks like.

Both products, my ceramic has gone up double.

It's gone from 9%, 18%.

And my precedent for life product

has gone from 27% to 42%.

You don't get.

That's exactly it.

We're counting on salespeople to ask these questions, right?

And sell this stuff before it gets hot.

You're asking 100% of the time now, yeah.

100% of the customers, 100% of the time.

But does that show you that you just weren't doing

a great job of asking before?

I mean, your F and I pen was low before, right?

I mean, does it show this process works

or is it just kind of, hey,

we should have trained better beforehand?

Give me your take on that.

I think it shows that, I mean,

I can't speak for everybody,

but I'd say the majority of dealerships

probably had that same situation with their sales staff.

I mean, I'm sure there's some killer sales staff out there

that do absolutely everything perfect every single time.

But the one thing that we can guarantee

is with a technology like this

that it is gonna be done perfect every time.

And then less of a variable,

you're dealing less with customer temperament

because a lot of times,

like you said in traditional store,

by the time you get to that point,

they're like, I don't want anything else.

Like just, I wanna sign and leave.

So probably the fact that you're able to get through this

now there's ease and again, they're receptive.

Yeah, there's ease.

And they're like, I'm gonna protect my investment.

This makes sense.

You're not selling me something.

I'm selling myself.

Yeah, that's what it's about.

As great as the process has been putting it in place,

what has been the biggest challenge

or biggest issue that you would still solve for

or that needs to be solved for in the future

to continue progressing?

I think the hardest thing is to change habits.

And so for us, like for example, today,

I actually have Autify back for another two days

just to revisit it with my team.

I have not lost a single employee

through this transition.

Transition, nice.

One of my biggest concerns was that some of my old school

guys that have been doing this 10, 15, 20 years

weren't gonna be able to make that transition.

And so it is still an everyday conversation.

It is still, hey, remember,

you gotta get me the keys

before you go on your test drive

so I can get the trade in there.

So when you come back, it's ready.

Just reminding that kind of stuff

because creating those new habits

with people that have been doing this forever

has been probably one of the most challenging things.

But the cool thing is, is like,

now we're not experimenting anymore.

Now we're measuring.

Now we're seeing what this new version

of automotive could look like.

That's awesome.

Well, we appreciate you coming on the show

to share this with us.

Couple comments from online.

Howard Gleason says,

thanks for your feedback on Autify.

By the way, they're not a sponsor today.

They were just bringing you facts about their experience.

He says, I need to get my staff

retrained on the product now.

Paul Salzman says, hospitality

is recognizing customer anxiety

and removing it consistently and without being asked.

And this system leans heavily into that.

Seems like a huge win.

And then life and time,

John says sounds very much like Sonic Automotive's

Sonic one experience from about a decade ago.

And you know, it's interesting.

It's possible that this is a convergence of,

you know, developed technology

with the right place, right time.

Cause it does seem like other dealerships

have tried it in the past,

almost an Apple type experience

and just not had the success that you've had.

And so it's cool to see the technology developing

combined with training and then you winning in that way.

Do you think this is something from a tech standpoint

you could have done a year ago?

Or is this just, this is the right time?

It's sort of the perfect storm in my opinion.

So one, you had to find the right product

that could keep the same experience

from your couch to the middle of the showroom.

But two, I was forced to remove phones and computers

from a showroom because that's not how my showroom

was designed.

And so I really didn't have an option

other than to figure it out.

And then I mean, I'll tell you,

I was a skeptic at first before we opened

and I was really excited about the thought

but I didn't know if it was gonna work or not.

And guys, I tell you, going forward,

and I'm speaking a little bit about this at NADA,

but the transparency does not kill gross.

The technology does not kill gross.

It actually improves it because people,

like you said, their guard is lower

and they just feel more comfortable.

People crave that transparency right now

and as much as we can give it, people will lean into it.

JB Burnett, Executive General Manager at Preston Automotive.

Thanks for joining the show.

Sharing your perspectives and we'll see you at NADA.

Hopefully we'll see you at the Card dealership guy party.

So thanks for being on the show today.

Thank you.

That's pretty cool.

That is pretty cool.

And you know, it strikes me,

a lot of people have tried it, a similar type of experience

and kind of had mediocre success with it.

It's cool that they're having that success right now.

And he said the key part, he was breaking records.

Yeah.

He had no choice, right?

I think any other store that tries to transition,

if you got the phone there, you got the computer there,

it's almost impossible to break those habits.

So you're kind of forcing the habit to break

by just completely creating a whole new way to do business.

And props to CDK, this Auto F5, Ford,

for everybody coming together as disparate systems

and working together well and integrated together well.

And then, you know, maybe we'll touch base in a year,

at least at NADA and see,

because there's always challenges with an,

with the implementation of a new process.

So all right, let's talk stream companies.

Today's episode is brought to you by Stream Companies,

dealers, stop chasing incentives,

retail ready from Stream Companies,

updates your offer in as fast as four hours

and keeps them compliant,

stay current, beat out competitors and drive more leads.

If you're headed to NADA, visit their booth at 3113W.

If you've been to NADA, you know the need for the W

and the thousand number,

but or learn more at streamcompanies.com slash retail

ready, you can also click the QR code

if you're on today's show.

If you're not, you can go into the show notes

and click the link to find out more.

We appreciate Stream Companies for supporting today's content,

including JB's fascinating take on this new Ford 2.0

facility and how he's winning.

Cool as heck to see that they're crushing it

with records in December 2025

at all of their franchises, Stilanus, Hyundai,

and also at this new Ford facility.

And let's keep going.

Let's go Justin Lasky, business manager

at Lexus of North Hills, Pittsburgh.

Welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me, gentlemen.

Hey, Justin.

Justin, welcome to the show.

The first question, Julie and I ask every guest,

and you're no exception, is house business.

Part of that, share a little bit

about what you do in the world.

So I'm a business manager here at Lexus in North Hills.

I work for Lithium Motor Group for about four years.

I work for the Schwerke Organization

here in the Pittsburgh market for a year.

I'm fortunate enough to transition over here to Lexus.

As we spoke earlier, business is great.

We had a record December as well,

both in FNI profit and total sales volume in December.

So we're on the upward trajectory and it feels great.

You heard about the Ford 2.0 process and the iPads

and making a contiguous, consistent process

from start to finish.

What's your take on that?

It's something that the customer,

it seems, is long demanded,

but we've had a difficult time delivering on an automotive.

So I'm sure that every FNI manager

can agree that time kills deals in FNI department.

We actually piloted the Lexus Plus program

here at our facility.

We run more of a hybrid program

similar to what they're doing.

My sales staff are presenting a protective pencil

out on the sales floor with some small manipulation

that they're able to interact

with the actual customer facing scenarios.

But that's what we're stepping in

and basically being the second hand

to help these guys button everything up.

So what is that technology that Lexus is using for that?

Is that the A to Z or is that the difference?

It's on a plan through the CRMs.

We also use CDK to help present presentations

to our customers.

Because one of the biggest sticking points

is transparency and a friction point in the car deal

with a price bar for a quotes off scenario to scenario.

It really does create an issue in helping customers.

So the CDK tool is Darwin in your world as well.

So that's CDK's internal tool, I think.

I have Reynolds and Reynolds,

so I'm using Occupat systems here.

I've used the Darwin systems in the past

and presentation tools like that in the past.

Regardless of which presentation tool,

just getting the information out to the customer

or they have to make a decision on the verge.

It's the biggest thing.

We're ordering a lot of cars.

We're sending a lot of inventory aside

coming in for customers.

So the biggest problem is I had three weeks

to kind of think about this,

but I didn't think about anything for my vehicle.

I know I love the vehicle.

I'm coming to think of,

but what is the financing process

and what is the ancillary add-ons

for this vehicle look like?

And my salespeople who are doing a great job

in back-end performance do a great job.

Hey, this is what we offer.

Do some research on your own

because there's research out there

that supports what we do, there's no doubt.

So what you said is your salespeople,

it's hybrid.

Your sales folks plant the seeds, set it up.

Do they ask the customer for the commitment

or is that where you come in?

Good extent.

They're gonna basically present the materials,

get the information from the customer,

find out if they want the product,

if they don't want the product, they why.

Maybe the program doesn't fit.

Maybe they keep the core for two years.

Customizing the programs and customizing the presentation

is gonna be on us.

So let's dive into that a little bit.

From an F and I back-end standpoint,

what do you guys,

how many vehicles do you sell a month

and what's your average PVR currently?

So we're up a little bit on average now.

We were consistently around 120, 130.

We're up into the 150,

which I'll pretty consistently now.

Next month, we were both F and I managers

wherever $2,100 a clip, $2,200 a month, so I mean.

And the majority of that's really coming from product.

We have a lot of promotional offerings here with Lexus.

We are starting to see some very strong bank program

starting to really drive purchase again, which is good.

Do you sell Toyota or Lexus' F and I products

or do you have a third party?

We use primarily EFG subsidiaries.

We'll go through Lexus.

I have awful warranty services

for some of my high mileage vehicles

that neither provider will ensure.

But just finding the best needs for the customer

is the most important with the program guys.

So Justin, one of the biggest challenges

with giving sales people so much involvement in the process,

there's a couple of things.

Number one is pay, right?

So how do you compensate well?

How do you drive that behavior

to plant the seeds create the need for an intangible

and then how do you come in and get involved

without losing any of that product?

And that we've talked a lot is one of the challenges

with the fully online platforms is

they haven't totally solved for product pin

because that need creation process just doesn't happen.

So your numbers are decent.

How have you maintained that focus with sales people

when they're worried about selling the car

on the intangible?

The consistency is them having skin in the game.

They're rewarded for how well or...

They're paid on it, right?

Okay, yeah.

It's not that they're paid for product

but they're paid on an average but overall performance

which I think it needs to be discussed and talked about.

The worst successful with is we have buy-in.

I mean, my sales staff are bought in,

my sales managers are bought in.

We all work together on a car deal

and that's the one thing I can say.

It's not the salesman selling the car

and then the sales manager pushing it back to me

to sell the rest of it.

Having that trifecta where the sales managers

are involved with the actual transaction

with the finance manager from all the storefronts

that I've been at that are successful,

that is to me to pay this.

So last week, Julie and I interviewed a general manager

and we asked him the taste great less filling question

from the old beer commercials, right?

And it is, who is responsible

or who best impacts F&I gross in a store right now?

Is it a sales manager?

Is it the finance manager or is it the sales person?

He said, one of the toughest positions

to hire for today in 2026 is not a technician.

It's a sales manager

because they have so much responsibility

and he claims they most positively impact F&I PVR.

What say you?

I to an extent agree.

If I didn't have the support of my desk,

I couldn't be where I'm at right now.

I can't get out into every car deal

out on the sales floor.

So there lays on between me and the sales floor.

Great finance managers will be involved

with their sales floor.

Not so great ones will be back in their office

doing paperwork all day.

That's the one thing I can say,

having an involved desk,

that actually understands too, finance.

Having finance managers who are desk managers

who do not have business experience

or finance experience is tough sometimes.

The better they have, the better they can set up

and look at the transaction

for the sales person and their customer.

So income or pay is one of the biggest metrics

of how much am I impacting something.

Who should be paid more,

a sales manager or a finance manager, Justin?

That's a tough call.

At the end of the day, both have a responsibility.

At the end of it, the finance manager

is going to have a lot more responsibilities

between the banks, the states, compliance,

keeping the dealership operational.

And that's where that box gets tossed down the road.

I mean, sales managers

aren't necessarily going to have those responsibilities.

They need to be rewarded.

That's one of the toughest spots

because once you get out of the finance office

usually that's the rule you want to stick in.

But a lot of the guys in my seat

don't necessarily want to move to that seat.

Right, that's a challenge in the industry period today.

A lot of finance managers

with margin compression on the front

are making more than certainly sales managers.

And in many cases, they compete with general managers.

So how do you keep the focus

on that overall leadership role

and yet still generate the much needed FNI growth?

That's a challenge, right?

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing

is consistency and leadership with that.

Them seeing me here doing it,

if they come back to get some help,

me dropping what I'm doing,

walking out on the sales floor

and helping them when they need it,

that's the one thing I don't really see a lot of places.

The willingness to be there for the guys

that you want to be there for you.

I've come to go out and plant some seeds

and talk about FNI products

and even the tangible products that we sell,

like hand protection films and ceramic hair.

They get rewarded for that as well.

So they've been doing a great job with that,

but I'm out there talking about it.

I'll chase a guy out on the road.

Well, that's leadership.

That's the difference between managing and leading.

Someone has to have ultimate accountability.

So all right, a few good comments online.

Howard Gleason said,

I think more FNI people need to sit at the desk.

Sales manager will desk better for FNI when that happens.

I agree wholeheartedly with that.

Another comment, Lauren Klein says,

FNI has more opportunity to maximize their pay.

It's a pay cut often to move to the desk.

And then Kamiran makes a great question.

When it comes to process in your world,

what does that turnover look like

from the sales floor to the business office?

So that's dependent, store to store, I think.

And a typical FNI process,

we all know what that looks like.

But for a while, I was the sole FNI manager

at the store.

I was spending close to 100 cardeals a month.

So that's not what's going on.

Wow, that's a lot.

Yeah.

Part of typical FNI process is obviously a couple of legs.

So that process looks a lot different than typical.

That process, I have a schedule of 10 cardeals in a day

and they have to be buttoned up ready to go.

I have two second interview with the sales person

on one of the cardeals.

So when you're in that type of situation,

you have to have a strong sales department

to have their paperwork and cardeals cleaned up before you go.

And you have to have a strong desk

because if you have one thing go out of whack,

I mean, you're off two to three hours in a day.

Yeah.

And I mean, consistency of the customer service experience

is the number one priority throughout all this.

That's the main thing I think people lose track of.

What are the biggest gross killers in FNI today

that a lot of people blame on market

but are in fact something they individually can control?

I mean, where are you making your profit?

I mean, I feel like the biggest driver,

especially right now in the finance offices

is you're up against rate,

you're competing against small credit unions.

And I mean, realistically,

that's not where the money's being made

in finance offices in my opinion right now

if you're successful in the FNI departments.

Where is it?

It's transitioning into products

that actually benefit the customer.

We all understand the self-insurance risk in today's world.

Most people who are coming into Alexis

to work in absolutely self-insure,

but close to 60% of our customers

still take advantage of vehicle service contracts

because they're actually consumers.

And not all of them are educated

when they sit down at the desk.

And I mean, being at brands like Subaru and now Alexis,

it's a lot of different conversation

than sitting at a Jeep FNI desk.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, the conversations you're having here

in transitioning into products

that actually benefit customers

is the main thing in the FNI offices now.

So let's get into products before we do that.

Let's talk to lenders

because you can't put the deal on the road

unless you've got a lender willing to finance it.

It's a crucial relationship.

Who is your best lender or top two in your marketplace?

Yeah, let's start there.

I don't want to ask for it.

Right now we are seeing a lot of suspended programs

through Lexus Financial Services.

So they're a big player.

The first Toyota, I mean, you guys know

from your experience in our business,

they do typically buy very aggressively.

Yeah, that's a good question.

With Toyota, they want to take a risk on you

more than some other banks.

So we've had a lot of success with them.

My second closest lender,

I'd say is probably the Credit Union Circle

here in the Western Pennsylvania area.

They're phenomenal.

We've done a lot of business with them.

We have a great lending relationship

more than some of the bigger lenders,

the national lenders.

Justin, a lot of finance managers would say,

hey, I'm not a fan of credit unions

because in many cases,

customers have a direct relationship with them.

And in a lot of cases,

you can see increased chargebacks.

What do you say to a finance manager

that says, get out of here to the credit unions.

They're going to increase my likelihood

of chargeback or trade-out.

I don't necessarily think that's the case.

I mean, we're setting up loans with every other bank.

We have the same chargeback opportunities

with those banks.

And the one thing I can say,

credit union customers like to do business

with their credit unions.

The same thing we talk about

not making a sticking point

or a friction point in the car deal.

If they want to finance and pay with a credit union,

I have them as direct line to do it.

If I need to iterate, let's shoot that way.

I'm ultimately paying me for the car, it doesn't matter.

I want to cover the car.

The hang up with that tends to be, though,

that the credit union tries to capture your customer

after the fact.

If they've never had an experience

with the credit union, you open that door.

They end up marketing to them directly

and offer them a lower rate to go right through them

and go around the dealership.

So that's another benefit

of having such a strong lender relationship.

So typically we're going to be able to get

a little bit stronger approval.

It's nothing crazy,

but just a little bit stronger approval

than incentivize that customer to come do business

with that same credit union.

Yeah, that makes sense.

It makes sense.

Fraud is a big deal in F&I today.

And we're seeing it, right?

Like customers' payments are stretched

and so we're seeing more attempted fraud.

We had our own Ziggler head of security,

Cary and Thomas on talking about things

she's doing to help prevent that

from identity fraud to income fraud,

all those things.

What are some of the biggest challenges

you see on the fraud side?

F&I ultimately in most stores is responsible

for helping to protect and prevent.

That's why some of the pay is there.

What are you seeing as a trend

and how are you protecting against that today in 2026?

Compliance has been a continual concern in our business

and as our business continues to grows,

of course people find ways to exploit that business.

We do several things here at the store

to verify identity.

Most customers do have to physically come signed here

at the store to take these vehicles,

especially with the GX models,

all vehicles regardless of how they're being purchased

need registered to the state.

Taxes are collected and registered through the state.

So we follow a ton of protocols

to make sure that we are producing

fulfilled transactions and non-fraudulent transactions.

It is going to be a continual issue,

like with the F&I product autoFI.

I mean, I'm sure 90% of what's coming in is good,

but that 10%, that's my biggest concern

when I see something like that.

How do we counteract fraud

and something where you're just delivering a car

to someone's house and tapping a couple clicks?

I signed on some of these documents,

but that's where a video call,

if we are delivering out of state,

we absolutely need a video call.

I need to verify ID on a screen.

I need to verify who signed it for this car.

If they're transport,

I need a transport company beforehand,

because that's another thing we've even seen.

We've seen interceptions on transports.

We have to, it's a big deal, yeah.

Stolen in transport, so with true manifests.

Yeah, how are you protecting against that?

We're seeing that as well.

A hauler will show up to pick up a vehicle

and it turns out to be a fraudulent deal.

Right, so anytime we have any type of vehicle

leaving the facility here,

I need the shipper information confirmed beforehand.

Who's gonna be picking up the vehicle?

I need a signature from the customer on the manifest,

so we need everything lined up before it's even dropped.

Yeah, we've actually started taking pictures

of the truck, the trailer, and the driver.

I mean, it's crazy, as these vehicles

become more expensive and more valuable,

we're seeing more attempts at fraud

and it really is interesting.

All right, so switching to the products

as we wrap up here.

Top four products in value or penetration

in customer transactions in January, 2026,

in your experience?

Vehicle service contracts, always number one,

and I'll be, oh, I don't care what brand you're at.

That's product and they still cover them.

So I'd say that, I'd say Tyron will

and our Tyron will bundle package

are gonna be our closest second and third.

And then fourth, I'd say probably appearance protection.

We're gonna have, we use expel here,

paint protection film.

Of last month, I think we had 15 customers

taking advantage of expel and we're doing

some ceramic coats as well.

Same thing, those are the only tangible products

I can actually put on this car and you can leave with.

And I think it helps people actually

have more success with products like that.

Yeah.

Exposure and showing those products.

Yep, is there a product you wish exists

but that doesn't today?

And then we'll wrap on video.

To an extent, we have products at the end point.

My signature finish is basically a five in one.

So I haven't covered it and it's a nice little upgrade

from my Tyron wheel program that I have here.

So I mean, it's been very successful

with our dealership group in Austin particularly.

I like bringing that program in.

I don't necessarily like some paint fab alone.

A lot of F and I managers of course like to

for certain reasons, but with that being said,

I like to bring some tangible products

into those bundles with each other.

Are you having much success?

There's products like SPP

where you're able to finance products

outside the finance agreement

as you're trying to help people with payments and whatnot.

Are you seeing much use or need

for those types of products?

I've used more SPP programs

when I was working on lower dollar cars,

if that makes sense.

You know, the subprime payments,

interest rates are a little bit high.

They make a little bit more sense in those scenarios.

I mean, at this store we're dealing with primarily,

I'd say 40 to 50% cash month every month.

It's subprime deals with subprime lenders.

I don't really have a lot of subprime

coming into the store,

just where we're at and what we're selling.

I mean, it's tough to say.

So great comments online.

Jeffrey Burness says, absolutely agree.

We use it formative to guarantee identity

as well as dealership employee

must be present or video calls.

Lauren Klein says,

thieves are getting smarter every year.

Technology is helping them too.

And Kim Irem says,

we use notary to avoid or lower the risk of fraud.

Average cost is 170 bucks.

What technology are you using

for the video calls or video ID?

Same thing we're on right now.

We have iPads at our store

that all the sales people are using.

So we're already hooked up.

Customers already have the information

and been contacting the customers.

And to go back to one thing you were talking with JB

in the videos and code video.

Highly recommend using the embedded video systems

throughout my dealerships we always have.

The main reason being,

I don't care what kind of phone you have,

you're able to actually view the information

coming into us.

Yeah.

About a small little box or something you're here.

Are you guys gonna join our competition?

Are you in on the video comp?

I have to, I have some good sales.

Let's do it.

P.E. Blomblom says same thing.

But we're gonna have to get the information out

and shoot out some videos ourselves.

We are gonna come up with the coolest trophy.

I know it's in progress right now

but it's the Card dealership guide

2026 video competition

winner.

Like that is gonna be gold.

Maybe we need to give it away at NADA.

I didn't even think about that

but this is gonna be heck of a lot of fun.

Well Justin Lasky,

business manager Alexis of North Hills.

Thank you so much for joining the show today

and sharing your perspective on all things

finance and insurance in this January 2026 marketplace.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks Justin.

I'm excited to start seeing these videos, Yuli.

I'm excited to see it.

Excited to see it.

All right, so I had a rant on LinkedIn.

I just wanna,

you can go on LinkedIn, you can check it out.

I had a message come from one of our vendors

and I'm not gonna tell you who

or even what category it was

but it was basically,

hey, I'm gonna be off till January 2nd.

I'm gonna be on the beach

and I trust in my absence that you'll crush it for me.

And it rubbed my GMs, my teams completely wrong.

Isn't that tone deaf Yuli?

It's so tone deaf.

So here,

I wanna share something for vendors

and for all of us in automotive.

A, you've gotta take vacation.

Everybody needs personal time to reset, recharge.

If you're trying to reach out to automotive

during our Super Bowl periods,

so between Christmas and New Year's over Thanksgiving

and heck, any holiday and any weekend,

don't taunt about vacation.

Take the vacation, take it quietly.

Everybody needs it.

Everybody gets it.

Everybody should do it.

And the longer you're in automotive,

I've been on both sides of the fence.

I've been a vendor

and I've been on the dealer side

and you've gotta respect the men and the women

that are crushing it during some of the highest volume times,

which are holidays, which are weekends,

Saturdays, which are late at night.

And they are not times that are traditionally great

and easy to go to work.

And so props to everybody in automotive

that are crushing it,

props to all those vendors that are on point

and ready to help us serve and deliver our best

even during holidays.

And if you can't be working alongside us

during a holiday, just be silent.

Just let the work happen.

Don't get, don't interrupt.

And don't, don't remind everybody else.

I, it's a rant because every time I see on Facebook,

somebody talking about that great vacation

and all that during a time

when most of our folks are in stores crushing it,

it just, it just rubs a little bit wrong.

And I got a bunch of hate online too.

They're like, Hey, everybody should take a vacation.

Don't hate the vendors.

And I'm like, it's not hating vendors.

I love vendors.

I was a vendor.

It's just like, learn the messaging

so that you can best serve those men and women

who are working so hard.

Julie, do you agree?

100% agree.

Take the time off, enjoy it.

But you know, flag or radar,

it's always better to be that way.

So next year, over the Christmas holiday,

over the Christmas to New Year's,

the Super Bowl of auto sales,

hopefully we can clip this

and we'll replay it as a vendor guide to managing

anybody who are working with teams

including Eric Oszigler.

Yeah, do's and don'ts.

All right, everybody.

Thank you so much for watching Daily Deal Alive today

where we break down the biggest moves

in the car business as they happen.

Don't forget, we're here live every Monday, Wednesday,

Friday, one PM Eastern.

So if this is your world, hit like, hit subscribe,

turn on those notifications.

So you never, ever, ever miss a beat.

And we'll see you next episode, everybody.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks guys.

Burnett on Ford 2.0 Launch, Lasky on Honing F&I Process | Daily Dealer Live

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