Burnett on Ford 2.0 Launch, Lasky on Honing F&I Process | Daily Dealer Live
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Burnett on Ford 2.0 Launch, Lasky on Honing F&I Process | Daily Dealer Live
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Concept
ownership experience
The ownership experience is everything you go through when you own a car, like buying it, getting it serviced, and how the company helps you. It's important for how happy you are with your car.
Concept
transparent pricing
Transparent pricing means that you know exactly how much you will pay for a service without any surprise fees. It's important because it helps you trust the service provider.
Term
over-the-air updates
Over-the-air updates let your car's software be updated wirelessly, like how your phone gets updates. This means you don't have to go to a shop to get new features or fixes.
Brand
Toyota
Toyota is a popular car brand from Japan, known for making reliable cars like the Camry and Corolla.
Brand
Honda
Honda is a well-known car brand from Japan, famous for making reliable cars like the Civic and Accord.
Brand
Ford
Ford is a popular car brand in the United States, known for making trucks and cars like the Mustang.
Brand
Kia
Kia is a car brand from South Korea that makes a variety of vehicles, including SUVs and sedans.
Concept
automotive experience
The automotive experience is about how people feel and what they go through when they buy and use cars, including how the cars look and work.
Term
AutoFi
AutoFi is a tool that car dealerships use to make buying a car easier. It helps with the paperwork and financing so that everything goes more smoothly when you buy a car.
Term
F&I dollars
F&I dollars are the extra money a car dealership makes from selling things like insurance and financing options when you buy a car. It's an important part of how dealerships make money.
Term
PVR
PVR means how much money a dealership makes on average for each car they sell. It's a way for them to see how well they're doing financially.
Term
LTV
LTV means how much money you borrow compared to how much the car is worth. It's a way for banks to see if they are lending too much money for a car.
Term
credit score
A credit score is a number that shows how good you are at paying back money you borrow. A higher score means you're more likely to get a loan with good terms.
Term
PTI
PTI is how much of your income goes to paying off loans. Lenders use it to see if you can afford to take on more debt.
Brand
Lincoln
Lincoln is a luxury car brand that is part of Ford. They make more expensive and comfortable cars compared to regular Ford vehicles.
Brand
Hyundai
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes different kinds of cars, including affordable and reliable options. They are known for their good value.
Brand
Lexus
Lexus is a luxury car brand that comes from Toyota. They make high-end cars that focus on comfort and advanced technology.
Term
financing process
The financing process is how you get money to buy a car, usually through a loan. It involves filling out forms and figuring out how much you'll pay each month.
Term
ancillary add-ons
Ancillary add-ons are extra things you can buy when you get a car, like warranties to cover repairs or services to help maintain it. They can be helpful but usually cost more money.
Term
F and I products
F and I products are services that car dealerships offer to help you pay for the car and protect it, like insurance and warranties.
Term
warranty services
Warranty services are promises from the car company to fix certain problems with the car for free for a set time or distance.
Term
high mileage vehicles
High mileage vehicles are cars that have been used for many miles, often making them older and sometimes less reliable.
Term
vehicle service contract
A vehicle service contract is like an extended warranty for your car. It helps pay for repairs after the regular warranty runs out, so you don't have to worry about unexpected costs.
Company
Expel
Expel makes products that protect cars from damage. They have films and coatings that you can put on your car to keep it looking new.
Term
paint protection film
Paint protection film is like a clear shield for your car's paint. It helps keep the paint safe from scratches and other damage.
Term
ceramic coating
Ceramic coating is a special liquid that you can put on your car's paint to protect it. It helps keep the car clean and safe from the sun's rays.
LIVE
We're doing better as a result of social media presence.
It doesn't do those three things, then it's on the chopping block.
It's in return on investment discussion.
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.
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.
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.
About this episode
The episode features insightful discussions on the Ford 2.0 facility launch and the evolving F&I processes in automotive dealerships. JB Burnett, Executive General Manager at Preston Automotive Group, shares his experiences with the innovative Ford 2.0 store, emphasizing the seamless integration of technology and customer experience. The conversation also touches on the importance of service quality in retaining customers as brand loyalty declines. Additionally, Justin Lasky from Lexus of North Hills discusses the hybrid F&I approach, highlighting the significance of transparency and collaboration between sales and finance teams to enhance customer satisfaction and profitability.
Original notes
Today's show features:
- JB Burnett, Executive General Manager of Preston Automotive Group
- Justin Lasky, Business Manager at Lexus of North Hills
This episode is brought to you by:
Stream Companies – Stream Companies is a full-service, fully integrated, tech-enabled advertising agency that drives measurable results through performance marketing, creative and content development, and proprietary AdTech solutions. Our innovative platforms, including the Retail Ready platform and Integrated Marketing Cloud, empower brands to optimize performance and accelerate growth. To learn more, visit StreamCompanies.com.
Dealer Video Excellence Challenge, presented by Covideo – enter the contest by submitting your videos for your chance to win $1,000 and 3 months of Covideo access here: https://2tqce38uozv.typeform.com/to/KEOuOixJ
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