"Copy the Best!" Rick Hendrick's #1 Business Decision in 50 Years (And Why Zeigler Just Copied It) | Industry Spotlight
Car Dealership Guy Podcast
"Copy the Best!" Rick Hendrick's #1 Business Decision in 50 Years (And Why Zeigler Just Copied It) | Industry SpotlightCar Dealership Guy Podcast · Jun 11, 2026
This is the dealership company the host works for. They’re talking about a business move involving warranties—basically how the dealership handles coverage for customers.
Rick Hendrick is the leader behind a major dealership group. The hosts say he rarely does interviews, and they’re quoting him about why the warranty strategy matters.
Nations Guard is presented as a warranty platform associated with Hendrick Automotive Group. The hosts say Ziegler moved onto it and then used it as the basis to stand up its own dealer-owned warranty company.
CNA is mentioned as the previous warranty provider the dealership switched away from. The key point is that the dealership changed who it uses for warranty coverage.
Ziegler Guard is the warranty company the dealership group created for its own customers. It’s basically about the dealership controlling how warranty coverage is handled.
This means the dealership group runs its own warranty program instead of relying entirely on a third party. The advantage is the dealership can control the customer experience around repairs and coverage.
The hosts are saying the best move isn’t always just beating other dealers—it can be helping the whole industry work better. In this case, it’s about improving how warranty/service problems get handled.
This is a company that helped the dealership groups coordinate the warranty setup. Think of it as support that helped them get the new warranty company launched.
David Putz is one of the individuals credited with helping set up the new warranty company. The episode uses his role to illustrate teamwork across competing businesses.
Mike Neal is another person mentioned as helping build the new warranty company. The point is that multiple groups collaborated instead of competing.
Concept
trade in problem
A “trade in problem” is what can go wrong when a customer brings in their old car to apply toward a new one. It’s usually about pricing and getting the deal to work smoothly.
A service bay is the space in a repair shop where cars are worked on. The episode is connecting the warranty/business decision to what happens during service.
The host is making a mindset argument: some dealers treat customers like real people, while others treat them like just a source of money. He says the “people-first” approach helps dealers keep customers and stick around.
Hendrick Auto Guard is a business Hendrick created to manage warranty coverage. The goal was to make warranty claims go more smoothly so customers don’t get denied and get upset.
Company
GE
“GE” is the company they were dealing with for warranty coverage. The host says it was frustrating because claims were often denied or hard to get paid.
Ziggler Auto Group is the dealership company being talked about. They’re saying this is the right time to make a big business move.
Concept
defining moments
The speaker means there are certain times when a business decision can really change the company’s future. They’re saying this partnership is one of those moments for them.
Ziggler Guard is the branded finance-and-insurance business they’re talking about. They’re saying customers should feel there’s a real person/company behind it.
Hendrick Guard is another branded F&I business name mentioned in the same context. The takeaway is that the brand is meant to reassure customers there’s real backing behind the products.
“Retention” here means getting customers to keep coming back. Instead of just selling a car once, the dealership tries to stay involved through service and future purchases.
Risk management means putting processes in place to prevent problems from costing the dealership money. In this segment, it’s mainly about handling customer claims the right way.
“Claims” in dealership operations usually means customer requests for reimbursement or coverage under a protection plan. The segment emphasizes managing claims properly at the dealership level and inspecting the relevant vehicles.
Incentive plans are reward systems that encourage employees to do certain things. Here, they’re used to motivate dealership staff to use the program’s products, while still keeping decisions aligned with what works.
Profit sharing means the dealership gets a share of the money the program makes. The goal is to make sure the dealership has a reason to support the program too.
The Ziggler Group is a company the host says they trust to handle coverage paperwork and customer issues the “right way.” The point is that reputation matters when you’re dealing with insurance and warranty claims.
“Warranties” here refers to vehicle coverage plans that decide whether repairs are paid for when something goes wrong. The host contrasts warranty companies that only judge “covered or not” with dealerships that also sell and service cars and handle customer problems in a more hands-on way.
Online reputation means what people say and rate a business on websites and social media. The host is saying their business success depends heavily on customers trusting them.
Company
Aaron's crap
The host is jokingly referring to a competitor that might challenge their reputation rankings. The takeaway is that they believe their customer service and reputation are what set them apart.
An allocation is the manufacturer’s limited “quota” of cars a dealer can get. If a model is rare, only dealers with allocations can actually order one for you.
A “Hendrick engine” here means an engine package tied to the Hendrick racing team. The point is that race success is connected to the team’s engineering and parts.
NASCAR is a popular American racing league with stock-car style race cars. The hosts are talking about what racing teaches about winning, teamwork, and customer focus.
Talladega is a famous NASCAR race track where cars often run very close together at high speed. Late in the race, small moves and strategy can decide who wins.
“Playoffs” in NASCAR refers to the postseason format where drivers qualify based on points and/or wins, then compete for the championship. It changes how teams manage risk and strategy late in the season because advancing matters as much as individual race results.
Here, “motors” means the engines used in the race cars. The speaker is saying they help build the engines for that team, which can affect how fast the car is.
A technical alliance is when two racing organizations team up to work together on the technical side. That can mean sharing engineering help so the cars can go faster and be more competitive.
“The double” usually means getting two big wins or two major results back-to-back. The speaker is referencing a notable streak/achievement that was covered in a documentary.
Ziggler Automotive is the dealership name they’re talking about. The point is that getting people to recognize the brand (like seeing shirts and hats) helps bring customers in.
A “visor” is the protective face shield on a racing helmet. When the visor goes down, it signals the driver switching from social mode to focused, safety-first driving mode.
LIVE
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Cardiola ship guy industry spotlight.
I'm your host Sam dark and today's episode is different from those of the past and it
hits a little closer to home for me personally. A few weeks ago, I sat down with three people
Aaron Ziegler, president Ziegler auto group, whom I work for, Johnny McKellar, president
of Nations Guard and Rick Hendrick himself, chairman of Hendrick automotive group. The
reason was simple and it was entirely internal. Effective June 1st, Ziegler moved off CNA and
on to Hendrick's Nations Guard platform and stood up our own dealer owned warranty company,
Ziegler Guard. With the recording, I wanted to capture the why for our own people, explain the
decision and basically get team Ziegler fired up about what's coming. But when I walked out of
that room, I knew it was bigger than us. So we're sharing it here with you, mostly the way it
happened. Here's why it matters beyond Ziegler. In this business, competitors don't usually help
each other. As you know, they guard the edge. But every now and then, somebody decides the bigger
win is lifting the whole industry. And that's the story here, I believe Hendrick built something
powerful in Nations Guard and rather than protect it, they opened the door to a competitor, to a
rival, the Ziegler Auto Group. And through Brown and Brown dealer services, David Putz, Mike Neal,
they all worked together to create and stand up Ziegler Guard, everyone pulling in the same
direction. And honestly, that's the spirit car dealership guys been proving all along. It's
exactly what we see in circles. It's exactly what we saw with Brian Benstock pulling vendors
together who'd normally compete into the same room to crack the trade in problem in the service
bay. Deal a different problem. Same rare idea. Rivals choosing collaboration over competition. A
fair warning going in. This is no polish, no pitch, just operators talking candidly about a
decision that took years to make. And one more thing, Rick Hendrick, he almost never does this.
He's one of the most accomplished dealers in the history of our business. And he's also one of the
most private getting him at a table on the record. It's rare air. You'll hear him call Ziegler Guard
the secret sauce, controlling your own destiny, owning your own customer. And you'll hear Aaron
call it a defining moment for the organization, one that sets Ziegler up for the next 25 to 30
years. Oh, and stick around to the end, because the conversation does take a turn into NASCAR,
and you won't want to miss that part. So let's get into it. So Mr. Hendrick, you started in 1976.
You were 26 years old, and you had one struggling Chevy store back then. When you look at where
Aaron Ziegler is today, 41 locations across four states. What do you recognize, Mr. Hendrick?
Well, I think Aaron's going to be bigger than I am. But it's all over because he's got a heck of a
start and tremendous reputation. And I see a lot of the similarities. I know he's a racer at heart,
loves cars, loves the automobile business, excited about what he does. And, you know,
I think that's such a difference when you look at dealers that love cars and love the business,
love people versus someone that looks at as a commodity. And they don't, they don't really
care about anything but profit. And those folks don't stick around. So we're celebrating 50 years
in September. And I've watched Aaron over the years and what he's done, done with
a couple of his new deals. And he's going to be, have his footprint probably bigger
than mine when it's all said. Congratulations on the 50. Aaron and Ziegler Auto Group, we celebrated
50 last year. His dad started with one Ford store in 1975 and has grown it to where he is today.
Take us, Mr. Hendrick, you built Hendrick Auto Guard in the mid 90s. That's close to 20 years
in the business. Why did you do that then? And what had to be true about the size and
maturity of the group before owning your own FNI company made sense?
Well, what happened back in those days? We were doing, we had a warranty, well, we were doing
warranties with GE and it was a constant battle getting paid, turning down claims, customers upset.
I was in the middle of a lot of those conversations. And so, you know, having a customer show up with
a warranty and getting refused when he was due, due payment. And so I said, we got to do something
better than this. And that's when we started Auto Guard. And Johnny has been just an unbelievable
leader in developing the company. And we take care of our customers. We keep them back,
coming back into our stores most of the time. So we measure how much business we get out of it and
what Auto Guard has meant to our company through the downturns. And when things slow down, you've
got that ability to go into your reserves or the reserves you've earned. And that's how I've grown
my business. I started it just to take care of my customers. But what it's developed into
is the vehicle for me to grow the organization.
So, Aaron, Mr. Hendrick made that move at a certain scale, size, maturity. You heard the
why behind it. Why is now the moment for the Ziggler Auto Group? Not five years ago, not five
years from now. If you look in business, every business has certain moments
that take it to a whole other level. I call them defining moments. And I think this is a defining
moment for our organization. Partnering with the Hendrick organization, we've learned a lot
from them. And we take the best of what they're doing and the best of what we're doing. And you
combine that together. And it's a really, really powerful thing. And they've got wonderful people
and great processes. And this is going to take us to a whole another level. And I echo what Mr.
H said. We want to do this to make sure that our customers are taken care of and that they're happy.
And then the ancillary benefit is it also helps us to be able to grow as an organization. And when
we grow, that creates opportunities for our internal team members to grow with us.
So both of you grew up very similarly in terms of getting into the business. You bought under
performing stores. You grew those underperforming stores by growing people, by growing culture.
How does owning your own F&I company Ziggler Guard and Hendrick Guard fit that same playbook
of developing and growing people? Well, from my standpoint, you get to control the whole process
and you get to control everything that's going on. And we put the Ziggler name on it
because we're going to stand behind it. And customers are going to know that it's not some
public company out there, that there's actually a person behind this organization. And it's a strong
brand. Just like when you think of Hendrick, winning. You think of being number one
and anything that they do they're successful at. And that's certainly something that we want to be
able to emulate as well. Mr. Hendrick, a lot of people when they think about F&I and they think
about the auto business, they think of F&I as a profit center first. How do you think about
balancing profit and serving the customer? You talked about how important doing the right thing
for the customer is. How do you balance those two ideas through your F&I company? Well, I think
and Aaron said it. We might have a customer that's been with us a long time and he might be just
out of the warranty, whether it's mileage or date. And Johnny has the flexibility to say great
customer, we're going to take care of him. And people remember that. And so the Ziggler name
in the automobile business is one that people know and trust. And when he puts his name on it,
it's going to be kind of a stamp of approval. This is not a flim flam warranty company that's
not going to pay you. That they're going to stand behind you. And you can do both. You make money
in F&I. But the deal for us and the same for Aaron is keep those customers in house. Give them a
great experience. Be able to answer the phone in a few seconds. And if the customer is a little bit
out of work, they always trade in the car. Keep them in that cylinder and you'll sell them again
and again and again. And we want the service work. I mean, the service work is key to us. If the
customer is going to go have a car repair, we want it done in our shop. And they can get it done
anywhere. But we'd rather for them to think Hendrick first or Ziggler first. Aaron, what are
your thoughts as you think about that retention piece balancing profit and serving the customer
within the Ziggler Auto Group? Yes, Sam, as you know, we're never focused on profit. We always
figure if we do the right things for our customers, we do the right things for our team members,
profit will always, always follow. I know this, if a customer does service business with us,
they're three times more likely to buy a car from us in the future. And we really want to be able
to own the entire relationship with a customer, not just the sales relationship, but the service
relationship as well. And that also gives us the flexibility to do some things for a customer.
If it's outside the norm for a great, great customer and you do something like that,
that customer is going to come back forever. So Aaron, in simple terms, what is the change
to Ziggler Guard actually mean for Team Ziggler in terms of the day before and the day after
the change? So we're leaving CNA who we've been with for the last six or seven years. Brown and
Brown and David Putz and his team will still be involved. So you're going to see a lot of the
same people involved with this. They've partnered up with us and the Hendrick Organization.
And on the Hendrick side of things, Johnny runs it. And we've got to know each other really well
over the last couple of years. I've been down to their headquarters quite a few times and
we've spent some time at the races as well. And he's built out an incredible deal. And in my
mind is the best one in the world. And we want to be a part of that. So as Aaron mentioned, Johnny,
welcome. It's good to have you here as well. You've run this business since the Auto Guard days
and now Lead Nations Guard for a group like Ziggler standing up its own program. What does this
partnership actually look like, Johnny? What do you handle from your side and what stays within
Aaron and the Ziggler Auto Groups control? Well, Sam, first off, thank you. And thank you, Aaron,
for the opportunity for us to work together. And as you said, we've known each other for quite a
while and we figured out a way to do business together. But the first thing I would say, Sam,
is it's the Ziggler program. It's Aaron's program. It's your organization's program.
And culturally for us, Auto Guard is part of everything we do. It's part of our culture.
It's ingrained in our service levels, how we take care of the customer. And looking at Ziggler not
as from a people standpoint and an employee standpoint, looking at that from the standpoint
of, hey, this is our program. This is our program that helps us take care of our customers.
There's resources that are going to be there in times when times are difficult. Mr. Hendrick has
always used this program to take care of not just the customer that buys the contracts,
but for the people in our organization as well. We didn't realize the opportunity that it was
going to be from a financial standpoint. It was all started to take care of the customer
and Mr. Hendrick's vision to do that. The things that we do, we've learned from our teammates.
This started at the dealership level, not at any administrator level or corporate level.
It's all about what are the pain points that we need to help our customers, our dealerships
eliminate and help our customers as well. And so we take care of risk management.
We have the way of doing that is three different ways. The last thing we do is raise prices.
We make sure that the claims are being managed properly at the dealership level.
We make sure that the cards are being inspected properly. And so we handle those types of things.
The service levels that we deliver, we're very, very, very proud of. And it came from Mr. Hendrick's
vision. How do we make our dealerships' lives easier? How do we make our customers' lives easier?
And so we deliver on those pieces, but it's your program. Aaron and your team give us direction
on how to operate the program. And I can't emphasize that enough that for your team,
it's not just another administrator. We deliver on all the value propositions
that we've learned over time from our dealers. So it is absolutely your program and we deliver at
your direction. We handle all treasury operating the Ziggler Guard company itself, but we deliver
the services in the way that you want us to deliver them. So Mr. Hendrick, hearing Johnny talk about
the program and how it's grown over the years and this commitment to the customer, this commitment
to the auto group, a lot of auto groups would create something like this, keep it within themselves,
and use it to fuel their own meteoric growth. You've taken an opposite approach. You've said,
hey, I want to make this available to others. What was the moment where you said, hey,
there's value to the broader auto industry. You want to provide this as an opportunity,
a benefit to others. And what was the moment where you said, hey, let's take this outside the
Hendrick Auto Group and make this available to other groups like Ziggler? Well, we had
dealers actually come to us that knew what we were doing and they have the benefit of 20 years
or whatever of trial and error. You don't have to do everything right the first time.
Looking at claims and looking at vehicles you should maybe stay away from,
incentive plans that we use to reward our people for using our products in the dealership.
It's a profit sharing deal in the dealerships too. You want them to benefit from the program
also, but I think once Johnny perfected this and we had a couple of dealers come to us,
then we said, okay, we can administer it for someone else because we've already
established the policy's procedures and we know how to do that. So couple that with their
ability to their FNI and their reputation. We wouldn't do this with anyone that didn't have
a good reputation because somehow we get drug into a situation and a problem and we don't want
that. We only want to do it with people like the Ziggler Group that are A plus, A plus that do
things the right way because this is not for everybody. I mean, we just want to be very selected,
but it's an opportunity for Johnny and his staff to expand. I mean, the time that they
answer the phone, everything that they do, they want every single award in the insurance industry.
And I'm so proud of him. He's the guy. But there are ways to incentivize your people
and it's sharing with everyone. Some of these companies that do warranties,
they're not in the automobile business. They don't sell and service cars. They don't have customers.
They don't have to stand there and when a customer's got a problem and say,
you know, we're going to take care of you, they're like cut and dry. It's either covered or it's not.
And we don't look at it that way. And I think developing our company that way to both for
profitability in the stores, but also keeping the customer on the offset at time and time again.
But it is the best thing. If there's one thing I could tell you that we've done
since we started our company, it's been out of guard because our reputation, online reputation
for one in the country in every category, probably going to get knocked out by Aaron's crap.
But again, that proves that we take care of our customer and we have that reputation.
And I think Aaron's going to have tremendous flexibility with how he wants to run his company.
I'm excited about having Aaron as a partner and we're just administrators,
but he's going to help us and we'll help him and we're friends. We race. We have the same franchises.
We hopefully have reputation as good as he is. And we're going to have fun and take care of our
people, take care of our customers, and we're going to make a profit.
Now, not only are you business partners in this, but I've heard rumor. Tell me if this is true,
Mr. Hendrick, you may have bought a car or two from each other, even possibly.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're car dogs. We got him a 01 and he's got me a Ferrari.
So we're, you know, what's so cool about this whole deal is when you do business with friends
and people you admire and trust, I'll bend over backwards to do whatever we've got to do to help
them and make sure that we deliver on every area that we promise.
Aaron, what are your thoughts as you hear Mr. Hendrick speak about the partnership,
the friendship, and friends doing business with friends?
Yeah, it's been terrific. We ran into each other late last year out at the Ferrari Design Studio
in New York City and Mr. H said, he goes, Hey, I heard that you wanted a ZR1X and I did. I'd
been trying to get one and you absolutely can't get them. They're impossible to get. And he said,
well, I got an allocation. I'm going to get you one. And he let me order the car. About three
weeks later, it showed up. And it's one of my prized possessions right now. I drove it into
work today, actually. So absolutely love the car. So it was awesome that he was able to make that
happen for me. So also, if you, you know, if you, if you're watching Carson Hosemard on Sundays,
it might have our name on the hood, but he's, he's got a Hendrick engine pushing them. So if he,
he wins, it's the Hendrick engine that's, let's help get them there. So we've crossed over in a
lot, a lot of business. It's been a really, really fun relationship. The organizations are very
similar culture wise. You know, we all want to win. We want to do the right thing for the,
the customers. We want to have a world class culture for, for our employees. And this is
what makes life really exciting and, and, and fun out there. So I really, I really feel like this
is a great marriage between the, the organizations. As we wrap up, just a couple of questions on one
shared passion, both Mr. Hendrick, you have an Aaron Ziegler have NASCAR. It's tough to think
about the name Hendrick. And now Ziegler without thinking NASCAR, Mr. Hendrick, why NASCAR? And
what does NASCAR teach the auto industry and your auto group that a classroom can't, why NASCAR?
Well, you know, I, I grew up on a farm and my dad and I raced on the weekends and,
you know, I've just had it in my blood. I never, I, I boat raced, I drag race. And then one day I
had a chance to supposedly be partners with Kenny Rogers and have Richard Petty and they both exited
on me pretty quick. And we've left with no sponsor and all star racing people thought, what the hell
does that mean? And I said, well, it was supposed to mean we were going to have concerts in the cities.
But when I look at motorsports, the brand recognition, two things, it, it, it excites the OEMs that we
deal with, it excites our customers. But the main thing it does energizes our teammates, our people
when they see cars with our name on it or our drivers win. It's a huge tool. And we track it.
I mean, HenryCars.com, we're three to one return on the investment. I've, we had offers to take
them off and take money from other companies, actually sometimes more money. And but our guys
see the benefit of the leads it generates. So we turned it into a business and Aaron started
with, with Spire when they didn't run that great. And now they've got one of the strongest horses
in the field. So he paid his dues. And he's got, I think he's going to see the rate name recognition
energizing his employees and having people go to the website and look at, look for his name.
I mean, we can, when we win, when we win a race, our lead generation goes crazy. But we,
our marketing guys measure it. So number one, it's a love affair for me and never thought I'd get to
do it. And we built a business out of it. But it's something that motivates our teammates. And so
it's been a great tool for us. Aaron, why is it why NASCAR for you and the Ziggler Auto Group?
I feel most alive when I'm in a race car. There's just, there's just something about it that gets
your blood boiling and being at the races is really exciting. And I love to be able to share that with
our team members. And when I see them get to go to the races and meet the racers and see how fast
the pit stops are. And there's just so much excitement around it. But there's also, you can only
spend so much money on fun stuff, right? There's got to be a business return. And there's definitely
a business return out there, not only from selling more cars, but also the business to business
relationships. And, you know, that's how Mr. H9 and Johnny got to know each other very well
through the NASCAR races. And it's been a great deal. And it's been really fun to
watch Spire go from this little tiny team that was, you know, finishing 35th out there
to all of a sudden being competitive, and then all of a sudden getting polls and, you know,
winning Talladega this year and hopefully making the playoffs. It's a lot of fun to be a part of that.
And it's just like in business, you want to be number one. And on the racetrack,
you want to be number one. And it's what drives you. And there's a lot of things you can learn
from racing that transfers over to business. So I think it's been a great deal for us and
something that we want to be in for a very, very long time.
Mr. Hendrick Carson-Hosevar, as Erin mentioned, won Talladega. As you were watching those closing
laps, were you secretly a Carson-Hosevar fan of some sorts, even though he's not driving a
Hendrick vehicle? Absolutely. I've been involved with those guys. We build the motors for them.
We have a technical alliance to deal with them. You know, I'm a huge fan and I pull for them hard.
And I was going him to win the race. And to see the celebration, and he became an instant
celebrity and probably one of the most popular guys in the sport because of his character and
how sometimes crazy he is. I actually call him Crazy Horse. And he's fun to watch and
got an unbelievable amount of talent. And no, I pull for those guys hard because
I've been a friend of Jeff Dickerson's and tried to help them get started in the deal.
So no, I feel like they are our sister team. So I'll get just as excited to see him win.
He has branded his win with hanging out the window for a lap and then gently plowing into the wall of
the track. Any thoughts on a driver kind of standardizing his own brand? It is interesting
to me. It seems like that is a parallel to the auto industry. You know, great competition
creates great results. And he's done a nice job of creating a signature way of winning.
He sure does. It's amazing to see, you know, just instantly. He had a lot of fans before
after that win watching what happened. And people want excitement. They want,
they don't want vanilla. They want, they want to see excitement. And we went through that with
Larson. We had a prime, did a documentary that was aired last night about doing the double.
And we weren't successful as we thought we'd be, but it told the story. And that gets our brand out.
And so that's what's going to set Aaron's company apart. A lot of dealers, you know,
you can look at dealers that have just as many stores as both of us have, right? Nobody knows
who they are. But, you know, when he walks in and, oh, yeah, we know Ziggler Automotive.
We've seen him on a car. I'm not saying that's all of it by any stretch, but you get fans
that go to the website that maybe won't ever buy a car from you. But when you see them in
the stands wearing your shirt, your hat, that's advertisement. And a lot of them come and want
to buy a car from the dealership. And so, you know, I've signed a lot of dashboards in my life.
It's been, it's a great tool. It's, if you're in the automobile business,
every manufacturer is in it in some way. And so it just separates you from the flock. And so,
I think I've really, I think the two go hand in hand. And, and I'm enjoying it. And I'm,
I love seeing my grandson enjoy it and all of our teammates enjoy it.
We enjoy seeing you at track. Aaron Ziggler, as you saw Carson earn his premiere win at the cup
and do the loop hanging out the window. Any thoughts that went through your head?
Yeah, I was, you know, super proud of him because I know how hard he's worked.
And I made the comment that Carson does it his own way. And that's a huge compliment. He's not
following anybody else. He's doing his own thing. He's just his own personality. He's a lot of fun
to be around. And then when the visor goes down on the helmet, then he's all business and he's
ready to go, you know, and ask our needs guys like that. So we're very fortunate to have the
partnership. You know, he's from our hometown, which is great. I've known his parents for a long
time. They're great people and it's been a great relationship and look forward to competing on the
track going forward. So Mr. Hendrik, as we wrap up speaking directly to team Ziggler, the people
who will make this work every day. What should team Ziggler understand about why this matters for
them, not just for the auto group, not just for Ziggler, but for each individual contributor
member of team Ziggler? I think no matter where you are in this business, what you're building
with your own company gives you a safety valve or a war chest or whatever you want to call it.
I don't care how good you are. I don't care how much money you have. You're going to go through
cycles in this business. And I know Aaron's seen them. I've seen 20% interest rate, but I've seen
dealers go broke. And there's times I had to reach into the war chest to pay people doing COVID
that I wanted to pay everyone. I didn't want to lay anybody off. So if you got that reserve, you
can do things that if you didn't have it, you wouldn't be able to do. So it's kind of our bank.
And I go to sleep at night feeling much better that I've created something that's taking care of
the customer, paying our people. Everything it does is eight plus for us. Plus it's our bank.
So I'd say to all of the folks, the teammates with Ziggler, you're building a foundation for the
future. It's going to be a profit center. It's going to take care of your customers. And yeah,
anytime you go through change, it's going to be a little hiccup here and there, getting all the
used car managers to be able to service the cars the same way. And all the things that you go through,
we went through them all. But at the end of the day, it's an amazing tool to support the
dealership and controlling your own destiny and your own customers, rather than have somebody else
do it. To me, it's a secret sauce. Aaron, 10 years from now when someone tells the story of the
Ziggler Auto Group, what's the line about this decision, this transition to Ziggler Guard and
this partnership with Mr. Hendrick and the Hendrick Auto Group? You know, Sam, this will be a defining
moment that takes our organization to the next level and really sets us up for the next 25,
30 years going forward. So it's going to be a proud moment when we look back 10 years from
now and say, boy, really happy we made the decision. Probably wish we would have made it sooner,
but glad that we're doing it now. Thank you both for being here. Mr. Hendrick, Aaron Ziggler,
Johnny McKellar, thank you all. Thank you.
About this episode
Ziegler Auto Group shifts warranty administration from CNA to Hendrick’s Nations Guard and builds its own dealer-owned company, Ziegler Guard—framed as “lifting the whole industry.” The hosts connect the move to Rick Hendrick’s origin story: warranty battles with GE led him to create Auto Guard. They also explain how owning F&I supports customer retention, dealership risk management, and resilience during downturns, while NASCAR branding drives leads and brand recognition.
In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Aaron Zeigler, President of Zeigler Auto Group, and Johnny McKellar, who leads NationsGuard for Hendrick Automotive Group, to discuss why Zeigler is leaving its third-party warranty provider to stand up its own dealer-owned program, Zeigler Guard, and what Rick Hendrick himself says has been the single best decision in his 50 years in the car business.
Rick Hendrick joins the conversation to explain how his dealer-owned warranty company became the financial reserve that let him avoid layoffs through COVID, recessions, and 20% interest rate cycles. Aaron and Johnny break down what it actually takes to transition a 41-location group onto a new program, why two groups that compete on paper chose to partner instead, and why Hendrick is selective about who gets access to this platform at all.
Topics:
02:45 The Defining Moment For Zeigler.
04:10 Why Hendrick Started AutoGuard.
05:35 The Secret Sauce To Growth.
07:40 Controlling Your Own Destiny.
09:50 Three Times More Likely To Buy.
12:20 It's Your Program, Not Ours.
14:20 Why Hendrick Opened The Door.
16:00 We Won't Do This With Just Anyone.
17:30 The Best Thing We Ever Did.
18:30 When Business Partners Are Friends.
20:15 The 3-To-1 ROI On NASCAR.
23:30 The War Chest That Saves Dealers.
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