Episode 4 - Billy The Car Kid - From Selling 40 Cars A Month To Negotiating For Car Shoppers
The Doug Horner Show
Episode 4 - Billy The Car Kid - From Selling 40 Cars A Month To Negotiating For Car Shoppers
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Concept
lifted trucks
A lifted truck is a pickup truck that has been raised higher off the ground. People often do this to make the truck look more aggressive or to help it drive better on rough terrain.
Term
F&I
F&I means Finance and Insurance. It's the part of a car dealership that helps you get loans to buy cars and offers insurance options. This department helps dealerships make more money.
Concept
dealer margins
Dealer margins are the profits that car dealerships make when they sell cars. Sometimes these profits are smaller than people think, and dealerships might even sell cars for less than they paid to make money in other ways.
Concept
selling cars at a loss
Selling cars at a loss means the dealership sells a car for less than what they paid for it. They might do this to get more customers in the door and then try to make money from other services.
Term
front end
The 'front end' is the money a car dealership makes when they sell a new car. It's the difference between what they paid for the car and what they sell it for.
Term
rebates and discounts
Rebates and discounts are price reductions that help buyers save money when buying a car. They are often used to sell cars that are not selling quickly.
Brand
Ford
Ford is a well-known car company that makes many types of vehicles, including popular trucks and sports cars. They are recognized for their innovation and quality.
Term
purchase order
A purchase order is a document that shows what someone wants to buy and how much they will pay. It's like a receipt before the actual purchase is made.
Term
out-the-door price
Out-the-door price is how much you actually pay for a car after adding everything like taxes and fees. It's the total cost to get the car on the road.
Term
add-ons
Add-ons are extra things that dealers try to sell you when you buy a car. They can be things like extra protection for the car's paint or warranties that cover repairs.
Company
CarMax
CarMax is a company that sells used cars and makes it easy for people to buy them without having to negotiate prices. They have been around for a long time and are well-known for their straightforward approach.
Company
Carvana
Carvana is a newer company that sells used cars online. You can buy a car from them without ever going to a dealership, and they even have special machines that look like vending machines to pick up your car.
Term
appraisals
An appraisal is when someone checks how much your car is worth. This helps you know what price you can get if you want to sell it.
Term
MSRP
MSRP is the price that the car maker suggests you should pay for a car. It's like a starting point for how much a car should cost, but you might find it cheaper or more expensive at different dealerships.
Term
extended warranty
An extended warranty is like extra insurance for your car that helps pay for repairs after the regular warranty ends. It can save you money if something goes wrong, but make sure to read the details before buying it.
Car
Toyota Highlanders
The Toyota Grand Highlander is a bigger SUV that provides more room and comfort for passengers and cargo compared to the standard Highlander.
Car
Lexus GX550
The Lexus GX550 is a high-end SUV that offers luxury features and is also capable of handling rough terrains, making it suitable for both city driving and off-road adventures.
Concept
market adjustment
Market adjustment is when car dealerships change the price of a vehicle based on how popular it is, usually making it more expensive when demand is high.
Term
engine downsizing
Engine downsizing means making car engines smaller to save fuel and produce less pollution. Sometimes, smaller engines use technology like turbochargers to still provide good power.
Term
Hemi
Hemi is a special kind of engine design that helps cars run better and faster. It's known for its unique shape that helps the fuel burn more efficiently.
LIVE
So, let's back up quickly and talk about how you got here, because you were once a car salesperson, right?
Yeah, yeah, I think a lot of the guys that see what I'm doing now, they're like, you must have sucked at sales, and it was a big step up for me.
They offered me, like, sales manager running the store with another sales manager.
We're doing finance. We're doing everything. We're running everything.
I often see, in my own comment section, in your comment section, right, various comment sections are on the internet, where it's like, it's very clear that a salesperson has only ever operated maybe in one type of dealership or one scenario.
And so they only know it one way. And they unfortunately learned the business in a bad way.
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Welcome to the Doug Horner Show. My name, of course, is Doug Horner. You might know me as Benzes and Bowties.
And I'm here today with Billy the Car Kid. Billy, thanks so much for being here.
Thanks for having me, Doug.
So you have what has become, I think, one of the most important roles in the automotive industry, which is helping people to buy cars confidently and also kind of exposing how problematic a lot of car dealerships are still.
Yeah, I think we definitely, I guess, toe the line for people and make it convenient for people to get good deals.
But yeah, I mean, what we're doing essentially is holding dealerships accountable for the things that we've been hearing for years.
And I think in essence, we're kind of cleaning up the industry.
Yeah, it's always fascinating to me to watch your videos.
I operate in a dealership that allows me to be incredibly transparent and make it easy and has always kind of leaned on.
That's always, to me, the way that I think the business works best.
But when I watch your videos, I'm reminded that just because I live it every day, what people are experiencing out there is just a mess.
I mean, the runarounds that they get, the fact that you can hardly get a price anywhere without being forced into the store.
I mean, how often can you successfully get a price over the phone when you call a dealership?
Yeah, that's a good question. It really depends on the area.
There is just certain parts of the country that are worse than others and it seems like every other dealership is playing that game where you got to come in to even talk about the price.
And then there's parts of the country that are wonderful. I mean, I can't say enough good things.
I can call every dealership and they're all with it and it's kind of the way it should be.
So it's really hit or miss, but it's the one bad egg spoils it for the bunch kind of thing because it makes everybody look bad as a dealership just because of these certain places.
So let's back up quickly and talk about how you got here because you were once a car salesperson, right?
Yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of the guys that see that what I'm doing now, they're like, you must have sucked at sales and, you know, that's the assumption.
And I always ask them, I'm like, man, it's a lot harder to call trained negotiators and try and talk them out of their paycheck than it is to talk to happy, excited people that want to buy a car.
So this is a harder job, not an easier job, you know, in a lot of aspects.
Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of the bad guy for a lot of them, I guess.
And it's okay. It's a cross I don't mind, Baron Doug.
What made you want to get out of car sales and start to do this?
So I love sales. I really did. If I have to be honest with you, my heart, I loved it.
I couldn't believe that this was a job. No one had ever shown me car sales prior to this.
I'd own my own businesses. And, you know, I kind of looked at car sales like, I mean, I hate to say this, but when I go to the dealership, I didn't like the salesman.
I don't like anybody there. I kind of was one of those buyers that was like, give me the numbers and just kind of quick and mean.
And it was the blind leading the blind. My father had never shown me how to buy cars or what to do.
It was just, he always went in and angrily left, didn't get a good deal, but felt better than he was mad, I guess.
So I tried to do that too. And up until I worked in sales, I didn't realize what was really going on at all, right, until I actually did the job.
And I loved it, man. I loved the job. I loved the business. I love the pace. I love the money.
So I can't say enough good things about what it taught me and where it brought my life.
And, you know, that being said, I guess I worked at a really great dealership for a while.
And I didn't realize how great it was, Doug, because it was my first dealership, right?
And I then compared it to the next place. And my next position was a big level up when I was at my first dealership.
I was the top salesman. And then I was given a small sales team to try and like be like the ultra killer salesman and have my own special team.
And I got my hand as a sales manager there a little bit.
Got to get all the stuff that my manager got to look at. I got to look at the behind the scenes, which is really cool, right?
And I did good at it, but I didn't really want to stay where I was.
My kids lived a couple of towns away and I didn't see them very often.
So I got offered a position with a dealership that was more local to them.
And it was a big step up for me. They offered me like sales manager running the store with another sales manager.
We're doing finance. We're doing everything. We're running everything. And it's one of 13 locations.
So I was of course so excited to jump at the opportunity to do that and run my own store. That was so cool.
And I got welcomed arms like my whole town, my community, they'd been buying cars out of town to come see me up to this point.
So now I was going to be local. I was at a lifted truck place. Everybody in Montana loves lifted trucks.
So this is going to be awesome. And that's when I saw the ugly side of the dealership world.
I worked at a place that they did four squares up until then I hadn't seen one, Doug.
And the model was in the finance office. If they don't know any better, we're always jacking up the rate.
We're just any chance we can to get one over on somebody. And it wasn't even like saying it nicely or just articulating it like,
oh, let's just see if we can get a little bump on the rate. It was like, yeah, let's get them in the office.
And I was like, man, this is pretty cutthroat here. And I was the manager. I'd taken the position of manager of this place.
So it was kind of making me feel like my moral compass was broken every time I did something.
I couldn't say no, I had to do it. It was just my job. And the company, you know, being that kind of a company to their customers,
you can imagine how they might treat their employees. I didn't get what was promised when I moved over here.
So I was a little upset about that. That coupled with the way the dealership ran.
I was on my way out, but then they offered me a social media position as well as the manager position
because they had no idea what Facebook was all about.
And I was already marketing. That's why I was one of the top salesmen at the other places.
I was doing what shift Lee does right now every day all day back way back then.
And it was getting us 100 to 150 plus leads a month for my small division over in Idaho.
So when I implemented that with the dealership that I was now running,
we got these unsourced leads every month, about 150 of them.
And they were like, where are all these leads coming in from?
And I was like, social media, what do you mean?
And they were like, would you write our handbook?
So I ended up writing their whole handbook, how to do it, how to advertise it, how to make your guys do it.
And that kept me there a little longer. That's the only reason I told you that it kept me there a little longer.
And then I just couldn't do it anymore. Just that use wasn't worth the squeeze.
And I wanted to stay in the auto industry at that moment.
I didn't want to leave it. I wanted to go be a manager somewhere else, right?
I even wanted to go back to my old job because I missed it. I missed sales.
I missed that community, the camaraderie I had up there.
There was 120 salesmen at that dealership, Doug. And I was number one.
So I felt like the king, you know what I mean? It was a pretty cool feeling.
And they made it so that when I quit, I couldn't go back to my old job because they were owned by the same corporation.
And they just were like, nope, you quit this. You don't get to go back to that kind of like a slap on the hand.
And I felt like, man, that was the last straw for me. I was like, man, I've done a lot.
I've given up a big portion of my life for this industry.
I haven't seen my kids do a play or a recital in years, you know.
And I think the one thing I earned at that dealership was a place here forever.
I have a job here forever. I beat every record you've ever had as a dealership as a salesperson.
I deserve something. And they were like, see you later.
So we're both dealerships owned by Sonic?
So yes, we, I worked at a place called Dave Smith Motors,
and it's in the middle of nowhere, two mountain passes,
and they get people to come to the dealership by calling.
It's a call center, basically, and there is no upstug.
There is no walk-ins there, none, okay?
So if I sold 40 cars a month, that was a lot of phone time is what that was.
And I got really great at setting up the deal for people before they got there.
That's why I'm so good at what I do now, because I did everything over the phone anyway.
And yeah, they were owned by Sonic.
So they were bought out by Sonic.
While I worked there, I actually watched the owners of the dealership get fired by Sonic,
by, you know, like when you watch Office Space, the Bobs come in.
Yeah.
The Bobs, literally the guy's name was Bob.
He came in, sat there for six months and then fired everybody basically
and moved everybody around.
So I watched the owner of the dealership, Eric Smith,
walk out with this whole box of things, get into his Ferrari and drive off and be fired.
Well, I was there.
Once he had like some agreement to stay on for a little while after selling type of thing.
They just kind of told him get lost because there was a lot of stuff he did, I think.
Yeah.
I don't really know the specifics, to be honest with you,
but they didn't tell all of the minions.
But I do know that when corporate took over, a lot of things started changing,
of course, and our pay plans changed and PAC started being a big thing,
which wasn't there before.
It was kind of the good old boy system before.
When I worked there, I had to go through my 40 deals a month to make sure I got paid
right because a lot of times I didn't.
Sure.
Yeah.
So when corporate came in, the GMs knew each other.
They knew of me and they knew they needed a guy in Missoula.
So they got the chatting and I got offered the job.
So you didn't really work in your original dealership for long
while it was under, you know, a sonic store, essentially.
No, probably only a year.
Okay.
Yeah.
And the only reason I ask is that this brings up such an interesting point to me.
And it's that, you know, one, let me back up and say,
you had a similar experience to me where your first dealership was a good one
that put the customer, the client first, right, made it easy to buy a car.
Yeah.
If that's your first experience in the business, that's all you know, right?
And you believe it to be that way.
And I think this is one of the biggest problems that we have in this industry is that
if you're unfortunate, unlucky, whatever you want to call it,
and your first experience with a dealership is, you know, in a place like where you went to next,
then that's all you know.
You don't know it any other way, right?
So I often see in my own comment section, in your comment sections, right,
various comment sections are on the internet where it's like it's very clear
that a salesperson has only ever operated maybe in one type of dealership or one scenario.
And so they only know it one way.
Yeah.
And they unfortunately learned the business in a bad way.
Sure.
And now they're defending it because they believe this is just how it is, right?
Right.
100%.
I had some guys that worked on my sales crew when I came over to that second store
that were like that.
They've been conditioned like that.
They've worked at this store or a store like this their whole life.
Yeah.
And I'm one of the guys that when I pull up to a dealership now, I'm like,
I don't want that guy to talk to me.
I could tell just in like the 10 seconds that I talked to him,
I could just be like, get this God feeling, you know?
Yeah.
And I knew I was their manager.
So I was trying to break them of like being like that because the way I sold cars
was not like that at all, you know?
Yeah.
Exactly.
And it's like catering to the customer, you know?
Yeah.
And I'll give you an example of where I see this the most.
And it's on the phone.
This is what you do where it's like, you've got certain dealerships that refuse
to give a price over the phone.
They will not do it.
And you have salespeople that will defend that to the death, right?
Yeah.
You have to come to the store or I'm not getting a price.
And their defense is always the same thing, which is I if I give you a price,
you're just going to immediately go shop it, right?
And look, maybe some people will do that.
Sure.
Yeah.
There are a lot of people that won't, Miller.
Sure.
I'm telling you that.
If you make it really easy and it's a good deal, they're good at that point.
They're like, you know what?
This is moving fast.
It's easy.
I'm good.
I don't want to sell a shopping thing, right?
But they believe that, nope, can't give you a price.
You've got to be in person.
And so they in doing so don't end up getting a deal because they just make
people upset and annoyed that they can't get a price.
So it's like, I look at it and I laugh and I'm like, okay, I was a baseball player.
So I use the baseball analogy.
If you're going to strike out, it's either you're going to strike out looking
or you're going to strike out swinging, right?
Yeah.
Just to give a price over the phone, you just watched a fastball go by
and you're struck out, right?
If I give you my price and then you just go shop it all over town.
Okay.
I still struck out, but at least I took a swing, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't have a bad taste in my mouth as a consumer about you either.
Just because I didn't work with you, it doesn't mean I don't like you now.
Exactly.
At least people and some, I've had people that have said, you know what?
I shopped around.
I found a better deal elsewhere, but you know what?
I'll give you a call the next time around or I really like the way y'all did it.
And I'll send my friends and family your way.
Like some people, and I talk about these sometimes in my videos,
like some people are literally chemically wired to like, they will shop the entire
country before they say yes.
They'll actually, comically to me, lose a lot of good deals in the process
because their process takes too long.
Yeah.
But that's just they, they can't help it.
That's the way they are.
Yeah.
They understand still that the experience was a good one and they will acknowledge
they'll be like, Hey, look, I'm sorry that I'm, I am the way that I am,
but for all my friends and family that are not this way,
I'm going to send them to you, right?
Yeah.
But if you've refused to give a price, that's never going to happen.
Right.
Yeah.
I think your baseball analogy is perfect.
It really is.
I mean, at least swing, at least swing.
That's the very least.
And I say this to, I've actually had this conversation with managers at dealerships
where they're like, we don't get pricing over the phone.
And I've said basically what you just said to the manager and they're like,
and I've had them go, all right, man, I'm going to send you a price.
Like, you know, they, they see reason for just a second.
Like, all right.
And I ended up working with that dealership.
It's all he had to do in the first place.
It was just ridiculous that they would hold that, that information ransom.
And we both know why they're doing it, right?
But it's so counterproductive in my opinion.
And it gives everybody a bad name out there altogether because they just
assume when I say the dealerships are going to do this,
I don't say that there is some that won't.
I just say they're going to do this and you assume they all do.
Right.
Unfortunately, there are still more that play games than don't.
And it's, it's just, I don't know.
I love this industry that I'm in so much.
I really do.
And I'm also baffled by it constantly.
And when I watch your videos and I see Tommy's videos, for example,
because he does a similar thing, it's, I'm just reminded of how bad,
how low the bar is out there.
And it makes me think of like, there really is no other industry where
you're going to have a franchise model and still so much variance.
So much variance.
Could you imagine, you know, you go to McDonald's and generally speaking,
it's the same experience at every McDonald's, right?
Right.
Now those are owned by individual franchises.
Exactly.
Could you imagine going to one McDonald's and pulling up to the drive-through
and they're like, yeah, no, I'm not selling you a burger.
Right.
Yeah.
Just totally get an experience.
Exactly.
You don't look like you could afford it based on what you drove up on.
Keep moving along, sir.
Right?
It's like, you know, you just, it would be wild.
Like, no, you know, I'm going to go somewhere and the expectation is
that it's going to be the same.
And it just, we don't have that in the car business.
And unfortunately, I feel bad for a lot of the salespeople that
ended up in dealerships that just were on, or that are
unwilling to come into 2026 and the 21st century, whatever you
want to call it.
And it's like, they only learned it one way and they've been kind
of ruined because of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a good point earlier.
The salesmen are the ones that are really defending it.
Right?
They're the ones in my comments.
And I can't help but think two things.
If I really do truly get my best deal, if I come in, wouldn't
it be advantageous for you to sell me it over the phone
because you'll make more money?
First off.
Yeah.
And secondly, why is the lowest man on the totem pole
screaming from the mountaintops that you need to come in
when it's not his dealership and he's replaceable?
It's like, he's just carrying out the sales manager's
for him because he's so brainwashed.
Right?
Yeah.
It's, yeah.
Now this made me think of a question because I've listened
to a few podcast interviews and I've read a few things
recently, which is kind of interesting.
I want to hear your take on it because you went from being
a salesperson to a sales manager.
So you've sat on that side of the desk.
First question.
Did the way that you looked at the business or certain
things that you thought about it change at all when you
went from salesperson to salesman or salesperson to sales
manager, I should say.
Right.
Yeah.
I did not like the position, Doug.
I did not like being a manager at all.
I think it wasn't my forte.
I don't do good managing a lot of people because I expect
out of people what I can do and I hold them to that
standard and I'm kind of hard on people, I realized.
So I didn't love the position.
I think if I had more time, I would get better with that
part of course.
And I liked the sales end of it.
I liked the freedom.
And the expectations were lower, I guess, from the
salesperson of the way I conducted myself.
Not that I was being conducted myself bad, but I just
wasn't held to certain standards.
And I didn't like that I was just, my paycheck was
going to be this much.
And really, I know that the store did better, I did
better, but it didn't seem to reflect big on my paycheck
like when I was in sales, if I sold more cars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that that's a point that gets lost on a
lot of people and the industry is two things.
One, sales managers, there's not, I don't want to
say that there's no selling, but you really are,
you're a manager of people.
Yeah.
You're managing a team.
And that's not for everybody.
Right.
Especially for somebody like yourself.
And, you know, I just, I, my top sales person on
my team is much the same way.
He executes at an extremely high level and he
holds himself and everyone around him to a very
high standard.
Yeah.
He couldn't be a sales manager only because
he would be too frustrated with everybody that
doesn't approach the business the way that he
does.
Yeah.
He would always be more successful in sales.
And so there's, there's that side of it.
The part two is that if you're a really
great sales person, you will make far more.
Yeah, I did.
I made way more money as a sales person than I
did as a manager.
And I just, I kept thinking about going back to
sales when I was as a manager, I just kept
coming back.
And I've seen you so many times talk to your
clients or excuse me, your employees when
something comes up or they're being snarky
or mouthy back to you and how you handle it
is always so beautiful.
Right.
And I could take a page from your book and
I did not have that in me when I was doing it
or at least not yet.
I just, the patience wasn't there.
And if somebody kind of rubbed me the wrong
way, it was like, now we're having a serious
talk and it's going to be like a stern
talk.
And I'd never go over well.
If I'm an adult, somebody's stern talks
me and I walk out of the office.
I didn't listen to half of it because I was
angry or upset, you know?
So I had, I think I had to have a lot
more time in the industry in that role to
perfect it.
And I think I would have done well, Doug.
I'm a perfectionist.
I like to do things as good as I can with
whatever I do.
I don't care if it's sweeping the driveway.
I sweep the shit out of the driveway.
Right?
Yeah, right.
I would have done well eventually, but
like early on, I didn't love it.
I didn't love it at all.
Yeah.
No, for sure.
So, and then just to expound on this
topic for one more moment, the
articles that I had read and as I'm
sure you know, and you probably coach
your clients through this all the time,
but what the industry has really moved
to is that they focus so heavily on F&I,
right?
Because margins in car sales are generally,
if you're dealing with a reputable dealer,
they're much smaller than people believe
them to be, right?
And it's very frequent, actually,
that dealerships will sell cars at a
loss, right, with a greater gain,
at least on the front of the deal.
Either they're trying to make money in
finance, hopefully the right way, not by
forcing you to buy things you didn't ask
for, but what I've been hearing,
and I've kind of noticed it, is that
sales managers are weirdly sort of
becoming an increasingly rare breed of
like having a high quality sales manager
in the dealership because there's so
much emphasis on finding good sales
people and finding good finance people
that now sales managers are making
less and less and less,
while sales people are making more
and more and more finance managers are
making probably more than anybody outside
of the general manager, and it just
made me realize that that's a problem
because my belief, and you might
disagree, is that a lot of the sales
people that are out there in the world
selling cars, they are going to be a
product of the sales manager, to some
degree, that they have helping them
every day.
Yes.
You know, obviously they're their
personalities, but the way that you learn
the business, the way that you approach
people and situations and how you handle
them, I think the sales manager has a
lot to do with that.
Big time.
I don't know if you've noticed this,
that it seems that dealerships are putting
all their emphasis on finance and sales
and sales manager quality is going down
or if you haven't noticed that.
I haven't really, I mean, because I'm
not in the industry per se, I'm just
calling around, you know what I mean,
and talking to different guys.
But you know, I have noticed
that it's going more towards
F&I and that there is skinny front
ends and that, you know, as long
as I am willing to let my
customer use the financing, a lot of
times I can get the deal I want, right?
And knowing that vernacular,
knowing how to, you know, navigate
a deal for a customer,
saves them a ton of time just because
and a lot of, you know, annoying
conversations with sales managers too
because, you know, trying to get
across to a customer that doesn't
believe you and doesn't trust you
that you're just trying to help is a
really hard thing. But if a guy like me is in the middle
and I'm like, hey man,
this is truthful, he's not lying, this is how this
works. Oh, okay, Billy said, I'll do
it, right? Yeah. But
yeah, no, I haven't noticed really that the
I heard go for real made a post about
that the other day. Actually, it was a pretty good one
about the sales managers and
their positions. And I thought it was a pretty
interesting take on it. For sure.
Yeah, he was one of the ones that I heard and then
literally not a day later
there was an interview on a car dealership guy
podcast where somebody was making
the exact same point and it, you know,
sometimes when you start hearing something
two, three times, you're like, you
open up your eyes to it and you're like, you know what,
I noticed this. But so
Billy, tell me, who is your average
client, right? Who comes to you
for help to buy a car?
Yeah, I think it's a pretty, pretty standard
younger people, of course,
first time buyers.
I would say it's probably
60 40 female 60
percent 40 male on the first time buyers
as far as the
other demographics would be
anybody from another country,
you know, doesn't speak good English
they're nervous they'll hire us
and then anybody
basically over 50
seems like people over 50 just don't want to
call the dealership or deal with it. They see that there's a
lot of crap going on. They don't want to
be part of it. They just want to make sure they get a good
deal. They've watched a couple of my
lives. I like that guy. They chat
with me. Hey, we're going to do it, you
know, and it's not for saving money. It's more
for convenience a lot of times.
Just an effortless experience.
But
for the younger people, it's definitely about
getting the payment they want not getting ripped
off. And I love doing that with my younger
demographic because like I said earlier
I went in and bought cars wrong.
My dad never showed me it was the blind
being the blind. So generationally
I think we have not shown our
kids how to buy cars unless we're in the
industry and then we just help them do it, right?
Right. And you know, there's a lot
of other kids out there. There's a lot of
your daughter and everybody else's daughter
that might not have us right there to buy a car
and I think guys like myself
or just even our information
is helpful to make sure
that they don't get a bad deal.
Yeah, yeah.
So would you say that
it's mostly people that
so actually I kind of hear two different things.
You've got some people that want to utilize your
services for convenience and to
just not deal with it
and then you've got other people that are
really focused on achieving the deal that
they want and probably
don't want to deal with it themselves. So it actually
is a little bit maybe split on
kind of screen people when you talk
to them for the first time to see if it's going to be a good fit.
Yeah. So our initial call
sometimes it's a consultation. Sometimes it just
doesn't prepare me before the consultation
and I find out when we work with them
but everybody gets an on
boarding call. It's the
day you start. You're going to talk to our office
and they're going to fill in all the details.
They're going to make sure that your budget that you have in mind
is actually realistic.
What you're looking at is going to work
and then they're going to build your profile for
the negotiators myself and Dave
and
that's really telling because a lot of people will come
on and still open up the conversation with
well if you're not going to save me five grand off the price
I don't know why I hired you right.
Yeah. And I'm like well
there isn't five grand to get off on this vehicle
I can get you the best deal that's possible
on this vehicle but that's just whatever the
best deal is right. Yeah.
And once I break that down
most people go oh okay that makes sense
and here's the here's the basic
misconception though Doug almost
every person I talk to thinks that
if you're buying a new car there's ten thousand dollars
of profit. Oh yeah.
Everybody thinks that. Yeah.
And when I tell them no
this one only has a three thousand dollars front end
they're like
but there's more right
and I'm like no that's really it.
Yeah.
And that's kind of what where I mentioned before
that there's a lot of
misperceptions on what kind of margins
really do existing car sales you know some brands
have higher than others but yeah a lot
of cars there might be
I don't know two grand max
really until you're into the negative.
Right and then here's why people get
mixed up is because we have cars that don't
sell for a long time and they do go into
the negative rebates and discounts
and it doesn't matter anymore it's just about getting rid
of the vehicle so now they're like well that's
not true because I saw Ford selling these for
ten grand off and I'm like
I know I know you saw that
so it's I like being the middleman
though between you guys and them
because they do believe me
they do trust me and I'm not lying
to them right I have no reason to be disingenuous
so the information
I'm giving them sets reality
in place and that's
great because every person
that I help now has a way better
understanding of how it all works by working
with us and even if they don't want
to they get that knowledge just by being
there and it's great
because that's going to perpetuate they're going to
tell others they're going to hire us more people
will learn that way and I mean
you asked me a while back
how do you fix the industry
it's going to be with people putting out good
information holding dealerships accountable
I know that me and Tommy might put up videos
they're you know they're clickbait
and they're negative and they make they show
the dealerships in an unfavorable light
however it's also
holding them accountable for the shit they're
doing and making it so
other dealerships are scared to do that
because I might be on the other end of that phone
yeah and
again you know I'll
probably catch some flak for this
from people in the dealer community
but when I watch those videos
I can understand how
somebody in the moment might
be upset that they
feel like they're having this
call exposed but I really
I look more at it like look
you chose to do business this way
okay
and if you're getting
called out for that that's on you
right I mean
if people don't agree with the way you're doing business
whether it's one person or everyone on
the internet watching it you've got
to deal with that right I mean that's a choice
that you make being
you know rude and aggressive
in name calling on the phone right
I saw a video of yours yesterday where
I called you a weirdo on the phone
oh and every yeah I know I cut out
so much I couldn't even put it out but yeah
yeah but it's like that's a choice
on their part right I mean
you might be
asking aggressively
for a price or why are you playing
these games with me but at what point does that
give somebody on the other in permission to name
call you never and that's that's
just it especially if you're a manager you're
expected to hold that profession
and keep it together and say
hey I'm sorry we couldn't help you goodbye sir
and hang up on me that's fine that
would be the much better call and and
I ought to preface that video
I had been talking to that dealership
for a couple days yeah and
they just couldn't get back to me finally
they did and they said they told me about
the finance thing that I didn't know
then the guy calls me the manager calls
me and tells me let's work on the deal
let's get let's get the price you want because my
person just wanted to pay cash yeah and I
said okay let's do it so when he
sends back the purchase order it's
which we didn't need we just needed to out the door price
but he sends back a purchase order
for the same full price that's
the only reason I was calling is because he just
I just asked him for a discount he sent back the full
price was just to get clarity I knew
I knew why he did it I knew
what I was doing but I wanted
to see what he'd say right yeah
and he was super nice that first phone
call like overly nice I was like wow this
guy's really got good phone etiquette I liked him
um so when I called back
I did not expect that he caught me off guard
big time um
and I lost it I mean it was
I was like whoa wait how do I record
this right no right right yeah yeah
yeah but um he
when he called back and caught me off guard like that
and that's the first thing I thought Doug was
that's so unprofessional if I was a manager
and I've gotten hot before with a customer
and been upset or had a
you know an unfavorable phone
call that I wish would be wouldn't go live
I get it so I thought long and hard
before airing that um
I don't like to I'm not trying to ruin a guy's
life and he had a moment where he lost his
shit whatever right it's not the biggest
biggest deal in the world but I felt like
he crossed a lot of lines um
and then kept crossing them and that
he should be held accountable for that
and you know that's probably something
that doesn't happen very often at dealerships for managers
just have those kind of conversations but
they definitely shouldn't
ever I mean who knows maybe
they do right maybe they happen more often
than we realize but it's again
I think that uh yeah the
accountability for me is is the big thing
where my my goal
the only thing that I ever want is
dealerships to just
make it easier to buy a car right we have
the industry
it fascinates me because
we sell things that people want
like they really want them
they do like they
desperately don't want to buy them
because of the experience
that they've either had or are expecting
to have and that to me is
just so wild because it's like
most things in life
you buy but you don't want
right we don't want insurance
but we know we need it right we don't need
I don't know basic
gotta buy paper towels again but like
you know it's just like you need them right
right it's like
and then when you buy something that you really
want it's usually
easy and you're so excited you're like
oh my god I just bought this new
uh jacket that I've been wanting forever
whatever it is but when it comes to
cars it's like this thing
that you're so excited about but you're like
I'd rather go get a root canal
than go to the dealership to buy this car
right right right and
the way that I see
it is that if dealers don't
if they're not held accountable to be
uh to be better
then they're never gonna be better and and
this brings me to the the part
two of this is that one of the issues
that I see and I'm sure
you do too is that some consumers
can't help themselves
they get too emotional
about a certain car
and they go through this
miserable process
because they feel like either they have no
choice or they just they're like
I just got to have this car and then it
rewards the dealership bad behavior and so
after that why would they stop
100% 100%
and I think that's the
like why dealerships are like come in
is because they know that people will get
quasi-attached when they see the vehicle
they're almost to the home plate
this is almost a done deal
you got to sign the papers now and then
I mean you know then they offer you
these horrible add-ons and a bunch of stuff
and you're like ah
and you look at the car you're like
and you're thinking I got to pull my credit again
I got to go through this again a dealership
down the road is going to do the same thing
I might as well just buy it and you buy it
and you talk yourself into it and that's
that's a big reason Doug why I tell
people to call is it's not just to
negotiate it's to get perspective
and to not be impulsive
it's a hard problem to solve
because there are
just a lot of you know when there's
thousands of transactions happening
every day millions and millions a year
there's bound to still be a lot of
people that just they
skip past what they know
they should do they follow through
on the deal they work that bad behavior
and then it's just not going to change
right there so
I don't know sometimes I wonder
how long it will take to fix the whole
industry and it may I don't know it might never be fixed
no I think they'll I think it'll
get better I think it'll get a lot it's already
getting better I mean there's better
yeah I mean you can do a lot of the stuff
that you couldn't do right online as a consumer
now and just find out a lot
of things you never could have known without going
to the dealership before so I think
in a lot of ways it's it's moving that way
will it ever be perfect probably not just
yeah because of the way it started
is there any industry
what do you think has been
one of the greatest disruptors out there
either a company or technology
to kind of help level the playing field
or make dealerships better
so I will say this
you guys have your CRM
right and when the CRM first came into
place and we were making dealership text
messages instead of from our own cell phones
it was pretty cool but
the reason I was really successful
as opposed to all
the guys I worked with is because I didn't listen to
the rules I hate to say that but
I didn't like the CRM because
I knew if you texted me from a CRM
I wouldn't opt in I don't want to talk to you
this could be a scam text
even if I just called your dealership right
yeah so
I would always send my own number
my own text right but
I think that that's helpful like the AI
the CRM the
even
the BDC
even though it's sometimes an unwanted
part of the dealership in a lot of
ways but I think it's a necessary
evil because you're paying to get these leads
and you don't want to miss a potential lead right
yeah so I think
those are all great things they brought in
I will say on the other end
of the spectrum for what I do
AI is
coming about already if you look at car edge
they've got an AI system
that buys your car for you
and it's pretty impressive I watched
some stuff with
Zach the other day and
I mean you would think it's me talking to you
you wouldn't know any better
and it worked out the entire deal it caught
a few things on the paperwork I didn't
catch
and called the dealership out on it and then
got a deal and arranged everything to the
customers show up without ever talking to a
single salesperson
I mean that's pretty wild
yeah and that may be fearful for my job
so car edge
might be one of the great disruptors out
there then
they're always thinking of ways to bring it to the
next level and
I love what they're doing
that's not the first time
that I've heard that and
the other one that comes to mind for me is
carmax slash carvana
it's funny carmax has been around for so long
that we kind of forget to give them the
credit that they're owed
but I think it started with them and then carvana is
kind of the shiny new toy
in town that is forcing dealerships
to be way more on their game
with
just speed of information trade
appraisals right I mean because
if you know that carmax or carvana
is going to take all your trades away
it forces you to and because they'll give somebody
a number in a second
and a reasonable one
right exactly right yeah not a
lowball one they'll give you what's fair
and you know that's hard to compete with
when your whole business model is
biome cheap that's all we care about
exactly
so I think I saw a post
the other day I reposted it
and I didn't know this information till I saw it
it was just like an AI generated post but it was
carmax was
number one for google reviews
and general reviews
in the country
and auto nation was last
dead last actually
like yeah out of reviews it was just google reviews
which is not a you know there's not fair
there's a lot of other review systems out there but
it was pretty telling I didn't know
that about carmax I had no clue till I saw
that I was like well that's really interesting I would
I would not have guessed that because they're so big
I would figure they'd have so many negatives
well you know and I think that
obviously
people that have been following my content for a
little while anyway know that we
essentially employ the carmax
carvana model whatever you want to say which is
we are constantly
looking at the market to see what is
a
very good price on whatever it is
that we're selling I'm not going to say I don't
like the word best price because
I the best price is zero I guess
I mean there's always somebody that will do it
for less but you know if you get a really
really good price and it takes five seconds then
that's you know yeah maybe
that's what you consider the best price but just
their way of doing business in that here it is
it's a market based number
and will make it the easiest car you ever bought
yeah and they've proven over the years
that people will they will do that
yeah right I remind you
that they're like oh you can't do a best price
upfront model doesn't work it's like well
carmax carmax and carvana would beg to
differ sure I mean
that's all they've ever done you know
thinking about it in the
future the younger generation
that's going to be buying cars soon my kids
right they don't like
interaction human interaction they don't
they don't want to go into the dealership they want
to do everything from their phone they want it delivered
they don't want to come
down and do all that and not only
because they think they're getting scammed because they don't want
to waste their time doing all that if they don't have to
and it's just
the way it's gonna go so this
AI model of buying them and
anything that's going to be stepping into the new age
coming I think soon is going to be the way
to buy cars you know
yeah it's
people my age and older of course
people love me that are my age because
they want to chat with me and have a conversation
sometimes they just hire me just because they want to talk to me
you know what I mean and sure and do it
with me which is awesome I love that that's so cool
right what a compliment
but younger people even the
young girls that hire me they don't even want to
get on the phone they just text me
yeah I know
I'm like hey it's Billy you want to chat real quick
no here's all my information
okay
it's fine on the one hand it scares us
all a little bit about their
reluctance to have a conversation
or human interaction and then on the other
hand I make the argument all the time that
the young generation understands
opportunity cost way better
than most other people do
and it's just
my favorite thing I don't know why I was an
econ major in college but
explaining opportunity cost to people
is my absolute favorite thing in the
world and I always love using
the example of there's no such thing as a free lunch
and whenever I ask people I'm like
hey there's no such thing as a free lunch
what does that mean to you and I always
people will try to answer it and it's kind of
interesting to me
how many people don't get it and I'm like
alright I take you out to lunch I'm paying for
your lunch then what is that what do you
mean how could it be true that there's
no such thing as a free lunch and then
I eventually have to explain to them
that if I take you out to lunch
let's say we go we drive down the street we
go to a restaurant even if I'm paying
for it you're there you're at lunch
with me yep and if we're there for an
hour and a half you're you can't do
anything else except for sit there
half of your life you can't get back
to go do something else
yep and so this younger generation that's
like now I really
love you but I don't have time to talk right
here's my information go get me the car
and now they're on to other things they
would rather be doing
right because there's only and so that's
why when I see people who will take months
to buy a car I'm like my god how much
how much time have you spent
on this how much money did you lose on
your trade in the last two months
back either like exactly yeah I don't
them they don't
they're like having so much fun going through the process
that they they don't care at all
about all of that time that they'll go have
free lunch all day long right and that's a
really good point I think because a lot
of people hire me thinking
oh I don't have $900 to spend on this
guy to hire him that's a lot of money
right and then they realize what they
got for their money and the time back
that they're not spending doing all the things
they see me doing and they still got
a great deal if not a better deal than they
would have gotten on their own
that's that's time management that's
money management that's smart
if I were you that's how I'd be selling the
service right look
this could take hours it could take days
it could even take weeks and all of that
time you get to go
work make money do live your life do
whatever it is you're going to do while I
take the beating from the dealerships
right and so yeah it's $900
out of your pocket but what can
you go do with all that time you're getting back
now and I just not enough absolutely that way
but you know that's really the service you're
offering yeah and I've had a lot of people
that didn't have
many shekels right yeah but
they hired me and they were like
the hands down way
better than putting that thousand down as a down payment
you just saved me so
much money time energy I don't know
if I would have ever got that interest rate I
thought my trade wasn't worth anything like
wow wouldn't like money
well spent and they wouldn't have known unless
they just pulled the trigger went with their heart
or their gut and tried it yeah
yeah so I think it's fair to say that you're probably
with
maybe the exception of
those ultra impossible to get
cars that just have a
massive supply and demand imbalance you're
you're probably on average getting people
huge value
way in excess of the 900 they spend
100% dog I mean and
just just to like
add to that
the
probably half my clients by warranties right
yeah and if I don't
help them negotiate the price at the dealership
on the warranty which a lot of times
I do they'll put me on the phone in the finance
office and you know we'll be looking at
like a $4,000 Toyota warranty
I know is only going to be $2,500
if we talk to the guy he comes down
awesome we got a better deal they
just saved what they spent on me
yep on the warranty they would have bought for
rent and not know any better right exactly
and they got my service for free
so you know the values there in
so many ways a lot of people get hyper
focused on the price and that's all they
think about they don't realize all the other
facets to a car deal 100%
100% so
yeah I mean otherwise
if people couldn't see the value
then DoorDash wouldn't exist that's for sure
for sure because it's
expensive but you know if you're like hey I don't
want to get in the car and drive to
a place to eat then yeah anyway
so
just kind of in closing here what do you
see for 2026 as far as the market
is concerned are you
are you thinking that we're going to finally
start to see interest rates drop
is it going to be a big year for incentivizing
or just is it going to be or we can
have some other tariff related curveball
coming our way that we can't predict right now
so every time I've made a
like this is what's going to happen to prediction
it's been dead wrong
because yeah just because it's so volatile
and it changes so
for so many different reasons it seems like
that things change but
I think it's going to be a perpetuation
of last year there's going to be
some hit or misses that dealerships are
selling hot you know like the Grand
Highlanders and the Lexus GX550s
that they're going to be able to market adjust
there's going to be our losers
I think this is a learning
period for manufacturers
and you know they're going to
trial and error on things and
something is going to be losers but we're going to
get it straight this is just going to be
a perpetuation I think of last year
and deals it's definitely a consumers market
it's getting better for us for sure
100%
yeah I'm glad you brought up the
manufacturers because what I what we
started to see last year and
I think we're going to see a lot more of is that
and I give social media a lot of credit
for this by the way
manufacturers are listening
to their consumers in ways
that they historically never did
right and the fact
that now I mean because it used to be
and a lot of people might not realize this but it used to be
just
small hand selected
focus groups
that come in
answer some questions from a manufacturer maybe they look at some
upcoming products they get some feedback that way
now everything they do
everything they reveal every decision they make
is getting
released or roasted in real time
by the whole world
so you're awesome
it is
and you're seeing people
or manufacturers walk back decisions that they made
now again a lot of what we're seeing
right now and
I'm just kind of going on a tangent here but I think it's
important for people to understand this
that engine downsizing
and other decisions
that people see and they're like why would they do this
it's like you have to understand that there was
a ton of pressure from regulators
and governments of the world
to do things like that
otherwise they would pay massive massive
fines
so
like you know Stalantis really going through it with
a lot of their products like on the dodge side
getting rid of the hemi and all this and they're like
why on earth would they do that
well they thought they were looking at billions of dollars in fines
and so it's nice to see some regulation
get scaled back so that we can all kind of
get back to what consumers want to buy
but yeah I see manufacturers
making they're changing course
in record speed now
and I think that's because of people
utilizing social media to let their voice be
heard about how they feel about things
absolutely I agree with that
so it's going to be an exciting year I'm optimistic
that the industry is
trending towards normalcy
and that means consumer market right
like it is almost
always been I think that's good for the market
in general because it forces dealers to be better
sure I think guys like yourself
to Doug you Russ other guys that
are actually on the other side of the desk for me right
that are working in the industry
hands-on with consumers
putting out good material like you do
and like Texas car guy just came about
he's been doing a lot of stuff I love that
GM's getting on there
being positive running the team
everything you guys do and embody is
awesome for the business because
it shows people there's good people good dealerships
and that
not everybody is the picture that
guys like me unfortunately have to paint
yeah exactly
so well awesome
well Billy I really appreciate you being here with me today
any closing thoughts that you have
I just want to say thanks man I was like
totally taken back when you even asked me to be on here
so I really appreciate it man
now I mean the pleasure is mine
it's been fun getting to know you
over the last it's about a year and
a half now that I've been doing this but you were one of the
the first kind of accounts that came across
and I
I just I know that a lot of dealerships
don't like you because of what they believe
that you're doing
I think that what you're doing is a good
thing and when and the way
I look at it is that if consumers are willing
to hire you
then that is just
proof that overall
the industry has a lot of work to do
yeah right because like you said
somebody like even
myself or another salesman or somewhere
else could be saying something to a
customer and they're like
I don't believe it no
right and then you come in and you say no
actually that is correct and immediately
the trust is there because they trust
you and not that manager
they're talking to and it just proves that
we have a lot of work to do as an industry
to repair their trust and to provide a better experience
my hope is
I put up a map on my website that
just any time I have a good experience at a dealership
I
put them on my map and if I have a customer
a person there that I work with
then I'll reach out to that dealership
when I'm in that area first right
and I do that with hopes that everybody will go
to my map on my website when they're shopping
and only look at the dealerships that I've
had good results with that didn't do any of the
quote-unquote shady things
and I never put any of
the bad dealerships on there so I'm just
only pushing you to good ones and eventually
hopefully if we all go to the right places
the bad ones will go away
and that's amazing that you're doing that because
that's basically free information
for the public right
well awesome
well Billy I appreciate you very much
thanks for being here and until next time
talk to you
pleasure was all mine thank you
About this episode
Billy the Car Kid shares his journey from a successful car salesperson to a negotiator helping consumers buy cars confidently. He discusses the challenges of the dealership world, emphasizing the importance of transparency and accountability in the industry. With insights on consumer behavior and dealership practices, Billy highlights the need for better experiences in car buying. He also touches on the evolving landscape of automotive sales, including the impact of technology and social media on consumer expectations and dealership accountability.
Original notes
Welcome to The Doug Horner Show, an original series spotlighting timely, relevant dialogue across customer experience, agent performance, dealership culture, and innovation in retail automotive.
Hosted by Doug Horner, General Sales Manager at Mercedes-Benz of North Olmsted and a rising voice in automotive social media, this new podcast brings a transparent, high-energy perspective to dealership operations, leadership, and digital engagement.
Known online as @BenzsandBowties, he has amassed 500K+ followers and 25MM+ viewers monthly across his channels where he often blends humor into content resonating with agents, operators, and customers alike with authenticity and real-world dealership insights.
"We all are consuming social media all day long every day,” Horner shared in a recent Car Dealership Guy interview. “If everyone is doing this all day long, then that's where we need to be.”
The Doug Horner Show dives into what drives dealership success today through candid conversations with respected industry leaders, performance coaches and digital creators shaping modern automotive culture.
Episode 4 - I sit down with William Bridges, better known as Billy The Car Kid. Billy started selling cars after owning his own business in Montana and quickly realized he was better than everyone around him, selling over 40 cars per month before transitioning to management. After starting at a store that did business the right way, he transitioned to dealership closer to home that did business much differently; quickly souring his views on dealership life and pushing him into a new business on the other side of the desk.. negotiating and helping car shoppers, many of them first time car buyers, get the car of their dreams without being taken advantage of.
About Doug Horner
Doug Horner is General Sales Manager at luxury dealership, Mercedes-Benz North Olmsted, and the creator of @BenzsandBowties, a brand centered on real dealership culture and leadership perspective, and the joy of the work, as an auto industry influencer.
About CallRevu
CallRevu is the leading communication intelligence platform built for automotive retail—empowering dealerships to take control of every conversation, from the first ring to the final result. Our holistic solution combines an automotive-specific hosted phone system, call monitoring, performance training, and reputation management–fueled by AI-powered analytics that turn every customer interaction into actional intelligence. Founded in a dealership in 2008, CallRevu was created by the industry, for the industry to drive revenue, improve performance, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Learn more at www.CallRevu.com
The Doug Horner Show
Doug Horner
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