Greensboro is a city in North Carolina. The host is saying Porsche plans to build a facility there, which can affect how cars are handled and moved around.
“Used ultra luxury vehicles” means very expensive, high-end cars that are being sold again as pre-owned. The host is saying people still want them and prices aren’t dropping much.
Collector interest means car enthusiasts are actively buying certain models. When that happens, prices can stay strong because more people want the same cars.
“Mannheim data” is market information coming from a big vehicle auction/remarketing operation. Here it’s used to show how many cars are trading and how much supply dealers have.
“33 day supply” is a way to estimate how long the current stock of cars will last before it runs out. Fewer days usually means cars are harder to find, which can help keep prices up.
“Inventory skews older” means the cars available are mostly older model years. That can change what buyers expect and what kinds of problems or maintenance issues show up.
This means buying cars through auctions in person and also through online auctions. The host is saying dealers should use both so they don’t miss out when one channel is tight.
“Geographic search” means looking for cars farther away instead of only nearby. When local supply is tight, widening the search helps dealers find more options.
“Sub 10 K units” means cars that cost less than $10,000. The point is that these cheaper cars can help bring people to the dealer even if they later buy something else.
“Website search traffic” is how many people find a dealer’s website through online searches. The host is saying certain inventory choices can increase that traffic.
Term
buy up
“Buy up” means someone comes in looking for a cheaper car but ends up buying a more expensive one. The host is describing how low-cost listings can lead to higher sales.
CDK’s “ease of purchase score” is a measure of how smooth the car-buying process is for customers. The host says the score fell, which suggests buying felt harder in June than in May.
“Vehicle availability” means whether shoppers can actually find the car they want. The host says more buyers found their vehicle in stock in June than in May.
Topic
CDK score for agreeing on a final price
They’re talking about a metric that measures how often buyers and dealers can agree on the final price. The point is that the problem isn’t just cars being available—it’s the deal process itself.
F&I means the “finance and insurance” part of buying a car at the dealership. After you agree on the price, they set up the loan and offer add-ons like warranties or insurance, which can feel frustrating if it’s not handled clearly.
When you trade in a car, the dealer has to decide what it’s worth. “Valuations” here means the numbers they use for your trade, and if that part is unclear, it can make the whole deal feel frustrating.
Nissan is the car company in this story. They’re talking about how Nissan is changing its sales strategy so dealers and customers have a better experience and the cars hold their value better.
Person
Yvonne Ivan Espinosa
Yvonne Ivan Espinosa is the Nissan executive being quoted. She’s saying Nissan wants to stop chasing sales volume with big discounts and fleet deals, because that can hurt the brand and car values.
Resale value is how much your car is likely to be worth when you sell it later. The idea here is that if a brand sells cars with big discounts (especially to fleets), those cars can end up worth less on the used market.
Fleet sales are when companies buy lots of cars at once for their own use. If a brand sells too many cars this way, it can lead to bigger discounts and can hurt how the cars hold their value later.
The rental market is where rental companies buy cars to rent to customers. If a brand is too present in rentals, those cars can flood the used market and affect how the brand’s vehicles are valued later.
CRM is a computer system dealers use to keep track of customers. It helps them log leads and organize follow-ups so sales teams don’t lose track of people who might buy or sell.
An internet lead is someone who reaches out to a dealership online. The dealer then tracks that person in their system to follow up and try to turn them into a sale.
Here, “showroom” means someone came to the dealership in person. Dealers track that separately because it often leads to different next steps than an online or phone inquiry.
A phone lead is someone who calls the dealership to ask about a car. Dealers track it so sales teams can respond quickly and keep the customer engaged.
Affordability means whether people can comfortably afford the car costs. If payments feel too high, shoppers tend to take longer to decide and may delay contacting the dealer.
Extended follow up is a longer, multi-touch sales process after the initial contact, rather than a quick first response. In lead management, it’s often measured by how long customers shop before submitting a lead and how dealers re-engage them over time.
Qualitative lapses are mistakes in how something is done—like giving unclear answers or not communicating well. Here, they mean problems in the customer experience.
Mystery shopping means someone pretends to be a customer to see how the dealership treats people. The dealership then uses what they learn to improve training.
CDK is a company that makes software dealerships use to run their day-to-day business. So a “CDK stat” means a data result based on what dealerships using CDK are seeing.
“Brick and mortar” here means in-person dealership shopping—customers completing the sales process at the physical store rather than fully online. The host uses it to highlight that many buyers still prefer dealership visits for test drives and final paperwork.
A “CDP” is a tool that gathers customer info from different places and puts it into one place. Dealerships use it to message the right people with better information instead of relying on incomplete or incorrect customer records.
DriveCentric is a dealership-focused technology provider that the host says they partnered with to deploy a CDP. The mention is relevant because it ties the CDP concept to a specific vendor and a “go live to market” timeline.
ROI means “did the money spent pay off?” It compares the results you get to the cost of the project. Here, they’re wondering what kind of payoff the CDP will produce.
A “book of business” is basically the dealership’s list of customers it already has relationships with. It helps them estimate how many of those customers might be ready to buy again.
Brand
Patriot, Chevrolet of Limerick
This is the dealership they’re talking about—Chevrolet of Limerick, associated with Patriot. It matters because the conversation is about how that specific store handles sales and inventory.
Pat Malloy is the dealership general manager. He’s sharing how his store uses customer data and service activity to drive sales and used-car inventory.
Here “acquisition” means getting new customers. They’re talking about how the dealership sources cars and sets pricing, and how that connects to their marketing/data changes.
ACV Max is a service dealerships use to find and buy used cars. The speaker is saying it’s been working well for them.
Term
sell my car leads
These are customer requests from people who want to sell their car. Dealerships use those leads to find cars to buy, then they fix them up and resell them.
Carfax provides a vehicle history report. Dealers use it to learn about a used car’s past so they can judge risk and value before buying.
Term
KBBICOs
This sounds like a type of car-selling lead tied to Kelley Blue Book. Here it’s being mentioned as another way dealerships get people who want to sell their cars.
Term
Gurus
“Gurus” here is a company/service that supplies car-selling leads to dealerships. The dealership then follows up to buy the cars.
Term
unique bins
They’re grouping leads into separate categories to measure results. That way they can see which kinds of leads convert better.
It means keeping in touch with a car seller for a while, not just right away. The longer you keep working the lead, the better your chances of actually buying the car.
A “buy center” is a team that buys cars for multiple dealership locations. Instead of each store buying on its own, the central team handles the purchasing.
Term
use car inventory
That means the used cars the dealership has on hand. Having control over inventory helps them buy cars from leads and sell them faster.
“Recon” means getting a used car ready to sell—fixing it up and doing the work needed so it’s in good condition for customers.
Term
auto group
An auto group is a company that runs multiple car dealerships. They’re discussing whether buying cars should be controlled by each store or by the group centrally.
Term
Portability Tracker
“Portability Tracker” sounds like a monthly report they put out to track changes in the car market. In this discussion, it’s part of their regular set of data tools.
“EV studies” are reports that track how electric cars are doing in the market. The hosts are saying they publish these updates on a regular schedule to watch EV trends.
“Bestseller prices” means the prices of the cars that sell the most. The hosts are saying those popular cars are getting more expensive faster than the market overall.
A “K-shaped economy” means the economy is helping some people a lot more than others. In car terms, that can make nicer cars get more expensive faster because the people who can afford them are still spending.
Mercedes-Benz and BMW are luxury car brands. The hosts are saying that when wealthier buyers keep buying, prices for these kinds of cars can rise faster than for cheaper cars.
The Toyota Camry is a common, mass-market car. The point of mentioning it is that most Camry buyers aren’t the same group driving up prices for luxury brands.
Concept
tariffs of the reshoring of manufacturing to the U.S.
Tariffs and reshoring can make it more expensive to build cars or move parts around. If costs stay high and factories take time to ramp up, car prices may stay elevated instead of dropping.
Production constraints means the factory can’t make enough cars fast enough. If there aren’t enough vehicles available, prices tend to go up because buyers compete for the limited supply.
“Hybrid only” means the vehicle is sold only as a hybrid, not as a regular gas model. If switching to hybrid-only makes production harder at first, there may be fewer cars available, which can raise prices.
Concept
production ramping all the way up to the full capacity
Ramping up production means the factory is gradually increasing how many cars it can build. Early on, it may not be enough to meet demand, so cars become harder to find and prices can rise.
Average transaction price is the average amount people are actually paying when they buy cars. It can be higher than the base price because buyers choose higher trims and options, and because incentives may be smaller.
The Ford Explorer is a popular SUV from Ford. Here it’s mentioned because it sells a lot, even though it might not always be considered the cheapest option.
The Nissan Rogue is a very common compact SUV. In this discussion, they’re saying its prices when people buy it went up, which they see as good for Nissan and for the market.
Transaction price is the real price someone ends up paying for a car. Here they’re saying those real prices went up, which they interpret as a healthier market.
“Resell” means what the car is worth later if you sell it. They’re saying if a car holds its value well, it makes leasing easier and can help with monthly payment affordability.
Leasing means you rent the car for a period of time and pay for the portion of the car’s value you use. They’re saying more leasing can make monthly payments feel more affordable.
Rental fleets are the big batches of cars rental companies keep in service. They’re saying it’s good when automakers don’t send too many of a model into rentals.
The compact SUV market is the group of smaller SUVs that lots of people shop for. The host says it’s extremely competitive, so pricing and sales trends can swing quickly.
The Toyota RAV4 is one of the most popular compact SUVs. The hosts are talking about how it stacks up in reviews and why Toyota can keep demand strong.
The Volkswagen Tiguan is a compact SUV that people compare with other popular crossovers. The point here is that it tends to score well in reviews compared to some alternatives.
This is a way of setting up discounts for employees that can also influence what regular buyers see as the “real” price. The big idea is that instead of using incentives to lower the deal, the discount gets reflected more directly in the sticker price.
Here, “incentives” means money-off deals offered to help you pay less. The host is saying the discount can be moved from these offers into the listed price instead.
Sticker price is the number printed on the car’s price tag/window sticker. The host is saying the deal can be structured so the discount shows up more in that printed price.
At most dealerships, the “F&I office” is where they handle the paperwork and the money side of the deal. That’s where you may talk about financing and extra products that aren’t part of the car’s base price.
An “ease of purchase study” is basically a way to measure how easy it is for customers to complete a car-buying transaction. They’re saying the way pricing is structured can make the process feel better or worse.
“Outdoor price” here appears to mean the customer’s final purchase price—often called the out-the-door price—after combining the vehicle price with required fees and taxes. The speaker contrasts it with incentives, noting that if incentives drop, the out-the-door number can still be lower under employee-pricing-style structures.
The Ford F-150 is a very popular full-size pickup truck. They’re using it as an example of how the actual prices people pay are changing with the dealership pricing approach.
The FTC is a U.S. government agency that helps protect consumers. If they send a letter about car pricing or financing, it usually means they want companies to be clearer and follow consumer-protection rules.
This sounds like the name of a big car company (likely Stellantis). The host is saying that company has also tried discount and pricing tactics to sell more cars.
GM is one of the big car companies in the U.S. The point here is that GM has used discount-style sales tactics before, similar to what’s being discussed.
F&I (finance and insurance) is the part of the dealership visit where you talk about the loan and optional add-ons. The host’s point is that if the deal changes between the sales desk and finance desk, it can feel worse even if you still end up buying.
Inventory availability means whether dealers have enough cars in stock for shoppers to pick from. If there are more choices available, buying tends to feel easier to customers.
This refers to people who already drive an electric car. The host is saying that after owning an EV, most of them don’t want to switch to gas or hybrid next.
This means traditional gas cars or cars that use both gas and electricity. The host is using it to see whether EV drivers would switch to those types instead of staying with EVs.
This is a survey-based measure of how likely customers are to stay with what they bought. The host says EV owners are showing very high loyalty, which helps explain why fewer people consider switching to gas or hybrid.
Battery replacement means swapping out the big battery pack in an electric car. The hosts say some owners reported it as a problem, and dealers need to explain it without scaring customers.
An EV battery warranty is the promise from the maker to pay for certain battery problems. In this discussion, they’re saying it often still covers the battery even if the car changes owners.
Battery degradation means the battery slowly holds less charge as the car ages. They’re saying newer EV batteries are losing capacity more slowly than before.
LIVE
We're doing better as a result of social media presence.
It doesn't do those three things, then it's on the chopping block.
It's in return on investment discussion.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Daily Dealer Live.
I'm your host, Sam Dark, and thanks for choosing to be here with us this Wednesday, July the 8th, this first full week in July.
Coming up today, we've got a great show. Dennis Gingrich joins the show to talk about and give us an update on his CRM transition.
What has he done on a CDP, if anything, and what strategies is he implementing to win in the North California highly competitive marketplace this July of 2026?
Then CDK's brand new affordability tracker just went live this morning and it says the affordable bestsellers, well, they're climbing at price twice as fast as the rest of the market.
We'll get into what that actually means for you and your lot as Dave Thomas joins the show.
And then a GM who says there's no silver bullet to growth, just execution, discipline, and inspecting what you expect.
He's built three stores on that alone and he's telling us how.
And as a reminder to our loyal listening audience, you all are out there.
Thanks for being there.
We're streaming live across all CDG social media platforms.
Join us in the chat.
We'll bring you and your comments into today's show.
But first, let's hit today's automotive industry headlines.
Today we lead off with a story near and dear to Ziggler Auto Group.
We've got a close relationship with the Hendrick Auto Group, which has just acquired foreign cars, Italia Charlotte and foreign cars, Italia Greensboro from Paramount Automotive Group owned by Benny Yont in a deal that closed June 30th, which added Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, and Maserati to the Hendrick portfolio for the very first time along with a third Porsche franchise.
The two North Carolina properties span more than 15 acres and 100,000 square feet and Hendrick purchased the land on both sides.
Foreign cars Italia has been the exclusive Ferrari retailer for the Carolinas since the 90s, 1993 to be exact, serving a combined market of 16 million people.
Hendrick now owns more than 100 dealerships across 12 states with 31 manufacturer name plates and the Carolina acquisition adds roughly 130 employees to a workforce of more than 11,000 employees.
Rick Hendrick told CDG News he first tried to buy Yont's operation 30 years ago.
They stayed friends with him in the years since and has been one of his customers.
The deal finally came together after a text and a photo of Hendrick's personal car collection.
Plans include a new Porsche facility in Greensboro, a new Ferrari facility in Charlotte and a Ferrari satellite operation in Raleigh.
Hendrick says demand for used ultra luxury vehicles.
Well, it remains strong with collector interest and values on exotic models holding very firm up next today.
New Mannheim data shows the auction averaging 150,000 transactions per month for vehicles under 10,000 bucks.
It's a segment where viado data clocks just a 33 day supply.
That's tight in May, the tightest of any pricing tier.
The inventory skews older primary vehicles between seven and 15 years old with Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota and Honda well represented.
The catch for Mannheim AVP of business intelligence Mark Ollers is that these vehicles don't stay local.
Registration data shows many end up hundreds of miles sometimes state away from where they originally sold.
The practical takeaway is about sourcing strategy.
Mannheim VP of digital Connie Suzo says dealers need to work both physical and digital auction channels consistently, not just one or the other,
and be willing to expand their geographic search.
Ollers adds that stocking sub 10 K units isn't just about moving that inventory.
It drives website search traffic.
It pulls shoppers onto the lot who might ultimately buy up Cox Automotive's Q2 dealer sent an attempt to a survey
showed independent dealers at a three year confidence low on used inventory.
But the Mannheim data is clear.
The vehicles are there.
The effort just has to match the opportunity.
Moving on today, CDK's ease of purchase score dropped seven points from May to June.
We'll have Dave Thomas on today to talk about that falling from 87 to 80%.
That's the wrong direction and pushing consumer sentiment close to its lowest level on record.
Even his vehicle availability actually improved more than half of buyers.
55% found their vehicle in stock in June up from 48% in May and 77% completed the full purchase at the dealership.
The highest share recorded in the four year history of CDK's scorecard.
The problem.
It wasn't inventory.
It was the deal itself.
CDK score for agreeing on a final price fell from 71% to 63.
Trading agreements dropped from 59 to 51 and ease with the credit app.
That slipped from 67 to 61%.
The numbers make clear the operational execution.
It's now the primary battleground for customer satisfaction, not availability.
Buyers are showing up and finding cars and they're leaving frustrated by the negotiation and financing process.
Dealers that can tighten the pricing conversation bring more transparency to trade and valuations and streamline F&I.
They'll have a measurable advantage in the back half of the year.
To close out today's news, CEO Nissan, CEO Yvonne Ivan Espinosa is drawing a hard line on the volume at all costs approach that defined the brand's last decade.
Speaking to Reuters, Espinosa said Nissan pushed too aggressively for market share, relying on steep discounts and heavy fleet sales that dealers say damaged resale values and diluted the brand's image.
Before it was like, okay, we want volume, volume, volume, quote.
This is not a good way of operating a car company, Espinosa said, adding that he wants to stay largely away from the rental market.
Go forward, props to Nissan as an aside on that.
The shift is already showing up in the numbers.
Nissan's posted 16 consecutive months of year-over-year retail sales growth with Q2 2026.
U.S. sales up 9.6% to 242,741 units.
The brand also ranked second among mass market brands in the 2026 JD Power initial quality study with the rogue taking the top spot in compact SUVs.
For Nissan dealers, a sustained move away from fleet volume should mean healthier residuals, stronger brand equity, and a more defensible margin structure over time.
And that, in addition to being great news for Nissan dealers and the OEM overall, is a wrap on today's automotive industry headlines.
All right, let's turn to the chat.
JJ on the job, super excited for today's show, great guest.
Dan C says, didn't realize that Hendrik would be setting up a satellite Ferrari store and rally.
Good to hear a growing market for sure.
And Dale in process, progress website filled with pop-ups come inside the dealer and it's taking hours to get a deal done.
Dealership needs to more one-to-one contact purchasing.
I should have just dealt with one person the entire time.
And I'm excited today because we got to have the conversation with Dave Thomas about what a lot of these surveys and a lot of this data means to us.
But before we go into that conversation, let's kick off today's show with not totally in case you're in the chat, you got to chime in.
Dennis Gingrich, sales and finance director at the NELO company.
Dennis, welcome back to the show.
Hey, good morning, Sam.
Good to have you here.
You know, I know sometimes it's an argument who's on.
You are totally one of these times we need to have you both on together and we'll finally have the grudge match out, right?
Again, so.
I think it'd be great.
The octagon, the virtual octagon.
Yes, yes.
Hey, Dennis, last time we talked, you were on the stage with me at NADA.
We had a cool setup there and you were talking about changing your CRM.
There were a couple of things to update us on.
Where does the CRM shift change now?
That's a big lift.
How did it go?
Where are you today?
And has it been a positive change that has improved sales?
Yeah.
So at the NELO company, we decided to change the CRM really this time last year.
You know, we had a long standing relationship with another.
We moved over to drive centric literally a year ago.
We had a couple more stores started at the beginning of August, but nobody died.
We got a lot of positive feedback.
And, you know, overall, you know, internally employee sentiment about it has been good.
And, you know, the nice thing about it is just really increased our visibility into the,
you know, the day to day operations.
You know, it's easier to find qualitative and trends so we can, you know, quickly adjust
and just get better.
You made the comment about the operational execution.
I think it's a lot easier for us with our, you know, the new look.
Yeah.
So operational execution has increased as a result of the shift.
What's taken longer or been tougher as part of that transition?
Again, a big lift in automotive to change your CRM.
What's taken longer or been tougher?
You know, that's a good question.
You know, I can't think of really anything that's been longer or tougher.
You know, I, you know, rolling out new tech, you know, with people is always, you know,
a big lift, but I would say, you know, the transition went in quickly.
You know, I just don't think anything longer or tougher doesn't come to mind
aside, you know, normal change management, but that went swimmingly well.
So, yeah.
Are you able to get better insights and reportings into sales trends?
I mean, you know, we're seeing a lot of these different tools that are now becoming more
AI-infused.
Are there insights that you get as a result of the shift to a newer tool, updated tool?
Yeah, absolutely.
That has been, you know, really eye-opening.
You know, we validated some things we could see before, but, you know, a lot of the, you
know, the reports and stats that are coming out, how long people are, you know, shopping
before they submit a lead.
We know leads are down, but, you know, one thing we've really been focusing on lately,
not only for the, you know, the traditional, you know, endemic lead where I want to buy
a car, but even more when it comes to people that want to sell their car is we found over
the, you know, the previous 90 days, you know, about 48% of our car deals were happening
once we opened an opportunity within the CRM, whether we got an internet lead, a phone lead,
a showroom, or whatever the case may be.
And, you know, so that leaves 52%, which, you know, seemingly people are shopping longer,
you know, and I think with affordability, probably driving that a little bit.
And then, you know, then it was really easy to see, hey, what did our extended follow up
look like?
And I think, you know, the industry has talked about a lot about AI solving that I think it's
more supporting doing better at that and surfacing, you know, when people engage, but, you know,
our, you know, our outreach by human beings, the sales advisors, the sales managers with
phone and video, you know, that needed to increase.
That's something we've been focusing on since we unearthed that insight.
And, you know, we're starting to see progress on that.
What metric allowed you to unearth that?
And was it the ability of having the metric that helped you see something you didn't see
before, or do you think it's a trend that consumers are taking longer to pull the trigger?
I think it put a magnifying glass on it because there, you know, there's a great report in
there.
It's, you know, I can't remember the exact name, but it's like days to delivered or whatever.
And it just puts them all days one through four or five through 10 and so on and so forth.
And then you just look at that.
And then there's a similar report about lead engagement, you know, and you started looking
at, you know, day one, what percentage of those leads or opportunities we're getting
a follow up from a human being day 2345 and on down.
And you could just see a, you know, a really big drop off there.
And it just became really, really clear that if, you know, 52% of our deals are happening
day five and beyond after that initial, you know, engagement, and then your follow up
doesn't match that.
It means they're at least my interpretation that our team needed to be more engaged longer.
So that's a big area of focus and, you know, and specifically with, you know, acquisition
leads, people that want to sell their car, which oftentimes I think they want to buy a
car and they're starting with their trade value.
And that was, that just took me to a dark place when I looked at those specifically.
So, so that was outside the range of your typical follow up.
How did you engage with salespeople, BDC, managers and everyone else to say, Hey, look,
we need to try harder longer.
And what were the strategies for continuing to engage?
Was AI, you mentioned video, you mentioned some other techniques.
What, what are you doing to capture that 52% that maybe went away previously?
You know, really that just seeing that metric, right?
I mean, data is such a, you know, you can do, you can get analysis paralysis by data.
But, you know, when you see something that's so glaringly obvious, you know, and with, you
know, with the various reports we're looking at, we're measuring, we're monitoring and
just keeping it top of mind in our, you know, our day to day operation.
You know, that was the start.
You know, we had a great meeting with our general managers and then follow up.
We had a lot of the sales managers, some of our acquisition specialists.
It's something we talk about in, you know, in our email communication and everything.
And it's just consistent that we talk about.
And then, you know, when you look at the data and you present it that way, you know, I think,
you know, I don't want to say everyone at the Nilo company.
I want to, you know, most everyone is like, okay, that makes, that makes sense.
You know, the data is there, you know.
So, so, so how are you engaging with those customers about 52% out by the traditional range?
You mentioned video.
What's the, what's the tool you're using on the video?
And how are you creating video in, in July of 2026 that consumers are engaging with?
Do you have new metrics that show you what percent are engaged and what the ROI is
and not extended range engagement with video Dennis?
Yeah, we're within drive centric videos native.
So that's great.
You know, everything is in one place, which really helps just manage execution.
But we're, we're leaning into the team with, you know, just doing personalized walk around videos.
You know, lightening the mood a little bit seems to work.
There's a great little text message.
If anybody remembers finding Nemo the little gal with the braces when somebody goes dark.
You know, and then picking up the phone.
I mean, just, just yesterday, you know, we, you know, you call, they don't answer because obviously
people are busy doing things and it's just, you know, the old saying persistence removes resistance.
Just because the customer doesn't answer doesn't mean they don't want to talk to you
because they reached out to us first.
So, you know, just being persistent and picking up the phone and, you know, that in and of itself
just leaning into the team to do the things that AI is not doing for us, phone and video.
We're seeing our engagement rates go up.
You know, our video, like our show rate when we do a day of appointment confirmation video,
our show rates, you know, ranges anywhere between right around seven and eight percent better
than if we don't do that video.
So it's just, you know, we need to get more people in our showroom.
Like our biggest opportunity is, you know, once we get a customer engaged,
two-way communication with our customers, roughly 19 percent show up as a visit and, you know,
drive centric.
Some of their better performers in that regard are between 22 and 25 percent, you know.
So that tells me I need to be more persistent in my outbound because once I can get people
into our showroom floors, we close it, you know, we're top tier in that regard.
But persistence without training the right message can be frustrating to the consumer, right?
So I think one of the challenges is, what does that messaging look like?
How do you connect with the customer using that video?
And it sounds like you've found some ways to do it, but, you know, if you're not going to let AI do it,
you know, salespeople that maybe aren't well trained doing that outreach,
I'm always curious, you know, are they the best option at this point, right?
Do they know how to speak good?
Well, that really is...
That's why there's managers.
That's where their leaders, in my opinion, to really coach and, you know,
improve the qualitative piece, right?
You know, currently, you know, I know drive centric, you know, they're working on some things
that are going to be coming out soon where they're going to be, you know, helping us.
I should say, quickly identify qualitative lapses, which that's huge.
So currently, you know, I've got, you know, a great team.
I've got Tiffany, Michelle, and Kristen, they're always rifling through the CRM.
We're watching first responses, making sure that, you know, the key thing is in quality,
in my opinion, is are you answering the customer's question?
We had some mystery shops at two of our stores through Porsche, and they weren't good.
You know, we didn't hit the mark, and I really don't care that they were...
I care that they were... I wish they were better, right?
But I don't care, but what I really care about is the managers taking the feedback from these mystery shops
and really having a training session around that, not like, oh, you know, Sammy did a terrible job,
but hey, what could we have done better but simple things on the qualitative?
If a customer is asking a question, put the answer in the subject line of the email
because, Sam, you know this, I know this.
You don't want to go search for it.
They're busy, and then they need to come back to it.
If you can't make it easy for them to find the response, like, you're dead, you know?
But that's part of my argument, though, Dennis, is I think in July of 2026,
not every sales consultant, salesperson in the industry is well trained to deliver that way, right?
Because that strategy of putting the response in the subject line, gold.
But it's not intuitive to a lot of people that aren't communicating every single day.
Well, and I think the only way to, you know, in my opinion, right?
Because humans, you know, we all have our frailties, every single one of us, right?
And, you know, it's just... it just comes with being consistent, having eyeballs on it, you know?
Because we're never going to be perfect.
You know, these guys that come on and talk about, oh, we're going to be 100% at blank.
100% like, no, you're not.
Just be a B student.
That's what we talk about.
If I just get B students, we're going to be just fine.
There's no Bs here on Daily Deal Alive, Dennis.
It's only the elite A's.
So, Dale in progress.
There you go.
Dale in progress talking, coming into the chat.
I said, Dennis, let's say speaking of ease of purchase, I show up in your showroom at 2pm with a vehicle.
And I'm like, how fast do I get out the door if he's found the vehicle, Dale, in progress at your dealership, Dennis?
You know, I really believe, you know, I know everybody talks about this in and out in an hour.
And I just, you know, like honestly, if I put a number, everything's good, you know, there's no like, you know, credit things to solve.
And hell, that could have been done before someone that comes in on a vehicle.
That's all done.
You know, I really think we can get you out the door in an hour, an hour and 15 minutes.
But, you know, I think the, you know, that's best case scenario.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, it's interesting to me too.
And I think it was a CDK stat at the beginning of the ad read.
I'm surprised 70 some odd percent of customers are still completing the process start to finish brick and mortar in the dealership.
So it still shows that there is a strong preference towards coming in and transacting that purchase, maybe the test drive and final paperwork there in brick and mortar.
And we've got to continue to be elite.
All right, let's transition for just a minute.
The other thing that'd be frustrating when you talk about fall up with consumers is trying to reach out to a consumer on bad data.
You talked at Dennis NADA about you are looking at CDPs.
I think it's interesting.
A lot of dealers in the industry are talking about, they're trying to figure it out.
Many have not yet pulled the trigger.
Large companies, big and small, are doing things around CDPs.
Have you made a move?
And if so, where have you gone?
Yeah, we've made a move.
You know, we partnered with DriveCentric.
I know they announced it in NADA that their intent is to go live to market and Q4 with, you know, with a CDP.
And, you know, we had some conversations and we are excited to partner with them.
And, you know, and building that, I know they've got another dealer group in the country that's doing it alongside and working in tandem with them yesterday.
Dennis, they told you they had another dealer group.
They did.
You're really the only one.
I felt like the only one.
They made me feel really special, which counts.
And you are.
Yeah, you are.
All right, sorry, go ahead.
But, you know, we went down that route yet, you know, we're having weekly update calls and, you know, it's really amazing.
Just, you know, obviously we talked about some of the insights they've unearthed.
There's some really great stuff.
I think they're going about it responsibly.
They, you know, they've got some new stuff.
We were talking about, hey, how do you coach and mentor your salespeople to do those, you know, the subject line answer, for example.
You know, they've got a performance agent in there that is, you know, just looking at your individual performers and putting these metrics so we can easily coach and mentor.
We've got some data hygiene that's taking hold across the rooftops.
You can see phone numbers and emails getting updated vehicles are being removed from garages.
You know, that's going on.
We're starting to ingest, you know, service data, which is really, really interesting.
We just went, I think they turned it on a week or two ago, the service to sales agent where, you know, and it's crazy.
A few months ago I had a meeting I can't even remember and they're talking about like installing cameras all over the lot.
Let me know when a car I want comes in the drive.
I'm like, God, that sounds over engineered.
But, you know, we booked the appointment and we're able to control the cadence and it's like, hey, thanks for coming in for your service appointment.
Can we get you a value on your, on your vehicle?
And we're getting customers say, yeah, I would, I would love that.
And now we're able to segment to a specific group of people because I really think the value of a CDP.
And this is an area that Tully and I agree upon is really that service visit is truly the pivot point to where all these marketing messages become super, super important for retaining customers, whether it be for service or sales.
So, so is it true that, that a, that a customer could drive by the lot or through the lot and, and it would ingest that into the CDP and then you mark it based on that drive through?
That was with this video thing.
I, like I had, I mean, whatever, you know, but I, they said that sounded a little extra to me, but whatever, teach their own.
Do you, do you anticipate, do you have any type of an estimate?
You know, we'll catch up with you actually later because I'd be curious what the ROI is.
Once you finally pulled the trigger, you think it'll be live Q4 because you sat on the sidelines for quite a while and didn't pull the trigger and you wanted to see something.
What was it that you wanted to see that made you say, Hey, we're going to do this.
We're going to get our CDP.
Really, it boils down to retention, getting a new customers, you know, A, it's difficult.
B, it's very, very expensive.
We've been in business for over a hundred years.
You know, we really feel like that, you know, I can't remember the stat.
I think I, you know, I heard 3% of our, you know, anybody's CRM or book of business is actively shopping at any given time.
And when you've been in business for a long time, you have a lot of service sales, you know, that's a significant number.
You know, and with all the, you know, when we have clean data and we're getting these other third party data that's starting to wash over, you know, our CDP with drive centric,
all that's going to become very actionable for us, you know, so we can get the right message the right time.
So long term, I'm hoping to reduce dependency on third party and, you know, just win with, you know, branding and taking care of my customers for service and sales.
All right, two questions that we're going to have you back at the round table.
So we need you to hang out.
I forgot to mention that, but we want you to stick around for the round table.
We're going to do it with you and Pat Malloy, General Manager, Patriot, Chevrolet of Limerick.
Let's talk acquisition.
So how is your approach to sourcing and pricing inventory of all Denison?
How much of that ties back to the drive centric shift versus other changes at the store?
Well, I just mentioned that service to sales agent, right?
Because the best used cars really do come out of our service drive and, you know, our stores are getting some wins there.
We've done some other things with some, you know, with ACV Max.
We got a Viper unit and a couple stores, which is paying dividends, you know, but some of our stores are still, we talked about this yesterday,
are buying third party, you know, sell my car leads, the KBBICOs, Gurus, Carfax, all of them.
And I did a, you know, a six month analysis and, you know, overall across all those leads for the first six months,
we were acquiring it 5.4% and I did that off unique bins, you know, but when you got into like some of our larger volume,
you know, it's two and change, you know, on our two biggest volumes.
And it's important, but it's a difficult number.
I read a stat that, you know, a KBBICOs sell my car lead, they finally sell it 44 days in, right?
And if we go back earlier in my conversation, if I have a problem with long term follow-up,
I'm not going to be able to win an acquisition.
So yesterday we had our June recap, we had all the general managers here in the Nilo company,
and we did talk about centralizing our acquisition department because I am of the opinion,
this is the way I look at with our F and I managers or our compensation plans.
Like if you're great, you should get paid more.
It should suck to suck.
So my feeling is, is if I can get, you know, some high quality guys, a good team,
and that will do the extended follow-up, I really feel like I can, you know,
I could pick up another, you know, 50 use cars a month from those leads.
Did you get buy-in on the buy center?
Because by the way, a lot of people don't, OK, a lot of people don't realize in a leadership position,
a big group where you have GMs running individual stores, they want that control,
they want their own use car inventory, they want to be able to buy it, recon it, sell it.
That's a big deal at an auto group level to be able to get the handraisers to say,
hey, we'll turn that over to you and you can run it.
So when are you going to start, Dennis?
Well, so we have an individual coming in on Monday, you know, that we've been talking to for another position
that we, you know, we went a different direction, not for any other reason than, you know,
at the end of the day, I don't, this is not the People's Republic of Dennis Gingrich.
This is the Nilo company I like having buy-in, you know, and also yesterday in fairness,
we had the people with the right last name in the room.
So I'm always like, are you guys saying it because of the audience?
But I really feel it's going to work out.
I think everybody has to use the upside.
Is there a little bit of concern like, well, am I going to go backwards?
You know, but at the end of the day, I feel like this is something I've been talking about for a while.
The data that we're able to pull out of our CRM, I think, further substantiates it.
And then it's just a question.
How do we distribute the cars that we acquire, you know, and, you know, core goes before.
Yeah, who gets the first shot?
Who gets the first shot, Dennis?
At the end of the day, we're here in Sacramento, and if a customer wants to sell a car,
we, you know, we're going to want to inspect it like, you know, no different than anybody else.
But we've got this big footprint and it's like, hey, where do you want to go to have the inspection done?
So I feel like that whole experience, I can make it better, quicker and acquire more.
And it's just like, hey, we're going to, you know, yeah, there's going to be a little give and take,
but in the aggregate, I believe we're going to win.
We're going to follow up on that with you.
We want to see you as you grow it, build it and execute on it because I think that is something, you know,
you've made a great point today with it.
If we want to be great in automotive today,
we've got to be great longer because it's not a fast process.
So whether it's following up with the customers on the floor, whether it's follow up in service
or whether it's this buy, sell center, Dennis Gingrich.
We wish you luck with that.
We're going to have you back as part of the round table at the end of today's show.
Dennis Gingrich, sales and finance director, Nilo Company.
Thanks for being here and sharing your perspectives.
See you in a bit.
See you in a bit.
All right, let's talk Hague Partners.
Today's episode is brought to you by Hague Partners.
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Learn more at HaguePartners.com and props to Hague for supporting today's content,
including that very fascinating conversation.
Honestly, every time I talk to Dennis, whether it's just a one-on-one conversation,
whatever, or as part of the show, I always learn something.
And this concept that following up longer in all aspects of the business will pay dividends.
I think that actually may bear out in some of the data that Mr. Thomas joins us to share.
In fact, let's dive straight into that.
Dave Thomas, director of content marketing at CDK Global.
Dave Thomas, welcome to the show.
Great to be here, Sam.
Is there something to what Dennis is saying?
Is following up longer a key to success in automotive July of 2026?
Well, none of that specific point, but to a lot of what we're going to be talking about,
a lot of what the numbers are showing us, I do think buyers are getting used to the idea of where prices are right now.
Almost all of our data, like that's the through line.
We'll talk about the best-selling cars and where their prices are going versus overall transaction prices.
But yeah, I think the headlines scream it for months and months and years that cars are more expensive than ever.
But the reality, people are dealing with what's actually real and what's on the ground, what their neighbors are saying.
Cars, they're holding on to them for a long time.
They just can't hold on to them any longer.
They're like, I got to get that car.
I just can't.
And they're seeing those prices and that they're real.
So, you know, that idea of, yeah, maybe they sent a lead on June 1.
And they were kind of like, let's start the summer looking at cars and then stuff happens and, you know, life happens and you have a vacation or whatever.
And it's middle of July.
Like, you still kind of need that car.
So, you know, and to your other point, they are shopping for a very long time.
I saw someone mentioned the other day, like, is it normal for me to start shopping two years before I need to?
And a lot of people do.
But in the history of automotive, since I've been in this for the past 30-plus years, like, that's a longer trend of looking than I remember.
And it's anecdotal, obviously.
You have the better numbers on it.
So, let's go into it.
You've got two major studies that came out this week.
One on pricing, one on EV ownership.
What's the connection between the two?
Why release both of them this week?
By the way, both huge topics on this show and in the industry, Dave.
Yeah, that's just a coincidence.
Okay.
Portability Tracker comes out every month.
We launched it in January and then the EV studies once a year, once every other year, you know, to keep track of that, of that market, right?
And because we really do believe on the EV side, it's once you own one, you don't go back.
And it's a very slow growth cycle right now.
But because of that, it's going to be a continuous growth cycle.
So that's why that's there.
But in terms of affordability, we started that in January because it is the number one topic in the industry.
And we had data that we thought could help shed some light on what's going on.
So speaking of that data, let's dive into the affordability piece before we hit EVs.
Your data shows that bestseller prices are climbing at roughly twice the rate of the overall market.
We reported that as part of the news.
Walk us through why the vehicles people think of as affordable are outrunning everything else.
I remember you talking K-shaped with us.
Yeah.
Well, and that's the K-shaped is why we wanted to do this versus just the average transaction price because in a K-shaped economy, more Mercedes, BMWs, etc.
Or even high line trucks being sold the higher that transaction price can really go.
And so everyone's reaping the rewards of the stock market.
A lot of them are putting those into cars, right?
So that's not who's buying a Toyota Camry most of the time.
That's why we came up with it.
Well, it's turned out is even the affordable cars, the top 10 bestsellers in the country, which in January, the average was in the $35,000 range.
The past two months, it's been over $36,000, which is the highest it's ever been when we go back five years.
It's the highest it's ever been.
So there's a few things.
The number one thing I want dealers to understand and consumers will understand this eventually is these prices are likely not going to regress, right?
We're not going back.
There's no factor out there, especially with tariffs of the reshoring of manufacturing to the U.S.
These cars are not going to start going down in price.
They just won't.
Now, the incremental increases are interesting to watch.
And in reality, what was the best selling vehicle in the country and it isn't now because of production constraints.
It really impacted the overall number and that was the RAV4.
It was 23% year over year, which is just insane.
Wow.
As it went to a hybrid only, they're having production issues, getting ramping all the way up the full capacity.
And what any automaker does, not just Toyota, is when you have that, you put out the high line trim levels to make the most profit with what you got.
So that's what's happening.
And I know they're trying, I talked to some people, I know they're trying to get that production up and that mix to the more mid-level, lower-level trims.
But for right now, yeah, their average transaction price is near $42,000.
Well, and they're constrained by production capability, right?
There's just certainly not enough of those vehicles in the market.
Dealers need more Toyotas and they just aren't able to manufacture enough to meet that demand.
So that drives the pricing up.
So what were the top five vehicles?
So we track the top 10 bestsellers in the country.
So it's RAV4, CRV, I won't go through the whole list.
But it also includes things that you wouldn't typically say are affordable necessarily like the Ford Explorer is one of the top 10 bestselling passenger vehicles.
So, you know, it's a mix of what people really buy.
Like this is what, you know, go down any street, you're going to see all 10 of these vehicles, right?
Any neighborhoods going to have all 10 of these vehicles in it for the most part.
So, you know, that's what I say, these are the cars that move the country.
So that's why we're tracking it.
But in the month to month, we did see some changes and, you know, from May and, you know, you're talking about Nissan earlier with the Rogue.
The Rogue actually saw transaction prices go up as did the Hyundai Tucson, which are two that typically aim for that, you know,
we're going to sell volume by, you know, putting the most money on the hood and sliding for the lowest prices.
So that's very good for those automakers that they're seeing the higher transaction prices month over month.
And that's good for the industry, I think, in the case of the Rogue.
I props to Nissan for having some production discipline there because and this goes to affordability.
But we talked, you know, Brian Benstock's been on the show and many others where we talk about automotive does have an affordability problem.
And if we can help support resell, we can actually get into leasing more, which would help address payment affordability with consumers and then shorten the trade cycle.
And props to Nissan by not offloading as many to rental fleets.
I don't know if that's going to make rentals tougher to get, but it's a good vehicle.
They're going to have a better time leasing those in the market, Dave Fair.
The compact SUV market is one of the most competitive there is.
So you have the Rogue there. It's a very good, well-rounded car.
You have the Chevy Equinox. That's like one of the most common.
I get that rental all the time.
All the time.
And I'm like, I love it.
It's got all the tech I need.
You know, a lot of room gets great gas mileage.
I'm like, yeah, you're not, you know, thumbing your nose down at Equinox in the rental, right?
You want that. You kind of, I love having that space.
But I'm going to challenge you on that.
Which would you rather rent the Equinox or the Rogue?
Well, to me, I'm kind of like, I'll go either way.
I'm not going to be picky at that stage, right?
But when you think of the ownership side, the thing that's propelling Toyota is really this.
They really do have this ironclad, you know, or about them with a lot of consumers.
Yeah.
When really, you know, you read a lot of the reviews.
You look at how people rate, you know, the Rogue or the Tiguan, you know,
they rate very highly versus a RAV4 and they're all just good.
So it really is, Toyota is in a very good space.
And, you know, they're going to try and hold it as hard as they can because, you know,
those vehicles aren't, you know, they come off the truck.
I don't even know how they detail them fast enough before the sale happens.
So they're going to, they want more production, but they're also going to say,
like, we need to maintain this spot where people want.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a good balance.
All right, let's talk forward employee pricing.
Yeah.
It shifts dollars from incentives into the sticker price.
Well, watch us how, walk us through how that changes what a shopper actually experiences
on the lot, the employee pricing that they're back on with right now.
Yeah.
It's one of those things where if pricing transparency is key to getting people happy
in the F&I office, which is one of those things that we track on that ease of purchase
study you talked about earlier, it does throw things off because you're now,
you're mixing up.
Okay.
The incentives are lower, but your outdoor price is going to be lower too.
So people aren't used to that.
They kind of understand the idea of employee pricing.
Overall, it is lower in the price.
I mean, they transaction prices are down, like that Explorer and the F-150,
the prices are down because of employee, like it's the sales price outpacing the incentives.
Yeah.
And overall incentives are not outpacing the sales price changes.
So it is unique for Ford to be doing this.
So I think most, they've done it a few times in the past decade or however long it's been.
So I think most consumers understand it, but it does throw off our metrics a little bit
when we say incentive spending is not as high as it is.
It's off.
It's over here.
So yeah.
So they're making it harder on us, but that's all right.
The consumer should be getting the benefit.
Are things like employee pricing and just a flat out reduction,
is that in response to the FTC letter, do you think?
And just trying to be more transparent and kind of
widget to pump vehicles into the market because employee pricing is simple.
Other of the OEMs, GM and Stellanus have done variations on that as well to much success.
I mean, in my experience over the decades I've been doing this and seen Ford do it before
and the others you mentioned, it's just a sales event.
I mean, it's a really easy thing you can put on TV and makes everyone feel good.
And they're backing it up, right?
The prices are lower.
Yeah.
All right.
Anything else on the affordability front before we go to EVs that stands out to you that our audience
should know about as they think about winning for the rest of 26?
Yeah.
I would say that while the consumer is learning the hard way that prices are going to be this high,
and I mentioned this as well, like the millennial generation in their adult life has never experienced
a time when 0% financing wasn't readily available.
So they're coming to the dealership that despite this happening and this soaking in,
having the most transparent pricing presentation throughout will make that FNI experience better.
I know we've talked FNI before here, but you don't want to have things happen from sales
to FNI, even if it's one point of contact.
You don't want that to slow the deal down or interrupt the deal.
Or as we've seen with the ease of purchase, just lower the experience overall, even if they buy the car.
So that's what I would want to get across.
Why has the ease of purchase dropped so much?
I know that's not part of the study you're bringing here today, but I was astounded during the news read at the beginning.
Customers are less satisfied buying a vehicle today than they've been in a while,
and you would think with all the new efforts to transparency, technology, and all the other things,
that number should be shooting through the roof right now.
Yeah, and over the years we've been doing that, the better the inventory availability,
the higher the ease of purchase score is usually gone.
So the fact that this is bucking that trend, it is coming down to the pricing.
So there is something happening where either some dealers that people or customers are looking at have the prices set in one way,
and the others that they're looking at do not.
And if they go into that do not store, they're surprised and they're not happy.
And so it's actually not negotiating that they don't like.
We actually get feedback saying I was upset that I didn't get to negotiate.
So they said the price is the price.
So it's not the act of negotiating.
It is something with the price not meshing with what they expected.
And that's really a difficult part.
All right, well let's shift from affordability over to EV side.
This stat is shocking to me.
So you're saying only 18% of EV owners would consider a gas or hybrid today.
And that's down from 73% a year ago.
So to your point, increasingly, once folks own that EV, they're not leaving.
What caused that huge swing over the last year, Dave?
We don't have the exact reason why that has shifted so much, but it isn't in coordination with just the loyalty number also going up.
It didn't go up as starkly, but it's already really high at 82%.
It went up to 90%.
And so it is the EVs and maybe there's some world events thrown in their gas prices were high during the study, right?
And definitely in Europe, by the way, EV sales are taking off because of the prices impacted there because their gas prices are far higher than what we're experiencing right now.
So there is a lot of EV acceleration there that we're not seeing, but it is impacting the loyalty to some extent.
But even without that, in the years we've been doing the study, whether it's Tesla owners or not, Tesla owners are a little more rabid.
The loyalty is just through the roof.
And if you take out, because we ask the question, will you buy another, right?
That's how we look at loyalty.
If you take out baby boomers, which I hate to say that, but they might not be thinking they're buying another car.
Yeah, they're aging out.
Baby boomers, yeah, number is 94%.
So yeah, so it is astronomically high.
And a quarter of these owners are EV only households.
So they are fully bought in and that while they have the hybrid or the gas car as well, the other 75%, you know, it's not, it's just kind of a, it's mostly because of a financial reason, right?
It's not time to trade in that car.
And that's why they're holding on to it.
So I think about EV Alex, who continues to expand his world and used EVs.
He's definitely in a right spot and dealers, franchise dealers that have been a little EV reticent, probably need to start thinking about it a little bit more.
Battery replacement showed up in your survey, 13% of owners saying that battery was a challenge.
How should a dealer talk a customer through that number without scaring them off?
And what does that number mean?
Yeah, this was one where internally people are like, that sounds really high and then others really sounds normal.
What is 13% have their battery replaced?
Now, we did survey a lot of long term owners.
So, you know, I think around 50% have owned it for four plus years.
So these aren't like new batteries going bad.
This is longer lifespan.
Oh, that's 13 who've had them replaced.
But having a battery replaced is extremely expensive, right?
So that's a catastrophic event, I would imagine.
Almost every EV's got that battery covered under warranty even after a second owner.
So I'm pretty sure all of them are around 10 years.
So most of them are all and we have the number it was, I want to say like 97% had it paid for.
So it's a concern that I got to go through the trouble of getting it replaced, but it's being covered.
So now I don't know if you've got a poll star how that's going to work out.
But if you're buying from another brand that is in good standing.
And I think that number is going to go down.
The reliability of these batteries has improved dramatically even in just the past two or three years.
And the degradation has improved dramatically.
So the battery is becoming less and less of an issue.
But for the dealer, it's like you're covered.
I mean, if anything, if it happens to go bad, like if you're that 10% that it might need a replacement,
you're going to be covered and we'll take care of you.
So one of the things I'm seeing in this EV study as a takeaway for dealers is
many were predicting a cliff on EV lease returns and values plummeting on those.
And them being a great opportunity for a less expensive used car.
That's not the case if the demand is headed in the direction you're talking, Dave.
Yeah, what's happening now as we talked about before and you guys have covered it
is this mass of leased EVs coming back, being returned, going back to the market.
And before everyone's like worried that dealers would not want them, dealers obviously do want them.
The problem is the owner wants another EV and they're not going to get that awesome deal they had on that lease again.
So many of them are the buyback might have been too high on that versus a used market even six months ago.
That might not be the case now.
So some of those owners might want to be reconsidering the buyback price and versus the market.
And the other thing is automakers change their EV plants, right?
They came to a red light when the incentives were repealed and all that stuff happened.
They shifted and they shifted.
Well, there aren't a lot of models on the market for people to consider even at decent prices like let's say 40 grand.
So you have some, I mean, you have some like Toyota and Subaru's EV twins, their sales were up last month, right?
Kia's EVs were up last month.
So the EV market's not, you know, dead in any way.
And a lot of these owners, these loyal people, as we just discussed, they want something new because they have to replace that EV they love so much.
So we're in an interesting space and some, you know, we just talked about Toyota production and things like that.
They probably, along with some other automakers, they probably could have more EVs on the ground than they do right now and sell them.
Yeah, it'll end up being the EV cliff that never was.
It is just not going to happen.
The values won't drop.
The demand will end up being very strong through this.
And, you know, I think even politically last few days, the Iran thing is still a challenge and the Hormuz, straight of Hormuz is still a challenge.
And, you know, that's going to continue to put pressure on gas prices.
So it will be interesting to see what this happens on the EV front.
So as we wrap up, Dave, how can our audience go and get these full surveys and dive into them themselves, the studies?
Yeah, thanks, Sam. CDK.com slash Insights.
Very easy to find.
The affordability tracker went up this morning.
Our EV ownership study goes up Friday, so everyone can go download that.
But yeah, we have tons of other reports out there.
Easy purchase they can find really easily with the latest data as well.
Easy purchase. That'll be a fun one.
So Dave Thomas, director of content marketing at CDK Global.
Thanks for thanks so much for being on the show today to share these new surveys by CDK studies by CDK.
Appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
All right.
I always enjoy having Dave Thomas on the show.
He brings fascinating facts and insights.
Really, he was the first one that kind of brought this idea that, look, we shouldn't be looking at average transaction price.
Let's look at the high end.
Let's look at the low end and then kind of track and chart that.
And, you know, his way of looking at is kind of proved out in the marketplace.
You think about a dealer group with 100 stores.
Hendrik is a great example.
And you've got the portfolio of the upper end and then you've got the portfolio of the lower end.
And they're all performing very differently in today's marketplace.
Paul Salisman comes into the chat says, always super informative.
And thank you all to our entire audience.
DNC says strong residual values help Toyota and Honda in regard to brand loyalty.
And Paul Salisman comes in says, hey, I rented a Rogue recently and ended up doing 600 miles in it.
I found myself surprised how good it is.
Those Nissan products are good, but that Rogue, according to Nissan, might be a little tougher to find.
So, all right, let's continue today with Pat Malloy, general manager of Patriot Chevrolet of Limerick.
Pat, welcome to the show.
Hey, so you're a general manager at this Chevrolet store.
Tell us how long you've been there and how's biz this July of 26.
So it's off to a pretty good start.
I've actually been here since May 9th, 2022.
That was my first day here taking cover off of a Corvette when I was doing my interview.
Very good, very good.
So let's dive into a tick.
We've got just a little bit of time and then I want to get into the round table with you.
Sure.
You said in your intake, you said, hey, one of your favorite adages are,
inspect what you expect and you say, hey, it sounds simple,
but what does that actually look like day-to-day in your stores as a general manager?
What are you physically checking on daily, Pat?
Well, I mean, this may seem a bit strange or a bit old school,
but I do keep a pad, a no pad with me wherever I go and I have certain things filled out to start my day
and go through each and every department, go through my schedules,
go through whatever it is that we're looking for personnel-wise and plan out my day
so that I can have my goals aligned with what I want to accomplish long-term
and not kind of mishmash back and forth and running back in between departments
and actually get something accomplished for getting towards your goals.
Yeah.
What are maybe two or three of the most important metrics as a general manager in July 26th
that you monitor, that you watch daily on that paper pad?
By the way, I love it.
I do the same thing.
What are you tracking?
I mean, you got your basic stuff like contracts and transit,
what may not be showing on your website, things like that, just common errors,
and then obviously just scouting for talent.
The best thing that I feel I could do at any given time is have a backup plan
and have the right people in the right position,
and if I don't feel that's the case, where am I looking to find them?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So inspect what you expect, people development.
If discipline and execution are the engine, and you talked about that in your intake,
where does that take Patriot stores next?
What are you building towards today in 26, Pat?
Well, I mean, for starters, we would want to get to the top of our zone region
and move on from there, but for ownership, maybe it's different stores.
Maybe it's growth potential continuously year over
so that we can be more transparent with our customers,
be more visible to our customers, and have more to offer
as far as a means of what is in our dealership.
Like we, for example, have a really nice coffee shop
that's complimentary to all of our customers, whether it's sales, service, or price.
We have a little fade.
We have obviously a seating area where everyone goes,
but we have a lot of antique cars, and there's things to see.
It's an experience.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, hey, we talked with Dave Thomas with CDK about this affordability tracker
and just some of the challenges that consumers are having today with affordability.
Although, to his point, they're starting to kind of accept it and move forward on it.
How are you addressing affordability in your store
and helping consumers get into those vehicles a little bit easier?
Well, I would say Chevrolet actually, well, General Motors for that matter,
has been helping us a bit in the means of new vehicles.
Specifically with the Chevy Trax.
I don't know if you've sat in one or looked at one and it's just...
I haven't.
Well, you really should.
It's a front-wheel drive only SUV that starts around $23,000.
There's all kinds of options and things you can add to it,
but for the people who are in these younger generations
who are a little less maybe concerned with status but want the tech,
but they want a particular look.
They don't need a giant suburban.
Maybe they don't have kids where they want a lower price point car
because maybe they're older and don't have kids in their house.
There's options out there.
But keeping an eye on your used vehicles
and trying to get as many that you can under that $30,000 mark,
preferably closer to 25 definitely gets us a lot closer to what our goals are.
Those are tough vehicles to get in July of 2026.
All right.
We are kind of at the end.
We're going to go a little long take.
I want to make sure I get you and Dennis together as part of this roundtable
at the very end of the show.
Pat Malloy, General Manager, Patriot Chevrolet of Limerick.
Thank you so much for being on the show,
sharing your perspectives on all things culture development.
I like to think about it as trust book verify,
but we're going to have you back in just a minute
and we'll bring you back for our roundtable.
Pat Malloy, thanks for being here.
Thank you.
All right.
Thanks for allowing us production crew for going into OT.
So welcome back to the show.
Dennis Gingrich, Sales Finance Director at Nealoo Company
and Pat Malloy, General Manager of Patriot Chevrolet of Limerick.
Welcome both.
All right.
Let's dive into this thing.
And you know what?
It drives me nuts.
We could almost do a two-hour show here because we always run out of time.
So Pat, thanks for being a good sport.
So first question up in this lightning round.
What's the single biggest lever for growth in 2026?
Is it tech or is it people?
And let's start with you, Dennis.
And then we'll go to you, Pat.
I really believe it's people, you know, right?
He said it, Pat.
He said it in your segment, right?
People, right chairs, you know, that's the key.
All right, Pat.
Yeah.
I mean, I'd have to agree.
You know, it's funny how in the car business we have,
we're critical thinking masterminds sometimes.
But, you know, if we don't follow up on what we're doing and stay consistent with it
or have the right people in the right spot, it's not going to work.
Is it fair to say that you can layer on bad tech or a good tech on top of bad people
and it can actually make it worse because you still have those people running it, right?
So if you don't have the right people in the right chairs, the right culture,
the tech's just going to amplify it faster.
All right.
What's a faster fix in automotive, July of 26, a bad process or a bad hire?
Which is going to turn your store around fastest, fixing a bad process or fixing a bad hire?
And that kind of goes to people too, I guess.
Dennis.
All right.
I would say turning a faster fix is getting handling the bad hire.
That, you know, a bad hire tolerating a bad employee just brings down the entire culture
because oftentimes they're at the core making the process not work the way it should.
Yeah.
Pat, agree with that?
Yes.
But in the same breath, I feel like sometimes, sometimes we let our employees down.
Yeah.
You know, and I'm not trying to be argumentative.
It's just, I know there are people that I...
By the way, Pat, this is meant to be argumentative.
You can argue with Dennis.
You're here in place in Tully.
All right.
If Tully were here, he would disagree.
So go ahead.
So, you know, there have been plenty of people that I have hired that I know that I should
have spent more time with.
I know that I had maybe put my space elsewhere when I should have been around them more often,
more in front of them, more welcoming, more open with my process and, you know, following
up with them.
And, you know, sometimes I feel like we do need to make sure we're not feeling our employee.
It's a fair point.
You have a bunch of bad processes in the store.
Good people will be driven away by it.
So if you fix that bad process, you may actually end up keeping the good people, Dennis, fair?
Yeah.
No, I think it's good.
I mean, you know, people, you know, people are in charge of process.
So, you know, as long...
I love what you said, Pat.
You know, as long as, you know, we've exhausted, you know, as leaders, as long as we've exhausted
our energy and trying to get them where they need to be.
You know, and in that, you could find something wrong with the process, but, you know...
Dude, that's a damned if you do, don't kind of thing.
All right.
So, Pat, we're going to start with you on this one.
Dennis spent a lot of time talking about how we've got to focus on follow-up longer term
than we have historically.
That's a weakness exposed in his own organization.
So let's talk about this.
Which do you trust more?
A digital lead or walk in traffic in July of 2026, Pat?
I mean, to an extent, they're kind of one in the same, just at a different part in the
process.
So, like, you know, there's layers to that, at least in my opinion.
You know, I feel like we, you know, when...
What was it?
Autobitel in 94, 95 was the first internet...
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And, you know, everybody thought you were going to buy cars online and, like, sales people
were going to be gone.
And, you know, this is a fantasy.
This is not real.
But I think as we move toward AI and toward, you know, digital marketing and reading toward
what customers buying habits are and things like that, I think you're just getting the
customer at a different point in time.
Now, would I love a walk in traffic over a bunch of digital traffic?
Yeah, I probably would.
All right, Dennis, what's your answer?
You know, I trust the showroom visit more than the internet lead because I really feel
there are no...
There are no showroom visits, Dennis.
You know what?
Somebody just locked in.
Well, here's what we're seeing.
That doesn't happen right now.
Leads are down.
Horsesha, good example.
Their leads are down 100% year over year.
This is my belief.
Okay.
People are internet leads, but what they're not doing is the form fill.
I think they're using the chat GBTs, the Gemini's.
They're finding that they're bouncing to our website.
They're checking out our DR tools, getting the number.
And, you know, if they fill out a form fill, which we're seeing is less and less, I think
what they're trying to do is validate, but they're coming in with all the information
and they want to make sure we're being honest and truthful when they show up.
And as long as we can, this matches, this matches, then we can win.
Does that mess up your metric for whether it's a fresh guest on the showroom because
they just walked in or whether they...
Some other type of lead source?
Does that mess up your lead sourcing?
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
Well, because then it becomes incumbent upon somebody like, hey, where did you see the
car?
Well, I saw it on blank.
But, you know, for us, you know, with Android, you have showroom, you can't really kink an
internet lead.
It's going to be an internet lead.
So, you know, but still the showroom, you know, they found us somehow.
People aren't just showing up like, you know, kicking tires.
They've done their research, you know.
To agree with you, Dale in process comes into the chat says they definitely are not filling
out the form.
They know the stock number already and they also know the salesperson as well.
Paul Salisman comes in says if someone walks in the showroom at 10 a.m., they're usually
a serious buyer.
But Dale's saying the same thing you are, Dennis.
We're missing more people now because they're not filling out those forms.
They don't want to be a digital lead.
Well, we know why is because traditionally they'll be like, hey, can you tell me about
the dual diagonal horn package?
And we're like, when can you come in?
You know, like no wonder they're not filling out a lead.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
One metric that you check every single day.
No exceptions.
Dennis starting with you then.
Mine is just, you know, day 3456 just my follow-up.
My manual outreach by my sales team and acquisition team.
Are we staying in that fight longer?
Like that's all I'm focused on for the next 30 days.
That's your battle cry.
So it's not always the same.
It hasn't been the same for you.
You focus on different things and then get a rounded result over time.
Pat, I would say, Dennis, what are you going to say?
What are you going to say, Dennis?
People change.
So I got to change.
You know what I mean?
You got to read the room and you got to make adjustments on what you're seeing on, you
know, on the battlefield at the time.
So yeah.
Pat.
So lead response time, but also data and we use full path.
Okay.
As far as, you know, looking at customer and client information along with obviously
VIN solutions and looked at their CRM, it looks fantastic.
Frankly, I'm not trying to plug for them, but it is what it is.
I got to ask you about this, Pat.
Yeah.
So Cox bought full path, right?
So now it's part of Cox.
Cox has a CRM VIN solutions.
And I have heard, I've talked to full path.
They're like, we're coming out with a CRM.
How is Cox have a CRM and full path they're going to end up competing?
Who's going to win that battle, Pat?
I think in the end, it's, it's going to be full path just because it's going to be
a combination of things, the engineers, maybe, and, you know, people power that Cox
Automotive has as the gigantic group automotive wise products they offer and
everything.
It's, it's almost born on at this point.
But the people over at full path are very interesting and very detail oriented and
specific in their roles and what they look for.
So we use them for digital marketing and things like that.
They are.
Yeah.
They are a pretty good match, I would say.
Did you do, did you do a CDP with them?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Who's CDPs better?
Dennis's or yours?
I mean, I can't say I personally, I haven't researched the one drive center, but I,
I certainly was, I wrote it down.
I'm going to look into it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Last, last question up.
Appreciate you both being on.
Appreciate you even being willing to battle a little bit.
What's one piece of advice in five seconds or less?
The best piece of advice you ever got from someone above you.
So someone you reported to best piece of advice and whoever's ready can go first because
it takes a little bit of thought.
I like this one.
I'm ready.
Go Dennis.
You came from my dad.
Okay.
Get up with honey and get the money.
I like that.
That's good.
All right.
Pat, best piece of advice.
Someone above you.
Five seconds or less.
They'll die if you let them.
I know that sounds a little dark, but pertaining to the salespeople, like if you let them die
on the vine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Invest in your people.
Give back.
Thank you both for being part of this Wednesday, Daily Deal Alive, Roundtable Dennis Gingrich,
Sales and Finance Director at the Nilo Company, and Pat Malloy, General Manager, Patriot Chevrolet
of Limerick.
Thank you both for being on the show.
Thank you.
Pat, nice meeting you.
And to you, our Daily Deal Alive listening audience, thanks for being here.
We've got a special episode coming up a week from Friday.
This Friday will be Fixed Ops Friday, a week from Friday.
We're going to do a live from CDG retreat in Boulder, Colorado.
Excited to bring that to you.
So we'll have an updated alt time.
We'll actually go live a little later than normal as a result of that.
But for this Friday, it's back to Fixed Ops Friday.
So to you, our Daily Deal Alive listening audience, thanks for watching Daily Deal Alive.
We break down the biggest moves in the car business as they happen.
Don't forget, we're here live every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 1pm Eastern.
So if this is your world, hit like, hit subscribe, turn on those notifications so you never ever miss beat.
And we'll see you next episode.
Well, thanks for being here, everybody.
About this episode
Dealership Guy Podcast’s Daily Dealer Live covers how dealers are winning (and losing) in 2026 through execution, not just inventory. Dennis Gingrich updates his dealership group’s CRM transition to DriveCentric, highlighting better operational visibility and insights like shoppers taking longer before committing and the need for stronger human follow-up. Dave Thomas breaks down CDK’s new Affordability Tracker, showing “affordable bestsellers” rising faster in price and tying it to deal friction. GM’s growth message: no silver bullet—discipline and inspecting what you expect. Headlines also include Hendrick’s luxury expansion and Nissan’s shift away from volume-at-all-costs.
Today's show features:
- Dennis Gingrich, Sales & Finance Director at The Niello Company
- Dave Thomas, Director, Content Marketing at CDK Global
- Pat Malloy, General Manager at Patriot Chevrolet Of Limerick
This episode is brought to you by:
Haig Partners – When it comes to selling your life’s work, trust the only advisors who have built a reputation for maximizing value for family-owned dealerships. The team at Haig Partners has achieved record-setting values across multiple franchises and has represented more owners in the sale of their Toyota dealerships than any other firm. If you are considering a sale, divestiture or looking to grow, begin a confidential conversation at http://haigpartners.com/
CDK Global – CDK Global empowers dealers with the tools and technology they need to build deeper relationships with customers and sell and service more cars. Visit https://www.cdkglobal.com/
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