"I Never Took Their Money!" Why Some Manufacturers Tried to Blacklist this "Car Mom" | Kelley Stumpe, Founder & CEO at The Car Mom
Car Dealership Guy Podcast
"I Never Took Their Money!" Why Some Manufacturers Tried to Blacklist this "Car Mom" | Kelley Stumpe, Founder & CEO at The Car MomCar Dealership Guy Podcast · Jul 14, 2026
A cup holder is the built-in spot in a car where you put drinks. For families, it matters because it helps prevent spills and keeps things easy to grab while you’re driving.
Term
off-roading suspension
Off-road suspension is the part of the car that helps it handle bumps and rough ground. It’s designed to keep the wheels working well when the road isn’t smooth.
The third row is the back row of seats in a car with multiple rows. For families, it matters because getting to those seats and fitting a car seat can be difficult.
Term
seven-door vehicle
A seven-door vehicle is a car with more doors than usual. More doors can make it easier to get to the back seats, which is helpful when you’re dealing with kids and car seats.
A dealer background means the speaker has worked in or around car dealerships, which affects how they evaluate vehicles and how they interact with manufacturers. Dealership experience often influences what they consider important, like inventory access, pricing realities, and customer delivery.
“Car seat-friendly” just means the car is easy to use with child car seats. That can include how much space there is and how easy it is to buckle them in—especially when you have more than one seat.
Marketing positioning is how a company decides what to emphasize about a product. In this case, they’re talking about whether Ford should promote the Expedition’s family/car-seat benefits more clearly to parents.
Term
Tier 3
“Tier 3” sounds like an internal ranking for dealerships. It usually means “one of the lower or different groups” based on performance or strategy, but the exact meaning depends on the automaker.
The Kentucky Truck Plant is a Ford factory in Kentucky. The host is saying she’ll visit to watch her Expedition get built and come off the production line.
Topic
blacklist this car mom
This part is about whether car companies try to block or limit a “car mom” influencer. She explains she doesn’t take money from manufacturers and focuses on helping families.
Term
motor vehicle
“Motor vehicle” just means a car or other road vehicle. Here, the speaker is saying she doesn’t take money from car companies tied to vehicles.
An “online marketplace” is a website or app where people buy and sell things. In car sales, it usually means a platform that helps shoppers find cars and connect with sellers.
“Seven doors” means the vehicle has a lot of entry points. For families, that can make it easier to get kids into the back seats without struggling every time.
The middle row is the set of seats behind the front seats and ahead of the back row. It’s important because it affects how easy it is to get kids in and out of the car.
The Mercedes Sprinter is a big van that can be configured with seats for families. In this conversation, it’s mentioned to show that even a popular van isn’t ideal if it doesn’t meet the speaker’s needs for easy kid access.
A window sticker is the official label on a new car’s windshield. It lists important details like what the car is and how it’s priced. The segment says the system reads it so the salesperson can quickly answer questions.
AI means computer software that can “think” in a way—like understanding information and helping answer questions. Here, it’s described as a tool that reads the car’s sticker and helps the salesperson with details on the spot.
The Honda Odyssey is a family minivan. People buy it when they need lots of room for kids, car seats, and everyday errands. It’s the kind of car salespeople often have to explain clearly to parents.
The Toyota Sienna is another popular family minivan. It’s often compared with the Honda Odyssey when parents are shopping for a vehicle with lots of space. The point is that salespeople need to know the key details to help customers decide.
Cross-sell means suggesting something related to what the customer is already interested in. At a car dealership, that could be recommending another vehicle option or related choices that fit the same family needs.
EVs have a big battery that powers the car. Some parents worry about safety because the battery is a major part of the vehicle.
Term
bottom of the EV
The bottom of the EV is where the battery pack is often located, typically under the floor. This packaging can lower the car’s center of gravity, but it also leads to concerns from some buyers who associate the underfloor area with “the battery being close to passengers.”
Charging the EV means plugging the car in to recharge its battery. Some people worry that the charging stop could be dangerous, especially when kids are in the car.
A crash test is when a car is deliberately smashed in a controlled way to see how safe it is for people inside. The goal is to measure how well the car protects occupants in a crash.
“Mass wins” is the idea that heavier vehicles can sometimes do better in crashes because they’re harder to slow down. But it doesn’t guarantee safety—what matters is how the car is built to absorb impact.
The GMC Hummer EV is an electric SUV built for serious off-roading. Here it’s mentioned because it can do unusual driving maneuvers thanks to advanced steering and control systems.
The Hummer EV SUV is an electric SUV built for tough driving, including off-road situations. It’s known for special movement features that help it shift sideways or maneuver in difficult spots. People bring it up because it shows how electric vehicles can still be designed for serious capability.
Crab walk is when a vehicle can move sideways, like a crab, to fit into tight spots or maneuver off-road. It usually requires special steering that can control more than just the front wheels.
A powertrain is the set of components that generate and deliver propulsion—typically the engine (or electric motor), transmission, driveshaft(s), differential(s), and related control systems. The speaker is saying her wife doesn’t care about the technical differences between powertrain types (like EV vs hybrid).
Concept
market research perspective
“Market research perspective” means looking at what people believe and how that belief changes what they buy. In this segment, the host is using that lens to question a simple fear about car seats compared with what’s in the whole car.
Modern cars have lots of electronics and wireless features. The host is saying that you’re already surrounded by connected tech in the car, so the concern they’re discussing may not be as unusual as it sounds.
“FR” means flame-retardant. Some car seats use chemicals to help slow fire spread, and some parents try to avoid those by looking for an “FR-free” seat. The host’s point is that the whole car interior can have similar treatments, not just the seat.
The Ford Bronco is an SUV designed for off-road driving, like dirt roads and rough terrain. It’s the kind of vehicle people talk about when they want a truck-like SUV that can handle more than just regular city streets. Dealership discussions often focus on how well it can go off-road and what features it includes.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a tough, long-lasting SUV that’s known for off-road driving. The host is using it as an example of a car topic people bond over.
Podium is a company that makes software for car dealerships. The idea here is that it uses AI to answer phone calls and help with scheduling and follow-ups.
Workflows are the dealership’s routine steps, like how a customer gets a quote, schedules service, and gets updates. The claim is that AI can help run those steps without as much manual work.
An AI add-on is like an extra app you add to your dealership software. The point being made is that stacking lots of separate AI tools can be messy compared to one system that does it all together.
Voice AI is AI that can talk to people on the phone. In this context, it can answer calls, send them to the right place, and help schedule appointments.
A playbook is a set of instructions for what to do in common situations. Here, it means the AI follows the dealership’s own rules for when to handle a call and when to pass it to a person.
A “non-toxic car” is a car designed to be much safer for people and the environment. The idea is that it uses fewer harmful chemicals and produces less harmful stuff over its life.
“Recycled materials” means the car uses parts made from materials that were used before or pulled from waste. The host is saying that can make the car cleaner and less harmful.
“Less toxic” means the car is designed to avoid or reduce harmful chemicals. That can be about what it’s made from and what it puts into the environment.
CPST stands for Child Passenger Safety Technician. They’re trained to help parents install child car seats correctly so the seat is positioned and secured the right way for safety.
CPST means Child Passenger Safety Technician. They’re trained to help you pick the right car seat and make sure it’s installed correctly in your specific vehicle.
Here, seatbelts matter because some child seats are installed using the car’s seatbelt. Where the belt and buckle are located can change how well the seat fits.
Head restraints are the parts of the seat that support your head. For child seats, they can sometimes get in the way, so the car’s head restraint position matters for proper fit.
A latch map shows where the car’s child-seat attachment points are. It helps you hook the car seat in the right spots so it’s safer and easier to install.
Tether anchors are the points in the car used to attach the top strap on many forward-facing child seats. That top strap helps keep the seat more stable in a crash.
A child passenger safety technician is someone trained to help with child car seats. They focus on making sure the seat is installed and used correctly. The host is saying dealerships should have that kind of help available.
A lease return is when you’re done with a leased car and you have to give it back. There’s usually an inspection and you might be charged for damage or excessive wear. The host says dealers don’t explain this clearly enough.
A trade-in is your current car that you hand over when buying another vehicle. Dealers may not explain clearly how they’ll value it. The host is saying people should understand the process so they can get a better deal.
The pre-owned market just means used cars. The host is saying people should get educated about buying used cars, because it’s not exactly the same as buying new. Knowing what to expect can help you avoid bad surprises.
“100,000 miles” is a big number people use to judge a used car. But miles don’t tell the whole story—maintenance and driving habits matter a lot too.
Term
200,000
“200,000” is basically the idea of how long a car can last in miles. The host is saying that many cars are built to go that far if they’re maintained properly.
LIVE
Kelly Stumpy, the car mom on the CDG podcast. Kelly, welcome.
Thank you so much. I'm so excited.
Excited to have you here. Kelly, you've built what is likely,
I would say, the most influential online following of literal moms
that, to some extent, care about cars.
Start us off with, like, what are dealers' misunderstanding about this market?
The biggest thing they're missing is how, truthfully how serious some families take
car shopping. I mean, you're really asking them, like, to put the world's most precious cargo
in the second and the third row of these vehicles.
And when the dealer or the salesperson, I think, doesn't take that as seriously as the family does,
a little friction can get caused. So really, I mean, these families are trying to find
a vehicle they can afford that can fit their family and that can keep their children safe.
So, like, it really, it's fun, but it's also very serious.
Do you think safety is, from your, like, again, you have literally hundreds of thousands of moms.
And by the way, like, very much a cult following.
Like, I, you know, I spoke to a couple of people for the podcast and, oh yeah, my wife, she loves her.
And I'm like, why? Is she like buying cars every day? Like, I genuinely don't know why.
Why do they, but I feel like you've blended, like, lifestyle and car shopping together
in a way to, like, make it cool. And I think that maybe, like, you know, they resonate with you.
And I think what we've, what I've proven is that women actually do care about cars.
Because, you know, when I first started the car mom, the pushback I got was like,
oh, like, why do you need to do this? Like, they just buy a minivan.
And it's like, well, so that's the only option. Or like, you only think that they care.
There's just so much, women care so much about their cars, how they feel, how they function.
And the rest of the auto industry just always focused on the horsepower, the performance, the technology.
But I have tried to get, and I have gotten women just as excited about, like, a cup holder
as, like, a man is excited about an off-roading suspension.
Like, it's different, but like...
It's so true.
It's, it's, I treat it so seriously. Like, some people think I'm always making a joke.
Like, oh, she doesn't care about the cup holders.
Okay, well, I guarantee I'm going to use my cup holders.
Again, more than you're going to use your off-roading suspension.
So, like, why is mine a joke?
Yeah.
It's not, like, it's like, it's so important to us.
I love that Toyota. And I don't know, maybe other brands as well.
But they put, like, 50 cup holders or something.
Yeah, Toyota does a good job.
They do that.
And there's other things that they don't do, I would say, for families.
Specifically, putting a third row, a car seat in the third row, I think, is a pain in my butt.
Yeah.
Got to break my back every time, which begs the question.
Like, have you spoken with any manufacturers about building a seven-door vehicle?
It's been a really big year for us because I've finally gotten in some of the rooms.
Like, some of the rooms where things are happening.
Like, I've had to sign an NDA or two. Like, very exciting.
And to finally have, like, that manufacturer recognition is just something I'm so grateful for.
And, like, I take my job so seriously.
Again, because as an influencer, if that's what you want to call me, I'll call myself that.
As an influencer, people are taking my advice to make, to spend a lot of money on something
that could keep their children safe.
So, like, I'm not your typical influencer, like, telling you about, like, you know, the Nordstrom sale
and, like, here's a $45 top you should buy.
Like, if you buy the wrong car based on my advice, like, I take that responsibility very seriously.
So, to be able to be in the room and to advocate, I just want, like, my following to know,
like, I bring all your feedback to them and I'm not really...
I've made, I want to call them enemies, but, like, I've had some friction along with some of the manufacturers
because I'm just unique in the sense where I'll just tell the manufacturers how it is.
And I think sometimes it's hard to be a car reviewer in this space
because other car reviewers are really reliant on the manufacturers to get the cars.
I come from a dealer background.
So, if Toyota wants to stop selling me a car, that's fine.
Your family owns dealerships, right?
My family owns dealerships.
It's like, if the manufacturers ever stop sending me cars, that's fine.
I won't skip a beat.
My audience wouldn't even know because I can just pull from all of the dealer lots.
Why did my wife text me the other day that she wants to buy a Ford Expedition?
What have you done?
Like, I know that it was because of you, but she has no idea what a Ford Expedition even is.
She's like, I want to buy a Ford Expedition.
I'm like, what?
Like, what happened?
The Ford Expedition is...
So, I have four kids, seven and under.
The Ford Expedition is the most car seat-friendly car out there.
It is more car seat-friendly than the minivans.
And, like, get me on any debate stage and I could defend the Ford Expedition 100% of the time.
It is the most car seat-friendly car.
It's what I drive.
I'm not saying it's like the perfect car for every family,
but if you need to fit a lot of car seats,
I promise you the Ford Expedition is the best one to do it in.
Wow.
Do you think, like, is Ford sleeping on this type of marketing positioning?
I feel like if I had that type of accolade from you,
again, the largest following of literal car buying moms online,
I would put that in dealers as well, like Tier 3, Tier 1, whatever you want to call it,
but I would be putting that everywhere.
Yeah, you know, so we did award...
You could monopolize that market.
Yeah, we did award the Ford Expedition the 2025 car-on-car of the year.
So I actually just ordered my own Ford Expedition.
I mean, Ford is not paying me. I bought it myself.
Did you really? How is that possible?
Well, I guess you want to keep it on ice.
But you know what's fun is Ford has been generous.
In two weeks, I'm going to the Kentucky Truck Plant and I get to see my expedition roll off the line.
I'm very protective with how I work with the manufacturers.
I've never taken money from a car manufacturer to a motor vehicle.
Smart.
I never will.
I'm just so much more interested in making the cars better for families
and educating families that the only way I want to work with the manufacturers
is just to make the cars better.
I mean, really, like there's other ways that I've just monetized the platform.
I really don't want to do it directly with the manufacturers.
Now, Vision Board, in the same way like we have like a King Ranch edition,
like I would love a car mom edition one day.
Like I think that would be really fun.
I have to ask you, like I have to imagine that dealers or someone has offered you
to build like a female focused more online marketplace.
How many times does this happen?
It's happened a couple of times.
By the way, not saying that it's a good idea.
I'll explain why from my perspective, but I just spoke with another dealer the other day
that literally purchased an insane domain online that could that he was planning to do this.
Yeah, he didn't do it.
But I had, I mean, everyone's had this idea.
I feel like at least.
So like how, why hasn't this happened yet?
Sometimes I get a little fatigue of talking about like how hard it is to be a woman buying or selling a car.
And like, I just think that in a way, I feel like that narrative is kind of done.
And I just would rather focus on just how to make it a better.
I don't think you really have, there's nothing unique about selling to women.
You sell to women the same way you sell to men.
So sometimes I don't always like love the polarization or what I hope that dealers
understand with my content is I'm actually on your side.
Like I am a very, I'm a big dealer advocate.
And like my whole point, one of the reasons I started the car mom was to like bridge that gap
between consumer or dealer.
And I just, I never found as somebody who sold cars that it was that I was this like overly
impressed like woman in auto.
Like I'm so tired of talking about what it's like to be a woman in auto.
Like I'm just, I'm a person in auto.
So I think the better angle I would take is like how to sell to families and how to make
the car buying process more family and not necessarily like woman related.
I mean, I'm to the point where like it's 2026.
Like if the salesperson still asks you where your husband is like, it's just like those are now so far
and few between in my in my experience.
There's still like some bad eggs in our industry.
But for the most part, I think that one just is kind of dead.
That's so interesting because I think you've uncovered literal like arbitrage.
Let me explain what I mean here.
So when I was in, I was traveling with, we had time with two kids.
This was a couple years back and we were in Europe and I remember being in the airport
and just seeing how like family friendly the airport was.
Maybe I was in like Germany or something, but they had like a line for, you know,
how in America you have like pre-check, right?
Pay to play essentially over there.
You had families with strollers.
Oh my gosh.
It was amazing.
It is amazing.
But I think the overarching theme to me was there was more consideration for families
and I don't feel like we don't have that culture in the U.S.
No.
You know what I mean?
I totally.
And I could be maybe overly optimistic.
I think that is going to change.
Like if at least in my immediate vicinity, it feels like everyone's having kids.
Yeah.
The point I'm trying to make is that I think that there's like an arbitrage there.
Like you've arbitraged the marketing towards the mom and the family, right?
So you just said something really important.
Like the sales process isn't really different.
It's actually maybe the marketing and upper funnel, the advertising.
Like what's important is different.
So you've unlocked that.
You've done a great job.
You've monopolized that, I would say, to a certain extent with moms.
And then the question is like where are other where there are other opportunities to do
that in the space to continue addressing that need?
Because you're right.
Like here's what I just said.
If there's a manufacturer that's listening to this right now and whoever comes out with
them, I'm telling you right now, like I don't care what brand it is.
And you know, I would be very price insensitive.
But like if you have seven, if you literally have a car with seven doors, right?
Every, you know, middle row, front door row and back row has its own door.
That will, you get my business.
And I'm speaking as a dad and there's many families in this, right?
I don't want to, to drive a Dodge Sprinter or a Mercedes Sprinter.
I just want seven doors.
I don't break my back at a single time.
Right.
Right.
Like who's building this?
Well, and like kids in cars, it's very difficult.
Like so I do these carbine consultations every week too with families.
And so many times families are like, but isn't that going to be hard to get the kid out
of the third row?
And I'm like, yeah, three kids in a car is a lot.
Three kids is hard.
Doesn't matter what car you're in.
It might be a little easier in some cars, but it's still very hard.
So I think if we kind of like look at that carbine process for families, I think one
of the ways that dealers are really fumbling the ball in my opinion is we're one of the
last industries that like still has an in-person experience.
Like people still need to come in to test drive.
They still want to come in and see it, touch it, feel it, drive it.
We can make the actual experience so much better.
Like the movie theaters would kill for like our industry.
And we have people come into our doors every single day and we're not working.
We're not making it a more pleasant family focused experience.
Yeah, you're saying that you have the, you're essentially commanding the attention.
Like the person is literally showing up, make it something.
Like we still have, I mean, brick and mortar stores are always going to exist.
Like other retail, other retail industries, they've really scaled down and we haven't.
And you know, I get that people are doing more of maybe the carbine online, but I still
think they're doing a lot of the car selection in person.
And what would you differently though, if like you're a dealer, if you had your own deal,
I know your family has their ship and if you had your own, what would you do to cater
better families to win more business?
Well, I think I would have such a sensitivity to how difficult it is to bring children to
a dealership and like any sort of run around to a mom of three who like skipped her kids
naps to come there to like get a run around from a salesperson.
Like it is so, it's so insulting to waste a family's time like that.
I think also making families feel like they're inconveniencing you for putting in the car seat,
wanting to take the car home.
Like kind of, I think there's a level of families feel like in so many areas of life,
they feel like they're inconveniencing people.
Like their kids are too loud at the restaurant, the kids are too loud at the play and like
when they come to a dealership to buy a family car, a car that's going to keep their children safe,
let's give them the space to explore the car pressure free to install their car seats
so they can see if it fits.
And I think another thing that I'd really like to see our industry improve on is product knowledge.
One of the biggest complaints I get from my following is they'll go to a dealership and
they're like, I knew so much more than the salesperson.
Like salesperson knew nothing about their car.
They told me that a car seat could fit back there and your video said it couldn't.
And I do think if we look at other sales industries, they invest so much more in the actual teaching
of the product and I sold cars.
So like, I mean, I have that context.
Like I would say about 80% of my training was how to close a deal and about 20% of my training was on the product.
And I think that's like kind of insane.
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Let me push back on that though.
So I just spoke with a dealer and we're in this age of AI and Chad GBT.
So a dealer from Michigan, I don't know if he wants me to name him or not.
So I won't.
But what he's done is really unique where he essentially pairs all of his advisors,
sales advisors with like a Chad GBT system.
It's a system that's built of course on Chad GBT,
but it essentially is like the companion for the salesperson.
And so whenever the customer is looking at the car,
it immediately scans the window sticker and it provides all that product knowledge
that the salesperson will never have to the extent that AI can have on the spot.
And he claims that it's really been, it's still early,
but it's really been enhancing that part of their job.
Because again, the salesperson is still presenting it,
but he has this companion.
Well, I love that.
Yeah.
Then I love that.
Just like any sort of effort put forward to like say,
or I would even say maybe a different way to do that is if you sell a Honda Odyssey
and you don't have my Honda Odyssey tour memorized and my Sienna tour memorized
and my Pacific tour memorized and my Carnival tour memorized to be able to like
cross sell and cross object to families, like the contents out there.
If you're not following up with your clients to be like,
Hey, I just wanted I know you like love the Odyssey.
Have you seen this YouTube video?
Like she really breaks it down nicely.
Like I don't I'm not saying like I'm not trying to shout out my own content,
but like I feel like I've done the work.
I feel like I've done the training.
I don't want anything for it.
I just want families to make the right decision.
So I would just like to see a little bit more emphasis on how to sell to families
in a way that's accurate in a way that's accurate because you have to have,
you have to do your diligence when you're talking about not to be dramatic
like children's lives because like if you don't think a car seat could fit back there
or if you're just like talking to talk, you're doing yourself a disservice.
And my audience will be able to see right through that.
I offered my wife one time say, Hey, what do you think about, you know,
buying an EV like in general?
And she was like, I don't want, I don't want.
I'm like, why?
What are you thinking?
And she wasn't like informed into this topic,
but she was concerned about like her kids being driven on like a massive battery.
Have you ever heard that concern?
And obviously like the whole bottom of the EV is a big battery.
No, I have.
I have heard that concern.
I've also heard the concern of like charging the EV with your kids in the car.
So like you stop at a place to charge it and like that's a little people perceive
that as to be a little dangerous.
I think it's, I think it's a valid concern.
I mean, EVs are interesting.
The crash test interesting.
They're very heavy.
They're a lot heavier than other cars out there.
And a lot of the time, you know, you can make the argument that mass wins,
but sometimes with EVs,
you're saying mass wins in the cover bit of crash.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But sometimes it also like there, I mean, there's, I mean,
a lot of guardrails can't hold EVs at all.
So I don't know.
I'm neutral about them.
I actually like the newer EVs.
I think that for a long time families are really left out of like the EV conversation.
And that did fresher at me because although I'm not like chomping at the bit to get an EV,
like I live in a more rural area.
So it just wasn't high of mine for me.
But the fact that like GM came out with like a Hummer EV that could crab walk
before we came out like with a hybrid Tahoe like did feel like kind of interesting.
It just, it felt like the priorities were a little.
I think the point I was trying to make though is like in my case,
like my wife could care less about the powertrain.
She doesn't even know like the difference in that sense.
She, you know, terrorists is not the type of car or whatever.
But it's more so like for, and I've read like all these analyses that there's,
you know, no safety risk God forbid.
And like I've gone through this down this rabbit hole.
There's actually some good research on it.
So it should be good.
But regardless, it was interesting to me from like a market research perspective
that like that was something, a very simplistic view of it.
Like, yeah, why would I want my kids on a big battery?
And I was like, huh.
Yeah.
And by the way, like going to any car nowadays, you're literally surrounded
by Wi-Fi electronics.
You are sitting in like a big cell phone.
Like you kind of are.
The concern that a lot of parents have when it comes to car seat is they want
like an FR free car seat.
So like the one that wasn't sprayed with the harsh chemicals.
Like they want to buy a car seat that doesn't have that.
But the thing is, it's like, well, the entire car is sprayed with that.
Yeah.
The whole like, so you don't have it in your car seat, but it's the entire car
interior sprayed with that.
So it's kind of like.
This is not even like fringe anymore.
There's no reason to be fringe.
And now I'm telling you, I see like people on the internet talking about it like left
and right.
I'm just thinking about like, you know, we've literally woken up to the fact that
we're like living in like a toxic cocktail.
And like, yeah, you got to like watch out for these things because before like,
you know, like, you know, you go into the car.
It's super hot outside.
They say like open the windows.
It's all plastic that's heated up in a car.
It's like terrible for you.
It's just like, that's like so being a parent in 2026.
Like everything.
We're so over informed.
I just missed the 90s.
It's like everything has red dye.
We can't have that.
We're all being microwaved.
Like we're over informed.
But but it is like true.
Like, you know, I think back to like when I started business and I was detailing
cars and like, I mean, I was.
I was literally taking like paint thinner, lacquer thinner, like dipping my hand in
it with the towel to like remove like a scratch or something from a car.
Like my full hand, you know, like in the car, windows closed.
How does it just like and it's like nowadays we're like, oh, we don't want our kids to
do that.
I mean, I hope I'm fine.
But plus the years of years of being in that auction with fumes in your face.
I mean, totally.
It's so funny to think about it and I hope it's fine.
One thing I admire about you is that you've been able to crack this marketing like like
unlock the way to properly market to families, but also to retain that.
The biggest challenge in this modern media and attention, like all media has attention.
Every dealer wants attention.
They all want to have more attention than the dealer down the street is can you command
the attention and retain it?
And so how what is your like, how have you done that?
Like, are you like, is this a sustainable can dealer actually to a certain extent replicate
what you're doing to their benefit?
Like, how have you been able to retain this attention of moms for so long?
So I think cars are very interesting.
The car industry is very interesting.
And I think when you speak a language that women or your audience wants to hear, like
they they get excited about it and when you have a passion behind it, like I am very passionate
about the auto industry.
I find it so interesting.
I also host a podcast called the carpool and we have an entire segment called industry
news and we talk about the auto industry, but we talk about it like we're gossiping
about pop culture.
So instead of like, you know, comparing like, do moms care about like so much.
Why?
Because it's fun.
It's interesting.
What's interesting about it?
Oh, you know, the auto industry, they're always doing crazy things like Hyundai coming
out with this new thing called like the Boulder, like competing with the Bronco.
Like there's just it.
There's drama.
I mean, women like to go.
Sorry.
We like.
I think you just I think they just like the entertainment then.
Yeah, for sure.
It's entertainment value.
And I also say like, educate yourself in the auto industry because it's something that
so many people can relate to or interested in that, you know, if you're like your like
your great your kids grade school trivia night and you're like sitting next to like your
friend's husband, Mark, like what are you going to talk to Mark about?
Well, you could be like, Mark, I noticed you're a Toyota guy.
You know, what do you think about the new Land Cruiser coming back?
Like you could just maybe like attempt to kind of like have those conversations.
So that's an important part of it.
And I've also realized that women and mothers, they love to talk about their car.
So we've built a platform that not only allows like me to share about the auto industry and
about cars, but I'm always trying to get other mom's voices heard as well so that they can
share their experience.
Because at the end of the day, even if I have all this experience, this knowledge, I'm still
only one mom with like one set of opinions and I try to make my opinions as objective
as possible.
But whatever, some of my own personals are going to get in there.
So I really like hearing why other moms like their car, why they don't like their car.
And also cars are there a really big part of a mother's life.
That sounds kind of cliche, but I would argue that no one's that for some women, no one
spends more time in their car than a mom.
I mean, I'll clock six hours on a Tuesday, I'll eat breakfast in my car, I'll eat lunch
in my car.
I'll do like two school drop offs of football practice, gymnastics practice, like I'm living
in my car.
No one carries more precious cargo than a mother.
We are carrying the most precious cargo on the road.
So like to say that women don't care about cars, we're not car people.
I'm like, okay, well, I'm spending more time, I carry the most precious cargo.
I'm actually the most car person in the world.
Wow, that's such a good point.
I'm just, I'm still thinking like if I'm a dealer and I'm listening to you right now,
you can really monopolize your local market by building an ad campaign.
Like I would right away like clip this or send this podcast to like my BDC, my agency,
whoever and say come up with like three campaign ideas right now and let's actually deliver
to it.
Well, I can give them, do you want me to give them to you?
Let's give it, let's do the campaigns.
So I think the first thing I would tell dealers to do is I'd reach out to an organization
called Safe Kids.
Safe Kids is available.
They're in all states.
And I would do a car seat check event at your dealership.
So it's a free event.
You get the Safe Kids to come out there.
The CPSTs will all check, they'll check your car seats to make sure they're safely installed.
Like such a fun event.
No pressure.
They come here, maybe like have some popcorn or snacks when the kids get out of the car
and they just check your car seats.
I also love, I mean, I do like, I do an auto show every year and we get all of the family
cars there.
We open up the trunks and we just have like a stress-free environment for families to
look at cars.
I think a live activation like that, live activation is very smart because you're, you're literally
doing something very valuable, right?
Totally.
And it's, it's so fun.
I'm like, let them come check out your car.
You know, you could do a live walk around, you could get some car seats installed.
And I also just think tailoring the content, any of your social media content or any, even
content that like lives in your CRM maybe, so family focused, I think would perform really
well.
I think it would be a good investment.
Again, I see, I see the car manufacturers and even some dealers like they're just focusing
on not the wrong things, but very niche things.
And I would say like, if you could make a video about, you know, how family friendly
or how many car seats can fit or how many cup holders can fit, like just, and I'm also
like, I'm making all the content.
Like just rip off one of my videos.
I don't care.
And just take your brand and make that family forward content.
I think it would just go really far.
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I wonder where it would work best though.
Because when I think of anyone that has a dealership in New York City,
I don't know, maybe in the city proper, probably not that many families,
relatively speaking, or maybe I'm like, by the way, maybe there are a ton.
I'm just using, I'm making bad assumptions, but I would think where,
what pockets of the country have the largest growing population of families or whatever it is
and you could really dominate by, by the way, let's go even beyond that.
Do you know how there's these places where your kids love going to because there's something there
for them, like a play area or, I've seen the dealerships that have a little playroom,
but I think even beyond that, like even that's impractical to a certain extent.
I'm not going to, like you don't want to leave kids there.
So, you know, if someone, when I think about the physical dealership experience,
you could get so much earned media.
I'm a marketing guy, you know, I think about this, right?
You, you dealers to go to crazy lengths to get earned media, right?
And listen, I'm not saying there isn't good intention.
Like you'll donate a car, right?
You did a great deed and you also get earned media.
It's a double win.
You go to crazy lengths.
Now imagine the dealer that does something beyond a playroom.
I don't even know why.
Like they have some like engagement at the dealership or because dealers have space.
You have space and so I just think you could make so much waves by being creative and catering
even more to the family.
So you asked about like where in the country?
I mean, I think, you know, Midwest, South, like places that have, I mean, cars are huge.
I live in the middle of Missouri.
Like everyone has to have cars.
Everything's 45 minutes away.
So like that's huge.
I also think depending on your brand, like if you're a more, again, like if you're out,
if you're a brand with a minivan, like pay extra attention because like those,
you're having so many families come into your dealership.
I love the idea of like just having like that dedicated family space,
even just going the extra step of like having a room for like women to nurse in.
Like I know that sounds like those pods though, right?
Yeah, I have a pod like someplace where a mother could like nurse
their baby or just a kid could just chill out.
You know, you could also do like fun little pop up events.
Like have a Disney princess come on Saturdays.
I mean, I have all the Disney princesses come to my auto show.
There's some amazing agencies and like that's such a fun way to get that.
What agencies like who organizes this stuff?
Enchanted events, STL, like just literally Google like how to get like Disney princess near me.
They're so those industries are out there though.
And then that's such an easy thing to advertise.
Like, hey, parents, we're going to have, you know,
tea with the princesses on this day.
I just think that'd be fun.
In the age of attention, right?
Where everyone's fighting for market share.
These are all in my opinion, like every little thing is an extra edge.
Yeah.
And at the end of the day, you do these things.
You get proper, you know, social distribution.
Yeah.
Like I would literally, I'm telling you right now,
from on behalf of car dealership guy, if a dealer, whoops, I just broke my pen,
reached out to me and showed me like, hey, we're doing this like very,
like there's an angle here for a very interesting story about like how
differentiating your dealer group by catering to this market.
I can, I mean, I think it would be a fascinating case study to just see a dealer that like went
all in on like five or 10 of these things.
And like what happened to their business within like six to 12 months?
I guarantee you would just go, you know, astronomical in that segment.
Yeah.
The moms.
By the way, you mentioned like the, you know, it's funny, a lot of the stuff we talk in the
podcast, like 12, 18, 24 months later, it's like, it's a lot more consensus.
And that's the, the, the toxic spray stuff inside the car.
Have any manufacturers asked you about this?
Because if you're mentioning that to me right now and you have the strongest pulse of,
you know, what the moms are thinking, that is not going to be fringe in my opinion very soon.
And like right now, all the hype is around, you know, cheap cars, affordable cars,
da, da, da, like, you know, slate, all these, that's kind of like the next thing.
I don't, I don't think we're that far off from, hey, the first like non-toxic car.
I'm telling you right now, bookmark this podcast.
When this comes out, when the first vehicle gets branded in the next 12 or three
or whatever years as the first non-toxic car, it's happening.
I'm telling you, you heard it here first.
I have had, yeah, I don't think I can share much.
I've had some conversations with vehicles that are made and we've kind of seen it a little bit
like with the EVs, like vehicles that are made with like more recycled materials that are less
toxic. I really think it's something that a lot of people just don't know about.
And I don't- Yeah, just like a lot of people didn't know about
all the other stuff that we're discovering.
And if I'm being honest, I don't typically talk about it too much
on my platform only because like what's a family to do?
Like I just like don't- You're just gonna, you're gonna fear manga.
There's no solution. Right now.
Right now, exactly. So I haven't, I haven't educated it probably as much as I should just
because I don't really know where families go with that.
Yeah, what are you gonna do?
I don't know. Buy an older car, I guess.
I'm telling you, like it doesn't end. It doesn't end.
Yeah, but- I could give you so many funny, like there's so many things popping up in my mind,
but we're the over-informed generation. Why has no one been able to like dethrone you?
Let's be like very, let's be very like combative about this, right?
Like, listen, it's a free market. Everyone wants to be on top.
There's obviously of, you know, competition or people that are trying to do just like we do
and, you know, many people are independent media platforms that are trying to do better.
But I think, you know, there's, or I'd say in your case, like how have you kept such a strong
hold on this audience for quite a while now?
I truthfully believe that no one takes it more seriously than I do.
Like, and again, I'm just, I'm not impressed with free trips.
I'm not impressed with shiny things. I'm not impressed with manufacturer attention.
I'm only impressed with serving my audience.
And I think one of the reasons I'm like that is because I actually loved, I love selling cars.
I sold cars for almost two years. I sold BMWs. It was the most fun I ever had.
Something that my dad always told me when I was selling cars, he's like, remember,
people don't like to be sold, but they like to buy a car.
So just don't make them feel sold. Like how fun was it? Like this is so exciting.
And I've just brought that excitement to the car mom.
And so I've brought the excitement. I take my job like so seriously.
And like I can't share all the conversations, but I have, I don't want to say burnt bridges,
but like I have been blacklisted. I get there's several manufacturers who don't invite me to
their events, several manufacturers who wouldn't send cars to my auto show.
That's such short sight of thinking.
I just don't care. I'm only interested in helping families. So I think that's one of the reasons.
And your focus on your mission.
I'm so focused on my audience. Like every day I just wake up and think like,
how can I serve families who are car shopping? And I try to cover all aspects of those. So it's like,
or not even car shopping. It's how can I help families take better care of their car?
How can I help families find content in with their current car?
What about the families who need or on a budget? What about the families who are on a budget?
What about families who are having teen drivers? What about the families who can't figure how to
keep their car clean? Like I just try to cover all aspects of car related mom content because
to your point earlier, I don't want people to leave when they're done car shopping.
I want them to stay and I want them to give my audience their knowledge and their experience.
So I think also just making it like one big like we're all car moms.
Like I might be the car on, but everyone, everyone who follows me is a car mom and
we're working on some ways for more of those voices to be heard more directly.
You know, there's a Charlie Munger quote, which is take a simple idea and take it very seriously.
Oh, I like that. I like that quote. I've never heard that.
Yeah, I take I probably I put, I think people would be surprised and I like how much pressure I
put on myself and I take like our accuracy super important too. So like I have a team of CPSTs,
which stands for Child Passengers Safety Tech, who check I have to who check every single one
of the pieces of content I put out because like it not being accurate and a family taking it and
putting their child in a car seat based on my advice, like I lose sleep over it some nights.
Tell me more about just like the dealers who have I would say done the best at some of the
stuff we've said, like is there would you say the values accrued to dealers, salespeople,
like where have you seen either a salesperson or a dealer who has done well at this?
Like yeah, if that when I say value, I meant like if a salesperson is doing well at this is the
dealership kind of getting the credit in the eyes of the market, the people or like who has done
really well catering to this segment basically. So I think sales people individual salespeople
have done a really good job. Some of the ones that I know, who are really just, you know,
they're focusing on families, but they're not limiting themselves to families. I think sometimes
people think, okay, if I niche down too much, I'm going to lose, you know, those other customers
or that other content. And I actually would give any salesperson the advice I would, I think it's
a salesperson you should be posting on social media, obviously. And I would niche down as much as
possible, because what niching down does is it makes you interesting. And when you're interesting,
people will want to follow you, people want to like communicate with you. So this isn't correlated,
but like some of my favorite creators on Instagram is a man who called the Orca man,
he just posts about Orca whales. I follow this other girl, she has, she can only eat seven foods
because she has all these allergies. I relate to those people, not at all. I don't have allergies,
I don't really care about Orcas, but they're so passionate about their content that I'm like,
now it's interesting. So I think for a salesperson, niche down so much about
what kind of content you're creating, whether it be for families for first time car buyers for
women for men for career women, older cars, newer cars, luxury cars, mass market cars,
just niche down so much. And you'll become you, I think you'll actually
open yourself up to more opportunities, not less.
You know, we have, you know, that we partner with a company called nomads try nomad.co shameless
plug. But what they do Omar from there is he's actually he specifically mentioned some of the
best performing dealerships on the platform. It's essentially helps with organic social media
content to get business. Some of the most successful have literally build these like,
you know, quips or niches that they're like known for. Yeah, right. I'm not necessarily saying
like a skits or something, but they have like these themes that like they're known like,
this is what this person does or this is how they act or this is like their segment and series.
I think to your point, I love that kind of sticking to something and it differentiates
you. And again, in this age of attention, that's how you accumulate, you know, more eyeballs who
end up in some way, you know, potentially patronizing your dealership. I also wanted to
mention another thing you mentioned, not about niching, of course, I'm blanking on it. So
are you still having fun? Not in the podcast, like in general, like in this space, like,
is it still fun for you? It's like the most fun in the world. Like I love my job so much.
And I always get, I think you're kind of built for this or you're not truthfully,
because I get a lot of like young I try to mentor a couple of like want to be not like
new creators. And I can kind of tell right away if they're just going to be able to make it or not.
And I've been doing this now. It was six years in June, I've been doing the car mom. And my main
platform is Instagram, I have YouTube, a website, a podcast. But I told somebody who was doing a call
with me like, well, like, you know, like, how, you know, what's it going to take? Like, how, how
did you get here? And I said, well, I've posted every day for six years, I've let my stories
expire on Instagram, like maybe five times. I had three kids in between those three years too. So
I just love posting and I love sharing. So I'm still having fun. I really feel like I'm just
getting started too. I love working with the team. I love serving my audience. So yeah, it's like the
most fun in the world. I noticed you didn't say TikTok. Is that like a personal like fewer platforms
to deal with? Or is it more from like the former China connection, like patriotism or combination
of both? Doesn't have anything to do with China. I don't care about that. I don't like TikTok as a
consumer, for a couple of reasons. What I don't like about TikTok is you're not in control of your
algorithm as much. Like when I was on TikTok, I would open the app, I'd see a video about like a
child who got like left in daycare overnight, and I'd be like, hey, great, now my day's ruined.
Like I didn't like need that. Like you don't, you don't control what you see as much. So I don't,
I felt like, so I was just, I've never used it as a consumer. And should I be syndicated my content
on it? I mean, maybe. Do I think that TikTok builds a community? No,
it could hurt your brand. Also, if you don't respond and all that, I think that you're like,
I don't care about China. We're such like men think so differently. We're like thinking about
like geopolitically, and you're like, I don't care much. No, there's nothing about that. It's
people are a meaner on that platform. There's a lot of cyberbullying on that platform. And I also
just didn't want to live in a world where like my kids could find videos of me on TikTok one day
and like see seriously atrocious comments about their mother. That's it. That's a good so
and I just don't think I would gain outside of views, which I'm telling you views
for my business is not built on how many views I get. My business is built on how engaged my
audience is my community. So I don't think I would gain anything. I always say like,
you know, having to write 10,000 people 50,000, whatever is a lot more valuable than having
10 million people that are not influential or have spending power or whatever. It's all about
the quality. The impressions don't mean anything. It's like, who is the impressions? Right. So I
don't know. I mean, I'm not saying I'm gonna have a TikTok. Sometimes I'll get on there and post on
it, but I just I don't think I miss anything. All right, real quick, before we get back to the
episode, I want to share with you something special we've been working on for months.
The CDG dealer platform, it's built to give your dealership a competitive edge benchmark your
performance against thousands of rooftops get honest vendor feedback from other dealers and
see what's working across the industry right now. Check it out at CDG app.ai. That's CDG app.ai or
click the link in the show notes. What haven't I asked you that I should have asked you like what's
on your mind? What's interesting to you nowadays? Well, I'll tell you. So are you having fun in
Florida, by the way? Yeah, I'm actually loving Florida. Seriously, this has been we're only here
for 29 hours, but like it's been so so relaxing. Like normally, if this was like Vegas, it'd be
like such like a turn and burn trip, I'd be exhausted. I can confidently say like I'm going
home well rested, which feels good. And by the way, this is a, you know, kind of pseudo sales
pitch to get my future podcast guest to fly in as well, because they come for a dual podcast
recording and a vacation. Yeah, no, for sure. It's a good location. Like I would be yeah,
you did a good thing here. And the studio is beautiful too. So one thing you haven't asked
me about is like I'm basically like a woman in tech now, because overnight I built I'm about to
launch my new redesigned website that is absolutely unbelievable. And it's going to do everything
that I've been trying to accomplish for the last several years, which is give a voice to all moms.
So we are launching in a couple of hopefully weeks. It's not great timing because my
business partner is my sister and she's due with a baby August 12, which is like right when our
website's ready to be done. So we'll see when we get it out. But this website will have a logged
in experience where women can rate and review the car they own and also the cars they test drove.
So you'll log in, you can go to any of the cars you test drove any of the cars you own your husband
owns you have experience with, you can leave a review, you can rate the car, you can add pictures
of the car. And then for the audience, you can actually go and you can filter by how many kids
they have in their experience with the car. So I'm kind of modeling it off of a website called
rent the runway, which is where women can write luxury clothes. And one of the best parts about
rent the runway is you can filter by like size and height. So like it's helpful for me. I don't
need to say see what a girl who's 52 said about the dress that does nothing for me. I'm
511. So I can filter by 511 and like see people who look like me and how they look in that dress.
So we're trying to do the same thing with cars. So you could filter, you go in like the Kia tell
you right page and you could filter by moms of four kids who test drove but didn't buy. Well,
I want to know why they test drove but didn't buy it. Okay, then I can go to the Honda Odyssey page
moms of four kids who bought. So why did they buy that car? And I think what it's going to do is
help my entire community here just hear from other moms and like get their voices. What inspired
you to do that? So we have a Facebook group called the car mom crew and it has like 50,000 women in
this group and the content there is gold. I mean, it is do you use Facebook yourself? I do. So
wait, 50,000 moms are in there? Yeah. Okay. And it's an amazing place where women it's kind of
it's like a forum. And so I just wanted to have like a more but it's also the Wild West. You
moderate it? No, I have somebody moderate it. Wow. Yeah, because that's no, it's and I get great
content ideas from it to like it's so helpful to see just like the questions they have which posts
get a lot of engagement. It's it's awesome. Yeah. So I'm trying to take that and put it in a way where
everyone can use it in a very organized filter. You said earlier, like I'm an influencer and in
my head, I'm like, you're more than influencer at this point, like you've your website has come
a long way. I remember the first one. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's a workspace blog. And when we did this,
when I made this new investment in the new site, and it's going to do so many more things too,
like every every car has, again, me and my team of CPST is lossy over this, but every car will
have recommended car seats based on their seatbelts, their latch, their head restraints, the fit,
the bench, like we're able to give really good recommended car seats. Every car is going to
have a latch map. So families will know like where the lower anchors and the tether anchors are.
I rated every car, which I've never done before. I've never given cars a rating before. I've rated
them all. And yeah, it was it was a really, big investment for us. But I'm really,
I really think it's going to be just a really helpful tool.
Amazing. I think one of the big takeaways for me is like in person is a big edge for the
dealers. You already have this massive piece of real estate. Sure. And there's a lot of space
on it that you can do things and people are coming to you leverage that more. Yep. Secondly,
of course, couple that with digital, you know, digital marketing and the proper messaging,
beyond just like, you know, price offers and all that. Think about it, look at the fricking
economy, right? Like you have more than you have upward mobility, or I've said the middle
class is shrinking to a certain extent, you could say it's because so many more people are getting
richer. And so you have such a big class of people that have disposable income. Yeah, market to them
beyond just like, you know, financial driven offers. That's one segment of the market. It's
great. But there's also the segment of the market at one second convenience market to them properly.
There's a reason why the neighborhoods across this country with the most expensive real estate
are still going up because people have money. The second thing, should we do a rapid fire?
Should we end with that? Sure. All right, let's do it. All right. So let's do like one thing
dealers need to start doing. Dealers need to start educating their consumer about the family
friendly features of a car. Like I think every dealer should have it have should understand
the car seat mechanics of the of the vehicles that they sell. Okay, I would just like add it to
be like a point like you know how in many stores you have like, hey, this person speaks Spanish
or whatever. Like, do you recommend like one person or kind of cross training across the
board? I think both. I think you could cross train. I don't think it's that it's not that much
understand for one brand. But I also think like if you could like bring a CPST or like it's honestly
not that hard to get a CPST certification like hot take, it's really not that difficult. If you
could have a CPST on your staff, it's I mean, the fire every firefighters a CPST. It's not that
difficult. And I'm not saying firefighters do a lot more. But like, it's 40 hours. It's a 40 hour
you do it for one week in your certified child passenger safety tech have one on staff and then
advertise that one thing that yours need to stop doing they need to stop putting this is not new,
but you just stop putting such a emphasis on having to come in person to get information.
Do it remotely. Yeah, I mean, do you know what you're like, if I'm calling to see the cars
available, like do you do you really know what it would take me a mom of four to come in person?
Like, don't tell me my presence is my power. Shut up. I have four kids. My presence is my power.
I have four kids seven under you want me to come in right now? Are you being so for real? My presence
my four kids is my power. I will ruin. I will ruin the. Yes, they're going to destroy the deal.
Yeah, fine. I'll bring all four. I'll make you regret making me come in there with my four kids.
That's epic. One thing they're not paying attention to. I think we could also put more of an emphasis
on educating our consumers on the car buying process. Like sometimes I feel like dealers
are so coy with like what happens at a lease return like how to get more money for your trade.
Like like let's just what if we had more educated consumers? Wouldn't that just be like a better
experience for everybody? Like there's no it's like we're still like holding our cards close to
our chest. It's like tell them like just tell people what tell people to expect. Tell people how
to get more money for their car. I also really like I also think people are missing in terms of
the pre-owned market like educating our consumers and one makes a good pre-owned car and you know
especially with some families really feeling like they're under a lot of financial stress. One thing
that I've really been talking a lot about on my platform is that 100,000 miles isn't too many miles.
I think you can buy a car with 100,000 miles. Why do I think that? Because my audience you just
told me you like let's say I'm doing a consultation. The family will be like we're looking for a car
for just the next five years. I'm like okay how many miles do you drive a year? We drive 10,000 miles
a year. Okay so you're asking like to put 50,000 miles on a car? Yeah. That's nothing. This car has
112. It's going to cars are designed to make it to 200,000. That's okay kind of like easing some of
that anxiety that they might have over a higher mileage, cheaper cars I think would go a long
way. So it's kind of a long-winded answer. Well said. Kelly Stumpy the car mom. Thank you. This
conversation literally flew by. It was amazing. By the way we touched on a lot. Kind of like all
over the place. I'm going to get a lot of feedback on this one. You're going to see because we went
to like longevity and I know like like health and flame retard. It's like TikTok China. Yeah I know
right. TikTok China. I mean it's great health. It's uh those are actually the best podcasts.
People love that for sure. It's like they hear stuff that they did not use to. So
Kelly Stumpy the car mom. Kelly thanks so much for coming on. Thanks. All right hope you enjoyed
that episode please give the podcast a rating consider subscribing to the show and check the
show notes for links to the sponsors of today's episode digital dealer podium and cdg platform
thanks for tuning in and I'll see you guys next time.
About this episode
Kelley Stumpe, founder of The Car Mom, explains why dealers misunderstand “car mom” buyers: families treat shopping like a safety decision, not a casual purchase. She argues the real friction comes when salespeople don’t match that seriousness, and she pushes for better in-person product knowledge—especially around child seats and fit. Kelley also shares how she stays independent after being blacklisted by manufacturers, including refusing their money and relying on dealer access, CPST checks, and her family-focused media platform.
Today I'm joined by Kelley Stumpe, Founder & CEO at The Car Mom.
She has built the largest online following of car-buying moms in the country, and she has never taken a dollar from a manufacturer to do it.
That refusal has gotten her blacklisted from press events and cut off from loaner cars, but it has also made her the most trusted voice family car shoppers turn to.
Topics:
04:00 The Most Car Seat-Friendly SUV.
06:30 Selling To Women Isn't Different.
09:30 The Seven-Door Car Parents Want.
11:30 Salespeople Know Nothing About Cars.
20:30 The Free Event That Drives Business.
27:10 Why Kelley Stays Undisputed.
41:15 The 100,000-Mile Secret.
This episode is brought to you by:
1. Digital Dealer – Join dealership leaders from across the country for two days of expert-led education, practical AI strategies, networking with industry peers, and hands-on access to the latest products and solutions. September 22–23 in Detroit. Register today here.
2. Podium - If your AI isn’t driving real outcomes, it’s time to take a closer look @ here.
3. CDG Marketplace — Get peer-validated reviews and real-world intel on every major dealership technology provider, all from verified dealers inside the CDG Platform. Visit @ here.
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