Car Dealership Guy Podcast Sep 17, 2025

Jeff Miller on Selling 1-Price Subarus, DriveCentric CEO on CRM Innovation | Daily Dealer Live

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Hey, everybody.

You're welcome to another edition of the Daily Dealer Live.

I'm your host, Sam Darkin, back with us to joining today co-hosting is the Julie D. Martino.

What's up, guys?

And welcome back.

And what's up?

For everybody joining the live stream today, that's you, every single one of our faithful

viewing audience.

We're live across all CDG social media platforms.

Post those comments.

We'll bring them into today's show because they do change the course of the show.

Your questions level us up.

And what a show we have in store for you today.

Our Daily Dealer Live audience coming up today.

Jeff Miller of Subaru comes to talk about selling one-price Subarus and also the Subaru Love

Promise.

The difference that is Subaru, I love this conversation.

Also DriveCentric CEO on CRM Innovation.

But before we go there, let's hit today's automotive headlines.

All right.

First up today in the news, AutoNation has picked up two luxury dealerships in Chicago

from Fletcher Jones Automotive Group, Mercedes-Benz, oh, I love it, by the way.

Isn't that cool?

Mercedes-Benz of Chicago and Fletcher Jones Audi in a deal advised by Presidio that close

September 15th, the move strengthens AutoNation's luxury footprint in the city where they

have multiple bends locations.

And for Fletcher Jones, the sale marks a sharper focus on its 13 remaining dealerships

in California and Nevada.

I love the Fletcher Jones organization.

I worked with Fletcher Jr. in a prior world.

And it's interesting to see this empire.

He's being very selective and he's narrowing it down to the stores it seems that he wants

to keep.

He used to be in Hawaii and as a rep for Swiss based insurance care, I used to travel

to Hawaii to service that.

That was tough work.

Tough work.

Really tough.

I believe it.

And then next up today in the news, Carvana has rolled out Shackbot.

It's an AI powered car shopping assistant that get this.

It uses Shaquille O'Neal's voice and personality to guide customers through browsing inventory

and navigating the buying process.

The tool blends Carvana's proprietary large language models with O'Neal's actual

voice recordings aiming to make the experience feel both more personal and entertaining.

It's definitely a unique way to stand out shoppers increasingly use AI tools like chat

GPT to research purchases.

But the real question is whether Shackbot will drive sales or just create buzz.

Now we had the round table with all the AI CEOs last Friday.

This is an interesting example of using AI in a pretty unique and interesting way.

And look, people are going to know they're not talking to Shaq.

Nobody thinks Shaq is on the but you can play around with it.

You can have the conversation with them.

I think that's pretty interesting.

We went on and we said, Hey, tell us about Daily Dealer Live and he said best live show

on the internet anywhere bar none.

So Shaq can't be wrong, Yuli.

Yeah, listen, the most important part about this is that we're talking about it, right?

So it's working already.

Yes.

Yeah.

Um, wait, Yuli, there should be a Sam and Yuli AI, a big time integration or

something, something.

We're going to talk to you and put it right on the CDG website and you can ask Sam and

Yuli questions.

I love it, but Lauren Klein says sounds intimidating.

And then Jason comes on with a heavy dose of sarcasm saying, imagine that not

getting your auto purchase.

I love it.

And remember too, we announced the Bicell activity.

Go to Bicell.com CDG Bicell.com to learn about all the Bicell activity going on

out there in the marketplace today's world.

So all right, next up today in the news, new data from Escalant shows the extended

range electric vehicles.

There are also called EREVs or vehicles that combine battery power.

Electric motors with small ice engines could accelerate the shift to electrification.

If consumers better understood how they work, it turns out more than 40% of

car buyers are unaware of what an extended range of electric vehicle actually is.

Shocker.

I blame.

I don't think there's great education on any of it.

More than half, 55% think they operate only on electricity.

But automakers are leaning in.

Ram is moving forward with an EREV pickup.

Nissan's 2027 road will feature its e-power system.

And Scout Motors says deposits for its EREVs are outpacing pure battery

electric vehicles.

Yuli, Scout, they're back.

We keep hearing about them.

So cool looking also.

I mean, a little controversial, right?

But listen, I have to say, I'm going to weigh in mildly here.

I think this is probably the future of adoption.

And if we buy into the idea that EVs are going to dramatically reduce greenhouse gashes,

what better way than to have mass adoption, right?

So something like this, you know, that hybrid technology really is the next step

of the future.

Yeah.

Listen, we just got a message from the car dealership guy, Yosi.

He says, consider it done when talking about AI bolt-on.

So I would say when you go to car dealershipguy.com at some point in the future

and you want a tour around the website, you'll be guided by Yuli.

You'll be guided by me, our AI virtual respondents.

And then Jason Pitek says at Yosi, finally the answer for virtual FNI that works.

Wait, Jason, is that Shack or is that Yuli?

That's the only question.

All right, everybody.

That's a wrap on this week's or today's news for this Wednesday, September 17th.

Hey, as a reminder, we get a lot of requests to join the show and we want all of you, all

dealers that have an opinion on something or that are doing something great in the

world to come on the show and share their perspectives.

Please visit cdgguest.com, fill out the intake form to be considered for a future

guest spot.

You'll meet Michelle, our wonderful Michelle who does all the scheduling, the intake.

The best.

We've got some questions about your opinions, what you want to come on and talk about.

And then we'll bring you on here on the show.

And by the way, the more dealers with great opinions we get, the better the show ends

up being.

And again, great show today because we've got a one such handwriting.

So all right.

Next up, Cardiola Ship Guy is back with our second annual NADA party happening

in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 5th.

It is the hottest ticket NADA 2026 with special guests and top automotive personalities will

be there.

Yuli, come on to be considered for a formal invite.

Just hit the link in the show notes request to join and fill out a questionnaire.

Unfortunately, we can't fit everybody in the spot.

Spots are limited.

So RSVP today and we hope to see you in Vegas.

You'll be there.

Yuli, right?

I'll be there.

We're good.

Full body, not just the bobblehead.

NADA is always a great time to meet other dealers, vendor partners, learn about new technology,

learn about new tools, figure out ways to make automotive better.

And I think this is the delta between businesses that just grow slowly over time and automotive,

which is super fast to execute.

We learn new things and we put those things into place.

And that actually is an incredible segue to our first guest today, who is an execution

ninja.

He turned to Jeff Miller, CEO of Mark Miller Subaru.

Jeff, welcome to the show.

Hey, Jeff.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks.

How do you like that setup, by the way?

Execution ninja.

I don't know if I've been ever called a ninja before, but I like it.

You'll own it though, right?

You'll take it.

That's real.

All right.

So, Jeff, before, as we ask you our banner question, which we ask everybody

as our lead number one question, how's biz?

Answer that question and then just tell us a little bit about yourself and your

business.

It's been good.

I wouldn't say great.

I mean, I think the tariffs in the Subaru world, tariffs have been a little bit

painful with us having to raise prices a little bit.

Service business, though, has been through the roof.

I mean, we've been showing record months in service throughout the entire year.

So we've been really leaning into our fixed operations and having a great year.

Yeah, that's awesome.

So you're a Subaru dealer.

Tell us a little bit about how long your family and you have been in the Subaru

world, because Subaru is very different from the other OEMs.

We often talk about OEMs.

We've had Nissan's heads of sales for Nissan and Infinity on.

We've had, you know, we talk about Stellantis often and then, you know,

Toyota, Lexus, the Honda, the likes, but Subaru is different.

Well, we'll start with the fact I'm a Subaru retailer.

I'm not a Subaru dealer.

Fair.

Yes.

We've knocked all ourselves dealers out there.

I know that.

Jeff Walters would not be happy with me.

No, Tom Bell especially, because that was Tom Bell's baby, but a hard

retailer guy doesn't sound as good.

It's not going to work for you guys, but we have been in the Subaru world

almost as long as Subaru in the United States.

My family picked up their Subaru franchise in 1971 on a coin flip.

We love to tell the coin flip story as my dad would have been 21 years old

and called into his dad's office and said, we have a chance to be

either a Subaru dealer or a Honda store in Salt Lake City.

So they flipped a coin and the coin flip came up Subaru.

And we always joke that the first 25 years of that coin flip, we're not a good coin flip.

Yeah, I was going to say the second 25 years, we could not be happier.

And it fits with our brand and our culture and who we are so well that

we could not have a better partner than Subaru.

Awesome. Well, and so your store is located in Utah.

You're in northern Utah.

So you're on the Wasatch Mountains, right?

Now, for the first two stores in Salt Lake County.

So right in Salt Lake City.

And it seems like Subaru fits that environment really well.

The mountains, skiing, all of that.

Yeah, it used to be it was it was the niche brand, right?

Subaru was this niche brand for mountain environments

for people who need all the drive and snow.

And now it's not that anymore.

Now it's it's a player in the market.

It's we're tracing that 5% market share, which is Subaru's

been goal for the last few years.

And they really have figured out how to really appeal to everybody

out there with a really good, high quality car.

It gets great gas mileage that really just takes care of people.

Yeah. So one of the things that separates you

from other retailers across the country is you are one price

and you decided to go one price some time ago.

Tell us a little bit about that transition

from negotiation to one price

and what pain were you looking to solve with that transition

when you initially did it?

So we were driving about 10 years ago.

We're actually we transitioned on April 1st, 2014,

which don't ever transition to something like that

on April Fool's Day.

But no, the stake learned won't do it ever again.

But we moved to just everything we do is is this going to help

our employees? Is this going to help our customers?

And then we worry about making money on it later.

And by looking at that, there's no more thing to do that

than one price because you're looking at something

at how to make this car buying experience as easy

as you possibly can make it.

I mean, we went from selling like everyone else does

in two hour, three hour transaction times to if someone

knows what they're buying, they could be in and out of our store

in 30, 45 minutes easily and you do it in a way

where you have less sales people doing it.

So instead of having an average sales person who's selling 10

to 12 cars a month, like most places are sell 14 to 16.

Beautiful, right?

It and it just it takes this weird thing.

The customers hate where it's, oh, let me go check

with my boss and see if I can do that.

And whether there's someone's actually going to check

with their boss or not, question mark that.

Yeah, but you come back to the desk and sales customers

are really baffled by it, not as much for us anymore

because we have so many repeat customers coming back to it.

But when we were first doing it, people were like, wait,

you don't have to go talk to someone.

It's like, no, we're going to do it all right here.

And it's it's the repeat business.

That's even more dramatic, right?

I mean, I've come from an environment like that

and the repeat business once once they know who you are

and they know that's your culture.

It's it's astounding that the curiosity would be

why aren't more dealers or retailers trying

to solve for this problem?

I mean, it's all about the customer experience right now.

It's because most dealers out there feel like

customers number one issue is price and it's just not.

It's just not a true thing.

I mean, there were studies out there

when we first looked at it that we went into

and it was something like 15% of the US population

truly wanted to negotiate.

You get 98% of car dealers negotiate.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

It doesn't make any sense.

So what you do is as harsh it is to say

those 15% of people that truly want to negotiate,

you tell them to go by from your competitor.

Right.

And they're going to go by the way to which,

by the way, to somebody that wants to negotiate

telling him to go somewhere else.

It just brings.

I'll just make.

Yeah, so in your geography,

I I sold Saturn's back before that one belly up

and the time frame.

So in the late 90s, I sold Saturn's

and it wasn't so that was one price.

And I remember people coming in saying,

hey, you know what, throw in a free set of formats.

Hey, you know what, one price.

It's all we can do that, you know,

you go back through the brand promise,

you go back through the value statement

and people would really resonate with that.

Right. But you're right.

There are a certain percent

that just want to be able to negotiate

and it drives them nuts if they can't.

Right.

And you're never going to get rid of those people.

And some of those people,

even when you say that they still come in

and then end up buying the car

because you have the exact one they want.

But yeah, in general,

what we found is that those customers that we had

that we used to service and we used to negotiate,

they'd get the best deal

because they'd go back and forth seven or eight times

and spend 10 days buying a car.

They were our biggest problems in the service department.

Yeah.

Like so you also were able to do by doing this

is we saw our net promoter scores

and our customer service scores and service

go up after this

because you eliminated that customer from your database.

Yeah.

So one price selling is not new.

Like again, it's been around for decades.

If it works so well

and if customers like it so much,

why is it still not more widely adopted?

What why do people still buy in dealerships

where there's negotiation?

Why do dealers still decide to negotiate?

Change.

I think that that's a most detail.

Most dealers don't like change

and they don't like they're so afraid

that by taking away that negotiation power

and negotiation, they're going to lose gross

and they're going to lose what they have.

And what we were able to do

is we maintain gross throughout the whole process.

It did not affect our gross whatsoever

because the gross now became controlled by the store

not by an individual salesperson in their skill level.

So we're setting the pricing,

we're setting what it's going to be

and they don't have any effect on it.

So no longer is a salesperson chasing gross.

A salesperson is getting paid.

We pay our salespeople on volume based flats.

So in event of how many cars they sell new,

how many cars they sell used in each half,

they get a higher flat retro back to the first one.

So our sales guys, we didn't do one price.

I didn't like a lot of the one price models

when I first looked at it

because it was like, oh, we're going to bring in

a bunch of 20 year old order takers

that we're going to pay 35, 40 grand a year.

And like, no, we can do one price

and still have sales guys that make 150K a year.

Like it's still there.

So to that point, Jeff,

what do you say to those that are skeptical

of that model who say,

hey, you know what?

You're going to train salespeople

under this kind of stair step program

and they're going to get really good at selling cars

and they're going to go somewhere else

where they can negotiate

and have the potential for a greater gross.

Have you seen that?

Has turnover been higher on the sales floors or results?

We don't have turnover on our sales floor.

There's no turnover like that.

We really don't have very little.

We hire maybe two salespeople a year per store,

three salespeople a year.

And we don't hire a lot of new salespeople.

It's all, I mean,

my average salesperson on each of my sales floors

is over 10 years.

Wow.

That's awesome.

You're taking the pressure off that salesperson

by operating like this.

How does that,

now you said you didn't lose any gross

all the way through.

How does that translate into finance?

So finance, we've made a big push on finance

in the last 12 months.

I actually hired a new general manager for our group

for my two Subaru stories about December of last year

and he brought in a big focus on that

and a big focus on making sure we're selling to the market.

And we try and run one price in the finance world as well

where we, there's no crazy start.

Sure.

$5,000 gross on a warranty and discount to ground.

We don't do any of that stuff either.

It's very set pricing in our finance world as well.

So we've really been able to push that up to the thing

where we're doing 14, 15, 1600 a copy now

on the back end as well

while doing this one price model.

Nice.

So in other places,

you've talked about three guardrails

that help you protect this one price model.

What are the three guardrails

that help you over this past decade that you've had it

keep the consistency and keep the integrity of the program?

So the biggest thing in the integrity of the program

has always been the leadership

is that if the owner of the company,

the general manager of the company

does not believe in one price

and it's gonna block away from one price

for his friends or for someone else,

it kills the whole program.

I used to, when we first started this thing,

I would get a phone call as general manager

at least once a week from a sales person's desk customer.

Because we told the sales people,

the customer has a problem with it.

They have my extension, call me.

And so they call me and say,

this sales, you're gonna lose my deal

for 50 bucks or 100 bucks.

And we would say a pretty simple thing.

It's like, when you walked in the door,

did they explain how we sell cars here?

I said, yeah, they did.

And did they explain it again

when we did your trade in?

Yeah, they did.

So if I were to give you $50 off right now,

it means that we're lying to you.

Yeah.

We've been lying to you

in the door like that.

We're not gonna do that.

And then generally there would 90% of timing.

Okay, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Hang up.

There were a lot of times they were surprised

they were talking to the owner of the company,

first of all.

But that's the first guardrail

is being able to do that,

is being able to keep the integrity of the program

throughout.

We've been a big part of the guardrails

on the trade inside of it as well.

We do not over or under allow.

Because I know a lot of people

that say they're one price dealers.

It's a big game.

Yeah.

And they just over allow and under allow on trades.

And that's how they mess with gross.

It's like, no, if we're gonna do this,

we're gonna do it the right way

and really take care of the program.

So Jeff, to your point about management buy-in,

yoga cars commented here.

He said, I went through one price conversion

at a Toyota store 10 years ago.

It didn't work out.

Change of management killed the project.

And I do think,

as with any change in retail,

you probably see this as well as we do.

Like there's a period where

everyone will test your resolve for a process or a way.

And if you cave to your point once,

it dies on the vine, right?

And so how long would you say

thinking back to that decade ago

when you implemented it?

How long did it take for it to become so ingrained

it wouldn't be reversed?

GM's trying to come in with an exception

or salespeople trying to push for that

or customers trying to test your resolve.

How long did that take?

At least a couple of years at least.

I mean, I think there were,

I'll never forget a moment where my dad,

when my dad was still involved in the organization,

he's not anymore.

He sold off to us a few years ago,

but he was still involved

by one year into the process.

One of our sales guys wanted to sit him down

and talk to him and start telling him.

And my dad says to me, he's like, no,

we're bought in on this.

It's like, if we decide to go back on this,

we're selling the stores.

I was like, okay, dad,

like dad, it was like the only time

I think I ever brought my dad into my office

and like gave him a talking to us.

And yeah, but it needs to have that kind of resolve.

It needs to have this idea of it.

And once we did it and they knew we were serious

and you knew it was a year or two into it

and then we weren't going back,

we did lose two managers over it.

Cause we lost two sales managers that didn't like it.

They didn't like the idea.

Like they loved the fight.

Like they were those guys that loved the sales fight.

Adrenaline junkie.

Now you don't have the fight anymore.

Like a sales manager's job now is training

and doing trade appraisals.

Well, I mean, you shift the fight, right?

The fight is less about price.

And it's more about value.

What are you delivering to the customer?

So I mean, those guys that you lost,

you didn't, you didn't lose them.

All right, you didn't lose anything better.

So Jeff, this conversation is sparking a debate online.

And I love it.

And we're seeing it in the comments.

Mike Brenton says going through that in Volkswagen,

they're changing everything.

And now the store's going downhill.

So I don't know what Mike means on going downhill.

If you want a post that in

and we'll bring that into the convo.

But let's go to the bottom line, right?

You have well-compensated salespeople that are retained.

So they're staying, they're thriving.

What does your net look like or net to sales?

Are you still profitable as a result?

Yeah, I mean, especially since we've been able

to get the finance side fixed out on the other side

of that was always the issue.

And that was the always thing is my goal,

I would love to have everybody be this

because I do worry a lot about our car industry,

about when you see these other players like Carvana

and Carmax, they're coming in and doing this really,

really well and people love it.

And when we're not doing it, it's a risk

to our future, the future of car dealers

to not do that same quality experience

when these outside players are coming in.

We're running over 3% net to sales right now,

both for us.

Wow, great.

Yeah, very good.

Net to sales 3%.

Well, so there you have it.

So what Jeff would you say to a Toyota dealer

or a Volkswagen dealer trying to go through it?

Do you think it's different at Subaru

and Subaru helps with that because of the,

and we'll get into this in just a moment,

but the culture and the lifestyle of the OEM,

do you think it's uniquely suited to this one price thing

and Volkswagen and Toyota are just destined to fail

because not all dealers are on it?

Or is this, to your point, a great way of taking

automotive from transactional to value-based

and it defends the future of automotive overall, Jeff.

And I love how much you guys talk,

especially on the shows about value-based sales

because that's what we're all about.

I mean, price, especially in our world

because we don't have price.

Price is no, we don't not have the bullet of price

in our gun, our sales, they don't have it.

So it has to be value.

And the advantage we have in Subaru

is that Subaru's got the best value proposition

in the industry from what we have,

from the knowledge from the cars we sell

and what we do on that side,

but from the love promise

and what we're doing in our communities

and showing that we're more than just an all retailer,

it's such a great message that we have

to put out there and Subaru helps it with us.

Our individual retailers do such a great job with it

that it's a no-brainer to be able to sell value

where you don't need to sell price.

Yeah, yeah.

And what is Subaru's value proposition overall?

Subaru's value, how would you characterize it?

From a customer standpoint,

I mean, I think that we sell,

it is a reasonably price vehicle.

We're kind of in the mid-level on price range.

I think our lack of what we have

is we don't have the breadth of models

and we're pretty niche in what we have model-wise

from a small SUV's, an SUV,

it'd be nice if we could expand it to some other areas,

but we're great gas mileage on it,

engineering best in the business,

best safety there is in the business.

I mean, we really do make the best cars

in the industry, in my opinion.

And Subaru as a brand, as an OEM,

has done a great job of making it not about the price,

but making it about the value,

giving back in unique and interesting ways.

So I totally agree with the OEM.

And I think that our relationships too,

from as far as an OEM,

I think we're number one in the industry now,

as far as Toyota, Lexus, and us,

as far as OEM relationships,

no one, everyone wants to be a Subaru retailer now

because of how good Subaru's manufacturing,

is the manufacturer to deal with.

I mean, I can tell you right now,

I'm on Subaru's dealer counsels,

it's a little different, but even if I wasn't,

I could call Jeff Walters right now

and he would pick up the phone and have a conversation.

And that doesn't exist in General Motors and Ford

and those other,

she's gonna maybe do a little bit.

We're very lucky in my family

because we roll Subaru and Toyota,

so that's pretty good.

You picked all, yeah, you picked both of the brands.

That coin should have been two-sided,

you should have just taken both Subaru and Honda

all those years ago.

I know.

Those are three elite brands.

I mentioned you in the green room beforehand.

So I'm the executive manager

for our Subaru Fort Wayne store in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

We just did a full remodel ground up

to your point about Jeff Walters.

He's coming to the grand opening on Monday.

We'll actually do the show live there

from the store on Monday,

but they really do support in a unique and interesting way.

Couple comments online.

Lauren Klein says the newest generation

of buyers don't want to negotiate

and I would agree with that.

And Alex says,

removes friction for the customer,

which price one price isn't the standard.

Sell the value compared to price like Jeff says.

And that is what's fascinating to me

is if it's so good for the consumer,

if it increases CSI or NPI, NPS,

what doesn't make sense for more dealers to switch?

What's the reverse side of that, right?

What's the counter to that?

The worry that the dealers have

is that the guy down the street for me that,

oh, I'm gonna,

what I hear mostly when I talk to my 20 group

and talk to the thing is,

I'm in a way more competitive world than you.

Like the guy down the street just gonna undercut me

by a hundred dollars and take all the deal.

It's like, that's happening.

Then you're not selling value.

You're not selling the value of organization.

I mean, I will tell you,

I have the closest Subaru retailer in the country to me

at my Midtown store in Subaru.

It is 2.1 miles away.

Wow.

We are two miles from each other

and we are both in a business for 50 years for Subaru.

Is that Nate Wade?

Nate Wade, yeah.

One of the biggest Subaru retailers

alongside yourself, right?

And they were just bought by Kengarf, yeah.

Kengarf bottom, they're now corporate store, I guess.

Yeah.

Which by the way,

I'm fascinated by that acquisition.

So I knew the prior owner pretty well.

Like that was a well run store.

They sold a ton of cars.

Kirk Schneider did a great job burning that store.

Can you imagine Garf coming in

and saying, hey, we're gonna improve on what Kirk did.

Like he did it well enough that

I would have a challenge

in paying whatever the multiplier was.

It was a lot.

The number I heard was a big number.

I don't know if I would have paid that multiplier.

I know that.

No, no, no.

But Garf is a large organization.

They're well run.

They were really excited to get in the Subaru world.

I think it's one of their first Subaru stores

and trying to see what they can do in the Subaru.

And they've got a good guy running it now.

And yeah, it'll be fun to see what they're able to do.

Like, I'm really trying to work in our market

because we're such a tight competitive market

on how we can make ourselves

less competitive against each other

and more competitive against the other banks.

And that's the key.

That's the key.

So how do you do that?

How do you do that?

So you've got a collection of really effective Subaru dealers

and rather than race to the bottom in a market,

how do you go out and say, hey, together

we're gonna win without it being a negative?

So one of the issues that Subaru has had

is they've had an advertising fund, right?

So they've had, they give their money

to the individual retailer to advertise

versus having your Utah Toyota dealers

and things like that.

And we're trying to work with Subaru to work away from that

and pilot some things hopefully in the next six months

or a year to get us all advertising together

as your Utah Subaru dealers

or your Subaru Utah Subaru retailers

rather than us all running the same ad against each other.

Yeah.

Like we need to.

Well, that's an LMA, right?

That's not new.

That's not new though.

I remember when I was new car manager

back in like 2007, 2008 back when we just had one store

then we still used to do newspaper.

No one does newspaper anymore

but they used to go to Salt Tribune on a Saturday

and you would see five of the exact same Subaru ad

with just different payments at the bottom

and a different logo.

And it's like, what are we doing?

Like, what are we doing guys?

Come on.

Yeah.

All right.

Last question up and then we gotta jump.

What's the most misunderstood factory dealer issue

speaking of the Subaru retailer board right now

and how should retailers respond?

Misunderstood factory issue.

I mean, I think the biggest issue with OEM boards

and I would not necessarily specific to Subaru

is just the trust factor is I wish that there was more trust.

Like I wish there was more trust between the retailers

and the board that we're all in this thing together.

Like it's to full advantage for me to do as well as possible

for them to do as well as possible.

It doesn't work if I'm doing really well

and they're not doing really well.

And it also doesn't work if they're doing really well

and the retailers aren't doing really well.

And you see that in a lot of manufacturers brands

that makes you worry about those brand

and the longevity of those brands.

Yeah.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting.

There is something confrontational and conflicting

and competing about the OEM retailer model.

But then there's also something in the competition

that somehow makes both sides a little bit better.

But I agree with you.

There's gotta be a way to align just a little bit more.

So Subaru has always liked to call it Tom Dahl

back when Tom Dahl was running Subaru.

I always called the Subaru dealer accounts

of the living room.

And it was that we're in the living room now.

In the living room, we can talk like family.

We can talk like friends.

And it really was that feel.

And because of it, we solved a lot of problems

and we solved a lot of issues with Subaru.

And it's one of the reasons Subaru's gone from being,

selling 170,000 cars in 2008 to 7,800,000 now.

Yeah.

Well, Jeff Miller, CEO, Mark Miller, Subaru.

Absolute blast having you on.

You should come out to our open house Monday

for Wayne Subaru.

Come on out.

Let me check my schedule.

I just hope for a brand new building in Salt Lake as well.

We're doing our grand opening in November.

I'll invite you out.

Where was my invite?

Come on.

I want an invite to this thing.

In November, we'll have you out.

I'll be there.

You're on the invite list.

We appreciate you being on the show.

And in any case, we'll see you at the chase meeting

in December.

Absolutely.

Thank you guys.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Fun conversation about all things Subaru and retail.

One price versus negotiation.

I'd love to have somebody come on who would say,

hey, one price is challenged.

I prefer negotiating and here's why.

So if you have that viewpoint and you're a dealer,

we'd love to have you on in the next few days

as a counterpoint to that.

Because if one price was the gold standard

and it was clearly the way to go

for consumers and retailers, everybody would do it.

And I'm just curious, not everybody has,

including yours truly, right?

To people's detriment, though,

the one thing getting in the way would be an OEM

incentivizing volume, which obviously,

we're all chasing volume, but any type of stairs

that program would immediately impede something

like this working, right?

You have no choice.

Yep. All right, let's talk Toma.

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And I don't know, can Toma create a Shaq voice AI

or a Sam or Yuli voice AI or a CDG car dealership guy?

I don't know. We'll see.

But we appreciate Toma.

Thanks for sponsoring today's content,

supporting the show today and bringing conversations

like we just had with Jeff Walters, which was awesome.

So all right.

Now let's turn to our head of editorial CDG news,

Anna Delviar, who I just lost my thing here.

Who's going to share with us some of the latest data

and insights as to why and how dealership

use car acquisition strategies are changing.

Anna, welcome to the show.

Anna, you got me.

You got me with the,

you got me with the phonetic spelling of your last name.

All right. Give us your last name.

Cause I obviously butcher it every time. Go for it.

Well, do you want, do you want the American way

or do you want the real way?

Ooh, let's go the real way.

I prefer fully authentic and correct.

What's the real way?

Yes. So my last name is Cuban and it's pronounced Delviar.

So it's a double L is a Y and, you know,

give it a little, give a little trill on the end there.

I love it. Delviar.

I'm going to, I'm going to mix a little bit of Rusky into that

and I'll get it.

Well, we appreciate you coming on.

Thanks for catching me on that.

That was awesome.

So what do you have for us today

in the research on used cars?

Yeah, you kind of teed it up here,

but, you know, used car pipelines just continue to transform.

And part of the reason why that we see is that wholesale values

are just staying stubbornly high.

Although values were mostly flat over month over month

in August, according to Mannheim,

non-seasonally adjusted values appreciated more than expected.

They were up 1% month over month and 1.8% year over year,

primarily due to elevated use car demand,

high new car prices and pandemic production shortfalls

that continue to pinch that late model supply.

On top of that, used EVs are reporting

the strongest wholesale price gains of any segment

as federal tax credits gear up to expire.

Those price gains are 0.8% or up 0.8% month over month

and up 4.6% year over year.

Now, after those tax credits go away,

we expect values will likely come back down to earth,

especially considering that EV lease returns

are expected to surge 230% in 2026 per JV power.

Yes.

And, you know, while wholesale auctions

obviously provide a good stop gap

when dealers are low on inventory,

more and more operators are telling us

that it's still not quite enough

to reconcile supply with demand.

So, dealers out there are taking some creative approaches

to source high quality used cars.

The dealer Alex Caspier is basically

turning every single one of his employees

into a used car scout.

He spiff some employees around $600

if they get a lead that ends up

in the purchase of a car.

And we also have dealers like Joel Bossum

of Eastern's Automotive,

who's using CarMax's online appraisal tool

as a pricing guide.

It's not exactly a new or unique approach,

but in 2025 as competition intensifies,

this is becoming more and more popular, you know,

and in fact, you know,

dealers are looking beyond kind of those

traditional wholesale value measurements

in a lot of different ways to increase conversion.

And, you know, bottom line,

I think, you know, obviously used car supply

will eventually come back.

And I think the smart operators today

are building those highly diversified,

scalable sourcing pipelines today

in preparation for that market eventuality,

you know, in the future.

So, you know, that's not an exhaustive list

of all the ways dealers are sourcing used cars,

you know, and if our readers would be interested

in maybe a bigger, more comprehensive document on that,

you know, shoot us an email and let us know.

We're constantly looking for that kind of stuff.

Anna, Veldea...

Ah!

Anna, Veldea, that is awesome information.

Thank you for sharing that.

You know, the one that is interesting to me

is you think about the cost of acquisition at auction

and then the cost of recon.

There's auction fees, which are expensive.

Recon is expensive.

I love the idea of paying every single employee

a bird dog or a spiff

to go out and source used cars.

Here's the challenge is I think so many dealers,

retailers, Jeff, are concerned to do that

because they're like, hey, how do we track it?

How do we make sure they get paid?

Maybe the employee gets frustrated

because they brought something in

and they didn't get paid on it.

I would love you to do some research

on how many dealers really are paying their employees.

From a proactive standpoint,

how do they actually do it?

How do they make sure, like, they're paying it

and then how do they give credit

if two or three different employees come in?

Because I think ultimately your employees

are those that are in the community,

they're engaging with customers,

with people out in the world

and whether that customer comes in and buys or not,

what a great way to bring new faces into the dealership

and create a relationship.

But it's a strategy that could quickly turn sour

if it's not executed well, Anna.

Oh, definitely, definitely.

And I reached out to Alex to find out

a few more details and I'm waiting to hear back,

but Alex, if you're watching the show,

reach out to me.

I'd love some more info.

Yeah, yeah, awesome.

Well, Anna, thanks for being on, sharing the perspective.

We look forward to hearing what you have next week for us.

Thanks, Anna. Great, thanks, guys.

That's fun.

You know, how do you make sure

that every employee gets paid

if you have a $600 spiff out there

for bringing in used vehicles

and then, you know,

maybe it's a lesser expensive used car,

maybe it needs some recon.

It's still, it still is from a cost standpoint

more efficient and effective than having to go to auction

and buying something that was in a rental fleet.

You know the history on that car.

You know, you're buying it from the owner

and then you create a relationship with somebody

that loves the fact you bought a car from.

I just think it's a great way to go.

Plus, it's such a minimal thing.

You've implemented how many thousands of rules

in your lifetime in the car business

where car guys, after all,

you play by the rule, not the exception.

We'll figure it out.

Yeah, I love it.

A couple of comments retell my ride.

It says, dual path equals free inventory

plus doubles conversion rate.

We buy and we consign.

That's an ad, I do believe.

So there you got me.

Retail my ride at it.

We pull it through.

I thought it was a comment on used car acquisition.

Maybe it is.

I don't know who knows.

All right.

Next up, we turn to our next guest today.

And again, make sure you keep the commenting

on social media live.

We turn to Matt Leone, CEO of DriveCentric.

Matt, welcome to the show.

That's great to be here, guys.

Hey, Matt.

Welcome, Matt.

We're excited to have you here.

And you've got some news for us today.

So we're excited to get to the news.

But before we get to that, how's Biz?

And as part of that, give us a little bit

of your background and your company, what you do.

Yeah, sure.

Business is great.

I've been here about 100 days now.

So I just took over as CEO of DriveCentric.

There were three co-founders here.

They're still very much with the business,

but they were looking for somebody to step in and help

continue to grow DriveCentric.

It's had really explosive growth over the last few years

and we're on a great journey.

And my background was I came from Automotive Mastermind.

My last five years was with that company as CEO.

And they were a data company.

It's part of our announcement here

that we wanted to share was we built out

a strategic partnership with them.

And so it's linking two different companies together.

But for those that aren't familiar with DriveCentric,

we're a CRM engagement platform.

We drive dealer operations.

We pride ourselves in engagement, customer support.

And we really were a pioneer in AI.

I think we were 2018.

It rolled out our first genius product.

So it's a company that's had really, really explosive growth,

but we're primarily in the CRM space.

We needed to have you on our CEO round table

for AI last Friday.

We missed out on that.

We'll get you on the next round on that.

So what does a strategic partnership mean?

This is unusual in all of Automotive

because you haven't acquired each other.

You're just partnering, is that right?

That's exactly right.

But a lot of companies integrate with CRMs,

and particularly legacy CRMs.

And usually the frustration is you're dealing

with traditional workflows, task management systems.

And nobody likes to have a task management

or workflow system.

So when DriveCentric was created,

it was really to go after a modern engagement way

to engage with your sales team, your BDC,

and your consumers.

So if we eliminate the idea of a workflow

and we really think about what is a CRM,

is a customer relationship management platform,

why do we have workflows?

And what ended up happening was all these integrations

that are out there,

and we have thousands of integrations into DriveCentric.

And we suck in all these leads.

We weren't getting leads from every source though,

particularly my old company, Mastermind.

Those weren't really high quality leads.

They create demand in the market,

whether it's conquest or loyalty

or service retention.

Those leads, the demand that they were generating,

the marketing they were doing,

the consumer outreach they were doing,

the engagement they were doing,

would basically just plop into a traditional CRM as notes.

And not only does a salesperson not wanna look

at tasks and workflow,

they certainly don't wanna dig through a bunch of notes.

And as the CEO of Mastermind, when I was there,

we integrated with every major CRM except for DriveCentric.

DriveCentric was the only one

who didn't have an integration plan.

Well, I tried very hard,

when I was at Mastermind to integrate with DriveCentric

and they just said, we'll get to you, we'll get to you.

But DriveCentric was off creating

a different way of approaching the platform.

And they were off with their founders,

really heads down creating this way where leads

can flow in, the AI can take over,

it could be a co-pilot with the sales team,

and we can manage that process

all the way through with a combination of AI

and the salesperson.

The integration was we're not prepared

to have a level of integration with a Mastermind

if we don't want it just to be dumped in the note

and they knew that would be a horrible experience.

So that's why they were saying no.

When I switched over and I became DriveCentric CEO,

I was like, well, we really wanna open up

the partner ecosystem, we have an API.

What if we were to do the highest level

of strategic integration here

where we're not just passing notes and creating a lead?

What if we were able to take all that great data

from Mastermind and Polk Automotive

and MarketScan and Carfax and have that flow

into our genius product, into our AI product,

hygiene data, clean enriched data.

So I could get vehicle owner information,

I could get Stu's data, I could get all the data

I knew I had at Mastermind into DriveCentric

to power our genius product,

but also have that data flow in to augment our leads

to be able to empower so I could see

who that customer was, what they got for marketing,

how often they interact with that engagement

of that marketing and have all that in the customer card.

So now as a sales person, I could see all that history

no matter where it came from

and I could trust my AI engine

that's using really good high quality data from a Mastermind.

So isn't that just a good integration though?

I mean, other CRMs have integrations

from lead providers that are equal to it.

I can think of CDK and Reynolds

and some of the others.

What makes this unique and worthy of touting the partnership?

You're right, it's just a higher quality integration.

However, a lot of high quality integrations

that just simply use an API is usually one direction.

In this situation, we wanna be able to have it

both directions where what'll end up happening is

in order for the Mastermind algorithm

and the behavior prediction scores that they drive

to get smarter, they need to be able to understand

what actually happened, did this deal kill it, did it not

and so there's a bi-directional strategic alignment

to make their product better and our product better.

But even further, if you're a joint customer,

the strategic partnership is this shouldn't cost anything.

We're just using data, first party,

third party, zero party data to make the industry better,

to make the ultimate goal both companies had

which was help dealerships sell more cars.

So from a strategic lens, it's gotta be both ways.

There's gotta be value on both sides

and from a strategic lens,

it's gotta be something where the consumer,

the dealership themselves isn't startled with,

hey, I have another fee to deal with, another car.

So Matt, are you able to quantify some sort of an impact

on close rate or efficiency of dollar spend

and digital advertising back to that bi-directional?

Cause I think that is unique, very few digital lead providers

will come into a CRM and then push it back

and we get asked a lot from different lead providers,

hey, if you'll provide us additional info,

we can help you figure out what works,

what doesn't and we don't typically do that

because what's in it for us, right?

Like at the end of the day,

they're gonna spend the data the way they wanna spend it.

Can you quantify the impact of that, the bi-directional?

If you give me a little bit of time, I can.

We launched the partnership last week.

We have it in data testing right now.

I've been here a hundred days.

I think what'll end up happening is by Q4

and certainly before native,

we'll have this fully in production

but I think we're gonna be able

to take that even a step further, right?

I'll just use other lead sources, listing companies.

Let's pick one, Carfax.

It's a sister company to mastermind.

Right, look at how many leads come into DriveCentric

which we know by dealership, by month,

what kind of leads come in.

They're all tagged to something

but it's how it was tagged at that dealership

but ultimately where did that journey start?

Where did it really start from?

Did they go to Carfax.com and look up a car

and then jump into a dealership website

and then jump into a lead into mastermind

from a dealership website.

We really wanna be able to home in on that

and be able to say,

hey, we know where this originated from.

In mastermind's case, this is pretty clean

because they're not creating leads, they're creating demand.

These are people about to be in market

so before they click a website,

before they're shopping,

mastermind is way early and funnel

and so we are pretty confident

that they're predicting something 90 days out,

maybe 120 days out as somebody's about to enter market

before they're in the market

and if we can bifurcate that,

then we can show further you go up

to engage with those consumers

and not just your lease retention but any consumer

that has a reason why they might be in market.

Could be household demographic reasons,

it could be car accident, history reasons

that they might be coming into market.

That's really powerful and if we could triangulate that back

not only can we say here's what's working

and what's not working,

we can double down on some of our AI investment

and say, hey, we know we're gonna hone in

on certain high quality leads or demand that comes in

and let the AI engine really supercharge that

instead of relying on a salesperson

but we can kind of fine tune our AI

using some of this data as well.

So Matt, do you think that that bi-directional nature

of the integration that gives you

some additional insights on sourcing and whatnot,

do you think that that will become kind of

an industry standard that other lead providers

and competitors will seek to do that

or do you think you have a unique edge

that makes it difficult or impossible for others

to duplicate it?

Maybe I'll give you two answers to that one

which is self-serving and I think that Drive Center

gives the most modern platform out there.

So technically I think we're a step ahead

of what I'll call the legacy players that are out there

to be able to even technically do this

and do it within 90 days of a contract signing

with a partnership to get it into production.

But the probably more strategic answer to that

would be, God, I hope so, right?

I mean, the whole reason why we should be in this space

of all this data, if I think about the amount

of bolt-on products that are out there,

the tech stack that poor dealership has to deal with.

Simplify it.

Yeah.

Simplify it, right?

So if I think of the accounting ledgers, your DMS

and if I think of the operational tool as Drive Center

to run the operations of the business

and then you have some tools like Master of Mind

to be able to do the marketing and the upfront funnel

and then you have a website, right?

What else do I really need to run sales and marketing

within a dealership?

But yet you have thousands of these bolt-on products

that do a little niche thing.

This does this retention.

This does this AI chat.

This does this reception agent.

This does my chat on my website.

It can all be run in Drive Center.

We don't have to have all these bolt-ons

and we're passing all this data back and forth.

But if you know that data is going

to the four or five tech products

that you run in your operations

and it's flowing bi-directional,

then you can eliminate all this other noise.

And that would be what I hope the industry moves to,

which is tech consolidation

and then strategic data sharing agreements

with four or five tech providers.

The DMS is going to be there.

Hopefully the CRM is always part of that tech stack

and then maybe one or two other solutions.

So with this agreement, with this tech stack,

with this configuration,

what other providers realistically

could a dealer eliminate or reduce?

Well, you have, like I said,

all these bolt-on options that are there.

And so if you think about DriveCentric

as we have a digital retailing product,

we have a reputation management product,

we have an AI product,

which does both BDCs, sales marketing.

And you think about, from a chat perspective,

we have that, but then we have the core CRM

and we're doing a lot of the engagement.

Do you really need a CDP?

Do you really need a bolt-on product to a CRM?

Just extract data out of that CRM

to do something to pump it back into the CRM.

What you really want is your repository,

your accounting ledger,

you want your operational engagement platform.

And then you might have an agency to be able to say,

I want to do some streaming

or I want to do some OTT type marketing.

Great, here's the data out of DriveCentric,

go do all that work.

And we want to be able to open it up

to allow for here are strategic tech stack.

But I look at a big dealer group

and I worked with a lot of these big dealer groups.

It's mind-blowing how many technical solutions

they have across the board.

And not just in sales market, FNI, fixed ops,

it's on the board.

You're adding up to hundreds of technical solutions.

So a couple of comments online from our audience.

So Dan C, or I'm sorry, Kurt Reinhold says,

I've worked with many CRMs.

I'm impressed with DriveCentric

during the last few months using it.

Just have to keep an eye on Shelby, the AI tool.

What's Shelby doing that we need to watch out for?

I think that's probably tongue-in-cheek, right?

You need to train and work with every AI agent.

You know, there's some really good AI agents out there

and there's some really good strategic partners

that do a really good niche.

And I think if we can bundle and integrate it in,

then it's not yet another vendor and another tech stack.

I think there's ways we can work

with some really exciting new AI tools that are out there.

But there's also a really exciting Genius product

within DriveCentric that could probably do most

of the things that are needed out there.

So Lauren Klein also makes a comment.

I'd be curious your perspective on this

and why this is the case.

The reality is most dealers only use a fraction

of their CRMs capabilities effectively.

Why is that?

Whenever we have our CRM provider come in and do training,

I'm astonished at how much we kind of default

to the simple, right, instead of becoming ninjas,

so to speak of capabilities.

Why is it that we don't lean in more?

There's a two-prong answer to that one

a big band of studying history.

And I've been studying the history and evolution

from the 80s of a CRM and how it started

and how it moved to Siebel and then Salesforce

and Cloud came on and what it was at the time.

And the history of the CRM was,

let's solve a big pain point.

Sometimes our sales team is lazy.

And so let's put a workflow in front of them

and a task management system.

And then let's put reporting

so the manager knows what they're doing.

And then let's help them engage with emails and texts.

And that's really the 80s going into the 90s

up into the early 2000s.

And the CRM was pigeonholed as this sales tool

to make them more efficient.

And I think if you knew that history,

you could say, okay, well, why isn't it really used?

Well, at the end of the day,

again, nobody really likes to be told what to do.

Here's your task, wake up,

wake up, all these things.

And so I think DriveCentric's approach to this was,

let's make it fun to use DriveCentric.

Let's make it engaging.

And then let's wrap AI

so that when things slip through the cracks,

the genius product can handle it 24 hours a day,

seven days a week to say, we're always on

and we're always helping.

So if something isn't being done,

so when we call out sick

or somebody is not doing what they need to do,

you've got a co-pilot with you.

So now you've got a fun product to engage with

that people want to engage with

that's not telling them what to do,

but advising them, suggesting them,

interacting with them to help them sell more cars.

But then also a safety net,

which is you've got an AI tool sitting right next to you

that can help you either graph that text, send the text,

send the email, draft the email,

but also do it if you just want an auto on

or a marketing and automation product

that can do all the marketing for you

if you want to turn that on.

And if you don't, great.

We just, you will partner with whatever vendor

you want us to partner with to help you on that side.

But I think that's the core history

of why a lot of these legacy CRM so painful to use.

We've made it painful from the 80s and 90s.

We didn't simplify it for them.

We didn't eliminate the pain point,

which was nobody likes past.

So it requires history.

The lesson of history requires a rethinking of it overall.

That's part of your strategy of this,

with this alliance between drive centric

and automotive mastermind.

You've talked a little bit about the roll out

and timeline, NAD is your big,

big goal to make it completely functional

and available to everybody.

When you think about,

when you've been candid about changing perception,

some people still think drive centric's a walled garden.

What's the truth?

What would you say about that?

Yeah, I mean, I'm really working hard on that.

I mean, we get 15 or so partner integration requests

coming in a week to open up into our open API platform.

So if you're a vendor listening to this

or want to integrate with us,

just go to drivecentric.com,

go to our partner program, sign the form

and say, here's what I want to do

is my use case and my business case

and we will prioritize and get to as many as we can.

We're focused right now on lead data,

consumer data, household data, vehicle data.

If you're a provider that provides that

like a mastermind out there,

we need that flowing into drive centric.

We absolutely aren't a walled garden there.

I think where the walled garden concept came in is,

well, I want the data to flow out to ABC application,

which is a bolt-on to a CRM on the traditional side.

And when I think about that, I say,

well, yes, there are use cases

we want the data to flow back out to,

especially things like agencies, et cetera.

But those ones we're gonna have to work through

and figure out what is sort of in the realm

of something we already can do

and you're now breaking a process

versus something that is truly unique and different

that we do need to feed the data back into.

In a case like mastermind,

we're enhancing their product

by feeding back some data to help with the algorithms.

And those are the types of partnerships

we're looking to build out rapidly.

And yes, we're trying to get this rolled out

before NADA.

In fact, we have something already with private offers.

Mastermind has partnership programs through PULC

that work with the OEMs to help them optimize

their incentives, Audi, Mazda, Volkswagen dealerships.

These are optimized incentives

that are being powered by mastermind.

Well, that data and those incentives

can flow directly into an operational tool

like Drive-centric.

We're already in production testing that out

with those types of OEMs.

So a lot of this will be out well before NADA,

but we're on the cusp of announcing several more

partnerships and strategic partnerships

because that is definitely one of my main goals

as CEO here is get as much data flowing in

to centralize it so that I can ultimately get

to my goal of eliminating some of that tech stack

and that burden and then driving

the full end to end opportunities of a dealer.

So Matt, as we wrap up here, two questions.

What do you want dealers to walk away with?

But also from a practical standpoint

and thinking about a dealer sitting in a dealership

on top of a CRM trying to figure out how to maximize it.

What advice would you give to dealers today

in September of 2025 for bettering?

And maybe it's not even on your product,

but just bettering their CRMs,

they'd better serve their customer.

Where does automotive get it wrong today

and what could they do better in?

And you know what?

This is unfair because like in a minute,

minute and a half most.

Yeah, yeah, sure.

So the second part of your question is,

what do I think dealers get it wrong on it?

Is they're looking at it from a traditional ABC

of this is what a CRM does and what it's supposed to do.

And I think we have to break that mold.

It's only for a salesperson.

I think if I can get dealers to think DriveCentric

is innovating, investing,

but also this shouldn't end with the sales team.

You got to go into F&I.

You got to be able to desk it and move it

and have that engagement moved over.

You got to get it into service.

The engagement doesn't end in a life cycle of it.

So if I could get dealerships to think DriveCentric

is investing, they're opening up,

they're growing and they're on the cusp of innovation

because they think of the CRM and the engagement of consumers

as not just starts here, ends here.

It doesn't really make sense.

And our vision is where the engagement platform end to end.

And that's what I'm hoping people can take away from this.

Matt Leone, CEO DriveCentric.

We appreciate you being on the show,

sharing your perspectives and making your big announcement

on the partnership that's up and coming

between DriveCentric and Automotive Mastermind.

Thanks for being on the show.

Thanks Matt.

Yeah, pleasure.

You know, it's an interesting convo.

We don't use CRMs to the full extent.

And it's going to be interesting to see

as AI becomes more prolific as we see more of it out there.

Like it is going to evolve.

It's going to become better.

And what do we need to do today to become better with that?

I mean, it is an interesting, it's interesting.

We should have called today Ninja Day.

You had two execution ninjas.

One guy was the CEO of a company

and left to be the CEO of another company

so he could integrate with the first company.

Yeah, you know what?

One of my favorite comments on Jeff

and why he is a ninja and why Subaru,

what he's built there.

You know, I'm familiar with that marketplace.

And it's, I didn't want to say in front of him

because like those two, those three,

he has two Subaru stores.

His competitor had one or two.

Like they're just juggernauts.

They weigh out from their competition

in any other franchise, any other model.

And I thought about what he said.

They've done a great job of banding together

as Subaru dealers and selling a higher percent of Subaru's

in that market than the market probably should sell.

And Subaru has a great name in that market,

not because there's mountains,

but because they've built that brand there.

So props to them.

And you know, I think it is a little bit

of a masterclass on how to do that,

how to align as it comes and output your competition.

Well, that wraps us for today until next Friday.

Yuli, thank you.

This Friday.

Yeah, this Friday.

And for our entire daily dealer live audience,

thanks for watching us,

where we break down the biggest moves

in the car businesses they happen.

Don't forget, of course, as you know,

we're live here every Monday, Wednesday

and we'll be back on this Friday.

So if this is your world, hit like, hit subscribe,

turn on those notifications so you never miss a beat.

We'll see you next episode.

Thanks for being here, everybody.

See you guys.

About this episode

Jeff Miller, CEO of Mark Miller Subaru, shares insights on the one-price sales model and its impact on customer experience and dealership operations. He discusses the transition from traditional negotiation to a fixed pricing strategy, emphasizing its benefits in efficiency and customer satisfaction. The episode also features Matt Leone, CEO of DriveCentric, who announces a strategic partnership with Automotive Mastermind to enhance CRM capabilities through data integration. The discussion highlights the importance of leveraging technology and data to improve dealership performance and customer engagement.

Dodge Ram

Original notes

Today's show features: Jeff Miller, CEO of Mark Miller Subaru Matt Leone, CEO of DriveCentric This episode is brought to you by: Toma – If your BDC or Service Advisors are buried in calls, it’s time for a smarter solution. Toma builds custom AI agents that answer 100% of your dealership’s inbound calls and handle tasks like booking service, checking recalls, and scheduling test drives—without tying up your team. Dealers using Toma are saving 30–40 staff hours a week and booking 100+ extra appointments every month. Exclusive for CDG Listeners: Start your no-risk, 1-month free trial at ⁠https://www.toma.com/cdg⁠ DriveCentric – Stop losing leads to slow follow-ups and clunky software. DriveCentric's CRM responds to every lead within minutes, keeps your team organized, and turns more sales into life long customers. Learn more at https://drivecentric.com/ Car Dealership Guy is back with our second annual NADA Party—happening in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 5th. It’s the hottest ticket at NADA 2026. Spots are limited and unfortunately we can't invite everyone —so RSVP today at ⁠https://carguymedia.com/cdglive⁠ and we hope to see you in Vegas! Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: CDG News ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ dealershipguy.com

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