Jimmy Douglas: Why 49% of Car Dealers Struggle to Sell EVs | Car Sales | Ep.677
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I mean, gosh, there's got to be a wait for them to lean in on it.
Or are you saying, no, pull out your credit card and buy 40 of them right now?
I mean, they're worrying about the tax credit timer.
How do you reconcile all of this for those that are like, yeah, I'm feeling the pull.
I just don't know how to get in.
I think the fact that we saw such a big shift from 59% aren't doing it to only 49%
is very much for a byproduct of the tax credit expiration.
Like, these are really hot right now.
Tell me the story.
Like, what's the story behind that number?
And what are the first maybe two processes of changes that would help move a dealer
from no thanks to selectively profitable?
One of the biggest issues around this has been.
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Jimmy Douglas is the founder and CEO of Plug,
a wholesale marketplace built specifically for used EVs
that helps dealers buy and sell with EV specific data and confidence.
A former Tesla exec and we all know how we talk so much about Tesla these days.
He's now a leading voice on the pre-owned EV ecosystem,
frequently interviewed about why most dealers hesitate with used EVs
and how prepared operators are quietly building margins as supply rises
and incentives shift.
Now, I got to dig right into this because I've I've I've been thinking
about this. I've got questions.
I need to get to the bottom of Jimmy.
You've you've cited that roughly 59% of dealers aren't touching used EVs
while a tiny group sells a disproportionate share.
Tell me the story.
Like what's the story behind that number and what are the first
maybe two process of changes that that would help move a dealer
from no thanks to selectively profitable?
Well, first of all, Michael, it's great to see you.
And I really appreciate the flattering introduction and you're right.
This is my favorite topic.
So I'm actually going to break some news here for you.
The analysis that yielded the 59% metric is a couple of months old
and we just ran a new one and believe it or not, we're down to 49%.
Wow. So suddenly now we're just down to half of dealers
are not touching used EVs, which is a huge improvement.
But what's also true at the same time is three nationwide retailers
actually own even more of the market than they used to.
Now they own 23%, which is my former employer and Carvana and CarMax.
Meanwhile, another 11% of that whole market is owned by 50 rooftops
outside of there.
So it's still a very lopsided asymmetric market.
Only 0.2% of car dealers overall
sold at least one of these every week.
So it's practically untapped by the masses.
And I think about this every day.
Now, here's the part of this equation that you'd probably be surprised
to hear me say. I don't walk around saying every dealer should sell used EVs.
In fact, there actually aren't enough of them for everybody to do it really well.
The dealers that are doing this really well have a bunch of them in stock.
They are a bit of a beacon within their geographic region for people to go
when they want to be educated about the used EV product.
And they want to speak with somebody that speaks first hand through the nuances
of charging on the road or at home or thinking through total cost of ownership
or getting excited about over the air software updates.
It's a fundamentally different asset.
It's transformative.
And in order to actually make money doing this, you kind of need to be
all in on it.
But when used EVs are only two percent of the used car market,
not everybody can be all in on it.
That said, I personally don't think that this entire market should get
swallowed up by a small number of nationwide operators.
I think that would be a mistake.
So to dealers who are investing in it or feel like their team
or frankly, their community where they live, the ecosystem within
which they live is ready for them to embrace it.
Then now is a really exciting time to do that.
Now, I mean, it makes sense, right?
You're going to see the, I don't know, big box chain or big dealer group
soaking up all of the used EV inventory, which doesn't give
other more rural markets.
Single point stores the opportunity to even foray into this subject matter.
But what's the balance there?
What would have to happen in order for more maybe single
or dual point stores feel comfortable acquiring used EVs
and then finding the market in their area to sell them?
To be honest, we see examples of this in nearly every pocket of the country.
The first and most important aspect of it is cultural more than anything else.
Like is the leadership team, the ownership, the sales team, the finance team?
Is everybody actually really bought in on this versus
is it something that's being handed over to them?
One of the biggest issues around this has been the difficulty
around selling the new EV product.
We we sat at over 100 days of supply on new EVs across the country for so long.
Of course, this quarter will be an outlier
because there is such a rush to capitalize on the credit.
But it's really hard for people to get on board
with taking on used EVs when they can't even sell brand new ones
with extraordinarily low monthly payments
subsidized through manufacturers and from the government.
So I don't blame people when they're skeptical about it
as something that's really profitable for them.
For those who do feel ready,
it really starts at the culture within the store.
Which is not the answer that most people were expecting there, I imagine.
No, people looking to walk around being ex Tesla
and telling everybody that they need to buy an EV right now
or they're destroying the world and that everybody can make money on it.
Actually, no, not everybody can make money on it right now.
Eventually, within the next 10 years,
I see EVs becoming 30% of the used car market.
And at that point in time,
non participation is definitely a lot riskier.
But at this moment in time,
deciding if you're all in or all out is actually a better strategy
on the use side and a readiness to jump into it.
Of course, will depend on if your market where you exist
has an appetite for it.
But ultimately, most pockets of the country
can have a profitable used EV enterprise
if culturally they're aligned in investing in it at the store.
And I say that because it's a highly educational sales process.
People expect to come in and buy a car,
but they don't realize what they're actually buying is a computer on wheels
and they have to fundamentally think differently
about how to plan for a road trip
or how to expect the functionality of that vehicle to evolve
or change, hopefully improve over time.
What the asset appreciation or depreciation might look like.
So many aspects to it.
And when it's a black box,
it's just easier to do something that you're more comfortable with.
You know, this makes sense, though, when you're saying, you know,
I asked you, well, like, what what do we do to go from
kind of not profitable or no, thanks on EVs to selectively profitable?
And your answer is to go all in, which makes perfect sense to me
because when you make that decision,
then you start building standard operating procedures around
market education and salesperson education and consumer education.
Like there's so many things then that make that time
to build out those processes way more worth it
than if you're kind of selective, you're you're like one foot in, one foot out.
That's right. So important.
That's right, Michael.
The stores that do that are also very proactive
about acquiring their inventory and doing so with attention to nuance
around the mix and the the battery size, the range,
the software enabled features, having a really diversified lineup.
And that's not easy to do if you don't know what to look for,
if you haven't educated yourself and gotten fully up to speed.
And frankly, there's arbitrage in the market, too.
Like most auctions or places where you source vehicles
don't represent EVs properly.
So you really need to know what you're looking for.
And a lot of dealers that are all in on this market
actually capitalize on that information arbitrage.
They don't suffer from it.
But that makes it much harder for dealers that are entering the fold
if they're doing it with any intensity, less than all in.
My hope is, as any good marketer might hope
that those that we're thinking they should be all in
are now like holding the the screen or wherever they're watching this
and they're getting close.
And then we've just turned off the other 51% of dealers
that are like, we don't have to turn them off.
Michael, we we built for them, too.
So I want to be clear, like I want to ask you about that
because, you know, when you look at those statistics
and it's really hard to argue the data, especially from your vantage point.
For those that are maybe now listening to this
and looking out the window to their lot and they see four or five of them.
We brought up like inventory selection and knowing what to look for
and all those sorts of things.
But I mean, gosh, there's got to be a way to for them to lean in on it.
Or are you saying, no, pull out your credit card
and buy 40 of them right now?
I mean, they're they're worrying about the the tax credit timer.
The clock that we've got at timer recording is what?
September 30th or right?
So, you know, it's a nine for the record.
Like we got 21 days left.
How do you reconcile all of this for those that are like, yeah,
I'm feeling the pull.
I just don't know how to get in.
I mean, I think the fact that we saw such a big shift
from 59% aren't doing it to only 49% is very much a byproduct
among other things, but a byproduct of the tax credit expiration.
Like a lot of the dealers that we work with in our trade desk,
for example, so they they might be running a Toyota store
or a CDJR store and if they receive a Tesla trade in,
like they're not trying to to hang on to it as a retail unit.
So they get an offer from us at the point of appraisal.
We're seeing some of those dealers say, hey, you know, like.
These are really hot right now
because people are rushing to capitalize on this incentive.
So when we otherwise might be wholesaling this
like for the next couple of weeks,
like we'll see if we can have a retail outcome out of it,
which I think is a really smart strategy.
So this next month, the rest of this month is not representative
of what the world will look like on on the other side in October.
But right now, dealers are more prone to hang
on to those EVs radens and retail out of them than they were
because so many consumers are hungry to capitalize on the credit.
Interesting. What happens post credit expiration?
What's going to be the driver of traffic and interest
and that kind of maybe tipping point for the consumer to consider an EV?
Sure. Well, so this will be the biggest EV sales quarter,
both new venues on record in the US for sure.
And much of that will be because demand from next quarter
and the quarter after that are all getting pulled into this quarter.
Anyone that was considering that purchase is not looking to let go
of a seventy five hundred dollar benefit or a four thousand dollar benefit.
So they are rushing in, which means
really painful hangover for Q4 and Q1.
And that's just what happens when you pull demand forward, right?
But meanwhile, there are new EVs continuing to roll off the factory lines
and they have to go somewhere.
So I actually I've been talking since I started this company
about what happens in twenty twenty six, which is three years
trailing the inflation reduction act in twenty twenty three
when EV leasing just started ripping because of the loophole.
We've been saying in twenty twenty six,
we're going to get hit in the face with all these lease returns.
But it's my hypothesis that manufacturers will have to start doing
lease return pull forwards in order to move new products quickly enough
because so much of the organic demand got pulled into Q3.
Interesting.
Does that worry?
Do you think that's worrying some of this forty nine percent?
I'm sure it's worrying everybody.
Like when we're concerned that we're not going to have enough demand
for a commodity that's coming directly for us in mass volume,
whether we're asking for it or not.
Like, yeah, we should be concerned.
But ultimately, it's all a throughput game, right?
And where where used car dealers have agency is how much they pay for a vehicle,
whether it's a trade in or at the auction or any other channel.
And those who are focused on EVs already know this is coming.
They're prepared.
They are, in some cases, waiting on the sidelines for certain types of inventory
or stocking up on others because the tax credit expiring is going to have
some interesting implications.
But for the use tax credit, some vehicles are actually selling for less
money because the credit exists, believe it or not.
I'll give you an example.
If you look at like a twenty twenty three Tesla model three in an auction,
like a rear wheel drive variant, it's pretty hard at auction for that car
to catch any more than twenty four thousand dollars because most dealers
want to retail it for twenty five thousand, which is the ceiling for the tax credit.
And that's actually artificially deflated some of the newer cars in their values.
But when the credit is gone, that ceiling is also gone.
Granted, we also have the demand shortfall coming.
So it's a little bit more complicated than just saying on newer cars,
the prices will go up, but it's not like a total doom and gloom scenario
on residual values per se.
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Interesting.
OK, I'm curious about this in conjunction with everything that we're talking about.
I mean, there's been so much narrative, fleeting narrative around EVs.
I mean, you remember back when they really first started hitting the scene
and it was like, do your part for the environment?
And then, you know, all we've gone through some motions.
Yeah. You know, I still get a sense of the pressure of the push,
which is this is the direction we're going.
Cars will be there will be no ice vehicles by a certain time.
And we are going to be all in on EVs.
Curious, you know, whether it's from your days at Tesla, what you're seeing now.
Was that the direction?
Is that the direction that you saw the OEM taking?
Were they like, yeah, we fully anticipate that every single person
in North America is going to be driving an EV by 20 80 or like
whatever the actual date is, or are they approaching it from the angle of,
we know there's always going to be a market for this
and we'll probably see some gains and it'll cap out at this place.
Yeah, great question.
So most domestic OEMs have a pretty significant global business.
And everyone's looking at China now, right?
Like 50 percent EV penetration and the prices keep getting lower
and the vehicles just become increasingly compelling.
And in order to compete globally, one needs to have an offering
that is competitive, both in the feature set and at the price point.
And the only way to really get there is to start early enough
so that you can hit volume production at scale
and benefit from the economies of scale.
So you can sell a vehicle at a competitive price point.
The Chinese manufacturers have such a head start now
compared to most of our domestic OEMs.
And that's a real problem.
That's an existential threat to them.
So the way that I believe this will play out is administration
changes aside, support or denial for climate change science aside.
These are large scale, global, multi-billion dollar businesses
that need to stay alive in 10 years or in 20 years.
And if they can't compete on a global scale, then they won't.
And they know that.
I think basically what I'm asking here is what company should I be buying stocks?
Yeah, I don't I want to get overly speculative.
I was shocked, though, man.
I was shocked. I was in I was in Europe recently.
I was in Holland recently at an event there.
And I was shocked to see that there are 30.
I thought they at first they were telling me three Chinese
EV automakers in the market.
They said 30 30 already in the market.
Selling cars blew my mind.
Yeah. Yeah, blew my mind.
And they're cheap.
And you look at a Lincoln Co, which looks every bit as good
and feels every bit as good as a midsize SUV that I've seen here rolling off the line.
Those things are really cool. Yeah.
I want to say it was like
twenty eight thousand euros.
I was like, what? What do you think? What?
You know, I couldn't believe it.
It it it yeah, knocked my block off.
I couldn't believe it.
I want to switch gears a little bit.
You've talked about the the 60 days on the lot
being a tipping point for used EV valuations and transport.
We talked a little bit about ask, you know, the depreciation and those sorts of things.
What's the playbook at 30 days or 45 days leading up to this 60 days
so that a unit doesn't turn into a write down?
Yeah. So the retailers that are really doing this right,
turn them in 30 days or less. Right.
That's really the only way to solidly make money on EVs.
They'd appreciate faster than combustion vehicles.
And that's not changing any time soon.
If you think about the pace of which vehicles are becoming better,
more technologically advanced and cheaper when you buy them brand new.
The used product has to compete with the new product and be
considerably less expensive in order to be a compelling offering.
The 60 day turn time idea on EVs like does not work.
And nobody that's really successful at selling them waits for nearly that long.
Some retailers we observe maintaining a turn time that's under two weeks.
Alex Lawrence is just turning those suckers out of EV auto.
Yes. Yeah. And in bountiful Utah, by the way, right?
Nobody would have suspected that this was going to be an EV hotbed,
but there's a, there's a market for it there. Absolutely.
And look at the culture of his store.
Everybody is a driver of EVs.
Everybody can speak confidently about the product.
He has a whole suite of selection. Right.
He's got Teslas. He's driving around in a Hummer.
He's got Rivians. That's a beacon.
That's where people go when they want to be brought up to speed
and educated on the product.
And he is, he's running a very successful business because of that.
Yeah. Yeah. He's, I mean, it's been so cool to watch him essentially.
I mean, in his world, he didn't come out from nowhere,
but kind of in the grand scheme of like automotive,
he just he just popped in and blew up and it's been so cool to watch.
Yeah. You know, fun fact about Alex,
I have a check in a frame out there on the shelf.
He was the first paying customer of plug.
No kidding. Mm hmm. Wow.
Alex, good buddy. Good job.
OK. I mean, what a guy.
I wasn't even charging money at that point in time.
He's the future. Yeah.
No, it was great.
But and I mean, you're right.
I've been to his one of his satellite stores in Lehigh, Utah.
OK. I haven't been to the Lehigh one yet.
It's a vibe.
I mean, I'm sure they all are.
But that one you walk in, I was like, I want my office to look like this.
The vibe, the furniture, the the the greeting,
the lot presence, just everything was so cool.
And we had a miscommunication.
He actually wasn't there.
He was at the bountiful store and he was like, shoot.
And I was like, well, I'm taking candy, bro.
I'm taking candy.
I got liquid that's in the fridge.
Got it all.
Let me ask you this when it comes to pricing and reconditioning costs.
You know, you've kind of alluded to like traditional book values
and recon checklists weren't built for computers with wheels.
As you've as you've mentioned it, like fast charging
over the air updates, all these sorts of things.
So what are some what are some EV specific variables
that you would insist anyone listening factors into
the price and reconditioning on the list?
Yeah, this is very near and dear to me.
EPA estimated range when it was new current maximum range
capability net of any battery deterioration.
In the case of Teslas, you'd likely want to consider
the autopilot computer hardware version, potentially even the MCU version.
Software enabled features is an autopilot car, a full self-driving car.
Does it have acceleration boost as it have access
to Tesla's supercharger network, either as a Tesla or as a non Tesla.
If it is a Tesla, is that supercharging access unlimited and free?
Does that free unlimited supercharging transfer to the next owner?
Or is it the kind that does not?
I'm sitting here, dude.
I'm like, I'm writing those for those that are listening.
I've got my remarkable time.
And I'm like, this is I'm like, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Just kidding.
They can just like they can just buy the car and plug and see all of that
and not have to worry about it.
That's my pitch.
But, you know, tax credit qualification for the next two, three weeks is a thing to
yeah, I can we pontificate for a minute, though, because you got
you're the one of the most knowledgeable people in this this field
as it pertains to EVs that I know of.
And and just like human nature, where things don't always end up
the way that we think they will.
Do you think, I mean.
And if you don't want to say you can say I don't want to say.
But I'm like, I really think the end of September is like it.
Oh, yeah, I do.
I do. Yeah.
Yeah.
You don't think there's going to be a flip and be like,
I, you know what, we got to reevaluate.
We're going to go another four or five days.
No, I don't.
But also, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing either.
I actually I have kind of a complicated relationship with the tax credits.
Listen, when they launched, I ran sales operations across North America
at Tesla. I love free money from the government to help me not get fired.
That's great news.
But ultimately going back to the China problem, right?
Like it this transformation is happening in a global context,
no matter what anybody tells you, like it's very clear.
And in order for American manufacturers to maintain their.
Their state in the world as real world competitors,
like we need products that can compete that are compelling for the money.
And the only way to do that is they have volume production
following many years of innovation and product cycles.
And the problem with a lot of the new EVs that we have available to us
in the States right now is they were, frankly,
uncompelling products for the money.
You're talking about a car that costs $80,000 that can only drive
two hundred and fifty miles and doesn't have access to the only DC fast
charging network that people actually trust.
Like who's buying that?
Like it's not because it's an EV.
It's because it's an uncompelling product for the money.
And we need to get to a place where we have
ripping products that are affordable, that people actually want,
not because it was shoved down their throat based on some sort of mandates.
And my complicated relationship with the tax credits was that it kind of
bought everybody more time to have a compelling product
that people want for the money.
What I would have actually liked to see instead of mandates and credits
is manufacturers have the time to properly invest in product lines
and technology in parallel with charging infrastructure
being built up so that these products can be truly compelling
and not sour the taste in everyone's mouths around EVs.
And I'm talking about consumers and I'm talking about dealers,
many of whom are very turned off by all of this.
And I don't blame them because it's hard to run a business
when you're forced to sell a product that people aren't buying.
Right. I'll admit, you know, as a former Tesla owner,
I got spooked because where I live in in North Texas,
we had the vehicle.
I want to say, dude, I can't.
This it even hurts me to say we had the vehicle for probably.
Oh, 10 months.
OK. And I got in.
I did the swipe.
I looked at the odometer and I saw 30,000 miles.
And I was like, 10 months.
I'm like, where did my wife drive this thing to Jupiter?
She drove 30 miles in 10 months.
Yes. Impressive.
Right. So then I got spooked.
Because in my mind, I was like,
I'm going to have to replace the battery in this thing real quick.
Like, I'm yes. So there you go.
You're already shaking your head for those listening.
He's already saying, oh, nay, nay.
But I did get spooked and it brings up the reality of this
misperception or idea of the EV.
You brought up depreciation and those sorts of things.
And maybe it's going to depreciate faster,
but that doesn't have anything to do with how long it lasts.
That's the funny part, Michael.
There's such a disconnect between residual values and longevity.
So the fact is, is we don't know how long these vehicles will be on the road.
But the only sizeable data set that exists around this
was released by Tesla in two of their annual environmental impact reports.
And in those reports, they released information
about the broader Tesla Model S and X fleet that had crossed 200,000 miles.
And that fleet went across 200,000 miles
and aggregate had retained 88 percent of its battery capacity
for Model three and why it was 85 percent.
So if that's at 200,000 miles, and as you likely know,
the steepest end of the battery degradation curve
is at the very beginning on the front end.
These are probably half a million mile cars, at least.
Now, that doesn't make it suck any less for the one person
that's one out of 500 that had a high voltage battery pack failure
right after their eight year warranty expired at a nometer lower than that.
I get it.
That's where warranty products are going to be really important.
And it's honestly like a massive F and I upside opportunity
for any dealer that's participating in this.
And Alex sells enough F and I product right now
and that there are multiple of them out there.
I really like battery for life,
which is one that any dealer can get access to.
It's it's it's a real fear.
It's a legitimate fear because it's such an expensive failure.
But the rate of failure is so far below
the rate of failure for any combustion drivetrain
when you get above 100,000 miles.
And I don't think enough people realize that.
And you definitely would have been fine hanging on to your car.
What was it? Tesla, what is a three? Yeah.
Is the three dual battery, dual, you know,
it's like if people didn't believe in the resurrection,
they would after I floored that thing because you're like,
it's a tiny little thing.
And then you go and your ghost leaves the body
and then it reenters when you decide to hit the brakes.
The model three performance, I have one bought it
twenty twenty one out of the factory.
The car still feels like magic.
Shut up, Jimmy.
Now, I regret I'm like, I'm going to I'm like,
I don't bring it up to regret my life choices.
No, you buy another one.
Like there's a really affordable. That is true.
That is true.
From all of the the I'm almost curious
and you can tell me offline because I am curious about this
of all of the models that you see pass through plug.
What are the models of EVs that you're like, maybe not yet?
I know that's a no no.
I told you I wasn't going to throw you a curveball,
but I mean, I.
Actually, I really like the question.
So the hardest.
The hardest ones to move right now are the ones that have
a huge stack of incentive on new cars.
It's it's like if something is relatively new
and a used one is just impossible math, then
this is going to be the case across an auction
no matter what it's an EV or not.
As an example, we just did a the new wagon near EV
and I think it's barely been out.
And I think the used one that we that we had
had just like a few hundred miles on it.
We bought it through our trade desk.
Like we will buy any EV through our trade desk
and the challenge there is the leasing deals
are just so outrageously generous.
So on the front end, the used product picks a really big hit.
And for that product in particular, it's fairly unknown
amongst the dealer body.
Like a dealer is going to look at that and compare it
to a Rivian R1S where they're familiar with it
because they've sold so many and like they're going to pick the Rivian.
So I would say anything that's like relatively brand new
and doesn't have a lot of context as a used product
that is embraced by the broader dealer body
is going to inherently like have a more difficult time
than products that have had a bit more runway.
This my beloved DPB gang is how you know
when somebody's been media trained because.
I mean, perfect response.
You you in you took it.
You ingested the question.
I saw you flip it in your brain to a much more diplomatic posture
and it was so perfect of an answer.
I'm like, you need to run for some sort of office,
even if it's like you're something God help us all.
Man, this is so much fun.
I've taken so many notes.
By the way, those listening or watching, you'll be able to get the notes
and some of the key takeaways by going to the dealer playbook.com website
and visiting the link for this episode.
Jamie, how can those listening or watching get in touch with you and connect?
Yeah, great question.
If you don't mind, I would like to plug one of our products here as well.
And I'll start with that.
So dealers are receiving EV trade-ins or at least appraising them
at a much higher rate than ever before.
And when we got started as a dealer to dealer auction,
we came to realize that everybody has an auction relationship
and EVs as trade-ins come up for a lot of dealers
that don't retail them, but they're not so frequent
that a differentiated auction process is like a super compelling idea
for many people, but cash certainly is.
So what we did is we rolled out our trade desk.
And what that is is it's something that you can use during the point of appraisal.
If you go to our website plug.vin, the first thing you see is a place to enter a VIN.
And in fact, if you do it on your phone,
you can actually scan the VIN with your phone on our website, no app required.
We put a number on that car in under 15 minutes and we put cash behind it.
So if you sell the new vehicle and then receive the used EV as a trade-in,
and you can exercise our cash offer and we become the owner basically immediately.
And then we sell it directly from your lot, generally the next business day in our own auction.
But we take all the risk off the table for you and let you get that deal done.
That's the fastest growing product segment that we have right now.
And it's really built for that half of dealers that we don't observe
retailing any EVs because we know they still receive them as trade-ins.
So yeah, thank you.
And we're really excited by that product.
It's growing lightning fast.
And it's also really great for us because ever since we launched it,
the average number of unique dealers competing for vehicles in our auction
actually also went up because plug is the owner of those vehicles,
which means they are definitely transacting that day.
We don't we don't hold on to inventory and we take on all the risk.
And we don't lose money in aggregate on this business model,
but we're not aiming to make arbitrage.
We generally try to offer what we believe it will sell for.
So that's been what's the URL you want to you want to set us to?
Plug dot Vin plug dot Vin.
Go check it out. That sounds super cool.
Jimmy, man, thank you so much for joining me on the dealer Playbook podcast.
Appreciate you.
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About this episode
Jimmy Douglas, founder of Plug, discusses the challenges car dealers face in selling used EVs, revealing that only 49% are currently engaging with this market. He emphasizes the importance of cultural buy-in within dealerships and the need for comprehensive education on EVs for both sales teams and consumers. The conversation also touches on the impact of tax credits on EV sales, the future of the used EV market, and strategies for dealers to profit from this evolving landscape. Douglas shares insights from his experience at Tesla and highlights the potential for growth in the used EV sector.
Original notes
In this episode my guest is Jimmy Douglas, founder and CEO of Plug and former Tesla exec. Jimmy’s one of the sharpest voices in the pre-owned EV market, and he’s here to break down what most dealers are missing, and what a small group is quietly getting right.
We talk about why nearly half of dealers still won’t touch used EVs, what it actually takes to build a profitable EV business inside your store, and why “dipping your toe in” may be worse than not playing at all. Jimmy also shares how culture inside the dealership makes or breaks EV success, what numbers you should pay attention to, and how to avoid getting stuck with inventory that loses value faster than you expect.
If you’ve been on the fence about EVs, this conversation will help you sort through the noise and figure out whether your store is ready—or if it’s better to wait. Either way, you’ll walk away with a clearer picture of what’s really happening in the market and how to prepare for what’s coming.
Tune in!
You can also grab your free copy of my #1 bestselling ebook Don’t Wait, Dominate! here → www.flexdealer.com
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The Dealer Playbook
Michael Cirillo
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