Floor plan is the financing dealers use to pay for cars sitting on the lot. If the cars don’t sell fast, the interest cost can make it hard for the dealer to make money.
Days supply is an inventory metric that estimates how long it would take to sell the current stock at the current sales pace. Higher days supply usually signals slower sales or excess inventory, which can pressure pricing.
Concept
AI
In this context, AI refers to automated tools that can generate or process dealership content and sales workflows faster than humans can review. The host’s point is that AI is “flooding the building,” implying it may be pushing unvetted leads, offers, or digital interactions into the dealer’s process.
Out-the-door price (OTD) is the total amount a buyer pays, including the car’s price plus taxes, registration, and dealer fees. It’s the most useful number for comparing offers because it reflects the final checkout total rather than just the sticker price.
Concept
100% digital store
A “100% digital store” means buying a car is mostly done online. You can do a lot of the steps without going to the dealership first.
“Variable ops” means the dealership changes how it runs day-to-day depending on how busy it is. Instead of using the same staffing and workflow every day, they flex it to match demand.
The federal EV tax credit is a government discount for buying certain electric cars. If it ends, the car can’t be priced as cheaply, because that discount is no longer available to buyers.
“Stripped to the studs” means the vehicle is made as cheaply as possible by removing extra features. They’re basically selling you the essentials, not a fully loaded car.
An EV powertrain is what makes the electric car move—its battery and electric motor system. The point here is that even with a low price, the overall EV setup can still be a hard sell to some buyers.
A profit warning is when a company tells investors it thinks it will make less money than expected. It’s usually a sign things are getting tougher financially.
Workforce reduction means a company plans to have fewer employees. Here, they’re saying it’ll happen mostly by people leaving over time rather than immediate layoffs.
Attrition means people gradually leave a job over time. Instead of firing everyone at once, the company hopes the headcount drops as employees naturally move on.
Carfax is reporting a safety-related warning label on vehicles, telling owners to keep the car outdoors due to fire risk. This is the kind of notice that can affect how quickly owners schedule repairs and how dealers manage affected units.
The Jeep Wrangler is a type of SUV made for off-road driving. It’s built to handle rough roads, and many versions have removable roof and doors. The podcast is referring to a recall for some 2021 models where the power steering pump may have a problem.
The power steering pump helps make steering easier by providing pressure to the steering system. If it overheats, it can become a fire hazard, which is why owners are warned to act quickly.
Term
HTSAs
HTSAs looks like an abbreviation for official safety incident reporting. The host is using it to say there have been dozens of fire reports and at least one injury.
In this context, Stellanus is the company responsible for a recall. That matters because it’s the company that issues the fix and tells owners what to do next.
Term
crowding starter relay
A starter relay is a small electrical part that helps your car’s starter motor get power. If it fails, the car may not start reliably, which is why it can be part of a recall.
A recall tracker is a website or database that lists cars that have been recalled. It helps you check whether a specific car or model year is affected.
AutoNation is a major U.S. dealership group that buys and operates multiple franchises. Here, the host says AutoNation acquired three luxury stores plus real estate from Fletcher Jones, showing how dealership consolidation can expand a group’s brand footprint.
Sarah Automotive is a dealership company that bought a Toyota store. The segment is using it to explain how dealership ownership is shifting in the Chicago area.
An automall is a shopping area where several car dealerships are located close together. It makes it easier for people to compare different brands in one trip.
The Volkswagen Eos is a car that can be driven like a normal closed car or with the roof opened. It has a built-in roof mechanism that moves between those two modes. Because of that moving roof system, it’s important to make sure the roof works correctly before buying and to keep up with maintenance.
A CRM is a computer system dealerships use to keep track of customers and sales leads. It helps the team know who to contact, when to contact them, and what stage each deal is in.
Leading indicators are early signals that predict future results, while lagging indicators measure outcomes after the fact. In dealership management, leading indicators might be activity and follow-up cadence, while lagging indicators are results like close rate or unit sales.
Concept
cold hard data
“Cold hard data” just means facts and numbers you can measure. Here, it’s about using those numbers to help the team know what to do next.
Riley Volvo Cars is a Volvo dealership. The manager is talking about how the dealership runs day-to-day—how many cars they have, how fast they sell them, and how they pay for inventory.
Jameson Riley is the dealership manager being interviewed. He’s explaining what changed for his Volvo dealership and how they track sales and inventory.
Inventory turn is a measure of how fast a car dealership sells the cars it has on the lot. If cars sell quickly, the dealership doesn’t have to hold onto them as long, which helps with cash flow and pricing.
Day supply is basically how long the current stock of new cars would last if sales keep going at the same rate. If it’s higher, cars are moving slower, and dealerships may need to adjust pricing to sell them.
They’re saying a measurement that used to be less important became a top priority. When the market changes, dealerships often have to focus on different numbers to stay profitable.
It’s the usual way car brands work with local dealerships. The brand allows dealers to sell its cars and handle service, and the dealer has to follow the brand’s rules.
“Manufacturer” here means the car company itself. If a customer has a problem, the car company may tell the customer to go to the local dealer to get it fixed.
This means how quickly the dealership can actually get things done after a problem comes up. The faster they act, the sooner the customer gets help and the better it usually goes.
A “distribution” setup is a middle step between the car brand and the dealership. Instead of the dealer handling everything in the usual franchise way, a distributor is involved, which can change how sales and operations work.
They’re debating two ways cars get sold: directly by the brand versus through local franchise dealerships. The point being made is that the franchise dealer network is harder to beat for reaching lots of customers.
A "turn" is how fast a car dealer sells its cars. A "turn target" is the goal for how quickly they want the cars to sell so they don’t sit on the lot too long.
The "wholesale side" refers to selling vehicles through dealer-to-dealer channels rather than retailing them directly to end customers. Dealers may choose wholesale when they want faster cash flow or to manage inventory turnover targets.
CPO means "Certified Pre-Owned." It’s a used car that’s been inspected and backed by the manufacturer, usually with extra coverage compared to regular used cars.
A “trade” is when a customer brings their old car in to help buy a new one. The dealer can either sell that trade to other dealers (wholesale) or try to sell it directly to a retail buyer.
Retail means selling the car directly to a customer who will drive it, not to another dealer. The dealer keeps more of the profit when they sell it themselves.
Concept
60 day end
This sounds like a deal structure with a deadline—try selling the car for about 60 days, then decide what to do next. It helps dealers avoid holding cars too long.
Dealers have more than just selling cars. “Fixed ops” usually means the service and parts department, and that money can help pay for other dealership costs and opportunities.
Cars.com is a website where car dealers list cars and try to get buyers to contact them. The host is talking about the money spent on that kind of advertising.
This is the time it usually takes to sell a car or finish the deal process. The point is that waiting 30–60 days ties up money longer than moving faster.
This just means how many new cars versus used cars a dealership expects to sell in a given time period. The balance affects how the dealership runs its inventory and marketing.
Lease penetration just means “how many deals are leases.” If a dealer has high lease penetration, most customers are choosing to lease rather than buy.
Affordability is about whether the payments feel doable for the buyer. The discussion is basically saying dealers can help by structuring deals so the monthly cost is easier to manage.
Trade cycle means how long people keep their car before trading it in. If that cycle is shorter, dealers can more easily bring customers back for the next vehicle.
“84 months” is a 7-year payment plan. It can make the monthly payment smaller, but you often pay more overall because you’re paying interest for longer.
“Vendor noise” means all the buzz and promises from companies selling tools. The host is asking what actually makes a difference versus what’s just marketing talk.
Roadster is a dealership software tool used during the online car-shopping process. The point being made is that it helps keep the customer experience moving forward instead of stalling or forcing the customer to restart.
Brand
dealer stuck it
This sounds like the name of an older dealership software tool. The host is saying they replaced it because the new system worked much better for helping customers.
Drive Centric is a software tool dealerships use to talk with customers online. It can answer questions quickly in chat and then connect the customer to a real salesperson when needed.
The “AI layer” refers to the artificial-intelligence component that sits between the customer’s chat and the dealership’s normal sales process. Here it’s described as providing instant answers and then enabling a quick follow-up from a real person, so the customer doesn’t feel like they’re talking to a bot.
Language models are AI tools that can write responses in a way that sounds like a person. Here, they’re used to make the chat feel natural so customers are more likely to keep talking and then talk to a salesperson.
A tech stack is just the set of software tools a dealership uses. The problem they’re describing is that if the tools don’t work smoothly together, the customer can feel like they have to start over.
Term
lease pen rate
Lease penetration rate means how many customers choose leasing instead of buying. If more people lease, the dealership’s service and parts business can look different than if most customers buy outright.
Parts and accessories are things you buy to repair a car or add features to it. The host is saying their dealership does a lot of that business online for Volvo cars.
KPIs (key performance indicators) are measurable targets dealerships track to judge how well departments are doing. In this segment, the speaker references KPIs tied to service/parts performance and says Volvo ranked them highly in the Northeast.
“Customer pay” means the customer is paying for the service out of pocket. It’s different from warranty work, where the automaker typically reimburses the dealership.
“IndyCar” is the top-level open-wheel racing series in the United States. It’s known for high-speed oval and road-course racing, and it uses purpose-built race cars rather than production-based vehicles.
An F1 driver is someone who races in Formula 1, the highest level of open-wheel racing. The speaker is using it to emphasize how strong the competition was.
Person
Sebastian Borde
The speaker is saying a very famous, top-level race driver was in the same race. That’s meant to show how tough the competition was.
It’s a nickname for an award for older drivers. Here, it means the best finishing result among drivers over 40.
LIVE
We're doing better as a result of social media presence.
It doesn't do those three things, then it's on the chopping block.
It's in return on investment discussion.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of The Daily Dealer Live.
Today I'm broadcasting from Ziggler BMW.
I'm your host, Sam Dark.
Thanks for choosing to be here on this Wednesday, June 24th,
and I'm fresh off the road from the Virginia Auto Dealers Association Convention,
where I was invited to hang out with Don Hall for his birthday party.
Dude throws quite the party, by the way.
We'll have him on the show coming up here soon.
Hundreds of drones in the air on a windy beach.
It was an amazing sight and a true tribute to him while he's accomplished an automotive
into the 250 America celebration.
Props to him for the invite.
We'll have more on that later in today's show.
But coming up today, new car lots are stacking up.
We've got 88 days supply and climbing.
Floor plan is eating margin alive and AI is flooding the building faster
than anyone can vet it today on Daily Dealer Live.
We've got two operators who are actually doing something about it later on today.
Jameson Riley, who's a Volvo dealer.
Former pro racer who built a $199 membership program.
Dealers are trying to steal.
They'll come on talking pricing turn and what AI actually does in a 100% digital store.
But first we've got Eric Barbosa, who's 30 days into running variable ops
cross six luxury rooftops at Plaza Motors.
You remember him from another organization.
We'll get the update from him.
He'll give us, he'll tell us what it's like walking in cold and rebuilding the playbook.
Plus a rapid fire round table as always that puts both our guests on the clock.
But first today's automotive headlines.
The numbers finally here.
One of the very first stories we ever did on Daily Dealer Live.
You'll remember Slate Otto who targeted a sub 20k vehicle.
Well, they've priced its electric truck at $24,950.
It's the cheapest new EV in America, cheapest new pickup period.
Remember when this was supposed to be 20k?
Well, that died when the federal EV tax credit went away in September
and it's stripped to the studs this vehicle is.
No infotainment, no power windows, hand cranks, not even paint.
Two doors, two seats built up from there.
The five seat SUV runs 29,950, square back, 31,950 fastback range
an estimated 205 miles first deliveries late 2026 and already guess how many reservations?
180,000 plus put that against the market, Edmund says.
Under 5% of new vehicles sold in 2025 came in at 25k or less.
Their Ivan Drury nailed it.
The price is the headline, but it's bolted to an unconventional build
and an EV powertrain that's been a tough sell.
Cheap alone doesn't close the deal.
CEO Peter Fersi says every truck's gross margin positive cash flow positive by 2027
and it undercuts Ford's promised 30k EV truck by five grand.
Trouble in Munich, BMW just put out its third profit warning in three years
and now they're headed into talks with employee reps to speed up cost-cutting
pro-rollators the stock dropped to a near six year low.
New CEO Milan is targeting up to a 5% workforce reduction by the end of 2026.
That's roughly 7,700 jobs on a headcount just under 155k, but through attrition, not layoffs.
The drivers, a weak China market and fall out from the Iran conflict
and the second one's bigger than BMW.
It's S&P global figure.
It could knock 800,000 to 900,000 vehicles out of global production this year.
Another half million in 2027.
If you carry BMW or any European brands, watch it.
That's an upstream signal on your inventory and pricing.
Up next today, a big safety number.
Carfax says 3.2 million vehicles now carry a quote park outside warning.
That's when a vehicle's enough of a fire risk.
You're told to keep it outdoors away from buildings, even parked and off.
Newest piece is a Stellanus recall, about a million 2021 Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators
over a power steering pump that can overheat.
And HTSAs logged 51 fires and one injury.
Owners get notified by mail when scheduling opens.
Remedy, no later than July.
Dealers lock in there.
There's a stop sale on those vins and federal law says you fixed the recall
on affected new inventory all before delivery penalties up to $27,874 per vehicle.
The rest of that 3.2 million, a November Stellanus recall on 320K Jeep plug-in hybrids
and a September BMW recall on 200,000 vehicles across seven lines for a crowding starter relay.
Texas leads at 302,000 affected.
California, just under 300,000. Florida, 270,000.
You can get a full picture on that and more recalls of the CDG recall tracker.
Next up today, the deal sheet.
Let's turn to the CDG buy-sell tracker and there's a lot moving.
We love our tracker.
KKS Automotive bought a Ford store in Prince George, Virginia from Crossroads.
That deal closed June 16th.
It's the third buy since 2019.
KKS is owned by Kelvin Bratcher, Scott Lang and an NFL receiver, Keenan Allen,
friends of 30 years with roots through Flow Companies.
It's now AML Ford of Prince George.
The plan, five to 10 stores along the I-95 Richmond through the Carolinas through that quarter.
AutoNation grabbed three luxury stores plus real estate from Fletcher Jones.
Closed June 22nd, they got Mercedes, Audi and Porsche in Fremont, California.
Same group that just bought Mercedes of Beverly Hills three months ago.
Mike Manley called it Disciplined Capital Deployment.
And then we turn close to home.
Also June 22nd, Sarah Automotive picked up Toyota of Lincolnwood, Illinois from Auto Canada.
Now, Sarah of Toyota of Lincolnwood, props to them.
They're in the Ziggler footprint pushing the Michigan group deeper into the Chicago suburbs.
Latest move in Auto Canada's US exit.
They sold the Lincolnwood Kia and Hyundai stores in April and offloaded 13 dealerships in 2025 for $82.7 million.
Presidios George Corollis, who advised on this and the Fletcher Jones deal, says Toyota stores in major metros,
well, they still draw serious buyer interest.
You can follow that and more M&A activity at the full tracker cdgbuysale.com
And that is a wrap. Again, love it. That's a wrap on today's automotive industry headlines.
So quite a party Don Hall throws on and a lot of fun to be up on stage with him and a couple of other people talking about all the things in automotive.
It's so interesting.
AI led the topic conversation as did how to do better service outreach.
But Chinese vehicles absolutely crushed it.
And I met someone who I'd love to have on the show who is actually responsible for kind of step one in setting up BID franchise agreements with US dealer groups across the country.
And it was fascinating to hear the story about how far those agreements went.
Many executed before the government stepped in and said, ah, not so fast.
So it'll be interesting to see the progression of Chinese vehicles in these United States of America throughout this year and the coming years.
We turn to the chat today.
Today can see comes in says let's go Sam shout out the automotive retired guy props to you Sam and Dan see wonder how much they're charging for.
I lost that part paint.
Speaking of the those 25 K vehicles supervisor Dan great show ahead.
And then eager K pops in BMW is not just suffering from Iran's conflict but from a lack of cheap energy source to stay productivity efficient Russian cheap reliable energy is why Germany had a great economy but no more and eager.
You're not biased.
I can't imagine Lauren Klein says Don has a major amazing energy and yes he does and guess what he's passionate about these United States of America.
In fact, so much so he got me to wear US socks.
You can check that out somewhere out there.
All right, let's turn to our first guest today.
First up a repeat return Eric Barbosa VP variable operations at Plaza Motors.
Eric, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me, Sam.
It's good to have you back.
By the way, you were on not that long ago, but you were at a different organization.
Tell us what the heck happened.
Yeah, it was with calendar auto group and yeah car industry that changed and amazing organization.
First of all, very good.
Yeah, all of them are great.
I spent a few years there was good.
And now they're on a different direction.
I'm here in St. Louis, Missouri with Plaza Motors, which is owned by mile one.
Okay.
And how many stores are you working with or how many stores do you have purview over?
Six here and it's a weird campus because for them on one single campus, which makes it really cool like an automall.
Beautiful place and then there's two other locations.
The brands are Land Rover, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Infiniti and I think that's it.
Wait, you have no Jaguar then.
That's interesting.
You're not combined.
It's not a Jaguar.
It's a standalone Land Rover.
Yeah, I think they chose when that was an option a couple of years back.
They went with the other route.
Interesting.
And so what's at the one complex that's all together?
Is it Land Rover?
Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes and I'd say the Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Infiniti are on one campus,
but they just opened a new facility for BMW.
We're actually redesigning all the buildings here because they've been here for a while.
So they got a new-
A true car guy, by the way, Eric, because you're fresh enough in the role.
You're actually looking out the window trying to remember which is where.
Where is all this stuff?
It's directly right there.
You can see it.
You're reading the signs as you're taking it.
Listen, you're an executive.
You're head of variable ops.
It's a big job making a change from one organization to the next.
What did that look like?
Like, is there a marketplace for that?
Like, is there a job search where you approach?
Did you approach someone else?
And by the way, you can tell us you don't want to answer.
But I think there's a lot of people in a similar role to you that are trying to figure out,
hey, what does the marketplace look like at this higher level executive role in automotive?
Yeah, no, I can answer that.
Absolutely.
I think for me, I never heard of mile one, I'll be honest.
I didn't hear about the organization.
It was somebody that I worked with before.
They were actually the VP of fixed operations at my previous place that made a move.
And he had been the market president for a form organization.
He kind of helped build this platform.
He used to speak highly of it.
And he called me back in, I think, February at some point.
And at no point when I got that call did I think I was going to be in St. Louis, Missouri.
Yeah, that's a big change.
Yeah, I go visit and we go from there.
But yeah, I had some other options and just alignment happened here.
And I also saw the opportunity, what they used to do and what they're currently doing and the vision.
And I just kind of, you know, chose to go this route.
But as far as the marketplace, for me, my history, it's always been, you know,
you know, somebody, you have a good reputation and these opportunities pop up and you got to make a decision,
you know, family decision.
Yeah, Steve Smith comes into the text says Plaza is a fantastic local dealership.
Thrilled to see them on the show, speaking of the Plaza auto group.
So I would presume you felt like you brought a strength, Eric,
that that maybe Plaza didn't have that you could help improve them operationally.
What's the strength, Eric, that you bring into this role?
Well, they are fully absorbed here and fixed.
They have a phenomenal fixed team headed up by David Vorkowski and Todd Flowers,
who's the market president variables just kind of, you know, just isn't performing where they should be.
And I think that the, you know, what I bring to the table is helping that get that volume set processes,
you know, get everybody on the same page, recruit the right talent,
put the right pieces, develop the people.
And this is why this was interesting to me.
They've been here a long time.
They have a great reputation, hardly any, any turnover, retention is good.
Wow.
So I really sort of bring.
Which could be a symptom of the problem and variable a little bit.
Maybe there needs to be a little bit more.
You've got some great fans on the chat.
Ken C comes in says, congrats.
The hardest thing is turning the corner and Demetrius Naylor pops in says Eric is a beast and he's one of the best to do it.
And so we'll get, we'll dive into the operational stuff.
But last time you were on, you were deep in EOS at your prior organization,
which we won't spend a lot of time on who, but because great organization,
they continue to be on the show, but you had accountability charts stripped down KPIs.
Now you're 30 days into the six luxury rooftops.
What is walking and cold at this VP level feel like?
And what's the first thing you touch seeing the opportunity and variable Eric?
First thing is first is the people get to know who's here, what makes them tick, kind of get to know everybody.
And then, then kind of go into the analytics, which I took a couple months for me to make this decision.
So I kind of had all those numbers ahead of time.
But sometimes when you see them and you don't know the why behind it, who's involved.
And you just said something.
There is an environment here that existed prior coming in new fresh set of eyes,
which my previous play same per, you know, different person's coming in with that same perspective and they can add to it.
And I think that's, you know, what is currently happening.
What's the first thing you touch, Eric?
And I know you got to watch stuff.
You got to observe.
You got to make sure you know strength and weakness.
But where's the first kind of fingerprint CRM?
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You said that you said in your intake, you said the biggest early impact is CRM management.
What did you find when you opened the hood on the CRM?
It's just not managed properly.
And it's a little messy and the teams aren't on the same, you know, page, no playbook stuff that we learned from EOS,
which I was super, you know, grateful to be part of that.
It's a great system.
So yeah, the lead handling.
What CRM are you on at the new group?
Okay.
What did EOS teach you about the CRM?
What is the intersection?
How did the EOS process help you see what was broken in the current process?
For me, identifying the KPIs that are important and building a process behind it,
simplifying a playbook that everybody understands and making sure that the top to the bottom are falling
and, you know, that cadence and not deviating from it.
So simplifying processes and making it more efficient.
I mean, really.
So what has EOS informed you are the three most important metrics in your E-lead CRM, June of 2026,
and your new role?
For sure.
You give us more or less, if you want.
For me, the workflow, you know, the workflow is a big deal.
The way they're set up, customer contacts, when's enough?
You know, when are you putting a customer into somebody else's customer?
That's number one.
And then, you know, how often we're in it in manager involvement in the CRM,
not just manager involvement in the showroom.
I think the managers have to be heavy in the CRM and follow a cadence to check points.
And last is the closing percentage.
I like to look at closing as a whole, not as in silo buckets of four.
If we have X amount of opportunities, you know, I think we can close at 20%.
I know there's a 6% gap there, and that 6% turns into X amount of, you know, units.
So getting everybody bought in on that thought process.
And we're heading in the right direction.
Eric, how do you get the team bought in on numbers?
Because there is always in leadership the challenge of anything we focus on,
you're going to see an improvement on.
But some of the biggest train wrecks in leadership have been over focusing on numbers.
There's leading indicators, lagging indicators.
How do you take cold hard data and connect it to humans and get people running after?
That close rate is a great example.
You say you want, what did you say, 30%?
20% total.
We're currently just up to the numbers at 14.
There's a 6% gap.
I think it's, I mean, we should be on average.
And to answer your question is getting buy-in, having them understand the why.
You know, and let's just use a number.
I brought all the GMs in the office and asked them what they thought average was,
and they all agreed it was 20%.
But we're performing at 14%.
So we know that average is 20%.
How do we get to the 16?
And now I have to, you know, with them go from salespeople to middle management,
to GSMs, to GMs, and get the buy-in and do rollouts individually.
Make sure that it's simplified and then actually show them.
I'm a big believer managers need to be involved in that CRM.
Not just, you know, barking orders.
They need to, you know, act from the front, you know, dig in, make calls.
So CDK and ELEADS has great AI infusion into its CRM.
Are you using any of the AI infuse tools to help increase that close rate?
And if so, what are you using?
We're in the process of getting our workflows correct right now.
And we just started talking about the AI portion of it.
But we don't want it initial contact.
I think the human need to be initial contact and then use AI for what it's for.
And then we're setting our boundaries at, you know, five days, ten days,
and then when AI kicks in.
So we're literally in that process now.
Yeah, yeah.
So your heart on digital leads out the gate.
COX data says AI lead tools are now mainstream.
Connected calls, sold videos, intense scoring.
You've got to fix the workflows and then you can infuse it with AI.
So AI would be that second step.
What do you think, based on your experience in your old group and other groups,
what do you think the close rate increases to if you have AI plugged into the right workflow?
I mean, for sure, 34 percent.
If it's done right, I think we're losing a lot.
And I'm a big, again, if I get a call and I'm interested in something,
I get the first call, maybe I'm, you know, I forget to call back,
but if you're going to bombard me with emails, texts, calls,
I'm going to call the competitor.
I just am.
I know I am.
So you're right on the workflow, getting that correct,
and then let AI do what it does and then re-engage the customer.
You know, so engagement's a big part.
A video.
Video's a big part too.
I know you've already been on the show,
but I'm already inviting you back six months down the road
because we want to follow your journey.
It's cool to see where you sit on the work, on the close rate
and you're focused on that from EOS, you're getting buy-in.
And then as you plug in some of the AI,
I actually think that rate could increase
by a double your projected increase.
And that would be interesting.
So at your prior group, use car acquisition was your big move, right?
Service Drive pulls the Cavender comparison, right?
And you use that to kind of dodge auction dependency.
With auction fees and transport getting margins industry-wide,
are you running that same playbook at Plaza
or does luxury multi-brand change the math?
No.
I mean, we want to get to a 401 ratio here that used to do so.
And when we first got here, again, they just purchased in February.
They had no used cars.
They were previously owned by Asbury,
which was a different method and process to that.
Yes, we got to get into service equity.
I have not rolled out that plan as phase two.
First for me was lead handling, finance,
and the tech stack that we have, just understanding it all.
But yeah, acquisition is going to be a big play for us.
So how recently did Plaza acquire the stores from Asbury?
Well, one, February 27th was their official date.
OK, so this is all brand new completely.
So I've been part of acquisitions here at Ziggler,
and I know the challenge that it can be walking into stores
where they've had, you know, they've known their employer,
they've known the vision, direction.
There's been a culture.
Getting buy-in is a huge challenge sometimes initially.
I know you've talked about showing in the Y, sitting down, show, don't tell.
Any other strategies or anything else that's worked,
as someone new coming in as part of a larger new acquisition to a new organization,
tips on creating culture, because that's got to be one of the biggest challenges
here in the very beginning.
I've always used development, training, opening that room,
because, you know, you come in and you're the outside.
I'm the outside.
It is what it is.
I'm the outside from Texas.
You are?
Yeah.
Texas to St. Louis.
Yeah.
Come on.
I'm in the Show Me state, so they're asking me to show them.
Yeah.
But I think the first thing is that is, hey, what can I help you with?
What are you lacking, especially for GMs and GSMs?
And then when I start getting that buy-in and we start communicating,
then I can kind of see through and then get into the salespeople
and then start changing the culture.
And also having a team that's willing to come out here that knows the place.
And they become ambassadors.
And that's something that I've done where I've gone is recruitment, too.
Yeah.
Getting people to open up and give you that answer to how can I help?
That's a big challenge, too, right?
Sometimes, because sometimes until they trust, until they know,
until they're familiar with you, your style,
sometimes it's tough to get that answer to be completely candid.
So you flag finance performance and the intake, right?
Oh, yeah.
And mindset.
To find mindset in FNI terms, Eric, what shift are you driving?
And where does it break down in a store like this?
Honestly, the first one is the pavement structure.
What bars they've set.
Again, I can come in here and they've, let's just say,
$2,500, excuse me, the number.
And that's where they max out, that's their ceiling in their head.
And to get them to change anything about that is a little tough.
So I think that's the first one.
And then making sure that we're paying for performance,
especially with all these new FTC rules and all that stuff,
what's important to the customer or products are really useful for them,
getting by and then having one-on-ones with everybody in finance
because they've all got a story.
Get all that out and then put it on a board with them and say,
OK, these are your problems.
Now, what are the solutions?
And, you know, yeah, but there's a big opportunity here for that
and it's not necessarily their fault, you know?
Yeah.
All right.
Here's an opportunity as we wrap up today to get your team to know you in a way.
Maybe they don't.
What's one thing your new team may not know about Eric Barbo
so that might surprise them?
It could be a funny anecdote.
It could be, you know, a stupid hat trick.
I don't know what it is.
What's something that most people may not know about you
that would be interesting, funny, or humor?
Interesting, funny, or humorous about me.
Probably geeky.
I'm a Star Wars fan.
Oh, OK.
I love it.
Action figures, the whole thing, and my wife hates it.
Stopped doing it a few years back.
That's probably the weirdest thing about me.
Star Trek.
Did you say Star Trek or Star Wars?
OK, OK.
All right.
All right.
Do you go to Disneyland then?
Is Disneyland Disney World?
Is this the thing?
100%.
I have a tough time.
I can't stand the lines,
but you probably avoid the lines at all costs, I would imagine.
Well, Eric Barboza, VP of Variable Ops at Plaza Motors,
a new organization.
Again, a note to Hannah.
We definitely want to bring you back six months down the road.
It would be fascinating to chart your progress,
particularly in this journey through your CRM,
not only cleaning it up,
not only putting the right processes in place,
but then infusing the AI
and watching that close rate increase.
I think you deliver that type of value to your teams,
and that gets buy-in of itself.
So we'll have you back to the round table at the very end.
Eric Barboza, appreciate you being on the show.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
That's pretty cool.
That's a big deal,
making a big change like that from one organization to the next
and then having the confidence to come in,
not only as a new executive in a company,
but also a new acquisition.
These stores now are owned by a new group,
and then you've got a new team member.
So props to Eric, and we wish him all the best.
We'll have him back.
Let's talk Zurich.
Today's episode is brought to you by Zurich Advisor IQ Dealers.
What if you could see what's really driving FNI performance?
Zurich Advisor IQ uses actual deal activity
and AI-powered coaching to help teams uncover performance gaps,
coach with more precision,
and build more consistent results across every rooftop.
Request a demo at ZurichNA.com
forward slash Zurich Advisor IQ,
or click the link in the show notes below.
So props to Zurich for sponsoring today's content,
including that great conversation with Eric
and the journey that lies ahead.
All the things that he's accomplished as a prior group,
the test of someone is to be able to go back in
and duplicate those efforts in other places.
Ken C. comes into the chat and says,
finance is the most important in every operation.
The sales process has to be blueprinted for the finance win,
not the giveaway fear-based selling.
This is why a GM that came from fixed ops is a no-go.
Interesting perspective.
I think we might have some in our chat that may disagree,
but I'd love to hear it.
Dale in progress with new management ownership
comes into a car dealership.
What's the hardest time at a car dealership?
We'll ask that when we bring Eric back.
And our own Michelle Amodio,
who is also a Star Wars fan
and who will wait in line at Disney World,
may the force be with you.
All right.
Continuing on, we transition to our next guest day,
Jameson Riley, general manager at Riley Volvo Cars.
Jameson, welcome to the show.
Hi, Sam.
Great to be back with you.
It's great to have you back, Jameson.
And you were in the same organization last time you were on.
You were on, I think, when were you on last January of 2026?
Yeah, so about a half a year ago.
So last time you were on, you were two months into car wars,
riding your best service December ever.
And now you're back leading with inventory turn and floor plan.
New vehicle day supply hit 88 in late 2025.
That's up from 71 a year earlier.
Are you feeling that on a Volvo lot specifically
and what flipped turn from a back burner metric
to your top priority, Jameson?
So yeah, you know, everything was kind of moving,
has been moving in a certain direction for a long time
of being able to keep cars in stock and keeping that turn going
and being able to sell the cars for a competitive price,
but the one that also helps us stay in business.
Yeah.
And that shifted pretty dramatically at the beginning of January
for a lot of stores that I spoke to.
And I got to a point where the floor plan cost was so exorbitant
that it just didn't make sense anymore to continue to move
with that same pricing strategy to the customer,
but also taking cars from the factory.
So we ended up taking basically three month hiatus
from taking any cars from the manufacturer,
which was really tough.
I know we were not the only store.
There were several.
And in like late March, we shifted our strategy quite a bit.
And has been very successful and put us in the top five
for two months in a row for new car sales for the month.
So things are looking good with that.
So we're in a marketplace today where day supply for new is increasing.
What was the market condition, Jameson, that caused you to say,
hey, we're cutting it off.
We're not taking more vehicles.
And how did Volvo, your OEM, respond?
So, I mean, the biggest metric was just simply,
any incoming leads had died off quite a bit.
In January, February is always a slow month anyways.
Everybody's got the big push for the end of the previous year
and people haven't gotten tax returns yet.
So there's a bit of a lull there naturally.
But just looking at the P&L and seeing how much the floor plan costs
were escalating and how quickly they were escalating,
it was kind of like an emergency hit the emergency switch scenario
where we needed to change that.
Yeah, we had to bring it back under control correct.
That's the best way to put it.
The OEM was obviously, their whole thing is to move cars out of their pipeline
and not throw lots into customers' driveways.
So it was not great conversations to have,
but I think the fact that a lot of stores were having the same conversation
with the OEM, it didn't put us specifically in any spot
with the manufacturer.
But I think it also did kind of show to the manufacturer
that some changes need to be made with offers to the customer
and working with us.
So a lot of dealers, they listened to what, to Volvo's credit,
they listened to us and the retail advisory board
and everything that we had to provide as feedback,
made some quick changes and like I said,
we shifted our strategy along with their changes in mid-March
and that significantly changed it for us.
So it's interesting, the franchise dealer OEM relationship
is one of the most important that there is.
And for a dealer group, a dealership, a franchise dealer to have success,
you've got to have a great strategic relationship with an OEM.
Tell us, you took that action, they responded, it sounds like,
to other dealers and you're kind of saying,
hey, we need to do this.
And then you turned some record-breaking months around,
what did you learn from kind of pushing back
in a way that helped both of you?
And what would the message be to Volvo and other OEMs
go forward about having that discipline to say,
hey, let's help dealers not overstock with inventory
and support in a healthy way the expense, profitability?
Look, I've always viewed the relationship of a dealer,
which is an independent franchise, independent business,
with the manufacturer, any OEM for that matter,
because we have others as well.
I viewed that as a very symbiotic relationship.
We can't survive without them and technically now
they can't survive without us.
I know there's other companies trying to do differently,
but the way it is right now, we need each other.
And so the only way that truly works is that we both,
A, trust each other and B, listen.
And I think the listening part is probably the key.
Our communication to the OEMs, giving them boots on the ground
type of feedback, which is something that they don't have
access to other than through the dealership.
There's a lot of really good stores with really committed
people that work there that provide some solid feedback
to the manufacturer.
And so that's the tough thing is for a dealership to say like,
hey, big manufacturer, big company, we know what to do.
And there's 280 Volvo dealer voices saying potentially
all different things.
It gets a little noisy.
And so I will say in this case, the message came across
that a majority of the dealers were in the same boat
and we delivered one strong unified message.
Not that there was any coordination or anything.
I just think organically everybody got into a place where
we all had a ton of cars.
They weren't moving.
Natural course of action is we can't take any more cars.
And so I think it just, it took care of itself at that point.
So one of the topics on stage at the Virginia Auto Dealers
Association, you know, Don Hall, he's such an advocate,
such a defender for the franchise auto system.
As are all ATEs across the country.
And they say, hey, ultimately manufacturers benefit from the
dealer network because you provide the type of feedback
you're providing.
Some OEMs, Audi as an example through Scout,
they're trying to go direct to consumer would say, hey,
we don't need the franchise dealer network.
We're just going to go direct.
But you provide a value, Jameson.
This is an example of it.
What is the value of a franchise dealer selling a vehicle
that an OEM manufactures or produces?
You have the pulse of the network or of the, you know,
the folks who buy cars, you know that pulse.
What's the value you bring that they should,
that OEM should listen to and respect and respond to?
Yeah, that's been a long conversation among state stuff
in our state of Connecticut, nationally, obviously as well.
I think that, you know, there's a couple of different mindsets.
You look at something like Apple,
where much different price point, obviously,
but you're dealing directly with the manufacturer,
but eventually even Apple saw like, hey,
we can't do this just by ourselves and we're missing a ton
of market share by going to resellers.
And then the dealership side is the customer services
and the connection to the consumer,
the personal touch, especially in the world of AI
and all the technology that exists, you know,
as much as we have car wars and we have all these other systems
and we moved over to DriveCentric, which has a lot of AI
and they're terrific.
There's still that customer relationship that needs to exist.
And there's actually, I think even more so now,
a desire, an extreme desire from customers
to actually have the human connection
and not have to deal with the machine.
So a manufacturer in my mind is not going to be able
to have the resources to man enough locations,
have enough people on the ground to be able to help them
the way that customers are looking to be helped.
Corporate is a very different way of looking at consumers
and retail than the actual people selling the items
to the consumer that walks through the door.
And, you know, I've had this conversation with other people.
You know, I run my business a certain way,
because it's, I mean, it's my family business,
but it's essentially, I come up with systems,
we put the systems in place, I work with my employees,
our team, we come up with ideas and we do things.
At the corporate level, there's a ton of bureaucracy.
There's no bureaucracy at my store.
It's basically me and my family.
At the corporate level, they've got to go through
so many different doors to get things done
that imagine a customer, I mean, an example as a customer
has a problem that goes to manufacturer for help.
The manufacturer kind of goes, go back to the dealer,
that's your resource.
Our strength and franchise is speed to execution,
and it's fast.
Sure, yep, very true.
And we know the faster we execute,
the faster we run towards those challenges, problems,
the customer, faster we serve,
the better the outcome is ultimately.
DNC comes into the chat says,
hey, what other franchises besides Volvo and Israeli own
are certain OEMs easier to work with
than others in your opinion?
Now we're really putting you on the spot.
Hopefully none of the OEMs are watching this.
No, nobody watches this.
It's just you, me and like the 34 people.
No, I'm kidding.
So I plead the fifth.
No, we have Mazda as well.
We've had Subaru in the past.
We've been a dealer since 59, so we've had any,
you know, way back when we had,
we were a Peugeot dealer back in the day.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
So we have Mazda and Volvo currently.
Subaru was really difficult because it was dealt
through a distribution.
Distributor.
Yeah, you were part of the distributor.
Yeah, and that was, that's a story for another time,
but we moved on to Mazda and Volvo.
We've had Volvo since 63, Mazda since 07.
You know, each one, each one has its idiosyncrasies
and, you know, ways of doing things.
I will say that Volvo does do a good job
of trying to find simple processes for us
to all work together and make it a good experience
for the customer, but also reasonable for us
to obtain certain KPIs that they're looking for.
Mazda is very much the same way,
but they have a different way of doing it.
It's a very different business model for them.
I wouldn't say one is easier than the other.
They each kind of even each other out with their discrepancies.
Paul Salisman comes into the chat and says,
direct sales can never scale like franchise dealers
because the ROI doesn't pencil.
It's not in a large company's best interest
because they serve shareholders,
and I think that's interesting.
Although there's a lot of publicly held auto groups,
but you do see shades of that as you go from privately owned
single point, multi point, and then into public.
All right, we've talked enough politics about OEMs.
I'll let you take a breath here.
You mentioned in the green room,
new car pricing strategy has been a huge performance driver this year.
What have you changed in the way you price new cars?
So it's funny, I listened to a podcast not too long ago.
I can't remember the name of it, but it was about Costco.
And with how Costco does their pricing model of it,
everybody knows what their profit margin is,
11% on any regular item.
I think it goes up to 15% for any Kirkland signature stuff.
You know what you're getting there.
It's a good value for your money.
It's an incredible piece of machinery that they've created.
I think I have like a 27 day turn on their inventory average,
which is insane.
And so I took bits and pieces of that podcast
that they had about the story about how Costco runs.
And it was kind of like in a world where there's access
to so much information,
the consumer comes to us essentially equipped already
with all the numbers, everything that they're looking for.
We really don't have to present too much other than,
hey, here's a car, go test drive it
and let me answer any questions you have.
And so I kind of thought like,
why not just kind of tell people where we're at,
let consumers know essentially how much we're making on the car
and put it at what I perceive to be a comfortable level.
We tested it.
Consumers responded really well to it.
And like I said, we were number three for new car sales
in the country for Volvo in April and number five in May.
So it's obviously worked, solved our inventory problem.
You know, that machine only works if I continue to get cars
from the manufacturer if there's a good supply.
So once that supply dies off, I don't know if that will continue
to work and we may have to pivot again,
but it worked extremely well.
We had a lot of good customer engagement,
which puts more units in operation for us
and more cars returning to service.
So it ended up working really well.
So initially you were oversupplied,
then potentially under the threat of undersupplies,
you have success.
How do you hit just a good turn?
Like what's your turn target that you're managing towards
in this new not profit constrained
or you've kind of set your pricing?
What's the turn target in the new car world?
I mean, we were probably pretty close to 30 days
with this new pricing model.
We were moving quite a bit,
but it's since slowed down, demand has slowed down
a little bit in the month of June.
So I think with graduations and just a lot of different
geopolitical stuff going on,
the target is probably the 60 day turn
is realistically where we're going to be looking to keep that.
It keeps floor plan at a reasonable number,
keeps us taking cars from the manufacturer, obviously,
which is key.
So that's our aim.
Yeah.
So on the wholesale side, you talked,
you're moving non-CPO trades faster
for quicker ROI instead of retailing them.
Tell us about that.
That's an interesting strategy.
ACV.
So we had hooked up with ACV years ago.
I dealt with a local wholesaler.
I had a good relationship with him.
I did all my wholesales through him.
And then we noticed, especially as things got a little tighter
with inventory and the floor plan cost and everything,
like where else can we look for some more revenue?
And the trades that were coming in that we were otherwise
just giving to a wholesaler looked like a wasted opportunity,
obviously, and I'm sure there's a lot of dealers
that have been through a similar journey
or already capitalizing on it.
And so we started down a path of trying to retail them,
started with the 60 day end,
then we moved to 30 days and we wholesale it.
And within that time period,
I had one of the ACV reps reach back out to me,
who's a really good guy, Steve Weber.
And he's a super important part of why I decided to go with them
because, again, customer relationship is key.
And so we started trialing with them,
went into guaranteed sales with them,
and essentially, I'll be at probably 20 wholesale,
which is big for us for our type of store.
And I'll probably average 1,502 grand a car on those sales.
And they're moved out of here within five days.
So I scan the car when it comes in.
I don't have to worry about clogging up the shop with reconditioning.
I don't have to worry about the car sitting here for 30 days.
So the turn on that car, it's typically off my lot
within five to seven days.
And I'm paid and everything's good.
So ACV is where we went.
I switched over to ACV Max instead of Vauto
because ACV Max has brought us more directly connected to the ACV auction.
And since that's essentially my exit strategy on these cars
and to compete with the Carvanas and the CarMaxes,
I'm not going to show up to a gunfight with a stick.
If I'm shown up to that gunfight, I've got to have similar artillery.
So do you have Viper? Do you have their scanning tool as well?
No, I haven't started with that.
I wanted to take it one step at a time, but I've heard good things about Viper.
But yeah, we just have ACV Max and clear car.
So yeah.
So what do you say to the dealer listening to the show that comes in and says,
hey, look, that's insane to not retail that used car.
Everybody's having a hard time finding a great used car.
You know, you're robbing the shop and the revenue into the fixed ops
and finance the opportunity at that revenue.
I mean, the 2K without any work is attractive.
But you're also giving up an otherwise attractive used car
with a potential buyer on the other side.
Yeah, so we trialed that for it.
So those are all good points and all things we thought about too.
And so in the very beginning when we went, we still were retailing cars.
It's like, look, I had to spend, I was spending $12,000 a month on the endemic.
So the cars.com, CarGurus, all these different sites.
And I've got to sit there and I've got to negotiate with the customer.
And by the time I've paid all that, I've paid an employee.
I've paid the shop.
Like I've done all those things.
I'm back to almost what I'm making on the car now.
So why wait 30 to 60 days?
I can get it done in five days and I'm netting essentially the same amount of money,
maybe 500 to 1,000 less.
But the cash flow is so much more rapid that makes up for the difference for me.
That's interesting.
What's your new to used ratio that you saw?
So I have a hundred.
I have say, yeah, retail.
So while right now it's used is probably going to be like only two or three cars for the month, even CPO.
And we'll do probably 70 to 80 new cars for the month.
So you're like 90, 95% new, 5% used.
You're not in the car business.
No, we're a huge leasing.
Yeah, we're in a huge leasing market.
In 2022, I think we were number one lease penetration Volvo dealer in the entire country at 93%.
So we pushed really hard at the leasing side because it's I think the best option for the consumer and for return customers.
But it is something I advise everybody on as a dealership.
But I also think it's just the nature of the part of the world that we're in.
So we saw we had Brian Benstock on the show a couple weeks ago.
He talked about how one of the challenges in automotive today is affordability.
And we've got to help consumers out by reducing the trade cycle so we can own that, you know, they come in trade by and make it affordable leasing.
He says is one of the best tools to do that.
He's also constrained his finance team.
He said, hey, 84 months, I'm not going to pay you any commission if you choose that lever of extended term in 72 months.
He cuts commission in half with as big of a that's interesting with as big of a lease portfolio as you have.
You don't really do much probably retail finance.
It's because you're not doing many used.
Yeah.
No, we do very little.
Very little cash, very little, very little finance almost all leasing.
So two items and then we're going to go into the round table.
I just want to hit digital retailing real quick.
I noticed you've run 100% digital retail through CDK modern retail, which I think is the old Roadster way before it was ever cool.
About 57% of dealership staff now say they use AI somewhere with AI layered on top of your digital process.
What's moving the needle versus what's vendor noise?
Tell us about that digital retail process on the CDK side.
Yeah, so Roadster is still really good.
I think still the bar for digital retailing tools that are available.
I've said that before for them and I've said it to them.
We switched over to drive centric from dealer stuck it and that that was a game changer.
I know you guys had Steve from drive centric recently do a Q&A.
He's really good guy.
He we switched over and the AI layer is now essentially that the customer gets instant instant answers from something and a quick follow up from a real person.
So instead of sending message and getting nothing, drive centric does a very good job of making it sound like it is a real person that's answering it.
Their language models are very good at making it sound natural and that makes it an easy transition over to the actual sales person.
It doesn't seem like they're just talking to a computer and like I can see the tracking of the conversations in drive centric and the customer's responses.
And they're they're almost never like just get me a person just get me to somebody.
It's a legitimate back and forth conversation, which is really interesting.
So that layered on the CRM is super important.
Obviously, does everybody knows making sure the customer feels like they're being taken care of and then they move into Roadster or modern retail where they're continuing that digital conversation, that digital interaction.
It's not, you know, AI in one spot and then back to the old way in the next.
It's a seamless transition from from digital conversation to digital retailing.
And we try to keep it that way all the way through.
And that is one of the challenges with any tech stack right now is digital retailing, whatever is the disjointed application customer walks in through the front door and they have to start all over again.
So I have a bunch of questions.
I'm not going to be able to get to all my questions.
I want to give the text, the chat a couple opportunities here.
Dan C says, can Jameson comment on the amount of parts and service business knowing that their lease pen rate at the Volvo stores north of 90%.
What is your parts and service app look like?
So we're also one of the top in the region for the part side to we're one of the largest online retailers for Volvo parts and accessories.
So I think we're number three in the country, but the most profitable.
So that's a big part of our fixed opsides for the parts.
But for the service shop, it's it's busy.
We have we have a different way of doing things here, which we if I am lucky enough to come back on, I can discuss that then.
But I think we do things pretty dramatically different.
But all our KPIs are super good.
The Volvo has come to us and said, you're one of the top in the Northeast for all those KPIs.
So we don't really see it, you know, impacting us too much.
There's plenty of business when the cars come in.
And I would argue the counter that the lease keeps the customer coming back here.
Volvo has complimentary service now for two years.
So the customer really has no excuse to not come back to us.
And we keep them within that environment and make sure that we treat them well.
Customer pay is healthy.
I would presume it's not just warranty pay or.
No, it's almost it's all it's about 80.
It's about 80% customer pay.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, we're going to go into the round.
We're going to go into the round table.
But last up, you grew up at the track with your dad, right?
You went pro at 18.
You raced with Derek Bell.
When did the dealership get out of racing?
And I think we've got some clips here.
And why?
So yeah, so this is the MX five cup, which I compete in this year.
This was down in St. Petersburg with Indy car.
This was an early, early morning race in the rain, which was really interesting.
Indy car champion, F1 driver, Sebastian Borde was competing with us.
I am 41 years old.
And so my finishing spot earned me the old man award, essentially.
So the highest, highest finishing spot for somebody over the age of 40.
Yeah, over the age of 40.
So it's all good.
It just, you know, help, help.
Thanks.
Help promote the Mazda brand or Mazda store.
The Mazda guys are really good.
Mazda Motorsports is a great team of people there.
So just happy.
It's a super competitive series that, you know, I've raced things with a lot more horsepower
and a lot, a lot higher up series.
But this is probably one of the most difficult to race into.
For example, Sebastian Borde F1 driver finished one spot behind me in that race.
Wow.
You beat out an F1 driver.
That's great.
Yeah, just barely, just barely.
But yeah, but it's a lot of fun.
Gets me to go do something, share some time with my wife and two daughters at the race track.
So it's a really good time.
Top speed on that track.
On that track, probably like 120 at Daytona.
We get up to almost 150.
Yeah, Daytona.
What a great track.
That is iconic as well.
Well, Jameson Riley, General Mandarin Riley Volvo cars.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
We'll have you back momentarily for our roundtable.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks, Sam.
All right.
A ton of comments coming into the chat.
Igor Kaye, very cool.
I'm a huge fan of F1 and Indie Racing and Daytona 500.
Michelle, CDG zone.
My bucket list item is to sit in a race car and do a lap.
I think that's something everybody, and then Dale in Progress says,
what does he think about the F1 film?
Maybe we'll ask him about that as part of the roundtable.
All right, as we wrap up today's Daily Deal of Life, let's launch into our roundtable.
Welcome back to the show.
Eric Barbosa, VP of Barry Lops at Plaza.
Jameson Riley, General Mandarin Riley Volvo cars.
Welcome back to you both.
All right.
Eric, we heard a pretty bold strategy that relates to new cars and used cars.
Jameson says, hey, I want to take the $2,500 wholesale out on ACV.
I'm not going to be in the used car business.
What's your take on that?
Is that an opportunity missed?
Or when he looks at the expense, is that a better way of doing business?
I mean, I think that's his way of doing business for us.
We're trying to get to a three to possibly even four to one ratio.
That's the game plan here.
And we're going to need all the used cars that we can get to hit that market,
especially having these luxury brands.
But I don't think, for him, that might work.
And is your strategy there?
Because obviously, Recon, you've got a fully functioning service department.
You said that.
It's working well.
Recon is a big part of any good service department.
It is part of your play on that ratio used to new, which is inverse of Jameson.
Is it the customers it brings in?
Is it just kind of the headcount?
New customers?
Did we lose, Eric?
Eric, are you there?
I'm here.
Oh, yep, sorry.
Sorry.
So you're inverse of where Jameson is.
Defend kind of the used car strategy on selling that big a ratio of used to new.
I mean, it's customer acquisition.
We're going to get more customers in the brand.
Then they're going to turn into new car customers.
Then they're going to go to service.
And I think that's the play for us, especially with the market being what it is in St. Louis.
There's a huge opportunity in the used car market here.
Yeah, yeah.
Jameson, I'm not putting you on the spot, but I do think it's a great, it's a very different
strategy.
And with an OEM that does such a great job on leasing, it's a solid strategy.
And you're also limiting your floor plan expense and some of the other expenses that come with
a vigorous used car operation.
All right.
Next question up.
Jameson and Eric, one word, where's gross going in the next 12 months?
Up, down, or flat?
Jameson, starting with you.
Up.
Up.
Eric.
Up.
Of course, new to the new role.
New car day supplies at 88 and climbing.
What's the lever you pull first?
Pricing, turn, or floor plan pay down?
Eric.
Turn.
Turn.
Jameson.
Price.
Price.
It's supposed to be in the least market.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you can lead with it.
Do you do broker?
Do you do broker?
Yeah.
Broker business, Jameson?
All right.
I do not.
I can't control the customer experience with that, so I stay away.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a big deal in the East Coast.
Not so much out where you are, Eric.
I presume no brokerage, brokering in the Midwest and where you sit.
All right.
AI in store.
What's your best ROI tool right now in AI, Jameson?
Drive-centric.
Very good.
Eric.
No comment.
Yeah.
Not yet?
Or you've got something, but you're not ready to talk about it yet.
No, maybe on the next one.
But yeah, we're working on something for sure.
Okay.
All right.
Well, Hannah, we got to have Eric back to talk about that.
All right.
What's the most overhyped tech in the auto dealership environment that everyone's paying
for, and no one is using fully?
Eric.
I think service equity.
I don't think that they're using it properly.
Equity mining?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Who's your favorite platform or tool in equity mining?
I mean, I would say mastermind is a good one if you use properly.
And capacity, like you know, before a building your own is also a good thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jameson.
Yeah.
I'd probably say the same thing.
It's probably where most the opportunity is that I think that we should be capitalizing
on and actually working on that is capitalizing on the service lane.
There's a whole additional revenue stream there.
And keeping to some of Eric's point is keeping the customer within our environment is super
important, and that's a good avenue for that.
All right, Jameson, what's the one KPI you'd run the whole store on?
If you could only choose one, you can only hold everyone accountable to one KPI.
What would it be?
Customer follow up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Eric.
I would probably say CSI customer experience.
Yeah.
Customer experience.
Yep.
Best second to last question.
Best advice you got in your first 90 days at a new store?
Best advice?
Well, mine's a little unique because it's my family's business, but my father told me
don't get involved in this business to go through something else.
Get out of it.
By the way, which everyone in the car business has probably said to their kids,
their family, and everybody else at some time, right?
Because this isn't the toughest.
It's like the military thing, right?
It's the toughest job you'll ever love.
Eric, best advice, 90 days.
Don't conform.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then as we wrap up final question, what's one prediction for the second half of 2026
that will help us be more successful that others might be thinking about that they're
not?
Give us a prediction.
And if you're right, we'll have you back on end of year to report out on it.
We're tracking these.
Mine is utilization of AI.
And I don't mean it within some other system.
I mean, using Claude, whatever system you want, that's what I use is Claude,
building your own custom systems for your store because it is powerful enough to do
that.
You don't necessarily need these vendors anymore.
There's a real ability for that now.
Interesting.
That's a good strategy.
So less vendors going into 27 and more self-made tools, Eric.
In health marketing, social media.
I mean, there's some good platforms.
We're using one right now, Nomad.
That's great.
But getting your mind wrapped around that because it's a big deal.
It's where everybody's going and consuming.
All right.
Nomad, CDG affiliated.
They're a force to be reckoned with in social media, Eric.
All right.
That's there.
Well, hey, Jameson Riley, General Manager Riley, Volvo Cars, and Eric Barbosa,
VP of Variable Ops at Plaza Motors.
Thank you both for being on today's show.
And we'll have you both back soon.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Lauren Klein says less vendors, more partners, which I agree with that.
And to you, our daily dealer listening audience on this Wednesday, the 24th.
Thanks for watching Daily Deal Alive, where we break down the biggest moves in the car business
as they happen.
Do not forget we're live here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
So if this is your world, hit like, hit subscribe, turn on those notifications,
so you never ever miss a beat.
And we'll see you next episode.
Thanks for being here, everybody.
Thank you.
About this episode
Riley and Barbosa break down how dealership economics are driving new-car pricing decisions, from rising day supply and floor-plan pressure to inventory-turn targets and the dealer–OEM relationship. The conversation then shifts to Barbosa’s first 30 days overseeing six luxury rooftops, where CRM discipline, KPIs, and manager involvement are central. They connect AI to digital retailing and lead workflows—while warning that the customer experience can’t be sacrificed. The episode also covers recalls, acquisitions, and how fixed-ops leadership supports execution.
Today's show features:
- Jameson Riley, General Manager at Riley Volvo Cars Stamford
- Eric Barbosa, VP of Variable Operations at Plaza Motors
This episode is brought to you by:
Zurich – Zurich Advisor IQ is Zurich’s AI-driven training and coaching platform built to help F&I teams perform more consistently and sell more effectively — using real transaction data, not theory. By analyzing actual F&I transactions, Zurich Advisor IQ helps identify behaviors and trends influencing results, delivers actionable insights and roleplay scenarios, and gives dealership leaders visibility into performance across managers, stores and rooftops. Connect with your Zurich representative to request a demo and see how Zurich Advisor IQ can help turn F&I insight into stronger dealership performance here: https://carguymedia.com/4xF6DM6
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