Used Car Special: Winning Strategies w/ Pohanka and Scates | Daily Dealer Live

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It doesn't do those three things, then it's on the chopping block.

It's in return on investment discussion.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome back to another episode of The Daily Dealer Live.

I'm your host, Sam Dark.

And today, I'm broadcasting live from Midtown, Manhattan,

the new 270 Park Avenue, Chase's headquarters.

And home to this year's Chase Automotive CEO Summit.

More on that in a moment.

Thanks for choosing to be here on this 8th of December.

And before we talk Chase and CEOs,

let's cover today's auto industry headlines.

First up today, first up today,

used wholesale values ticked up in November

with the Mannheim Index, a key wholesale barometer,

rising 1.3% to 205.4.

That's a small lift, but worth noting,

given that November usually trends lower.

Year over year, most segments were still down,

but luxury and EVs broke the pattern.

Luxury used prices were up 2.9% and used EV prices

jumped 6.1%, likely helped in part

by the expiration of the federal EV tax credit.

Compact cars saw the steepest slide at 6.8%

year over year, while mid-sized cars, pickups,

and SUVs were all modestly lower.

Cox Automotive, parent company of Mannheim,

says retail demand improved through the month

as auto loan rates eased

and consumer confidence started to rebound,

this despite overall sentiment still being shaky.

What's the bottom line here?

Well, price depreciation is flattening out

and a few segments are firming up

as dealers head into the holiday stretch

and gear up for tax refund season next spring.

Next up today, according to a new dealership survey,

from auto retailing software provider Spine,

2026 will be a quote,

the first true AI operations year, close quote,

76% of 1200 US dealership surveyed

plan to increase their AI budgets

and investments next year with the majority

of focus on AI voice agents.

After that, dealers are prioritizing,

merchandising and inspection automation

followed by pricing and analytics

and then sales after sales tools.

Spine also found AI maturity among dealerships

is now as uneven as store performance itself.

And the gap is widening for dealers

who have already leaned into AI this year.

On average, they've seen 25 to 30% more showroom appointments,

a 33% drop in BDC costs, stronger online listing engagement

and a 12 to 15 hour a week saved through automation.

From Spine's perspective as operational pressure

and margin compression continues,

the stores treating AI as core infrastructure

and not a side experiment,

are the ones positioning themselves

to win the next demand cycle.

Next up today, Nissan is doubling down on partnerships

as a core part of its turnaround with CFO Jeremy Papen

saying the company simply can't hit its tech

and product goals alone anymore.

In a discussion with merger market,

Papen said talks with Rinalt are back on the table

and both sides are exploring what the next phase

of their decade long alliance could look like.

And despite earlier merger discussions falling apart,

Nissan and Honda are still exploring a joint path

on software-defined vehicles.

Nissan's also looking outside the traditional OEM Circle II,

building on new tech alliances like its deal with Wave

for autonomous driving software.

However, tariffs are shaping the strategy as well.

Nissan has lowered its expectations as U.S. tariff impact

and is now reworking production flows between China,

Mexico, Japan and the United States,

including plans to shift more road production stateside.

What's the big picture here?

Well, dealers may see useful tech improvements

and better localization over time,

but near-term reality could keep inventory

planning choppy for a while.

And finally up today in a CDG Bicell release,

Carter Myers Automotive has expanded into Maryland

by picking up Toyota of Southern Maryland

and Team Hyundai Maryland two stores

that share a campus in Lexington Park.

Both stores have been rebranded under the CMA banner,

bringing the group's portfolio to 32 rooftop.

CEO Liza Borges says the move is as much about the people

as the market, noting the long-tenured staff

joining CMA's employee-owned structure

where some associates have built seven-figure

retirement equity over time.

Zooming out Southern Maryland is an import heavy

economically resilient retail market,

making Toyota and Hyundai strong entry points for CMA

as it grows deeper roots in the mid-Atlantic.

And by the way, many of you saw Liza's appearance

on Daily Dealer a couple of weeks ago

where she actually teased this announcement,

so we're pumped to bring it.

We wish the entire auto group well.

And don't forget, you can see this deal announcement

and many more throughout the entire year

by visiting the CDG Bicell Tracker at cdgbicell.com.

And that's a wrap on today's industry news.

And it does still make me super happy

that we have that cool jingle.

Doesn't it, Yuli?

Don't you love that?

Love it every time, yeah.

So Yuli, today I'm at the Chase CEO Summit

that the folks here have been super hospitable.

They were kind enough to give me space for our live stream

because where I go, you go as our Daily Dealer audience.

They're not a sponsor here today.

I barged into the, or part of the meeting

second year in a row and I said,

hey, I got to do this live stream.

Can I have a room?

And they were super nice to give me a room

and let me come in here for an hour during the lunch break.

But it has been cool to see some of the top automotive CEOs

and executive leaders in the United States in this room.

Like I said, it's the second year attending.

And Yuli, you may say,

what the heck is the Chase Auto CEO Summit?

Ask, go ahead, I dare you.

What the heck is the Chase Auto CEO Summit?

So it's where Chase gathers senior automotive executives

including leading auto manufacturers and top dealer clients

for a day of strategic dialogue

around industry trends and networking.

They bring in experts from across

all different sides of automotive.

And again, second year in a row, I've been here.

Chase is a strategic partner of the Ziggler Auto Group.

So that's what brings me in here.

This is a great place to kind of formulate

what's your strategy coming up for the coming year.

And again, as I mentioned, it's a growing summit.

Last year was smaller, this year 150 attendees joining

and we're here again in their brand new beautiful building.

It's a gorgeous structure.

And Yuli, of course, for everybody joining the live stream,

a reminder that we're live across

all CDG social media platforms.

Post your comments, we'll bring them into today's show.

As always, it changes the trajectory of our show.

And maybe at some point in the future

we can have folks on from Chase

to give us a little bit of background on what goes on here

and how that is influential in kind of thinking

and planning the future.

We already have some great comments.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh wait, did Lauren comment on my haircut?

It was super, yeah.

She said I like Sam's fresh haircut.

It's super tight.

I've had a hard time with it.

But Yoga Car says, Sam, I kind of like

this refreshed background.

So I've gone from black to that.

No longer Nate the truck driver,

but Nate the Genesis sales concierge.

Nate the truck driver, congrats on that turnaround.

And then Andre, this is finally nice,

quality still need better mics.

So all right, we're gonna up our game

in the mic category at some point here,

but we appreciate you for commenting on.

So all right, let's dive into our first guest today, Yuli.

First up today, Vice President of Pahanka, Nissan Hyundai.

Tim Pahanka, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much.

I'm glad to be here.

We're pumped you're here.

Tim, the first question we ask everybody

is how's business as part of that?

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

Well, businesses is obviously unique

as it's been for everyone over the last few years.

And obviously for the last few months

with the government shutdown,

I am a Vice President for the Pahanka Automotive Group.

Here I'm in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Love this little town.

And I've been in the business for over 30 years

and the family's been having dealerships

for over a hundred.

Wow.

We're really ingrained in the automotive industry.

So as Virginia-based, the government shutdown

did have an impact on you.

What was the impact and how are you powering out of it

now, the resumption of services?

It was unique to say the least.

Normally, the DC area has been immune

to types of problems in the economy

but not when the government shuts down.

Then it becomes a real problem for everybody.

Appointments are getting canceled,

customers are putting off maintenance,

they were putting off a bird buying cars.

So once they announced that they were back open,

we saw a lot of energy back into it.

But there's still people concerned,

whether or not they're gonna extend it in January

and whatnot, it's been a unique time

to be in Virginia for sure.

Yeah.

And government shutdowns aren't new.

Does this resemble from a economic pain?

Does it resemble prior shutdowns

or is this different just because of the duration

and kind of the uncertainty surrounding the next one?

I think a lot of it's becoming the fear keeps growing

with each one and the frequency

by which they are starting to happen more often.

Once the shutdown was once in the blue moon

and now since with all the problems

that we're having up in Washington, they're more frequent.

And that frequency, I think,

starts to scare a lot of people.

Paycheck to paycheck is tough for people to live.

Yeah.

So you are a Nissan and a Hyundai dealer

in your footprint and you do something pretty unique.

You've told your customers,

you don't need to come in for an appointment,

just come in and we'll take care of you.

How on earth does that work, Tim?

Like that sounds like a fixed-op's director's

worst nightmare.

It can be and it's not just me and my footprint,

it's the entire automotive group.

And it works out very well.

When you think about it,

your car doesn't break on an appointment.

So why should you have to come in on an appointment?

And that really was the impetus of it.

And I'd love to say that I came up with it

but John Goings our director of service did

and it makes sense.

A client, when they need their car,

they need it right now.

And I liken it to the express lane.

If you put an express lane at an airport,

who's going to go in it?

Everybody.

So everyone feels like their service should be expressed.

And I think that kind of where it kind of came from.

Yeah.

So from a practical standpoint,

do you run into log jams

where you have too many people

in the service drive all at once?

Or how are you from a scheduling

and a structure standpoint

able to meet demand that fluctuates high and low?

You just set good expectation.

That's really where it starts in the lane

is you set expectations.

If you're having a busy day,

you let clients know they're having,

we're having a busy day.

We've got loaner cars.

We've got Uber.

We've got Lyft.

We've got a shuttle service.

There's any number of ways

to make the repair more convenient for the consumer.

You just have to be willing to say it upfront.

And consumers appreciate that.

If you tell them, hey, we're busier today than normal,

they're going to work with you.

If you tell them,

if you don't tell them that,

then their expectations going to be different.

But really it starts with expectations in the lane.

How has the CSI,

which is the ultimate metric, right?

The customer satisfaction in the service lane,

how has that impacted by this strategy?

And how long have you been doing it?

We've been doing it for probably 10 years.

Wow, okay.

CSI is fine.

I mean, is it could be better?

Yes, could be worse.

All those things happen.

When it comes down to it,

CSI is really a function

of how well the advisor interacts with their client.

It's very,

I think it's less on everything else

that happens in the dealership.

And it really goes back to person to person.

So from a CSI standpoint,

I don't think we're suffering any more or any less,

any higher or any lower

than any other regular dealership.

It just goes back to that one-on-one transaction.

Well, let's stay in the service department

for just a moment.

So you've been known to say

most dealers don't focus enough

in fixed operations right now.

Why is fixed ops a hidden goldmine for dealers?

And what should dealers be paying more attention to today

that maybe they're not?

I need to be paying attention

to everything that goes on fixed ops.

I mean, service sells cars.

They sell the second car,

they sell the third car.

It's a great profit center if you're doing it right.

Too many people have come up through the sales

and like I did

and haven't spent enough time in the service

and to really understand what goes on back there.

When you look at the opportunity to grow people,

to grow customers, to connect,

the service department's really where it's at.

And then you really have to understand

your numbers back there.

You have to remember that your advisors are salespeople.

We don't treat them that way.

We treat the advisors as just like a teller.

And that's not.

They need to be engaged with talking about

what services customers need

and why they need it and engage with them.

So when you talk about that engagement,

is there any particular type of training program

that you engage in with your teams

to help keep your service advisors,

maybe even your technicians well trained

on how to interact with the customer?

Because it is a customer facing sales job.

Well, we took our training manual

from the sales department

and we moved it over into the service department.

You just change the word sales

and you put service into it.

You change the word sell a car, sell a service.

It's amazing how they come together and they work out.

That was the first thing we did.

And the second thing we did

is we aligned pay plans along

the way a finance manager's paid plan.

Here are your objectives and key categories.

Now we know you're going to talk

about those items with the client.

And lo and behold,

we've seen huge increases in our production.

When you look at the technicians,

we've got our technicians buying into a video MPI.

Video MPI has been a huge game changer.

All right, so we talk a lot about the video MPI

on this show and it's interesting.

I've had some people,

I did an industry spotlight with the dealer

and he's like,

I talk a lot about the video MPI.

He's like, we're 80%, 90%.

And he said,

I don't understand a dealer that could be less,

but they are out there

and I'll go through stores and I'll hear,

hey, we don't really do it.

The technology doesn't work.

The technicians don't understand it.

They're uncomfortable with it.

Who do you use for your video MPI?

What's your percent?

And what's the biggest objection to utilization you see?

And why is it not a good objection?

I just got a report from our OEM partner

that we're at 94%.

Wow, that was that.

We saw easily a four-tenth lift year over year

in our hours per hour.

And we can attribute that to lots of different things,

but video MPI plays a huge part in it.

The technology is fine.

We're partnered with XTime.

The biggest objection we have obviously is,

hey, we're not accustomed to using it

or I don't wanna do it.

I've never done it.

It took some hard decisions, hard talk,

conversations with key people

and it came down to this is the direction

that the job is going and if you don't wanna do it,

then hey, we're gonna have to part company.

It's good for the consumer.

It's transparency, right?

It's transparency and ultimate communication.

It's good for the dealer.

It's good for the technician.

When you have a three-legged thing

that works for everybody, that's a win-win-win.

You have to do that.

And I think that's the future of what we need to do.

We need to get back some belief and trust

and that's a big deal.

Tim, I have a quick question on that.

Are you using props?

We see a lot of successful stores

that have a cart set up with clean filters,

clean fluids and things like that

to give that comparison.

We're not yet.

We're getting ready to work on how to build out

a standardization for some of the more common ones

and then more importantly,

how to discuss some of the less common ones.

You mentioned AI earlier today.

AI can be a big help with coming up with

how to describe a repair to a consumer

versus, hey, this is your widget.

I have no idea what this widget does.

Why do I need this widget working?

So those are things that we have a lot of opportunity

with and especially in fixed ops with using AI

and I'm excited about that.

Some great comments online.

Eager Superfan says,

Pahanka Lexus has great service and high CSI.

Andre says, video MPIs work.

Funny enough, the customer still wanna talk

to the technician after seeing the whole video.

I never mind talking with them

when needed over the shop phone

and then we've got some viewers

that are watching from different places

including Scott Simons from Abu Dhabi.

Thanks for joining us from all the way over there

but truly those videos create credibility

and connection and they back up what the technician sees.

So I think it's a powerful tool.

We're gonna do a video,

we're gonna do a video communication competition

in January.

We'd love to have you and your other group join

where everybody submits their best video

either in the service drive or on sale side

and we're gonna do a little round table

and talk about what is the value of these videos.

So we'd love to have you and your group join.

Speaking of videos,

I wanna pop up a video that we got behind the scenes

and have you give us a little bit of context behind this

for the producers.

If you'd pop this up,

it has to do with Nissan CVT technology.

I think tell us a little bit about what we're seeing here

in this video and why you made this video

and what's going on.

You are seeing myself and two other Nissan dealers

drive used cars that we got off the street

with over a hundred thousand miles all through the West.

The worst roads we could possibly find.

And we did it to kind of showcase Nissan quality

and the fact that the CVT transmission

isn't quite as bad as people like to say it is.

Yeah.

We had a great,

we did six days of filming

and we posted it when we posted it online.

There's seven episodes of our adventures

from the Bonneville Salt Flats

all the way through the mountains of Telluride.

And it was great.

A nice little video series.

You're catching some air.

Oh yeah. I did catch some air.

I did catch it.

I also lost my roof rack on one of them.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Did you drive it the whole way

or did you trailer at parts of the way?

Yeah.

I was shipped over to Utah

and then once we got to Utah,

we drove it 1600 some miles

through anything we could find.

And we had,

I mean, it was filmed.

I mean, it's an amazing series.

I mean, they're about 15 minutes each of seven episodes,

but we took the cars through rivers.

We took them over sand.

We took them over rocks.

We took them and we were doing donuts

in a dry riverbed.

What prompted you to do this?

Top gear.

Like that's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work.

But I mean, if you're looking for ways

to storytelling marketing,

to talk about what your vehicles can do,

it's a great opportunity.

But it became more than that for us.

It started to become a really good connection

between who we are as dealers

and what we can do out with our cars.

And it kind of became just a really good novel

about cars and what they can do.

I mean, to think that we took cars that are designed

to get you from A to B in a parking lot

and we took them off-road,

not really designed to do that.

It opened the world to you.

And that's kind of what it became us

became this opening of like, oh my God,

these are amazing things that we can do.

And so much so, we're gonna keep doing it.

We're gonna keep doing more of them.

I mean, it was a beautiful one.

What's the next model you're gonna do?

The next model, we're working on it.

We've got a couple ideas.

It's top secret.

Yeah, yeah.

But let's just say that it will be unique.

It will be unique.

So it's funny you did that,

because I got my son a Nissan Rogue.

So it's got the CVT.

And I remember the first couple of weeks he drove it,

he hated it.

He was like, Dad, I don't like this.

Cause the CVT truly drives differently.

And then I took him out and I'm like, dude,

this drives different.

And the moment he understood

how that transmission worked,

he actually liked it better.

It's passed along to his brother

who took the roof rack off with a bike on it,

unfortunately, in similar geography,

but you gotta kind of understand

how they work to make them work.

Just like anything, you have to take care of them.

And I think that's the problem

that a lot of people don't do

is kind of tipping on going back to our service.

If you're not gonna do the maintenance to the vehicle,

the car's not gonna take care of you.

And some new components are more temperamental.

It's just how the things are.

Cars are not built the way they were in the past.

We have to do things.

You have to do preventive maintenance.

Fluids are designed to cool things for a reason

and to lubricate them.

I mean, heck, I didn't realize there's EV fluid.

Who would have thought that?

So, yeah.

So some good comments online.

Then I wanna shift to Nissan.

The tour detour says those CVTs put in the work.

We had so much fun with season one.

Oh, he must be one of your partners in this,

I guess, right?

Must be.

It's good to know we're being watched.

Yeah, Eager case says most people are afraid

of CVT transmissions because they don't understand

how to service them right.

That just supports what you're saying.

If it's not as bad as people say,

then back it up with extended warranty.

CVT is the reason why Nissan is in its current state.

I'd actually disagree with that.

There are other manufacturers that have done CVT as well.

So many.

And provide standard warranties

or longer warranties as a result.

But a fair point, Nissan is an OEM

that's under challenge right now.

So tell us, you decided to make that for Nissan

with Nissan's.

What's one thing Nissan's getting right

and what's one thing Nissan's getting wrong today

in December of 2025?

I think it's really Nissan's new process of coming back

with Nissan One is the right direction.

Let's be focused on selling cars.

Let's not be focused on a million other metrics

that are out there.

So I think they've got that right.

From a standpoint of what they are doing wrong,

I think the things that they're doing wrong

are things that were put in place a long time ago

that they're trying to come out of.

The hybrid situation is something

that they're not right on right now,

but they're getting there.

I'm not one of those people who like to go around

and they say on what I think is working,

is starting to work.

I believe Nissan Red and Silver.

And I'm glad to do that.

I'm proud to be a Nissan dealer.

As soon as we get hybrid technology here,

I think that's going to be a big help for Nissan.

And the products are quality products.

I mean, we just took 10-year-old cars out into the desert

and beat them to death.

That kind of, I mean, no-check engine light, anything else.

That says a lot about where they are.

Nissan as a manufacturer is not here in the condition

because of the CBT.

They're here because of, unfortunately, making decisions

and misreading the tea leaves on certain market conditions.

And Vinay really started to turn that in a positive direction.

And his successor, I think, is continuing on it.

He's going to be on the show soon.

What's a question you might ask his successor

when he pops in here?

You know, my question I'd ask is,

how long are we going to commit to this type of program?

And how long, and how do you get

to get all of the dealer body engaged?

And I think that's something that Vinay was interested in.

I think that's something that Christian is very interested in.

And now it comes down to how do you get

your entire dealer body engaged in a program?

And I think focusing on sales is an easy way to do that.

And that's a plus.

And so that's a good opportunity with Nissan.

Yeah, now to shift us to Hyundai.

One thing Hyundai gets right, one thing Hyundai gets wrong.

It's a powerful brand right now.

They're doing pretty well in the marketplace.

Yeah, I mean, Hyundai's got it right on their cars.

I mean, the car builds, they're beautiful cars.

They're coming out with the right product at the right time.

And they're incentivizing.

They're engaged in incentivizing.

The only thing that I wish Hyundai would do more

is do it more earlier in the month.

I think Hyundai spends a lot of time wearing my ketchup.

And they could be a little bit more of a market leader.

They already are in terms of who would have thought

that they would be where they are.

But their chairman's idea of wanting

to be the most loved car company is an amazing goal.

It's not the most profitable, it's the most loved.

So I think that that is a beautiful opportunity

in a market to define yourself.

So I just wish that they would bring those incentives

and that, you know, be a little bit more

on that leading edge when they can.

They did a great job during COVID,

I will say, to be on the leading edge, so.

Yeah.

And you represent an OEM both with Stairstep.

Like it, hate it, indifferent?

You know, I love it when I'm hit it.

I hate it when I don't.

Yeah.

So, you know, I understand it.

I mean, it's something Nissan's done for generations,

so it's nothing new.

It's nothing new.

I just think, you know, again, it goes back

to dealer engagement.

You can't have a certain segment of your dealer body

engaged.

You want everyone, you know, imagine

if you can get 80% of your dealer body engaged

in a program.

What success would you have?

It's huge.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, Tim Pahanka, Vice President Pahanka and Nissan Hyundai,

we appreciate you being on the show and sharing us

this awesome powder, like no schedule service.

Like, I think you're going to find a lot of dealerships reaching

out and trying to understand that a little bit better

and then that cool video.

Where can our audience go to see that video if they want to?

Are you going to go anywhere?

Yeah, it's on YouTube.

Or you can go to the website, to thetour2tour.com,

like, follow, share, subscribe, you know,

all those great things that I like to say.

But, you know, it is important.

And it's an important to get out there,

a message about the car industry that's not, you know,

focused on just bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.

It's about who we are as individuals.

And Tim, are you the next Top Gear?

That's the question.

You know, hey, I would not be ashamed

if someone would come in with Top Gear money

and help us produce a show that would not be a bad thing.

That would be a fun job.

That's a work of art.

Tim Pahanka, thanks for being on the show.

We appreciate you being here.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Tim.

And to our loyal listening audiences,

Tim said, if you're listening, if you're tuning in

and you enjoy today's content,

there's a great way without cost.

You can support the stream.

If you're on X, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn,

hit that like button, hit subscribe,

follow the page if you haven't already,

you probably have.

And go check out Tim's content.

You can support his as well.

I mean, I saw that video and it just made me happy.

It's fun to see.

Yeah, it looks awesome.

Well, it's fun to see dealers just out doing something

really cool and enjoying life.

To take a couple of weeks off and go drive around and,

I mean, was it a rogue?

I don't know what it was, but whatever he was in.

It looked like a Murano, a Pathfinder, and a Juke.

Yeah, yeah.

Actually, the Tour D Tour says Top Gear Mythbusters combo.

It makes you happy to see dealers out having fun

in the stuff we sell.

And by the way, Yuli, that's what Automotive is.

So it's.

Selling dreams.

It is.

I'll tell you what, if I'm a little kid watching YouTube,

I'm watching a video like this

and I'm like, I can't wait to buy one of those cars.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So all right, let's talk Cars.com.

Before we go to our next guest, today's episode

is brought to you by Cars.com, the number one most recognized

marketplace brand, helping your dealership show up

and stand out to the most valuable car shopping

audience.

You can scan the QR code there for more information.

You know what we ought to do is

we ought to get the Cars.com CEO.

We ought to get Tim together.

We ought to go do just a road rally somewhere.

I want to be part of that, too.

But I'm going to tell you, it needs to be on road.

And I'll bring something from our Ferrari store for that,

from Lake Force for the Ferrari.

Anyway, Cars.com, thanks for supporting today's content,

including that great conversation with Tim Pajonka.

We appreciate him bringing his no schedule service on.

So thank you, Cars.com, for supporting today's show.

Sam, I'm telling you right now, if you do that,

you don't invite me.

We're going to have a problem.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, you know what?

We just got to figure out how we get all the YouTube

cameras, and we fix them all.

I actually think that'd be a heck of a lot of fun.

You figure out the cameras.

I'll help you move the cars.

The only part I'm not doing is I'm not camping.

Anybody who knows me, I don't camp.

I'm not doing tenting.

I'm not on a mattress, nothing else.

All right, next up, we're going to go straight into President

and co-founder of 111 Motor Cars, Jeremy Scatz.

Jeremy, welcome to the show.

Jeremy.

Thanks for being here.

All right, first question we always ask, how's biz?

And what do you do in the world, Jeremy?

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

The easier answer is what we don't do.

We do storage.

We have a private car club.

We do sales, consignment, service.

We have a vent space.

We do car shows.

We're a part of the car culture, the car community.

But it's easier to say what we don't do

than sometimes what we do do.

Yeah, well, you focus on used cars.

Plus, you're a Pagani dealer, you mentioned,

which is high-end luxury import, which is pretty cool.

What does hospitality mean in a used car store

like 111 Motor Cars?

How does hospitality play into what you do, Jeremy?

Everything.

It's the foundation for what we are,

a foundation for how we build the culture

and the entire 111 concept.

Because with us having three bars in the property,

with us having the event space,

we have to kind of go back and look at the car dealership

experience differently.

We kind of blow it up from the ground up.

Change the sales process to be more of a concierge-level business.

And if you're going to look at a concierge-level company,

like a Four Seasons or a Fine Dining Establishment,

the first thing that you think of is hospitality.

And that's the core principle that we build this brand on.

Yeah.

All right, so you are an independent used dealer.

You sell used.

Plus, you have a lot of focus around experience

and hospitality and ancillary businesses that support that.

The used car business is getting tougher, not easier.

What's your best source for getting used cars today

as an independent in December of 2025?

People, our relationships.

So I've been in the industry for a number of years.

Rob Latter, my main buyer, he's been my wingman.

I go back.

We worked at a BMW dealership together 20 years ago.

So the relationships we have within dealerships

around the country, a Toyota store in Mississippi,

a Ford store in Kentucky, all the area Tennessee stores,

if they know they can trust us and I'm going to step up

and give them the right bid, that is one gigantic source.

But then you take that and combine it with our people.

Our customers are out looking like I get calls

and text messages every day like, hey,

this guy's wanted to sell this 2005 M3.

This guy's got a 993 Porsche.

Our customers are out there working for us.

But at the same time, if we do this right,

some of the events like we've done a lot of,

we do a monthly car show called Cars and Caffeine.

We host regional Porsche Concourse events.

We host regional car shows here in the middle Tennessee area.

Every time we host an event,

someone tells me somebody who's got a car for sale

or something they want to do. Check that out.

I also do a lot with estate planning.

So I mean, there's, but.

Jeremy, what is this facility

that we're seeing here right now?

This massive indoor facility.

That's our showroom.

You're looking, you're flying over the storage.

You're flying over part of the lounge area.

Now your Pagani dealership is to the right.

So you'll see a couple Pagani's to your right.

So are you franchise Pagani

or you just collect a lot of Pagani's and sell them?

No, so Pagani of Nashville is a tenant.

Pagani of Nashville's dealer license.

Got it.

Is at my building.

How does that work?

So you can sell their cars as a licensed,

how does that work?

I've never heard of that before.

They can.

So Vincent has his longstanding relationship with that brand.

Well, they reached out to me in the spring of 24

as I was trying to build this concept

with Mitch and Vinny and Chad.

And as we kind of started to get the foundation here,

having brands like Pagani and having some other companies

will announce a few things in 26.

Those kind of legitimize the concept.

But if you think of it the way I presented it back,

you know, last year was,

if you've seen Motor World in Germany,

they actually have dealerships inside

a two, three block automotive utopia.

They have restaurants and hotels and event space

at the Mercedes Museum.

That's kind of what my vision was when we started this.

And then when they stepped up and joined the campus,

it kind of, you know, made that dream come of reality.

Cool.

It's fun to see your vision unfold.

Used cars.

So you said relationship to a dealer listening, right?

Understanding where you come from as an independent.

Again, acquisition used cars,

it's job number one in today's world

for any franchise dealer, but also for a non-franchised.

Relationship goes so far,

but then you gotta like, you gotta acquire those.

So are you acquiring most of your used inventory

from franchise dealers and they're selling to you?

Are you, do you have a department

that's calling up customers

and buying used cars off the curb?

What's your model as an independent

without access to that new car flow to get used cars?

All three of those.

So yes, we have an active social media campaign

saying we'll buy your car.

We have that, you know, obviously on the website,

but I'll go back to the events.

The events we throw, you know,

on any given Saturday once a month,

we have three to 6,000 people come to one

of our car shows because that breeds people calling me

going, hey, because we become a trusted,

I don't wanna say expert, but you can use that word.

And so people within the community,

the car community are always,

they're giving us that back,

but we do buy from the auction,

smart auction, Mannheim, we pay,

especially for the high line stuff,

you have to pay attention to those.

I would say 45% of our inventory still comes from that,

but the other 55% comes from the other dealerships

around the country that, you know,

pre-existing relationships to sell as their inventory

as well as customers.

So Mustafa asks, what percent of your sales acquisitions

are out of state versus in-state in an-

Unfortunately right now about 40%.

I wish because of the type of inventory,

but very, very good question.

Mufasa, and I was gonna say Mufasa, like the Lion King.

Mustafa, yeah, Mustafa.

No, very good question.

Right now about 40% of our inventory is going out of state.

Yeah.

So what advice would you give to anybody looking

to get into the independent business?

Is it, is now a viable time for it?

Is it challenging?

And then is your aspiration ultimately to become franchised

or are you gonna lean more

into the customized experiences you provide?

We will try to franchise,

but we will try to do that ourselves.

But yes, we do want multiple locations

because when you add the club aspect

and the event side of this,

it changes the entire dynamics of the dealership,

especially the service side,

because we have, you know,

we have 17 service bays as well.

But at the same time,

the customer experience is so crucial

that if we duplicate that,

we have to make sure we have all of those processes defined

because being an independent,

we're writing those processes and those codes as we go.

In terms of advice, I think, you know,

everybody's gonna allude to this.

I would have, if you don't already know this,

if you're not already here, don't come here.

Like this is a very, very difficult space and time

for the use for an independent,

especially when you look at the relationships

from floor planning and banks.

So if you're not already here

and you have a manufacturer relationship

to help you get here, don't come knocking.

What's the toughest part lending and whatnot

that you experienced?

That's the last question for today.

What's the biggest challenge as an independent today?

I would inventory acquisition and floor planning.

I would think those two are the things

because, you know,

as big floor planning companies do not want an independent.

We have a GMC, we have a new car franchise,

which helps us in that department for us.

But if we did not have that,

we would not be able to get a floor plan

the way we would need.

Do you think they're right to be suspicious

or super critical in their underwriting of the risk?

Or what do you think that they get wrong

about being an independent in today's world?

No, I think they are right.

So like, I think they just have to do their due diligence

and make sure they have the experience.

But no, there is, unfortunately, you know,

not everyone's doing it the way they should.

And that's why they have those guardrails in place.

But no, I think they are right to be,

to do that screening and have those limitations.

Yeah, all right.

Jay Hanley asks, with so much shipping fraud,

are you arranging shipping or do your customers arrange it?

We arrange it.

Okay, yeah.

Which actually, by the way, we know at our auto group,

that's a huge red flag of fraud.

And when the customer wants to arrange their own shipping,

that can be a little bit of a challenge as well.

You want to be able to have a little bit of end to end,

but great question.

And then Dan C. is saying,

is it difficult finding a four-plane source

being a high-end independent dealer?

And I think you answer that.

Scott Simon says, do you do cars on consignment?

If so, what percentage of your cars?

I mean, obviously a huge showroom there.

What percentage of the cars are on consignment?

Percentage is low because I can sign the customer,

not the car.

If we have a relationship and a trust with the customer,

then the car is going to follow.

So we can sign the customer first.

And as long as we have that,

the understanding and the mutual process agreement,

then we will consign the car.

But I would say percentage-wise, maybe 10%.

Very good.

There, you can see this again.

It's a pop-up factor.

Jeremy, what's your inventory mix?

Like from mild to wild, what are you stocking in there?

The facility's stunning.

This is going to be fun right here

because you're going to our private club area.

This is our club house.

Really, the inventory mix is still,

my best customer's a soccer mom.

So like our inventory mix is still luxury SUVs,

really nice curated SUVs to make sure we have,

you know, safe ones.

Yeah, so that's our club house.

That's part of our lounge

and the 111 Motor Club experience.

We do a lot of networking events.

That room is also for our members.

That room can be used for their special parties.

You have a track outside?

Not yet.

No, the insurance, I don't want,

there's other guys that can have that one.

You know, it kind of reminds me in the Chicago land

near Juliette, Illinois,

there's something called the Autobahn.

It's kind of a private, you know, racetrack

and you have kind of these, these little,

that seems to be something that's becoming popular, right?

The little, the car garages with a nice waiting area,

place to hang out on top, bar, restaurant, all that.

If you ever have a show on that, I want in

because I have a very, I have a lot of thoughts on that

and I have a lot of experience.

So they call us all the time,

wanting to come in and present their garage concepts

to our clients, to our members and to us

because of the reach we have within the car community.

But like, I would love to be on that show.

So when you have it, tell me.

Well, Jeremy Skates, we appreciate you

sharing your perspectives on all things independent,

the challenges of being one right now,

sourcing, selling, floor planning, use cars.

But the interesting way you're finding to win

in that challenging environment,

including crafting that super customized experience,

you know, Lauren Klein says,

hey, how do you become a club member?

So, you know, what would be your answer to that, Jeremy?

At 111 Motor Cars on Instagram,

Lauren can send us a message.

But no, it's mostly repeats referrals.

We have a very, that's a whole process

of how we have kind of built that model

to give back to the car guys,

to give the car guys that do this a lot

and we know who they are.

Give them a home and give them somebody

who works with them and for them

as opposed to, you know, the conflict

that they typically have at dealerships.

But Lauren can find us on Instagram

and she can reach out and we would be happy to accommodate.

And CalChastner13 says, can I come just hang out?

That looks rad.

I would assume you've got to have a membership, right?

You can't just come be home.

You can do, but at the same time,

we're selling growth modes.

So like, your members can bring this.

We still have a thing.

You say CDG, they may get in, right?

So.

Yeah, we'll give them a code for you guys.

All right, very cool.

Jeremy Skates, president, co-founder, 111 Motor Cars.

Tennessee based.

Appreciate you being on the show.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks Jeremy.

Speaking of clubs, speaking of clubs.

We want to remind everybody,

we're getting super close to NAD.

I don't know how many days we are out,

but it's coming.

Las Vegas, February 5th.

You looked up and I saw you counting.

Less than 60 days.

Of course, the hottest ticket NADA 2026,

special guest, top automotive personalities.

If you want to be considered for an invite,

hit the link in the show notes, request to join.

We'd love to see you there.

Spots are limited and unfortunately,

we can't invite everyone.

So RSVP today, we hope to see you there in Vegas.

And cool show today.

Appreciate Tim and his perspectives

on all things Nissan and Hyundai

and that cool video I want in on the next one.

And let's add Pahanka to our video competition in January.

We're working right now to nail down the details on that.

We'll release some information on that soon.

And to everybody engaged and involved

in the CDG circles out there,

it's been fun to see the conversations

that are ongoing right now.

Guess what the biggest topic of conversation

I'm seeing in those circles today is?

It's vendor analysis, right?

It's like, what is your tech stack?

What could you reduce?

Who are the good vendors?

Who are those that probably need to up their game

a little bit?

And here's what I'll tell you, Yuli.

As I see the quality of conversations

that are going on in those groups,

conversations are up.

Like it is the quality of conversation

that determines the quality of the relationship

with vendors and each other

and how we deliver best to our customers.

And doing those analysis,

I think will be fascinating as we go through that.

It'll be fun to see.

We'll have some highlights

from some of those conversations on upcoming episodes.

And Yuli, to our Tyler Daly dealer live audience,

we thank you.

Thanks for watching.

If you like what you see today,

hit subscribe, hit like,

join on the platforms you're watching on.

But to you, thanks for joining Daily Dealer Live

where you break down the biggest moves

in the car business as they happen.

Don't forget.

We're live here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

So if this is your world,

as I just said, hit like, subscribe,

turn on those notifications

so you never ever miss a beat.

And we'll see you next episode, everybody.

Thanks guys.

Used Car Special: Winning Strategies w/ Pohanka and Scates | Daily Dealer Live

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