Vauto is a dealer software tool. It helps dealers find and price used cars, and the speaker is saying it doesn’t fully automate their pricing math the way they want.
“Cost to market” means figuring out whether the price you pay for a used car still makes sense compared to what similar cars sell for. If there’s not enough room for profit, you don’t buy it.
“Recon” is dealer shorthand for reconditioning—work done to bring a used car up to retail-ready condition. It can include mechanical repairs, detailing, and cosmetic fixes, and it affects the true cost of acquiring the vehicle.
JRR Motor Sales is the used-car dealership where Sam Hatch works. They’re talking about how their buying process and logistics help them get enough cars to sell.
AI automation means using computer intelligence to do some of the dealer’s work automatically. In this episode, it’s used to help find and price enough used cars.
A credit pull is when someone checks your credit history to see if you qualify for a car loan. The speaker is saying their old store wouldn’t proceed unless they could check and verify credit.
Concept
deal split
“Deal split” is a way dealerships break up how a car deal is handled and paid out. In this story, it matters because they couldn’t move forward with another customer if they couldn’t get the credit check done.
“Mailers” are ads sent through the mail to get people to come in and shop for a car. The speaker is talking about what those ads were like and what customers thought they’d get.
Concept
money Carlo
“Money Carlo” is the name of a car-ad promotion the speaker is talking about. They imply it was kind of a gimmick that people still reacted to.
Concept
triple sevens
“Triple sevens” sounds like a catchy name for a promotion used in car ads. The speaker is saying people thought they were getting something valuable when they saw it.
Concept
exit acquisitioning
This phrase sounds like a business plan where a dealership is thinking ahead about how it will eventually “cash out.” So they try to buy and sell cars in a way that sets them up for a better outcome later.
Topic
traveling salesperson
This is a salesperson who travels to different places instead of staying in one dealership. They help find and sell cars by working with people in multiple areas.
Concept
integrity (sales ethics)
Here, “integrity” means doing the right thing when selling a car—being honest and treating the customer fairly. It’s about making sure the customer has a good experience, not just closing the sale.
Podium is a company that makes software for car dealers. They use AI to handle phone calls and help schedule appointments so dealers can respond faster and convert more leads.
Voice AI is AI that can understand what someone says out loud and respond automatically. For dealers, it can help answer calls, schedule appointments, and send calls to the right person.
“Subprime” means the customer’s credit isn’t great. That usually makes car loans harder to get and more expensive, so dealers have to adjust how they buy and sell cars.
A franchise dealership is a car store that sells one brand’s cars under a formal agreement. The speaker is talking about dealership structure and how those stores operate.
A general manager is the person running the dealership. They make sure the different departments work together to hit sales goals and keep the business operating.
A sales manager runs the dealership’s sales team. Their job is to help the team sell cars and meet targets.
Concept
buying cars
“Buying cars” means finding and purchasing used vehicles to sell at the dealership. If you buy the right cars at the right price, it’s easier to sell them and make money.
In dealership operations, a controller is a finance-focused role that handles accounting and financial controls. The controller often oversees things like inventory-related accounting, reporting, and ensuring the numbers stay accurate.
A 60-month lease is basically a 5-year rental contract for a car. When lots of cars are leased and then returned after that time, it changes what used cars dealers can find and buy.
Company
Dan Cummins
The speaker mentions Dan Cummins as someone they’d work with for buying cars in very large quantities. It’s a specific person or operation, not a general car term.
This means a used-car business that operates on its own (not as part of a big brand dealership group). They still have to find and buy cars, but the structure is more independent.
Used car acquisition just means how a dealership finds and buys the used cars it will later sell. The hard part is getting enough cars consistently without overpaying.
A wholesale fleet means the group of used cars a wholesaler has available to sell to other dealers. They’re talking about where those cars come from and how they manage the supply.
An auto auction is like a big marketplace where used cars are sold. Dealers use it to buy cars in larger quantities and often for lower prices than retail.
A “trade” is when someone turns in their current car as part of buying a different one. Dealers then resell those trade-in cars later.
Concept
wholesale copy
“Wholesale copy” here means the typical wholesale price they pay for a vehicle (their average per-unit cost). It’s used to describe their sourcing strategy and margin expectations rather than retail pricing.
This means buying used cars directly from regular people, not from dealerships or auction lanes. It can help you find cars that aren’t showing up in the usual places.
Viato is a software system the dealership uses to help decide what cars to buy and how to price them. It uses data to guide their decisions instead of relying only on gut feel.
“Market day supply” is a way to measure how many days it would take to sell the cars that are currently available in the market. It helps the dealer decide whether prices should be higher or lower.
Term
list
Here, “list” means the price the dealer posts for the car. It’s the starting asking price before any bargaining.
SEO means making your listings easier to find on Google or other search engines. If you do it well, more people searching for cars will see your inventory.
A spreadsheet is a table where you can plug in numbers and rules. The host is using it to estimate which car deals will still make enough money after other costs.
Carvana is a big used-car company that sells cars online. Here, they’re being used as an example of a company using AI to automate parts of the buying process.
“Agentic” AI means the software can do tasks for you, not just talk. It can follow steps to complete a goal, like running sourcing searches and saving the results.
OpenAI is a company that makes AI tools like ChatGPT. The question here is what AI platform the creator is using for their assistant.
Term
sensitive data
Sensitive data is information that shouldn’t be shared or exposed. The speaker is saying the system is careful about what kind of private information it allows you to use.
Term
repeat script
A repeat script is basically an automation that repeats a task. Here it’s being used to make the process of gathering and organizing vehicle data easier.
MMR is a pricing guide for used cars. It helps dealers estimate what a car is worth by looking at recent sales, so they can decide if a deal is good.
Term
CR
CR here sounds like a number the dealer plugs into their deal math. It helps them estimate how much money they can spend and still make the numbers work.
AI-powered sourcing means using computer tools to help a dealer find and evaluate used cars faster. Instead of doing everything by hand, the system helps with pricing and decision-making.
Company
StockWave
StockWave is software that helps car dealers manage inventory and listings. The host is saying their tool can use data from platforms like this.
Web scraping means using software to automatically copy information from a website. Dealers use it to collect lots of car listing data quickly, but websites may block or limit it.
An API is a set of rules that lets one app talk to another app or website. API restrictions are limits on how much or how fast you’re allowed to pull data.
Concept
refreshing restrictions
Refreshing restrictions are rules that limit how often you can update or re-check information on a website. That can make it harder to keep up with new car listings.
They’re using an AI chat tool to help them figure out what to search for and how to search better. The goal is to find car listing information faster and with fewer dead ends.
DMS means “dealer management system.” It’s the computer system a car dealership uses to organize inventory and manage sales paperwork. They’re saying they use different systems depending on whether they’re doing retail or wholesale.
Dealertrack (spelled “dealer track” in the transcript) is a dealership software tool. They’re saying they use it for their whole operation. It helps them manage the business side of buying and selling cars.
Cox is a company they rely on for dealership software/tools. The point is that it helps them manage or source inventory efficiently. They’re saying they use it for basically all of their operations.
Fraser is another company/tool they use for sourcing and running part of their dealership operation. They’re saying it’s much easier to use and works better for their day-to-day needs. The “night and day” comment means the workflow is smoother.
Zurich is the company sponsoring the episode. They’re talking about insurance and dealer support services that help car dealers manage risk and run their finance/insurance side of the business. It’s an ad for dealer-focused coverage and tools.
“F&I” means finance and insurance. It’s the part of the dealership where they arrange financing and sell add-ons like warranties or insurance. The sponsor is saying they help dealers run that side more effectively.
Wholesale means selling cars to other car dealers instead of regular buyers. It’s usually a different pricing and profit game than selling retail to the public.
A clean title means the car’s paperwork doesn’t show serious problems like being totaled or rebuilt. Buyers ask about it because it affects price and whether the car can be financed or resold easily.
Concept
sourcing these cars
Here, “sourcing” means tracking down used cars the dealership wants to buy. It’s about finding the right vehicles, not just any cars that show up.
“Transparency” here refers to having clear, timely visibility into the sourcing pipeline—like knowing what inventory is available, where it is, and what the pricing/condition looks like. In used-car buying, better transparency reduces surprises and helps dealers move faster.
They’re describing a staffing strategy where a strong salesperson is moved into buying too. The goal is to get more value from that person for the whole business.
Wholesaling is when a dealer buys cars and then sells them to other dealers or resellers instead of selling directly to the public. It’s a different sales channel than retail.
BDC is a dealership’s lead-generation team. They help bring in potential buyers and follow up so sales can happen.
Concept
paid for organic
They’re talking about changing how they get attention online—less just paying for ads, more getting cars seen naturally through how the platform shares content.
A wholesale operator is someone who buys cars in larger quantities and sells them to other dealers. They usually have different buying channels than a typical retail dealership.
Here, “velocity” means how fast a dealership can turn cars over—buy them, sell them, and get paid. Faster turnover can help the business make money sooner.
OEM means the original car maker—the company that builds the vehicles. The point here is that dealerships can sometimes move faster than the manufacturer’s typical pace.
An independent dealer is a dealership that isn’t tied to a specific brand franchise agreement. The idea is that they may have more freedom in how they buy and sell cars.
A profit strategy is how a dealership decides how it will make money on each sale. Some stores aim for bigger profit per car, while others sell more cars with smaller margins.
A “buying center” is the dealership’s used-car sourcing team. It’s the group that finds cars to buy, helps negotiate them, and brings inventory into the store so the dealership can resell it.
The “online market” means finding used cars through websites and online listings instead of only through local, face-to-face connections. The host is saying they want to start using those online sources next.
“Brick and mortar” just means a physical, in-person business location. The host is saying they’re starting from a traditional dealership setup and then adding online-style improvements.
“OEM” means the original car maker. The “OEM name badge” is the official brand signage a dealership uses for that automaker.
LIVE
Why hasn't Vauto made it to where it automatically puts my cost to market?
I throw it on a spreadsheet and I can say how many cars can I buy at a list of 95%
deducted by my threshold of where I need to profit, right?
So my pack, my profitability, recon, transit, whatever.
Why can I create a spreadsheet that automatically plugs all those in and I can
see every single car?
So that's what I did.
Hey everybody, I'm Sam Darkin.
Today I'm joined by Sam Hatch, general manager at JRR Motor Sales.
As used car acquisition becomes increasingly difficult for both franchise
and independent dealers, Sam explains how a boots on the ground strategy paired
with AI automation is solving his inventory problem.
Sam breaks down the radical decision to move his best salesperson into a buying
role and why most dealers are looking at their data all wrong.
A big thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible.
Podium and Zurich.
Now let's get into the show.
For our audience that doesn't know you yet, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Who are you?
What do you do?
Man, Sam Hatch, general manager at JRR Motor Sales.
We're a used car dealer that is supported by and owned by the second largest
wholesaler in the state here.
We have a logistics fleet that we also haul all these cars off of and we have
a really successful retail operation that we started about two and a half,
three years ago and made a good claim to fame in the small town that we're
in for buying and selling cars and stacking them deep and selling them cheap.
So, so you said I'm a Sam, you're a Sam, but you said Hatch is what you go by
typically.
So I'm going to call you that.
I'm going to respect that one Sam to another, but it's interesting hatch
because we don't have a lot of independent used dealers on the
cart dealership guy podcast.
And your story is interesting, not necessarily because of where you are
today and what franchise dealers can learn, but where you began after selling
cars for a while, you took to the road.
Tell us a little bit about how you got into these offsite sales and where did
you sell?
How long did that last?
Yeah, it was over a year, about a year and a half.
It's really funny.
You kind of know somebody and as being in the car business, it's such a small
circle.
These people that do especially traveling sales and the way that I
looked at it from a business perspective, I worked at a store that
hosts these sales, right?
And I sat there, I'm 20 something years old and I'm on the golf
card at work one day and I said, did people go here to thrive or do people
go here to die when it comes to selling cars?
You know, it's like the country club ever.
They have these crews coming in every week of these like 10 guys come in
and selling cars and doing circles around people.
So I met somebody through there that was a little more, you know, to the
point and I could tell was a more role model citizen for lack of a better
term or phrase and I'd stayed connected with them over time and I left
my job at that Cadillac store and he said, hey man, I'll pay for your hotel.
I was down and I was, I was in a bad position in life and he said, hey,
I'll pay for your hotel.
You just come out here, come sell some cars for a week.
You know, and I'm just to give you some backing.
I came from a store where if an up came in, it was a 100% credit pull.
Like you got your deal split, couldn't take another up if you couldn't
pull their credit, right?
So this is my mentality.
I'm out on the road.
I'm in Vineland, New Jersey at an auto group that was test driving.
What was one of the biggest things in the auto industry for mailers?
It was called the money Carlo, which is like horrible.
The triple sevens.
Everybody thought they want something coming in there.
They thought they want a TV.
So anyways, they go there and I'm selling cars and the old, yeah, the
typical shady use card.
I think I want absolutely nothing to do with, you know?
So, and I came from a Toyota store and I worked at this Cadillac store.
So I kind of had a basis of, all right.
Hey, you know, meet Greek guest sheet.
Let's see what I can do.
I went to that first sale and I blanked and the guy that ran and where was
this company?
Where was it?
City state Vineland, New Jersey.
It was it.
Yeah.
Vineland, New Jersey.
Okay.
And did you did most of the off sites you did?
Were they in the East Coast?
Were they in one area geographically?
No, no, no, no, no.
All over the country.
No, no, all over the country.
Yeah.
All over the country.
All right.
So you blank that first day blank the first day.
I'm like, I'm struggling.
I'm like, I know this guy for hotel.
You know, he gave me a couple hundred bucks.
I was in like the worst position of my life.
I could possibly possibly be in and he goes, Hey kid, I see something in you.
Don't worry.
I'm going to give you an extra couple hundred bucks and I'm going to pay for
your hotel again and we're going to try this one more time.
My first week on the road of actually selling cars.
I made like sixty five hundred bucks.
So going from dead broke to making six.
I was in Lumberton, Lumberton, New Jersey and I did a sale and then
you just you get it.
You get for lack of a better phrase.
You get addicted to it and you're like, Whoa, I'm 20 something years old.
I went from working 80 hours a week.
So I was at a seven day a week dealership Monday.
I mean, I didn't have any time.
So no day off.
They expect you 30 days straight, bell to bell.
I'm doing deliveries at ten o'clock for a guy that's got a kid's softball.
But you know, it's like I was like beating my head and then here I am.
I made all that money in just a short little weeks time, not even a weeks time.
And I started traveling more and more.
But as I started traveling, I started realizing the business perspective of it.
How these guys are doing anywhere from 300 to a half plus million dollars in a
weeks time.
And as I started progressing in the car business, I'm thinking to myself about
blue sky and how these deal.
A lot of these dealerships were working towards exit acquisitioning and a way
for them to get the best numbers that they could possibly produce was they
were doing these super sales religiously, which I found fascinating.
Before we come off that you're a salesperson.
You're coming into a dealership where you don't know anyone.
You know car sales.
What lessons did you learn about selling cars as a traveling salesperson that
help you today?
Like what are the tips to being a great salesperson that you learned on the
road?
I will tell you the thing that I had to hold above all next to God was like
was integrity.
And I never looked at it like I was selling somebody a vehicle.
I always looked at it like car creating a relationship.
Like I didn't want to just see it later.
Sorry.
I know you can't afford that.
I wasn't I couldn't I had some type of weird morality and there was this line
that my old mentor used to use.
He said, kid, if you don't do it, the guy down the road is, you know,
and I instead of using that logic, I fought for integrity and I just
wanted people to feel comfortable and have a good experience.
My mom when she was a single mom buying a car at a dealership and screwed
over and dealing with the dude in the tweet coat in the comb over.
I was like, you know, I didn't want that experience for anybody else.
So integrity is everything in sales.
Transparency is it's there's nothing else.
Yeah, sure.
I worked hard.
I stayed late.
I got there early.
Sure.
Sometimes I didn't, but I can tell you something.
Those things aren't the fortifying things that allowed me to grow in sales.
So integrity and transparency are hallmarks of great sales.
But those traveling sales positions, those companies that come in oftentimes
aren't known for that.
And in fact, you come into a store not having any relationships, not really
knowing the community.
And I think a lot of people would think, hey, you know, that's an opportunity
for people to say things that will more often than not land them in trouble.
You probably saw both sides of that.
Why did you choose the path you did?
And I guess the other question is, is looking at the salespeople that were
there in the dealership when you were there, you come in for a week or two
weeks to do this special sale.
What did you see about the difference between a successful salesperson
and one who's not?
Did you ever give advice to some of the salespeople and say, come on,
pick up your game because you had an advantage.
You saw a ton of sales quick and it was fueled by special promotions.
So there's a level of excitement.
Your traditional salesperson working a dealership six, seven days a week
didn't necessarily see that.
What advice could you impart to your traditional salesperson about hoping
they're at the game?
There's a lot of noise and sometimes you have to be a signal, you know,
and I could have done the shadiness and made for money and use the
tactics that other people were using.
Hey, come refinance in six months to a year.
You know, fed them this, you know, I don't know, whatever type of line
got them by to get a close.
I just said, you know what?
If I have to lie to somebody to sell them a car, I don't really want to
sell them a car because I probably don't want their business.
Rather short term, long term, I'd go into dealerships.
I'll tell you what I'll tell you the forecast of what it would usually
look like.
Sometimes if you had a resilient bunch, some younger guys, they would,
they would get in front of us.
They would, they would band together and they'd say, hey, you're not
taking ups here and about four or five flyers in of the brain damage
that is this giant thing.
They'd be like, take them all and then they'd start seeing us making
money selling cars.
So there were people that wanted to learn.
I'm a huge teacher.
I'm a sponge.
I love observation and a lot of stores acknowledge the fact that I was,
I was very nice.
I would, there's not a single store that ever went and sold cars at when
I was on the road that would never ask me to come back and sell cars and
say, hey, you did a great job.
You know, I say that confidently.
But the thing that I did with the sales guys when I would, I mean,
I'm four or five days in and I have no disrespect to them.
I got it more than, you know, I got a checkmate.
Let's just say, and I'm just sitting there looking at them.
I'm like, hey, I don't even want to split deal.
Follow me.
Let's go get, let's go taking up brother.
Let's go, let's go see what it's all about.
And I'd explain to somebody, hey, you got this thing in the mail.
The minute I'm just going to get it out of the way.
The minimum you're going to win is a $10 gift card.
The most you could win.
Let's go find out together.
I got two tickets to paradise.
Follow me right this way.
You know, like just, just the way to sell the sizzle and a lot of people
looked at it as like an old school way.
But I brought new school to it because transparency was everything.
You know, it's just, it's, it's a staple and you'll, you'll run the,
of course, there's no sale prices.
When you do super sales, there's no sale prices on a single use car on the
car lot for the most part.
You know, uh, so these dealerships are running these fine lines of what
they're willing to accept and have people come in and do.
And this is a while ago.
I haven't been on the road and I'll be so much a decade, but, uh,
what they'll allow you come in to do.
Um, the salesman's more out died and you could see, I would go to places
that would do a super sale once a month.
And sometimes like I told you, big scat, like they did it once a week,
but there were stores that did it once a month, once quarterly.
My favorite stores were if they did it annually because it was like once a
year, everybody got involved.
The salesman participated.
Like I want, we wanted to sell because ultimately the company's
going to make more money, get the salesman to participate.
Everybody's selling cars.
Everybody's happy.
It's contagious.
It's a tupperware party.
Everybody's buying something.
You're just exhilarated.
You're so happy to be there.
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Check out podium.com slash CDG or click the link in the show notes below.
What was your record day in unit sales and your record week number of
sales sold?
I want to say a 10 day sale at 67 cars.
Cruisin' at close to like 500 400 grand, I think is what it was.
I have a picture of it on my phone from God knows when.
So, but it was just, yeah, we in a short amount of time.
I was in the trenches, brother.
I was in Trenton, Trenton, New Jersey.
So I did a lot of sales in Jersey, but yeah, and not the most look at
various but subprime.
We were at a kid.
We were at a Hyundai store that was buying deeper than, you know, the
Mariana's trench.
Every time I go to these stores, they're their auto group, family owned
corporate, whatever, and I'm watching the inner facets of how they run
their store and I'm picking up over time.
What would I do?
What would I not do?
Herb chambers inspired me into the car business.
You know, then 2012, I heard Jack Clegg tell a story about herb chambers
and his yacht and him carrying these printers and him hating him going
to buy a car and he told me all this stuff and it's, I've never forgot
about it and I said to myself, what type of thing do I have to do to be
in that position to have that opportunity to shed a little bit of
light on the transparency, right?
The modernism, the nuance.
It is the car business.
You know, so having had all that experience, seeing all these franchise
dealers across the country coming in and doing these sales and your
commitment to transparency integrity is significant.
You had success.
You made money.
Where did you realize?
Hey, I'm going to take my next path and you go to an independent, which I
think is interesting because of your franchise background.
What, what, what was the market fact or the personal fact that said,
hey, it's time to be done with the traveling.
I worked at a store where, like I said at the beginning that they
didn't want to take their best horse out the race.
So I never got to learn finance or desking.
Okay.
I'm traveling.
I'm in Illinois.
I'm coming to Kentucky.
My buddies, so I come to this store in the middle of nowhere.
I'm in, I mean, the middle of nowhere, like, I think the county has
20,000 people in it and maybe that's exactly like, you know, we have
a county of 20,000 people and we have a huge county.
So, yeah, I really, um, I pulled up here not thinking anything like, oh,
maybe I can learn from this place, whatever.
I was going to see a friend that was ironically doing road sales that
was here and they invited me out here to come sell cars.
And, uh, I met the guy that I explained that said to me that, hey,
I forgot more about the car, but still to learn.
I was making really good money and basically to make one third of that
at a failing dealership in Campbell'sville, Kentucky in the middle of
nowhere, I said, Hey man, would you teach me the desk?
You know, that's all I wanted to learn.
I just wanted to learn the desk.
I was like, you know what, I'm going to, I'm going to learn the
desk from this guy and I'm out of here off to the big leagues I go.
And then I said to myself, I go, oh, wait, if the owner's here and he
just gave me a GM job and there's only this much of a gap, if I could
take a sales manager job at a store, then I got to become general
sales manager, that's the type of director, then a general manager,
then you know, it's like, wait, I could stay right here and maybe
close that gap quicker.
So and he basically gave me the ball.
He said, Hey, I'll do all of your, you know, what I would call
a Comptrolling or controller aspect stuff and buying cars and you sell them
and keep up with the sales.
And I was a glorified general manager at 23.
I just wanted the title because I knew it looked good on a resume
and he was willing to offer that to me.
But that's what made me come off the road.
I caught what I thought was a millionaire in a rut.
And I said, man, this guy's going, if he's willing to teach me everything
he knows about the desk and I've been to stores, you know, many stores
I pulled up to and all I got was this.
Oh yeah, I pulled the credit.
They can't get done.
It's like, what are you doing?
I mean, you're talking these guys in the most complacent bunch
I've ever seen in my life.
And then you'd go to stores and then you go to stores where people were
like, you know, just absent doing 60 month leases, just destroying
people's lives, you know, just like doing doing things that were
much different than I was a cater to and you'd meet these these these
these sharks, you know, and the guy that I was, I had gone to this
place in Kentucky.
I'm in the middle of nowhere and they got a shark working here.
And I'm like, whoa, what's what's this all about?
So I wanted to learn.
I want it.
I'm a sponge.
I was making a I ended up making I was working three weeks out of the
month making crazy money and I came here to work more hours for one third
of the pay.
And I got to tell you the peace of mind that rat race that I would
just I was I was willing to go to Dan Cummins at a thousand cars or
800 cars a month store go there and try to you know, test to see how sharp
my sword was.
If I'd learned the experience at desk, I'm an idiot.
I want I want growth.
I want to be number.
I want to be a part of the best and a reason why it's the best not like
just a little a little seasoning on the steak.
You know what I'm saying?
So so now you're gentle manager, you're a gentle manager of the
independent used car operation and it's interesting because before you
open this retail point, the the individual you work for is basically
a wholesaler.
So he's moving hundreds of cars a month and decides hey, we want to
open up a retail location.
You've been GM in that this position for how long now would have been
about five years, five years into my journey.
One of the toughest jobs in automotive motive new used whatever is used
car acquisition.
Where are you getting used cars today?
Our wholesale fleet is ran off of relationships that have been established
over the span of 30 years and we don't have a single buyer for our fleet of
wholesale cars that I mentioned online.
Okay.
So I want to as as an anomaly, I don't know if you have any dealer
or auto groups that are buying and selling 800 cars a month, but we do
without having somebody physically online buying cars.
We've sent boots on the ground, right?
So I'll tell you that's one of our strategies, right?
Is relationship relationship and boots on the ground and then Facebook.
I mean, I'm just going to just make it short, sweet relationship and boots
on the ground with who America's auto auction, Mannheim, a desk, anybody
who sells cars, any any auction house and then another great point, a dealer
relationships.
We're getting I don't know how many trades and people that it doesn't work
in the auto.
So they send it to us.
We get a lot of that stuff.
We're not looking to make thousands.
You know, our average wholesale copy is a couple hundred bucks.
We're just looking to continue to spin the wheel.
That's it.
And how we do that.
My owner has been in business for a long time and he established
relationships with dealers all across the country and has his own lanes at
auctions where we sell cars at and multiple resources on how we buy them.
But primarily auction auction rooftops dealership, a lot of dealerships
that we obviously get trades from and then private party acquisition.
So we've reported often as part of the car dealership guy podcast in on
Daily Deal Alive that used cars, used car prices have gone up in the past
period of time and that great used cars tougher to find.
Have you found it tougher to get franchise dealers to pass used cars
along or is there a specific type of vehicle that you look at that dealers
are selling to you either for you to sell at auction or you to retail on
your independent lot?
It's there's so much, there's so much variety to that.
You know, what does the dealership consider as an end of life piece?
You know, what is there?
Are they a hundred thousand dollar less store?
Do I have a guy that only buys over a hundred thousand or am I my retail
lot?
I'll sell anything.
You know, I'm not.
There's nothing that I won't put a dollar sign on to sell.
I'm very largely invested in viato what they use internally to dictate
not only my market day supply, but how they come up with the data that creates
what I should be putting in a car and what I should be asking for it and
living inside that data is a huge staple to some of our success on why
my average cost to my car is 84 percent of the market and my average list
is 95 percent.
Yeah.
So well, so you've talked publicly about part of your used car
acquisition involves you're working in AI and and and you're big on
stock wave, big on Facebook marketplace.
Give us an example of a deal that happened for you because of AI that
wouldn't have happened without it without giving away too much because
it's still like I'm still trialing it.
But using SEO search engine optimizes how you can optimize a search engine.
Right.
Why hasn't viato made it to where it automatically puts my cost to market?
I throw it on a spreadsheet and I could say how many cars can I buy at
list of 95 percent deducted by my threshold of where I need to profit?
So my pack, my profitability, recon, transit, whatever, why can I create
a spreadsheet that automatically plugs all those in and I can see every
single car?
So that's what I did.
So I figured out a way to one instead of looking at the auction and
spending, clicking all these filters and using the same exact tools that
that everyone's using.
Well, you know, who's not doing that is Carvana.
Carvana is using agentic.
Did you create a tool that's helped you in this?
Just an assistant.
Just an AI just literally imagine all it knows what to do.
All it knows what to do is click a light bulb and click 95 percent.
Click a light bulb and then after it's done, it's it's recording that data
and it spits all that data out to me at once.
And this is just one little one little thing that I've gotten it to do.
What platform are you using?
Is it is a cloud?
Is it open AI or a chat GPT?
What are you creating?
Yeah, a good friend of mine was asking me about he has an AI company about
making life simpler with AI and he and him just started going back and forth.
He's very fascinated.
I ironically had dinner.
I'm going through cars on my phone typical, right?
And he's just like, dude, there's no way that I could.
He looked at me like I was like just a complete idiot.
He was like, I can't believe you're doing that.
So he just it's really specific about sensitive data.
So that's what's that's what's kind of funny.
So right now I have it running on a on a repeat script to where I pro I just
a little bit of code and made a script to where it literally it's just too easy.
If you knew the matrix when you're looking at your stock wave screen,
there's a little light bulb that you can go into the auto and create.
It just brings how I want to assess the value of the vehicle and it just clicks
on that light bulb for me and puts it in there and then it automatically
puts it inside of the Excel.
So I take all that data.
Let's say I'm looking at lanes one through 10 and I take all that data and
I say, hey, how many cars can I actually buy based off of what I think
it'll bring at 100% of MMR based off at CR versus what Viato told me to pay.
And then market a supply color, everything else falls into that lift.
Is it I'm a truck guy.
So, you know, rims and tires are a big thing.
Hatch, you're a GM of a store and we've talked a lot on the podcast about how
the future of being a GM is learning how to manage and work with AI.
You're doing that.
What gave you the idea to create this cloud tool that would help you get better
insights to data that currently exists in Viato, stock wave and elsewhere?
You know, I'm not some rocket science, some whiz on code, anything like that.
I just literally saw a motion that I was making and someone saw me do it and said,
hey, I do this for a living.
Can I just do this for you and you just plug it in and see how it works?
I'm like, yeah, sure made my life way easier.
Now I'm working off of that.
But it made what made me have that that nobody else was doing it that there
wasn't a one click fix.
I can go in there and I can export a bunch of data that's put on the pipeline
and see all this stuff and then I have to manually touch each one and then I've
done it to where you can manually set it to where it hard sets and does this.
But it doesn't factor so many different things in the equation to where
it'll just funnel all of them out.
So this has been a good way for me to realize that it wasn't done yet.
That's what made me want to do it.
So that's that's just one little snippet of the buying on Facebook as a whole
other aspect that's been well.
So let's let's talk about the buying on Facebook.
Give us an example of a recent purchase you made on Facebook and AI.
How is AI touch that walk us through that?
And actually, let me ask you another way to the editor walk us through the last
car you source through Facebook marketplace.
How did AI touch that transaction?
Well, on our Facebook right now, because there are certain scraping
restrictions, refreshing restrictions, API restrictions, all these different
things, it's really hard to integrate what you're asking.
But what I was able to figure out was using chat to help me find the data
a little bit easier.
So that's what I tried.
So the last car that I bought off of there was, hey, chat, how not using it
as simplicity as I'm saying plenty of framework going into this and just saying,
you know, hey, why is it that when I search on Facebook, basically nothing
pops up?
You know, how can I how can I optimize my search on Facebook?
What am I doing wrong?
Let me talk to Facebook search engine a little bit better because it doesn't
have a AI recognition yet.
You know, so that's what I did was figured out key phrase and things to type
in.
You go to newest hit your refresh and you can refresh it 15 minutes or you
can send 15 messages every 30 minutes and there's a couple different
little stables and things you have to model off of.
But you know, AI is not allowed on Facebook marketplace.
There is not.
There is no and you know, I don't know what Vedx and Supa and all these other
companies that have car buying things on there, but there's a lot of
restrictions on there.
So what's easiest for us is having the information compiled and using out to
compile information and then sorting it.
So we sort the data, but that AI that excuse me that Facebook is giving us.
So like if I reach out to somebody, keep in mind, I started my buying center 45
days ago, we have over 70 units bought off the street this month.
So we're doing really good at a scale of buying cars off the street.
You would download the data and then you would sort through it using AI,
probably a Claude tool, right?
And then and then and then you're using chat, chat, chat, chat GPT.
Yeah, chat, chat GPT, GPT did it all that I'm talking about.
And then once again, it's sorting the data, making a spread because it sits
different in the rest of my inventory because I wanted to track this metric
like a like a maniac.
So I've been using chat to basically track this entire metric and take this
information.
All I'm doing is I have it.
We have a Facebook chat.
The information gets put into there.
It compiles on to in our V auto for our appraisal tool.
I go in there, I check which ones are even within the ballpark or something
I can bid it for.
And then once we write a check for a moment gets put under our spreadsheet
and then I track its existence in my inventory track when it gets sold track
how much you get how much I made off of it.
So there's not there is an awesome metric inside the DMS and inside
of provisions that would help me.
However, our our tools are wholesale fleet keeps up with inventory on
an entirely separate DMS.
So what DMS retail we use.
We use dealer track across the board.
We use Cox across the board for every everything we have.
But for our our host operation, we use Fraser just because of the
accessibility and how easy the simplicity of it.
It is night and day.
So we use Fraser for that.
When I first moved to Kentucky, the whole so that I work for currently
just to tell you like they started their operation off out of a you know
out of a dirt dirt floor building and moved it from you know,
a couple cars a month to 100 or 200 then COVID they hit a thousand
and they were keeping up with inventory back when I first met them
seven, eight years ago on index cards.
Keep in mind eight years ago, a monster wholesaler keeping up
because my owner is big on if it isn't if it's not broke, don't fix it.
This episode is brought to you by Zurich.
Zurich helps dealers operate with clarity, confidence,
uncertainty, driving stronger performance today while protecting
long term value from proven F and I processes and insights
driven training to income generating programs, profit
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Zurich is built to help dealers win now and build for what's
next discover more at Zurich na.com CDG or click the link in
the show notes below.
You said something earlier.
You've got this by center.
You bought six 70 cars so far this month, right?
I think is what you said and you said you'd have those cars on
your lot if whole if the wholesale business wasn't so good.
So are you saying that you're acquiring vehicles through
Facebook marketplace curb elsewhere from consumers and you're able
to get a better return selling them to car dealers than you are
to consumers retail.
That's such a I'm so glad you caught that.
Yeah, we we have dealers that have a way better market
relevancy than my little store in the middle of nowhere.
Nothing Kentucky people look at my cars and the how price how
cheap I price them and they're like, is it a clean title?
I that's the number one question I get.
I list at 95% of the market and the number one auto group less
than a mile from me.
Yeah, but but but play this out with me.
Every dealer today is trying to figure out how to create that
great by center, right?
What is it that you're doing hatch in 2026 that makes you
more successful than all the other used or new car dealers
where you're able to acquire these vehicles in the same way
they're trying to do every single day and instead of retailing
those you're able to make more money selling it back to the
car dealer who if they had their own by center could be doing
it themselves.
What what are car dealers missing process man process the
person that I have doing it is a true champion and somebody
that once you show them how to do something they have such
such work ethic that it's unmatched to anything like if you
want the best result put this person in that position.
Just to be bold and I talked about this today on 800%.
It was my top salesman my top salesman.
I had a guy that was producing 25 plus cars a month from me
off on the floor where I make a boatload of money.
I took him off the floor because I knew how good he would be
at sourcing these cars and he's passionate about it.
You have to do it.
I said hey he said man I really enjoy as it doesn't fill your
cup brother if it fills your cup I'm here to support.
I'm a let's see how let's see where the sky let's see where
this the limit at this when are we going to run out of oxygen.
Let's find out together you know and that's what I did I
turned my best salesman into our buyer for a buying center.
What am I doing differently.
I'm hitting up everybody faster than anybody in my neck of
the woods you're not going to get it's going to be hard to
have somebody get there before me have better transparency
we're using we're adapting to Facebook's algorithm and how
they respond to us getting these types of traction at any
example give I'll give you guys a little bit of game out of
any dealer you talk about oh hey get it get it cars dot com
car guru Google review whatever why aren't we asking for
Facebook reviews if you go on Facebook to buy something off
a marketplace and the guys got 105 stars are you more prone to
buy answer his DM over the guy that's got 2.6 for selling the
shelf with a broken piece on you know what I'm saying I was
just so we started doing small stuff so it's an interesting
strategy to take your top sales person and turn them into a
buyer a lot of car dealers franchise we in franchise would
say that's insanity like I've got cars car salesmen that are
selling 4050 cars a month turn that person into a buyer and
you lose the 45 to 50 sales what was your thought process
and doing that re re allocating that guy to your buy center
I guess your buy center is your cell center too because you're
wholesaling those yeah yeah so it's exactly there you go it's
multi-purposed right so hey how can I make this good for my
entire operation as as a company has JR motor so how can the
company benefit the most off of this transaction is what I
was thinking of and I thought to myself well okay is this guy
going to burn out being my top salesman after in the next
like year to you know I'm wondering you know what could
he have more passion and how much driving ambition could I
watch him grow into where he has his own buying center and
he has people underneath him doing this for him yeah oh I
could see that I could I couldn't see him being at desk I
sending in deals being a finance manager pitching a menu and
do I couldn't see that this guy his his limit I wasn't going
to put him in a box like most dealers try to do to good employees
I wasn't going to put him in a box you know you know his
strength no one to play to his strength right yeah yeah he
was selling cars off of Facebook already selling he didn't
take a single up not a single leader for my BDC came into
my dealership selling 20 cars a month okay just posting cars
on Facebook and said hey can can I use the company card to
boost these a couple bucks here and there sure well I wish
the salesman asked me that why not so we started with that
basic paid for advertisement that I wanted to train change it
to paid for organic which is where I paid to make people
naturally see me more you know and that's what we started
investing in with the whole Facebook campaigning stuff and
marketing and it's been a great success I mean I the you talk
about the the duality of being a wholesaler and having
somebody off of marketplace I'm going to get that thing to
do in like a hundred two hundred cars because I can sustain
that you know we can send him to the auction that's my that's
my goal that's that's my goal I got to tell you hatch props to
you for doing something successfully that again every
franchise dealer in America is trying to do trying to figure
out right now and it seems to me that there's probably
something you know a wholesale operators use car dealers
like yourself know something about velocity that maybe
franchise dealers don't know or appreciate you've got a speed
that you're able to execute with a little faster than the
OEMs do you agree or disagree and what what is that and at
some point hatch you probably said hey I'm better and I want
to be an independent use more than I want to be a franchise
new what what in your mind is the difference and and what
gives you the advantage first thing is your profit strategy
you know when you hear about guys like the Dan Cummins
group that has a two hundred dollar profit strategy on their
viado dashboard like a two hundred I was at fifteen hundred
about career and then I heard him say two hundred I said oh
boys oh boys we're gonna sell we're never saying no again I
had to ask myself truly can I get another car or can I get
another customer I can probably get another car I don't know
if I'm gonna get another customer so I just had to take
that I if I'm looking at if I have someone with a pulse in my
showroom and I'm netting a hundred if I'm netting fifty
cents sold you own the car you own the car so I had to take
that philosophy that we have so it's like you talk about the
new car new car stores even private party acquisition
there's so many layers I created a process to have people
hey this is how I buy a car this is a strategy this is how
I strategize and look at a car and somebody be able to say
okay that makes sense what let me try and you see and they
just they want to go swimming the deep end and once once they
go swim you don't have to go check on they're fine you
removed friction in the process set up a champion empowered
the champion and just said go and they're running right now
yeah right so running yeah absolutely so hatch if a
franchise GM as we wrap up today wanted to become more like
an independent more like yourself for just their used car
operation where would they start today give us three tips
for GM wanting to create an elite by center and elite used
car sales operation in 2026 I'm in a multi stages and just
to say the very first thing that you'd want to do is find
somebody that is as passionate about wanting to see your
dealership succeed from the buying and selling as someone
who is wears your your your shirt when they're not at work
the ball cap when they're not there they're their friends
and family coming by the people that are most proud that you
want to represent your dealership your brand right you get
them you you bring them close to you you hold on tight and
you say hey let's go for it let's let's go for a journey
and you talk you're you're able to breathe that into them
you're able to say hey this is what I want done you know so
hatch where in 2026 are you finding that type of elite
and and specialty employee that you're able to fill up and
then and get running right out the gates if I don't put AI
down the scope I'll be down the scope of AI so I want to find
a way to position somebody to eventually utilize the tools
that are AI to be able to offer a buy in the bank center
that's my goal and what what I would tell a dealership is
you find your champion you make sure that you breathe in
and the same thing that you want success it's it's it's
you have to I didn't just wake up and say oh you know what
I want to go sell a bunch of cars I dreamed of it all the
time and I had to breathe that into the existence of everybody
around me I said hey I didn't start at the top the best month
I ever had I know managers know nothing 67 cars I spun them
close them so if I could give a piece to any GM's go out and
close up car deal go going to trenches with the boys see what
they're day to day see how the market is really changing see
what these guys are dealing with it's not as it's not that
old oh go out there and close them they'll pay more know
they found a two grand cheaper up the road they're telling me
on their phone go out there combat these things with your
guys show them the great that it takes to do that have them
believe in you and then evaluate trying to go buy this
I did I go buy cars yourself on Facebook it's hard so do it
yourself lead by example I created to any GM out there any
new car store go put a pulse on your buying center you when
do you make money what do you just try you just put it all
out that on the scale at the end of the month you only make
money when you sell cars know I make money when I buy cars
that's when I make money so that being said I want to put a
pulse on that so I recommend any general manager put a pulse
on your buying center find that champion invest in that person
and trust them to take your buying center to the next level
so I'll tell you one of the things I learned walking away
from today bold move taking your best sales person turning
him into that by center but talk about a great gift that'll
generate use cars that you can sell but then also positions
that same person if they want to go back and sell those cars
as well so last questions we wrap up you've had success you
know you you you're you're building this by center what's
next for you what's the next problem you're looking to solve
hatch easier acquisitioning right so we don't we haven't
touched the online market at all and people would hate me if
I did but that's where I'm going next is I want to I took a
store that is basically brick and mortar hey they have a great
process boots on the ground like I said a sturdy imagine if
you just took a small adaptation and added to that so that's
my goal I'm going to incorporate my buying center to not just
be for Facebook you know it's going to be for for every
everything I don't have a service drive but I recommend if
you if I did have a service drive this buying center be
heavily involved in my service drive so well we need we need
to get you back on the show we need to get you on daily deal
alive and come talk about use car acquisitions I think you
know sometimes we franchise dealers think we have a huge
advantage because we've got the OEM name badge we've got you
know a dedicated list of clientele and and and a certain
amount of OEM support behind it and I think what you've shown
is a bunch of scrappiness and innovation in being able to
come up with a creative solution to an age old problem which
is use car acquisition so props to you hatch thanks for coming
on the car dealership guy pod to share these strategies with
us and we'd love to have you soon on daily deal alive so hatch
thank you do let me know yet thank you so much your
questions have been as refreshing just to say the least
so I appreciate you guys having me on here I remember watching
this show and just thinking to myself wow I one day I hope I
could be on that have applied is that it's preaching to do
what I mean what the heck somebody pinch me I'm here I'm
still here now so thank you Sam thank you hatch appreciate it
man.
All right hope you enjoyed that episode please give the
podcast a rating consider subscribing to the show and
check the show notes for links to what we talked about thanks
for tuning in I'll see you guys next time.
About this episode
Sam Hatch traces his path from traveling car sales to running a used-car operation built on relationships, process, and aggressive sourcing. He explains how his store leans on 30 years of wholesale connections, auctions, boots on the ground, and Facebook, then shows how AI and simple automation help streamline pricing and inventory workflows. The conversation also digs into why he moved his top salesperson into a buying-center role and how disciplined acquisition drives profit.
Today, Sam D'Arc is joined by Sam Hatch, General Manager at JRR Motor Sales, to discuss how he moved his top salesperson into a dedicated buying center to source 70+ units off the street in a single month.
We discuss the "Matrix" view of inventory data, the spicy reality of off-site super sales, and why transparency is a dealer's greatest competitive edge.
Sam also reveals the specific AI tools he uses to automate the hunt for used cars.
This episode is brought to you by:
1. Podium - The AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. Podium helps dealers consolidate sales, service, messaging, and voice into one connected system that actually runs the work. If your AI isn’t driving real outcomes, it’s time to take a closer look @ here.
2. Zurich - Zurich helps dealers operate with clarity, confidence, and certainty — driving stronger performance today while protecting long‑term value. From proven F&I processes and insights‑driven training to income‑generating programs, profit participation, and risk management solutions, Zurich is built to help dealers win now — and build for what’s next. Discover more @ here.
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Topics:
02:20 Why Salespeople “Come to Die”.
04:35 From $0 to $6.5K Week.
06:10 The Integrity Rule.
08:55 Why Locals Hated Travelers.
13:40 The GM Who Took a 66.
16:40 800 Cars on Index Cards.
18:55 Why They List at 95.
19:40 The AI vAuto Won’t Build.
24:15 Cracking Facebook Search.
27:55 70 Cars in 45 Days.
29:05 Pulling Top Sales Off the Floor.
33:25 The $50 Profit Play.
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