Wright on Deceptive Pricing, Dell on Used, Robertson on Video Lead Response | Daily Dealer Live
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Wright on Deceptive Pricing, Dell on Used, Robertson on Video Lead Response | Daily Dealer Live
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Term
ER EVs
ER EVs are cars that run mostly on electricity but also have a little gasoline engine to help when the battery gets low.
Brand
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a big car company from Germany that makes many popular cars, including electric ones.
Term
extended range electric vehicles
These cars mainly drive on electricity but have a backup gasoline engine that kicks in when the battery runs low, giving you more miles.
Term
range anxiety
It’s the worry that you might get stuck because your electric car’s battery is empty and there isn’t a place to recharge nearby.
Term
battery electric momentum cools
It means that the excitement for cars that run only on batteries is slowing down, so companies are looking at other options.
Concept
hybrid vehicle
Hybrid cars use both gasoline and electricity to drive, so they can run on electric power for short trips and switch to gas when needed.
Concept
stair step programs
A stair step program is a sales strategy where the price of a car goes up in stages. It helps dealers sell cars sooner and keeps the market balanced.
Term
OEMs
OEM means the company that makes a car before it goes to the shop. Think of Toyota or Ford as the people who build the cars you buy.
Term
auto dealer
An auto dealer is a shop where you can buy or sell cars. They also help with repairs and loan options.
Brand
Hyundai
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes many different kinds of cars, like small city cars and big family SUVs.
Car
2022 Honda Accord LX
It’s a popular family car with good fuel economy and reliable performance. The LX trim is the base level, offering essential features without extra cost.
Concept
certified pre-owned
Buying a CPO car means you’re getting a used vehicle that’s been checked and fixed by the dealer, so it’s usually in better shape than a regular used car.
Brand
Lamborghini
Lamborghini makes very flashy and expensive cars that look like they’re from a movie. They’re known for their sharp angles and loud engines.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche makes fancy cars that are very fast and expensive. They’re famous for models like the 911, which many people think of when they hear Porsche.
Car
22F150s
The Ford F‑150 is a big pickup truck that many people use for work or hauling stuff. It’s popular because it can pull heavy loads and has many different versions to choose from.
LIVE
We're doing better as a result of social media presence. It doesn't do those three things, then, it's on the chopping block. It's in return on investment, discussion. Hey everybody welcome back to another episode of the Daily Dealor Live. I'm your host, Sam Darker,
and welcome to this space where all of automotive comes together to learn, to share, to grow, to execute the most important part. Thanks for choosing to be here of all places on this Monday, December 15th. And for those of us dealers, GMs, or executives trying to navigate pricing chaos in today's economy, OEM pressures, shrinking margins, and rising expectations. This show today is for you. Third party sites are still pushing too good to be pricing. OEMs are piling on mandated vendor programs.
Stairstep incentives are getting more aggressive and more challenging, and we dealers are stuck in the middle, paying the price, that's my perspective. Today, we're not talking theory, we're talking to real operators in this arena. We'll start with Andy Wright from Vennart Automotive Group, who will call out Deceptive Pricing OEM, Mandate Chaos, and why stair steps may be hurting both dealers and consumers. Then we've got Rob Dell, VP of Rob Ruth Ford, who will break down how use-car discipline acquisition in turn are driving performance when
margins are under attack, and we'll wrap today with Patrick Robertson, GM of Hyundai Kool Springs on video lead response Smart Tech and Reducing Employee Burnout without sacrificing results. This place today is about what's actually working, what needs to change, and what dealers should stop accepting as we head into 2026. We got a real conversation coming up, but before we dive in, let's hit today's industry headlines. All right, first up in the headlines today. Credit auto action.
We got access, became meaningfully looser in November with approval rates climbing to 73.6%, this according to Cox Automotive. That combined with more favorable pricing from Lenders led, that provided push the dealer track credit availability
index up to 99.1, marking the highest level since October 2022, and extending a gradual loosing trend that's been building since last year, captive lenders are doing most of the work, expanding access by 1.7% as they lean into growth wall, non-captive lenders also increased access, at the same time, lenders didn't open the floodgates.
Subprime share fell to 14.3%, showing that most of the easing is happening on the prime and near prime side. What's the big picture here? Well, credit is getting cheaper and easier for prime buyers, welcome, which helps volume and deal full, but certain subprime heavy stores might still be constrained in some areas.
Next up today in a CDG buy sell exclusive Canadian dealer group.
By the way, I love that. I love any time we've got a CDG jingle. Go auto, a Canadian auto group is on a quiet but aggressive buying spree. They're snapping up five US dealerships in less than a week earlier this December. The first deal was announced December 8 when go auto bought three Seattle area Kia and Hyundai stores from car pros automotive group, which has been steadily refocusing its portfolio toward higher margins, Southern California markets.
According to sell side advisors from carigan advisors, just three days later, go auto closed on suit to Southern California Ford stores. First was sunrise Ford Fontana, then sunrise Ford North Hollywood from night auto group, zooming out sellers are pruning or concentrating while capitalized buyers like go auto are stepping in quickly when clean strategic stores come to the market.
Next up today the six figure luxury and exotic car market is back on track to nearly double over the next decade growing from about 110 billion dollars today to as much as 200 plus billion by 2035. This according to a data and a study from Boston consulting group BCG and Dupont registry as you might have guessed the real growth isn't at the ultra top end.
It's in the 100 K to 170 K band especially late model used luxury exotics where sales are expected to grow faster than new vehicles for obvious reasons the study projects that the secondary market will grow about 1.5 times faster than new as buyers chase value variety and availability without giving up that premium badge and buyer behavior is shifting to luxury shoppers especially among the millennial and Gen Z crowds are always browsing online.
More willing to cross shop brands and increasingly open to completing the entire purchase digitally. What's the bottom line here? Well the luxury market rewards precision inventory selection pricing discipline fallup and trust matter more than anything.
Finally up today Volkswagen is considering adding extended range electric vehicles or ER EVs to future lineups in both Europe and the US.
This as part of a new five year investment plan expected in March according to reports from Bloomberg while nothing is locked in yet VW says it's keeping the range extender concept on the table for its next EV platform with timing and market of ultimately hinging on customer demand.
The move fits a broader pivot as battery electric momentum cools more automakers are leaning into ER EVs as a middle ground electric driving with a gas powered backup to ease range anxiety essentially a hybrid vehicle by any other name.
Wait not just essentially that is clearly the actual definition of hybrid gas and electric anyway scouts the lanus and Hyundai are already heading this direction especially for larger vehicles like trucks and SUVs where charging concerns still loom large for the US buyer and that everybody is a wrap on today's industry headlines.
You only welcome back happy to be here missed you how was the travel we missed you last Friday but we did have a heck of an episode oh my gosh it was action packed how are you doing good to have you back.
Excellent I'm joining in the snow covered festivities now you know welcome back to the cold and you know it's funny we at the Ziggler auto group this past Saturday night had our exclusive year in holiday party it was cold windy snowy all the things but it was a heck of a lot of fun.
And our NASCAR driver was supposed to be there ended up coming and ended up getting hit in the ER so he wasn't able to join up to test the season you know I think he's okay he's just sick you know he's you know you're and I think NASCAR off season I imagine that's the time when you know you get sick you kind of hang around you do all the fun things kids do I mean I got he's a NASCAR driver and he's 21 years old so he's still eating fruit loops playing video games.
When he's not driving fast so anyway hey a reminder to everybody we are alive across all CDG social media platforms poster comments into today's show we've got a heck of a show coming up today as I teased in the very beginning we're going to have an incredible conversation on all things automotive today so poster comments into the stream and we will bring them into today's conversation thanks to Richard Brunel for saying here we go and speak of here we go.
You will be up first today I return guests to the show Andy right managing partner at Vinh Art Automotive Group Andy welcome back to the show we love having you on.
Hey guys going to be with you again you know Merry Christmas happy holidays all that good stuff can't believe we're at another year end right.
Where's the time going.
Go so fast.
See 25 you know it is interesting in a world in automotive where it's month after month our month is a year it is astonishing when we get to the end of 12 months and to the end of a year.
And that brings us to the first question Andy how the heck are things at the Vinh Art Automotive Group.
How's this sure so you know I first and foremost I love this time of year because it's I use it as a obviously we're trying to close out the year but I always I like to take stock in what's happened.
And I like to look at you know the new year coming up and what are our strategic plans what are our goals what are our objectives.
Where do we need to pivot where do we need to get better so that's that's just one of the reasons why I'm so excited and happy about this time of year but as far as businesses concerned Sam.
You know we're having a great year overall as a group.
It was definitely stronger in the first half of the year than it's been in the second half of the year particularly you know more so in the last 60 to 75 days when things have softened a little bit.
But but overall as as I said to someone the other day if this is a quote unquote down market I'll take it because when I when I look at the comms versus where we were you know previous looking back in the in the pre covid years and things like that.
Business is still very strong so it's easy to get caught up in the year over year comms and and maybe allow a tangent negativity to enter the room but as leaders we need to resist that and that's you know always been my message to our people and yeah like you said we we live in a month the month world right it's like what have you done for me lately Sam so we got a we got to constantly be taking a step back assessing what we're doing how we're doing it and figure out a way to improve that's what it's all about that's why this business is.
Fun right I mean that's what well and it's interesting because you mentioned the last quarter and a little bit of a challenge this last quarter that's OK if it's the market but it's not OK if it's self imposed and you talked in the green room before we came in you listen to my CDG interview with the king of statin island where he had some words to say about stair step program stair steps are a little bit self imposed what your beef with stair steps or do you or do you have one what you take on stair step OEM stair steps.
Yeah I think you know on stair steps are unfortunately a tool that our OEM friends have resorted to as a as a way to try to juice the market with increased sales at a lower cost of entry from an incentive standpoint which I get that I mean I understand that that's the the logic the rationale behind the decision to deploy these things but they're just they're just so destructive they're destructive the brands.
They're destructive to consumer experience and they're destructive to deal a profitability and all one needs to do is is look at the numbers right you know there's a pretty good argument that's being made out there consistently especially when these things were so prevalent pre-COVID and now they're they're growing in prevalence again here as the as a market gets more challenging.
So that's up they really lead to two tier pricing and I think that's a pretty sound argument because you know the price that a consumer can buy a car for it my dealership versus the dealership down the street of a similar make could be dramatically different given what the stair step objective is where that dealer is at any moment relative to their objective and things like that so I don't think that that's I don't think that's the type of experience that anybody really wants to give a consumer especially if if Sam if you really you know somebody comes in and says
in the last day of the month and and once the buy the car and it's given a price and it says I want to think about it and they come back in the next day and the price is 2500 dollars higher or three grand higher I mean is that really how we want to be doing business I you know I don't think it is I think there's a better way that we can do this and I by the way I want to I want to make sure that my comments are taken in proper context because yes I'm critical of stair steps and their usage but I do think that there's a way that we can find a happy medium that we can work together collaboratively with our OEM friends
and we can we can accomplish our mutual goals and objectives so Andy it's worth noting something you said in there which is you know during covid stair steps were gone right because there was limited supply stair steps are meant to increase supply in the marketplace into your right to tear is right so when you said there's a happy medium what's the medium how do you how do you mix between OEM's desire for more inventory in the marketplace and higher production and supporting all the jobs in the factory on a consistent basis
and our desire and automotive to provide customers a well-priced product that retains its value that continues to deliver value through the ownership lifestyle how do you how do you balance that Andy
well I think first and foremost it starts with production discipline right and you have to find the right balance between your production discipline and your ability to turn your inventory I mean look at Toyota look at Honda look at Subaru look at a lot of these brands that have absolutely zero reliance on stair step programs
then you turn around and you look at the brands that are relying on stair step programs they they're largely in an oversupplied situation right
and they're trying to find the right balance for recalibrating conditions in the marketplace right well I think there are other ways that we can pull the incentive levers and turn the incentive dials that don't amount to a condition that is conducive to an absolute blood bath out there amongst the dealer body
and so you know I think that again it's it's a much more intricate elaborate conversation that needs to be had I think between dealer councils and OEMs or sales and marketing subcommittees of dealer councils and OEMs
but there's got to be first and foremost there's got to be a mutual understanding for what each party's goals are okay and then we have to come to a conclusion or to an agreement
rather as to the best way to accomplish our mutual goals and our individual goals and I don't think those conversations happen to the extent or in the at the level of detail that they need to
and a lot of these OEMs and and that's regretful because I think dealers would would very much welcome that opportunity I know I would if I was given the opportunity to be part of that conversation
because I'm sympathetic to what the OEMs are trying to accomplish but it shouldn't be at the absolute destruction of the marketplace and at compromising the customer experience
so you do understand what their intent is and we at our auto group represent a ton of OEMs but it is interesting at the head of every OEM
is the president or a CEO who's there for a season and their primary job is to increase you know share increase
profit increase return to share holders and stockholders and and that interest might not always be in line as it relates to production with an auto dealer right
agreed and and and and so it's interesting automotive news reported either last night or this morning Nissan's relooking at its
stairstone I saw that yeah yeah trying to figure out how to bring it better into line and I think to your point that
conversation that debate could be well had so here's the call to everybody watching today's show we would love to have
heads of OEMs that are utilizing stair step on this show Andy we'd invite you back to help stimulate the conversation
but what a great roundtable it would be to talk about what is the manufacturer pressure that leads to that
and then what's the thought process about how healthy it is in the marketplace to have that because
it really transitions into our second topic which is you know it creates an environment where dealers are
advertising prices that are less than what they may actually you know if they hit the stair step
they'd be great at that from a profit standpoint if they don't they're going to be at a loss on
vehicles and how does that support a dealer's desire to support a customer and having that great auto buying experience
Andy yeah that's right I mean you know this this is part and parcel to the conversation we've had in
great detail previously about deceptive pricing and certainly when you had the King of Staten Island
on the other day he was talking about the impact on broker sales which is just a whole other topic he
was laughing up about that yeah I mean I just you know unfortunately we're all dealers are our own
worst enemy the one the one way to eliminate brokers from the equation would be to stop doing business
with them and you know but unfortunately some of our dealer friends feel compelled to do otherwise
primarily because I mean I don't have any doubt that there are those that do business with the
brokers for for purposes of building up their ego on number one all that type of stuff but again the
brokers are also being propped up by the fact that you have these dealers that are walking into a casino
every month when they get their stair step objective that's what I love to to talk about okay we walk
into a casino every month when we get our stair step objective okay and then we go to great lengths
to hit that hit that objective but as you well know Sam you know we all kind of our condition to look
at an in 10-day increments you know that the OEMs in term you always call it the 10 days right if
you're off pace after that first 10 days that's when all the we you know the wheels come off and it's
basically have addict guys right and and there we go and and then we're off to the races so the brokers
are feeding off of that and it's I think that's just you know I can't believe what some of these
dealers are doing about allowing brokers to go into their proprietary manufacturer financing systems
and back end tools and things like that I mean there's customer privacy issues that stay here
they're the tentacles of this thing are massive Sam and it's all driven along to my stair steps
it's the gray of gray so Andy I'm going to ask you a question do you do business with brokers
I do not okay so it is interesting because we don't but obviously particularly on the east coast
it appears like there's a ton of pressure to hit those stair steps it's the difference between
getting the money and not and so as I talk to the king of stat now and I'm like listen how do you stop
and he said dealers just need to agree not to do it anymore and it's such a simple solution but when
you're talking about the dollars involved and the way the OEMs either intentionally or unintentionally
pushed towards it is it that easy and easy to say simply don't do business I don't think it is I
think you know I would love to say in a perfect world that it is it's that simple just stop doing it
but again there are so many factors that are contributing to the decisions that dealers make to do
business with these brokers and and I think that our friends at the OEM are in many ways stimulating
that desire by some of the programs that they come out with and the stair step is at the top of the
of the pyramid here in terms of destructive forces in retail and I'm really hopeful that we'll
start to see inventory levels normalize and the reliance on stair step programs hopefully eventually
go away completely because they are destructive they're bad for dealers they're bad for customers
and the only people that really quote unquote win if you want to characterize it that way are OEMs
that are in an over over-supplied situation yeah so I'm going to put you on the spot of the OEMs
you recommend which ones do stair step of the OEMs that I recommend that you represent yeah yeah
well I mean listen Hyundai has a has a well-known stair step program every month and you know
those those of us that are Hyundai dealers can see the the impact that they've had a lot more cars
are getting sold for a lot less money and you know so again I'm not really sure you know how
that shakes out in terms of all stakeholders truly benefiting and that's you know dealers consumers
and the OEM and I think a really good program results in all three stakeholders benefiting and I
don't think you can check that box with a stair step program and your point it is it is interesting
because that OEM is interest they will they will pivot late in month right incentives and rebates
some other things to help stimulate and support the stair step a little bit later go ahead Andy yeah
no yeah I mean I that they're they're the you know they're one of the big ones obviously and then
obviously Nissan which I don't represent is is well documented to be relying on stair step programs
CDJR obviously who I do not also do not represent has has utilized stair step programs
rather significantly is my understanding so you know again I think these all these OEMs have a
have a common denominator in in in in play here and that's an oversupply situation
yeah so interesting comments online Roy de Villas says Andy do you think these stair step programs
that give an unfair advantage to your single point or rule that have major groups in their
backyard do these little guys compete is the stair step does it does it benefit a bigger group
more than the little guy or is it I think it's equal I'm not sure if you if you are
advantaged yeah it's all relative where you are stacked against your objective right but
correct you guys both hit the nail on the head this is just very short term short-sighted thinking
it doesn't benefit the dealership the customer or the OEM long-term it's it's mapped us some
some other great comments online third parties and OEMs equals race to the bottom excuse me from
Elba and then Dave Roger says how about just a transparent rebate or customer cash program
and then chef JB three this is my favorite Andy by the way Andy for president the man speaks
the truth Dave Rogers Hyundai run by the same guy who anyway that's his perspective we'll let
everybody look at Dave's I'm not gonna verbalize it but uh so let's transition from there into
into third-party listing sites so you've had you've been vocal you were here last time on the
show talking about it what's your beef with third-party listing sites and what's the solution Andy
the challenges that they're creating currently well just like your guest last Friday that King
of Staten Island guy was talking about you know it's hard to log on to one of the big third-party
listing companies in the New York market and find a listing that is not just chock full of all of
these conditional incentives rebates whatever you want to call it it's and all service charge yeah
I mean all it all it's doing is number one contributing to a a very poor customer experience because
they can't walk into the showroom and buy the car for what they saw it online for right unless
they do all these different things you know they got to trade in they finance they this they that
but but also and this is the the thing I find most ironic is that you're this is the same data
that is powering the appraisal tools that we are all using to appraise value market merchandise are
inventory right so you know I just find it so ironic that a company like Cox that owns vauto
and also owns auto trader is using data from their auto trader platform that is compromised to turn
around and present to a member of our of our team that uses vauto we don't use vauto anymore we
use vincu but you know vauto they they have this data that is for all intensive purposes compromised
and we have these these people that are working hard in these dealerships trying to do their job
make money and and satisfy customers and the information they're using is is bad and it's the same
information that's being sourced but the same company that's selling in the software and it's just
it's just crazy to me and you know listen I I don't have a problem you know listen at the end of
the day dealers need to make a decision about how they want to do business I'm not going to sit here
until somebody how to do business but I do think it's incumbent upon these third-party platforms
to have some standards to have some rules to have some codes of conduct that we all agree to
that if we're going to we're going to partake in merchandising our our inventory on those sites
that we have agreement a robot that revolves around how pricing rules are established
and how you know information is shared so Andy Google last month came out with new policies
threatening threatening you know action against dealers that were participating that do you think
that is a good action for a third-party listing site sort of to take to maintain some discipline
and have you seen an impact in the marketplace in your opinion on that I mean I applaud Google
for doing what they did I think it's a smart move I think you know again they've they've
recognized the fact that it's incumbent upon them as a third-party platform for all intensive
purposes that you know they have a responsibility to the consumer to make sure that information is
being shared transparently and I think consistently you know but but I there's so much more to
the equation guys as you well know you know the the 2022 Honda Accord with LX with 30,000 miles
on my lot versus the 2022 Honda Accord LX with 30,000 miles on the lot up the street could be very
different mine might be $4,000 more because it's certified pre-owned I've I have full transparency
with respect to how I've reconditioned the vehicle what the tires are what the brakes are what
the this what that and the guy at the street could be selling a car with a frame damage and you
know the the consumer we take for granted that the consumer knows what they're looking at when in
reality they could just be saying well that's seemingly the same car for $4,000 less at this store
up here why is that you know what I mean and and and until recently it's been more difficult for them
to understand that and again I just think it's incumbent upon the third-party listing sites to
make sure that the information is presented transparently and again I think the big issue here
where they really got into trouble guys was when they got into the business of deal rating if they
would get out of the business of deal rating that would that would maybe give them some cover
to not take more aggressive action but when they started saying that the guy that's $4,000 less
than me is a great deal right there and I'm only a fair deal okay well why is that it's because of
price okay but it's because potentially deceptive pricing tactics are being deployed and a consumer
is is non the wiser right so you know I think something needs to be done in that respect does that
make sense so Andy your call to action would be remove the deal rating or remove an opinion on the
quality of the vehicle based just solely on price and go back to allowing consumers to do their own
research and make decisions based on that is that what I'm hearing in the absence of them actually
having pricing rules and guidelines yes okay but I like the rules and guidelines look like Andy
that's fascinating well first and foremost I don't think that any listed price on a third party
website should be inclusive or exclusive of any you know fine print details meaning trading credits
meaning finance credits all that type of stuff okay it should be the price that anybody can buy the
car for period and but take me back to stair step yeah so somebody advertises a price into an
anticipation of stair step how do you deal with that well at the end of the day at the end of the day
Sam at most if not all OEMs at least the ones that I represent have marketing covenants right that
have minimum acceptable advertising price yeah there are guidelines now that doesn't stop a dealer
from advertising a car below map pricing guidelines that would be restraint of trade and I am not
in favor of that however if someone is found to be in violation of map pricing guidelines most if
not all manufacturers all the ones that I represent have teeth in their policies where those dealers
are subjected to penalties in the form of they might be disqualified from receiving advertising
credits or things like that right yeah and and listen I you know that's totally above board and
is and is fine that doesn't stop some I mean some dealers in the southeast I know for a fact
have for for one of the brands that I represent they've completely dismissed map map pricing standards
they don't care about losing out on the ad credits and things like that they're going to run
their business the way they want to run it that's fine that's up to them you know what I mean they
can do that but at least there's there's some form of you know impediment if you will to them
maybe making that decision and doing the right thing by advertising in a compliant fashion but
we can't stop that from happening Andy you are stoking an incredible conversation online we'd
love to have you back as part of a broader panel on this fact we were working to get that done
today but we'll have that for one of our hundred plus episodes in this next year but it's interesting
online a ton of great comments Fred Fordon Andy great to see you car gurus great deal Elba says
equals 3k under MMR I think your your argument is fascinating that you know they're using some of
these pricing that are that are that are low to help justify values in a system so you know
does that under price the use car network I'm not sure it's fascinating that's an interesting
conversation Paul says price opacity opacity oh my goodness we're done at paperwork hours of
waiting let me check with my manager and again when the customer can buy a house what not 100k
truck whatever right you got to remove the fine print Elba Elba says deal rating destroys our
business and Lauren says it's one thing to offer other options another to promote one dealer's
inventory over another and then my favorite Thomas Arelik says say hi to Andy from the team at
Brown dobs Chevrolet when you get a competitor saying pros and hello that's yeah that's
that's pretty high praise just one quick question you said you went vato to vincu what prompted that
change when was it I've got about 60 seconds left the producers are killing me here superior superior
superior product with so much more capability superior data real-time superior data
Danny is just a great guy Chris they're great guys total innovators you know we have the ability
to hit their little you know what emoji so we can exclude those dealers from our pricing sets
that are engaged in deceptive business practices so we know when we're pricing or valuing cars
that they're excluded from the from the data subset and things like that you know they just
they just get it and they're they're totally in tune with the contemporary market and what
what the tools and the information are that dealers need to be to be successful so very big
fan of you and those guys one last thing Sam if I may yeah please just want to say something
you know we talked about our OEM friends today a lot and I want to be clear about my message here
it's not it's not an effort to be adversarial quite the contrary I'm calling for a heightened level
of collaboration so that we can achieve our mutual success and our mutual goals together because
we can do that without having a resort to some of these more destructive policies and procedures
and I think a conversation even here on the daily deal live card dealership guy would be
incredible with every one of those OEMs just having a conversation about what their individual
interests are what they're trying to achieve and accomplish and again how we do that all together
is the work of automotive in the United States a leading economic indicator of health in the US
economy so we're all tied into this Andy Wright managing partner of VINAR automotive group
thanks for thanks for being on the show and sharing your perspectives thank you guys thanks Andy
that was a fun conversation that was a fun he is always so authentic he's always so transparent
I really enjoy talking to him before we go into our next guest because we are a little bit behind
let's talk over fuel most dealership websites I love this by the way most dealership websites
suck slow clunky and hated by both shoppers and Google well over fuel cracked the code lightning
fast AI lightning fast AI powered sites built to attract convert and dominate every search
experience over fuel you can find out more by clicking on the QR code you can go to the show notes
click there as well we appreciate over few fuel for supporting today's content including
that fascinating take on all things advertising stair step vendor and OEM relationships with Andy
always a great conversation with him on the show so thanks over fuel for supporting the show today
all right you lay let's dive into our next guest as promised rob del vice president of Bob Ruth
fort rob welcome to the show thank you grabbing me what what do you think of this conversation so far
today we've had a couple weeks of just people who are unafraid to talk about what's going on and
what's in their mind no I think it's very relevant look I've dealt with stair steps in the past I
can tell you good bad and everything in between that works you know there was a stair step program
with an OEM I worked with years ago and I was able to figure it out and become the number one
dealer in the state in a very short period of time but no good deed goes unpunished and then it
becomes a difficult thing on the backside of it so yeah I think at the end of the day it's what
benefits the consumers what we all need to figure out that's what that's what that's who we serve
so that's what we got to do well so Rob your your your perspective is valuable though because you're
saying hey I was paying attention I understood how to utilize it to best serve my customers and we
grow we grew quickly our stars our stair steps a benefit to the industry should they continue or would
you say hey for the few who figure it out and grow as a result it's not worth the pain to everyone
else if you're in it for the long term I don't think it's worth it for anybody short term growth
and explode and that might help you with scaling of getting your operation to the next level but
you're going to get to a point we all know it where the number is going to be unobtainable
maybe your allocations unobtainable to manage floor plan and it just depends on the program you know
I think there's a time and a place if we're overstocked and you know we're a four dealership so
I have stair steps on models from time to time so yeah they bronchers or you know the inventory that's
sitting out there isn't turning they'll put a short term stair step on it that's very small
based on that model okay but if you're going to say hey for every once you hit a hundred cars we're
going to pay $100 car that's a completely different conversation yeah yeah all right so in the green
room we talked one of the biggest things you're working on at your Ford Group right now is buy
centers what how did you commit to a buy center what does your buy center look like and
and how are you growing it in today's world so it's been a long time so we started during COVID
because we made all the wrong decisions we thought inventory was going to go down
in value so we dumped it and it went straight up so it was like okay don't want to go back to the
sale there's no inventory there how are we going to do this and we just one day bought three cars
from the public it was really that simple and it was like hey this works there's no auction fees
these cars are probably better and we just started scaling it so we're you know four or five years
in at this point you know our record is 262 cars in one month we're on pace for 250 this month
but you got to build a team right and you got to empower people you got to educate them and
teach them what to buy like we all could go out and buy 100 cars today but that doesn't mean
they're going to be profitable for us right so where do we transact we need to know all the data
and that's what we've really focused on for the last four or five years is you know where are we
transacting what is the average price point per segment per miles per year just data data data
so Rob give us give our listeners and all of us an idea of the scale of your operation 260 plus
units used purchased to a buy center that's huge how many vehicles do you sell as a group under
your purview a month on average and what's the new use split so so worry single point Ford store
we sell it this year called 45 new Ford's a month 300 plus use cars
them wow okay so all right and good and and a decade ago what were you selling
product to covid 75 to 125 cars a month to wow wow so you intentionally went all in unused
at some point coming out of covid yeah I mean we were thinking to use rate before covid we're
probably selling 200 used before covid it dropped down with availability until we figured this
out and then now it's been explosive growth will probably be up 30 to 35 percent volume at the end
of the year why did you decide to go all in unused and sell so many use relative to the new count
what what drove that coming out of covid a it's controllable you're in control of it be yeah
we're in a town of 2600 people now we have population around us but there's a four dealer every
seven miles right like end of story so you know we're growing new and we know there's still more
room there but could we go from 50 new to 300 new next year that would be a difficult test could you
go from 200 used the 300 used yeah you could do that and there's just there's a lot more control
that's the answer so what was the biggest factor in growing your used sales like you have as you
powered out of covid what was the biggest key or step for someone looking to replicate what you've
done I think it's transparency and speed right and you know that's the big difference is you know
just do it different the customer wants something different like if you bought if I have a car
that you want to buy I can sell to you right now right but so many dealers I talk to all the time
every week is oh you know you got to come in or I'll do this no just give them the information just
educate somebody it's and it's no different how you educate the customer and how you educate your
staff is the same thing right yeah so you just have to really just be transparent and then figure
out a way to transact however the customer meet the customer where they are and the story like
so so what's your biggest source of those customers coming into by cars at your dealership a small
town so you're presumably pulling from far outside your own market is it a website is it a
particular lead generating tool is it a particular technology that are pulling people in to have
this transparent experience the just hard work yeah I mean it's just impressive wherever you can
find somebody and I we prefer to fish where other people don't fish okay so you know we just go
out there and attack attack attack and everybody has it off I mean look anybody could go on Facebook
marketplace and how many cars are per sale right now I don't know there's hundreds of thousands
probably our strategy we go out 300 miles but like I said we've scaled it we have an operation so
I have six different vehicle buying center reps I got managers on top of them I have almost 20 drivers
going out picking up cars so it's just you know leaving with your buy center are you going out for
retail only or wholesale as well are you just trying to buy anything you can get your hands on that
you can get out profitably are you specifically sourced retail you know we we attack retail retail
retail is always greater than wholesale we collect customers and then numbers is what I say all the
time but sometime I mean well I turn away a wholesale opportunity absolutely not yeah we're we're
afford store where the average transaction price is under 30 thousand dollars but if you I believe
if you say you're going to buy everything you have to number everything so you know I mean
will I buy a hundred and ten thousand dollar Porsche why number a Lambo if we have to absolutely
because it's that goes into the branding message right and when you've been doing it as long as we
are you know I'll have somebody call you know family member passed away they'll sell us a car
that'll turn into 15 transactions over the course of two years if we take care of them or it was a
business owner who has a fleet of cars that turns into 50 transactions so you know it's staying
the course and it's like I said it's just hard work and communicating that to the team that hey look
just if you give a number you have a chance if you don't get a number you have no chance right like
it's just that simple you know it's it's it's interesting because our cox rep on the viato side
recently their executive team pointed out to me they're like look the the the rate of look to
book is no longer a good rate in automotive he said we believe it's the number of use car trades
or vehicle appraisals you do in a month relative to your total unit sales and you need to be at about
1.5 times that to be successful in today's marketplace and it's interesting because I think the old
rule was don't put too many numbers out there because you don't want to offend people right and
today I think what's being proved is to your point transparency and consistency over time
earns you more business than does trying to find that right thing and then maybe even getting it
a little bit too aggressively so your ability to turn and get used cars outside of your sales
network is key to you is key to your success what do you think most people get wrong about a
buy center and then any thoughts on that data point about a number of trade appraisals I have a
whole lot of thoughts on that first thing is you know and Andy talked about earlier going into the
casino at the beginning of every month well we all go to the casino right now we have three different
tolerance for risk right like yeah one of us is a $25 a hand player the other guys 500 the other
guys 10 grand right you guys are the 10 grand just so you know but you know that's the big thing
is and then if if you have that risk does everybody in the organization understand that or
know they can do it because if you're going to scale and grow to a large operation I've bought
stolen cars I've bought fraudulent cars you know we're gonna get burnt but you got to look at
in the grand scheme of things but back to the point of look to book I agree that number is I
don't even look at it if in the vehicle buying center if we converted 8% of all of our appraisals
my question is and how do I get it to 10% my question is if I have 2,000 appraisals how do I get
4,000 yeah right that's all of them down to yeah you know so that's why I say we collect
bin numbers and then what are you going to do once you capture that data are you just going
to throw it in your appraisal tool and throw it away or are you going to retain it so you can
market to that customer till the end of time yeah that's that's what you got to figure out what's
the technology that you're using to push those quotes out and retain those quotes Google sheets
isn't really okay simple as that so you're not putting it into a viato or a vincu or any of these
I mean we have every tool and we use it we use bits and pieces but as we all know in this industry
getting everything to connect is very very difficult it's insane and when somebody figures out
out which is going to happen and it will be magical but you will lose a competitive advantage
because then everybody's going to have the same technology yeah just a fact yeah so why Google
sheets is it because of the lack of integration or what what advantage does such a simple process
like Google sheets and you in this intricate process of numbers right you're collecting a lot of
data well when I say that from the reps to the appraisers who's numbering the car which that's
another big piece I'll talk about then it's just simple to can funnel everybody into one platform
and then at any point in time like if somebody sends me a text and says hey we have 40 cars we need
to appraise I can hop in and I can just see where I need to go from there now from there I got to go
into technology to use it and I don't want to go down that rabbit hole today but yeah you just
funnel it all into one place and then same thing with our you know the transactional data we have
like 22F150s could be the hottest thing in the world for me right now my team needs to know that
but tomorrow they can be ice cold and when you're ready so you know just you got to figure out where
you need to transact if we're transacting at 92% on the market whatever that number is just means
I got to buy it lower right that's all yeah so once you make these acquisitions in that month where
you acquired 250 plus talk to us about the process so you've got people that are fully focused on
this they're your buy center now they're into your operation how quickly are you able to
recon those and how quickly to front line are those vehicles 250 in a month so first thing first
thing we do car comes in car gets photo absolute that's the gospel so it's going in getting
photo because then it gets out online then we can generate leads and we have exposure and we
fluctuate honestly we you know we're fortunate we have a whole internal team of six internal
texts which obviously that's not enough for 350 use cars but we have a total of 40 texts and they
also do internals as well so we'll fluctuate from time different lines five days to 10 days okay
you know but you're going to break everything in between including your floor plan you'll find out
real quick if you can floor plan with or without a title figure that out at the beginning of this
but yeah it's just again everybody knows that feeds the whole operation and and is there any particular
special technology using the photo or price or push those those vehicles out into the the
different sites now when we use the same sources I mean if I told you we inventory management
is via the merchandising is being cute someday we won't be half pregnant anymore and we'll use one
or the other yeah you laugh because you're like why splitting the two that's interesting they're
both competitive tools they both kind of do the same thing they do and we're going to get there
with vincu there's no doubt about it but at the end of the day the team has to continue we can't
break the machine even for two weeks the machine so fast you know our average our average days
of sales under 19 days so until I get the team up and running we can't make a full migration on
any platform or any change that we do yeah so what would you and I apologize for our time is near
and in the the producers again are on me on this but which is great because they keep they keep
us all in line so what would you tell a dealer that wants to launch that by center in the next I've
got two questions for you in the next 60 days what would the first couple steps be because we hear
a lot on the show I do a buy center but you know finding the right people's a challenge and the
focus and you know what maybe just are I KBB or ICO you know efforts are enough right what would
you say to that well I think a from the top down everybody has to be bought it that's the first
I mean that's the missing step is you know and I've seen it where you know a high level manager
wants to do it but from above him there's no buy in or they are number two is is know your data
you know it like I said if you're transacting under 30 grand don't go out by 35,000 dollar ECB
cars that doesn't make any sense right yeah and then number three is really just communication but
if you're at the zero you have to get the 10 and you're not getting the 250 in one month three
months probably not two years you know it's gonna take you some time to build it so just stay
the course it's worth it so Rob a couple good comments eager case as 19 days on the lot averages
it's extremely strong so that's a big flex as someone doing so much buying and selling in the
use market tell us as we come into 2026 what's your gut feel or gut take on use cars for the next
month or the next three months particularly as we come into tax season I think I'll go further
the next six month I think it's gonna be a huge opportunity for those who are efficient
to really gain market share I think you know this time of the year a lot of people pull back don't
do it go full blown because March is gonna be here before you know it February is gonna be here
hopefully you know it yeah so just you know but you're not if you have 50 cars you're not gonna sell
150 you know so you got to look at your whole strategy and you know Andy talked about it I love
this time of year also because yes we can reflect on that but I'm already in 26 right and yeah
you know we're saying in okay how do we buy 500 cars you know and what does that look like and
what personnel do I need now to get there in March you know you can't wait till March to get there
you know so you know I think it's gonna be a great opportunity I think you know there's a ton of
new cars supply out there and it's 50 some thousand dollars plus we all know that so affordability
still one of the biggest things so you know just go target that right inventory that you transact
well we could be across the street from each other and transact completely different we all know that
well Rob Dell vice president Bob Ruth Ford thanks for being on the show to share your
perspectives on all things used cars it was a fascinating conversation we'd love to have you back
to talk a little bit more about Ford and the new side but we'll have to do that at another day
thanks for being on the show thank you gentlemen thanks I'm learning a lot you know the the
buy center ideas such a cool idea but like we talked about with getting used cars traded in the
service drive it's it's a great idea and it's it's pretty simple but it's not easy but it is
interesting on this Google sheet idea some some of us want to make easy things complicated
and if you keep easy simple and you're willing to work hard that's where success is so yeah
which have to be intentional is is interesting eager case says are you guys already preparing for
spring tax selling season and my answer would be yes I think everybody is and everybody should be all
right let's pivot quickly Patrick Roberts and GM of Hyundai cool springs welcome to the show
thank you Sam thank you very appreciate yes welcome thank you we've got to ask you our
signature question but I know we're all already going to start pulling out a string that you can
help us with but before we do tell us how's bids and tell us a little bit about yourself
bids bids is as the kids would say is there is right now it's good you know I think over the last
couple weeks I've heard a lot of dealers on talk about you know it's not exponential growth but
you know it's still great the car business is fun it's a great industry to be in and December
shaping up to be a good end of the year but I don't get to use it much because I'll get
made fun of but I'm going to use it here today it's the risk well that's a first for me I'm happy
to hear things are going great for you I want to tap into what the last two guests were bringing if
you want to you know bringing along the conversation obviously your GM of a Hyundai store we spent
quite a bit talking about stair step today in your eyes you know is that help Kurt benefit what's your
yeah well I would say if Andy is going to run for president I'd like to know with super pack to
put the money in we I think he's spot on there we we've had a lot of internal conversations recently
about how detrimental the programs can be of course they do help move inventory but they also are
a race to a bottom if you're in a metropolitan market like we are around Nashville Tennessee
we have a lot of competing dealers there's not a four dealership every seven miles but there
are a lot of Hyundai dealers and so stair steps are just an encourager I think to to find the best
price instead of a great experience in those things I'm hoping as Nissan has fledged into
this this conversational period of maybe we reevaluate I'm hoping other OEMs will follow suit
we have a Genesis store here as well so we battle that on two fronts and we also have a Nissan store
on this property as well but I'm with them I echo the sentiments especially for Andy and Bob as
well yeah and I think it's so important because he's saying the right things and you are as well
I think it would be much more meaningful to have the conversation with the OEM and be able to work
you know through some structure and some discipline and be able to kind of figure out what the
right supply would be right because it seems like a very short-sighted approach or fix I'll
put an air quotes to a piece of the business that someone took their eye off of right I mean
to put stair step on limited amount of vehicles for Ford on slow moving models okay make sense maybe
they need some extra juice but to create this giant number or a number that eventually will become a
giant unattainable number for you just seems counterproductive for that long-term mindset of
the dealer yeah I agree and I'll lean in a little further to that you know we uh I think Andy's
one that mentioned earlier we have a lot of OEMs that will pivot you know some of these incentives
and some some financing opportunities in the middle of a month and I had the opportunity to share
with a executive at Hyundai recently off the record that you know it's uh I know there's there's
millions of dollars that have to go into preparing tier one advertising right we and that trickles
down to tier two members of advertising organizations like we have in Nashville and then of course what
we prepare as well social and things like that and then uh all of a sudden when your owner comes in
and your ten cars behind and nobody's taken a day off that's the mentality that trickles down from
the OEM to us as dealers that hey we we we've got a we've got a slash here's some more money on this
car here's some more APR on this car and my question to them is you know I know that's got to be
costly to the manufacturer so is it so detrimental that those pivots have to be made quickly or uh
you just you're scared to death we're going to miss this mark and the answer was uh essentially yes
but they spent a lot of money to put these programs out and then we're chasing advertising updates
and things like that and it's I think that hurts more than anything through the middle of a month
is when you don't really know what your incentives look like and my question which I didn't get a
great answer for was if you can do it in the middle of the month yeah why can't we do it at the beginning
yeah yeah it's almost like they're trying to like feel out the marketplace a little bit and understand
how it starts but I think sometimes this idea of like pushing back towards the end of the month
is a self-fulfilling prophecy right every we start to train buyers and ourselves our teams to kind of
wait till the end our the current group we're in the current group I'm in you know we and everybody
prefers an even push throughout the entire month so we can provide to your point we focus on
customer experience we focus on value rather than chasing the drama or the fire drill towards the end
of the month so it's interesting if we could pivot one moment Patrick over to something you listed
in the green room to us as a successful thing you're doing right now which is video lead response
tell us a little bit about what is your video lead response program and how is that helping you win
as we wrap up 2025 yeah well I think you know in a in a tiktok field world right even what we're doing
now this the medium of podcasts didn't start with video reinforcement but we we can all understand
and see how much more impactful it can be when you can communicate right this way so I think in the
world we live we we partnered with co-video it's that's the one we chose there's a lot of great
options I think out there for this medium but we try to attain and do attain a 75% initial
lead response with a custom co-video within a five minute window of that lead coming in which
integration is a challenge but if if if you're with a guest or you have somebody there we don't have
a sales BDC so this is round robin to our professionals on the floor and we do have some options
for them to have a canned response that has to be updated every 30 days and essentially customers
that may have an inquiry on a non-ven specific vehicle we don't really know yet what they're seeking but
you know the thing that we always reinforce our people is you have to read the lead right you have
to know what the customer is inquiring on so we try to give everybody a quick introduction just
to put a face with a name to start a real relationship there with a visual reinforcement and so
we had we had co-video in place when I came in to the dealership for all here and it wouldn't
be utilized in fact over 10 months prior I think they've recorded seven total videos
using co-video so it's you know it's one of those one of those wonderful things that a dealership's
paying for without getting anything out of it but where you mentioned yeah go ahead
you mentioned the integration problem what's the integration challenge of doing something like that
and I think about the five minute response yeah it's I think it's your it's your people right so
you have a lot of people that have been selling cars for quite a while and they're very successful at
it and they have a great way to go but like any good coach no one's above the team so once we decide
that we're going to do this as part of our process I think sometimes it takes a little bit of
of prodding not really as much as I anticipated and believe it or not what I'm shocked by the best
users that we have this platform are people have been doing this the longest and the ones that you
would normally think wouldn't adhere to it because we have a we have an 87.5% response or at least
an engagement on that video 87.5% so you can't tell me that anybody's that good at writing
emails you know that you can't gpt your way to a good text that way so when when you've got
customers watching you reaching out to them that's that's your first step and so I think when
people see that but it's the initial ideology not really the integration of it how did you achieve
five minutes like so a lead comes in and I'm recording obviously you would prefer the recorded
live to the can right because that shows me engaging with that customer absolutely lead comes
in I flip my phone around I record it using the thing and then I push out who is that how it works
yeah yeah so I mean exactly what you said I mean it's I can say hey we got your inquiry on the
vehicle where I can say hey Sam I got your inquiry I'm gonna get back to you in just a few moments
my name is this and I'll be with you soon and then you could do that by stepping away from your
desk for 30 seconds so I did a video recording with a dealer recently and he said look I've heard
all you guys talking about video MPIs and video communication with salespeople on the sales floor
I don't understand it we're over 90 percent I don't understand why everybody's talking about
why it's such a challenge it's like that's yesterday but it's not Patrick not everybody's doing it
why is implementation of some of these key things so hard to do in automotive like this video
leader yeah I really to be honest with you I think it's it's it's it's just people thinking that
they they know a better way to do things it's not really the embracing the technology it to be
honest with you a lot of people are uncomfortable so they are a phrase that I say every day around
here is if you better get comfortable being uncomfortable because if you can walk up and
greet a guest on a lot if you can look them in the eye if you can create a relationship with them
you can record a video you can start that conversation on your phone in just a second
and so I don't really have a good answer as to why people don't do it but I would say you know
to share some insight from the success rates I've seen over the last couple of years for integration
if you're not doing it it's not too late to start but you need to do it and you need to do it across
the board can I tell you why I think it works so well today in today's economy so this morning
I was scrolling through social and I saw a picture that surprised me Yulean Patrick I saw a picture
of Trump in the White House using a walker and I sat and I looked at this and I'm like wait this
can't be real and so I looked at it for a while and then I thought about I'm like I don't know if
this is AI generated it's probably fake like Trump would never allow himself to be photographed
that way it's insane and as we're having this conversation I think one of the reasons why video
response works so well is customers are accustomed to AI responses they want that real connection
and for now and not for always but for now this one moment in time that video comes across as
more credible connecting and legitimate than does a picture Patrick any thoughts on that because
I don't bite Trump in a walker do you know well that's not happening first of all it's never
going to happen so but I can tell you yeah exactly right his doctor told us yeah he's got a
bigley report on that but anyway I would say you know I mean there's something authentic about
it Sam I mean just answer the question there's something about taking a moment and not letting it
that's why I'm not I don't favor the canned response but we allow it there but it's just to say hey
you know thank you for reaching out here's who I am and I want to help I will say with AI as it
has influenced so many other areas of our industry and we'll continue to influence those areas
it will probably in a positively interject itself into this video where I could record
and a canned introduction and then simply it'll add your information into the beginning of the
pre-roll and will be as organic as anybody's ever imagined it could be yeah but until then we do
that and I can tell you it's paramount the last thing I'll add to it I know you're out of time is
when people leave and don't buy a car that's also when we send a co-video just to say thank you
for visiting that's a little nugget I'll drop in there yeah and do you and you do it in service as
well I would imagine we do yeah we do for follow up yeah yeah yeah so it's interesting in January we're
going to do with all this talk about video MPI sales MPI's all that we're going to do a competition
we'd love to have you and your auto group be part of it where hey what sales role what technician
what service advisor can come up with the best videos away of connecting because I do think in
this world where we transit where we're so quickly transitioning between entirely brick and
mortar to online and trying to create that continuous experience that's one tool that everybody
could use and it's not rocket science even though it's it's it's tough and we'd love to continue
to see how your success is have you seen a financial improvement in either your front and
gross or your close rate or anything else as a result of implementing the video piece
well yeah yeah I think it's a trickle down I mean I think that we we are engaging with leads faster
which we know is is the moment in which you know we have a better opportunity to capture in that
customer ingredient where they're at but I would say it definitely transitions to more sales
without a doubt I mean the earlier engagement and a customer being able to respond to that
definitely helps get them in the door or or not if they're a digital retail customer or they're
a trade-in customer you have a buying center whatever you're trying to accomplish I don't
have a trackable ROI but I could tell you just based on closing percentage of leads alone
it's it's made a profound impact on our business and so co-video is the tool although to your
point there's a ton of them out there and then what CRM are using integrates into into that
yeah we use e-leads and so all those videos are actually sent through e-leads which most of them
have an integration tool as well so it's still a trackable and we actually include that we do
a little fast start each month for our team and a 90% is our benchmark for that response being
organic and we put a little bonus out there for our team just to just to make sure that we're
continuing that momentum to engage with customers using video yep we we we utilize the e-leads cdk
platform as well and I think the co-video piece is a recent addition I don't think they've
always had that prior they had an integrated tool but this is now available you're getting some
props online Lauren Klein says authenticity and personalization have always been key in getting
engagement and the appointment and then eager k gives Lauren Klein this is by the way something
that makes us happy as our super fans those that show up week after week day after day episode after
episode now they're talking to each other Lauren Klein 2520 I agree we need to get eager and Lauren
and all of us on a on a show sometimes she says that's great engagement so a lot of fun and then
Paul Salisman says I think training with videos power men at paramount to making them
effective so what training are you doing to help your salespeople and your technicians to make sure
that they're engaging in the video in the right way is there any type of training that backs it up
yeah I think I think the number one thing you want to focus on is the actual content right if we
started the podcast and you didn't have any kind of plan for the day it probably wouldn't go
fantastic we tried that one so you know we start with word tracks you start with something
you can control we coach on word tracks but again it goes back to read the lead we want to be
engaging and not just you know like an inflatable arm flailing tube man outside the dealership we want
to say to someone hey we hear you we know your question and we're we have an answer and so it
starts really with those word tracks not being canned but the the word that she used being
authentic and saying you know we're here to help and and we're ready to meet you where you are
yeah well we asked the prior guest let's love to end on this with you as well Patrick I mean
obviously it's GM of Hyundai if cool springs are selling new cars are selling use cars what's
your take on the use car market finishing out 2025 here in the last couple weeks but then more
importantly Q126 what do you see ahead in the use car marketplace you know I think use cars
are are in a reasonably good spot I think it's all going to depend on your turn how you are
acquiring vehicles trade-ins are as they've always been they're invaluable to our process the
story that comes with them being able to communicate that but for them not to really see a major
book change or a lot of valuation change in the beginning of December I think is an encouragement
of what should happen in the first 30 to 60 days of January I think that acquiring inventory
for that new year I don't think you'll get burned or hurt by those now I think you had somebody
on this last week that spoke directly to that you can go out and buy you can go out and acquire
vehicles that you want I think you'd be in a good spot but again you want to look at the data sets
around you and and have the inventory that you know you can turn and that's desirable but I
think it's I think we're in a good spot I don't have any fear heading into the new year so Patrick
thinking about the things that keep us awake at night there's always something as we conclude
up today and we appreciate time on the episode what's one thing that keeps you up at night thinking
about 2026 in the future of automotive this next year who you know I'll say something that I've
personally been focused on is retention and fully retention and employee satisfaction of
I've got an owner here of local that is just so well focused on our employee satisfaction we
actually use ESI as a metric we know if we have that in line that our CSI will follow suit right but
we put a lot of focus on on identifying emotional burn and our employees and not just as a
language of the phrase burnout or you know overwork but actually how we have leadership people in
place to identify when someone is making irrational decisions you know they're not really bad leaders
they just they may be overworked or compressed for time but for me the only thing I want to have
the right people in the right places doing the right things I think we all do and so you know when
I want to think about it's not so much about me it's more about making sure our team feels good
about the new year about 2026 that they know that they're supported that the automotive industry
doesn't require 80 hours a week if you want to give it we'll take it but it doesn't require that to
be successful and that there's a great there's a great balance around all aspects of your life in
this industry and so that's that's where I'm focused right now heading into the new year I love that
what a great way to wrap up the segment and the conversation today the focus on the employees and
making sure that they are getting the most out of this industry because by the way to your point
those hours aren't required but they used to be and it's changing rapidly evolving environment where
today it's not and tomorrow it's not and we want everyone in this industry who will make us
and it better Patrick Roberts and GM Hyundai Cool Springs thanks for being on the show today
sharing your perspectives thank you everybody thanks Patrick fun show today so aiger K chiming in
on how the market place looks q1 will be slower cold weather kills the market true eager but it's
not cold everywhere right just because it's cold in the Michigan Chicago marketplace doesn't mean
south climbs aren't better eager cases car says usually pick up in March but January February to
somewhat deal month statistically and had been forever and I do think you know cyclically depending
weather wise weather does impact it and then my Honda guy cute GT of if you're looking for a Honda
come see me so we get a little bit of advertisements in there as well which we love you a great
conversation today we're super pumped you're back and it was fun advertising stair step all the
things you leave just it's flew by flew by I like the yeah controlling the controllables right like
the stairs that's out of our hands right you got to do what you got to do but then you have like
Patrick is you know what can I do to give myself an edge I'm going to differentiate myself from the
pack I think it's smart I mean I we say this all the time that's what makes the car business the
best business yeah and eager K chime back in I'm in Massachusetts it and you know what it's cold
in Massachusetts that is true hopefully they're crushing it in flower right now yeah yeah Florida
Texas California yeah well to everybody out there today great show December 15 we'll see you
back on Wednesday to everybody out there thanks for watching daily dealer live we break down
the biggest moves in the car business as they happen don't forget we're here every Monday
Wednesday Friday live 1 p.m. Eastern so if this is your world hit like hit subscribe turn on
those notifications so you never ever ever miss a beat and we'll see you next episode everybody thanks
About this episode
Navigating the complexities of automotive pricing and dealer strategies takes center stage in this episode. Sam Darker hosts industry experts Andy Wright, Rob Dell, and Patrick Robertson, who discuss the challenges of deceptive pricing, the impact of OEM stair step programs, and the importance of transparency in used car sales. The conversation dives into effective lead response strategies, particularly through video communication, and emphasizes the need for collaboration between dealers and OEMs to enhance customer experience. Insights on market trends and operational efficiencies provide valuable takeaways for automotive professionals.
Original notes
Today's show features:
- Andy Wright, Managing Partner at VINART Automotive Group
- Rob Dell, Vice President of Bob Ruth Ford
- Patrick Robertson, GM of Hyundai of Cool Springs
This episode is brought to you by:
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Car Dealership Guy is back with our second annual NADA Party—happening in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 5th. It’s the hottest ticket at NADA 2026. Spots are limited and unfortunately we can't invite everyone —so RSVP today at https://carguymedia.com/cdglive and we hope to see you in Vegas!
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