Car Dealership Guy Podcast

#18 What's next for auto lending, When will car prices drop, How the FED really works, Receiving a call from Warren Buffett | Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO & Chief Strategist of QI Research

In this episode, I'm speaking with Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO & Chief Strategist of QI Research. 00:00 Intro 01:20 Danielle's background 08:00 Understanding the Federal Reserve 13:20 Dealing with labor shortages 17:10 How QI Research conducts research and analysis 19:25 What's next for inflation? 29:10 The state of auto lending 36:20 Will car prices come down? 42:25 What's next for interest rates 49:20 Best & worst signals in the market right now 53:00 Wrapping up Follow Danielle: Twitter QI ...

#17 Shocking revelation about car dealer profits, Exploiting seasonality in the business, When CDG bought 100 cars with a credit card | Joel Bassam, President of Eastern Motors

In this episode, I'm speaking with Joel Bassam, President of Easterns Automotive Group. 00:00 - Intro 02:03 - Joel's background 05:15 - Easterns business model 13:06 - Weathering the current market 20:19 - Unit economics & Sourcing 30:37 - CDG's gov't auction story 36:21 - Revenues & Margins 42:28 - Marketing strategy 54:12 - Growth & Expansion 59:23 - Wrapping up Follow Joel: @jbassam2 on Twitter. Joel's LinkedIn. Easterns.com. Please take a moment to visit this episode's sponsor: ⁠Fullpath⁠ – ...

#16 How much money auto repair shops make, Pros and cons of franchising, How to avoid big repair bills, Will robots start changing tires? | Brian Beers, President of Prenlyn Automotive Group

In this episode, I'm speaking with Brian Beers, President of Prenlyn Automotive Group and Host of Business with Beers. 01:18 - Brian's background 06:48 - Franchise Pros & Cons 11:07 - How Brian sources shops 18:48 - Handling staffing for a group of shops 20:43 - Overhead, Returns, and Tax Sheltering 24:08 - Best and Worst Deals 27:48 - Margins & Marketing 32:13 - Best way for consumers to maximize dollars spent 35:48 - Dealing with inflation 39:43 - Auto Repair / EV predictions 47:18 - What's ne...

#15 Making money as an automotive influencer, Cars to avoid, Empowering families and consumers, Fixing the perception of dealerships | Kelly Stumpe, The Car Mom

In this episode, I'm speaking with Kelly Stumpe, founder and CEO of The Car Mom. 00:00 - Intro 01:22 - Kelly's background 05:52 - Starting and growing The Car Mom 14:42 - Learning to monetize a media brand 19:07 - Which channel has been the most profitable 27:07 - Kelly's best car-buying tip 30:27 - Kelly's important trade-in tip 34:00 - Fixing the perception of dealerships for the future 35:52 - Wrapping up Follow Kelly: Instagram @the_car_mom YouTube Channel The Car Mom website Check out ⁠⁠⁠th...

#14 Family entrepreneurship, Building and exiting two startups, Simplifying car search for consumers, Innovating with AI | Pat Ryan, Founder & CEO of CoPilot

In this episode, I'm speaking with Pat Ryan, Founder and CEO of CoPilot. 00:00 - Intro 01:13 - Pat's background 10:33 - Family entrepreneurship 14:22 - Building & selling two companies 20:26 - Founding CoPilot 25:47 - How CoPilot makes money 31:05 - Breaking into a competitive market 39:41 - Who is CoPilot for? 48:13 - Trends that Pat's observing 54:00 - Evolving with AI 57:09 - Wrapping up Follow Pat: Pat’s Twitter & LinkedIn. CoPilot’s website. Check out ⁠⁠⁠the website⁠⁠⁠ for more and follow m...

#13 Subscribing vs Owning, How Autonomy makes money, Future of mobility, Handling a $20M swing in value, EV predictions | Scott Painter, Founder & CEO of Autonomy

In this episode, I'm speaking with Scott Painter, Founder and CEO of Autonomy. 00:00 - Intro 02:03 - Elon's "thought exercise" for Scott 07:47 - Scott's entrepreneurial journey 15:12 - The Softbank Saga 23:06 - Inspiration & The Innovator's Dilemma 30:25 - Building Autonomy 39:46 - The economics of a subscription-based model 50:40 - Autonomy's ideal customer 57:22 - What does Scott drive? 01:00:53 - Wrapping up Follow Scott: Scott's Twitter & LinkedIn. Autonomy's website. Please take a moment to...

#12 Art of appraising cars, How much money auto wholesalers make, Cars to avoid, Building a 140K-person online car community | Chad Cunningham, Exotic Car Buyer

In this episode, I'm speaking with Chad Cunningham, aka WholesaleChad, an exotic car buyer with GiveMeTheVIN. 00:00 - Intro 01:49 - Chad's background 05:48 - How wholesaling works 13:31 - Achieving consistent profitability 17:17 - The "vibe" factor at auctions 23:47 - Becoming a top-performing wholesaler 29:14 - How Chad appraises cars 35:30 - Which cars to stay away from 40:38 - Navigating trade-in offers & used car prices 45:45 - Wholesale Car Club 56:45 - CDG face reveal? 59:52 - Wrapping up ...

#11 Acquiring the domain Cars.com, Signing up first 100 dealers, Pulse on the car market, EVs, DTC, Disrupting vehicle trade-ins | Alex Vetter, CEO of Cars.com

In this episode, I’m speaking with Alex Vetter, co-founder and CEO of Cars.com. 00;00 - Intro 01:25 - Acquiring *the* domain 02:44 - 25th year anniversary 05:13 - Company background 09:08 - Keeping up with the pace of tech 12:03 - Tailwinds & headwinds 13:24 - Where are we headed as an industry 18:38 - EV search share 21:38 - Direct-to-Consumer 26:07 - Wholesale and Retail 36:31 - Leaning into AI 40:13 - The Future of Cars.com Find Alex on Twitter @tavetter. Check out ⁠the website⁠ for more and ...

#10 Dealer's secret weapon, How ChatGPT will change the car business, what dealers know about you, CDG's crazy car buying idea | Aharon Horwitz, Co-Founder & CEO of Fullpath

In this episode, I'm speaking with Aharon Horwitz, co-founder and CEO of Fullpath. (00:00) Intro (01:23) Fullpath's story (03:45) What Fullpath does for dealers & consumers (06:20) Leveraging 1st-party data (13:56) Business metrics (16:56) Best/worst marketing strategies (22:20) How AI can help dealers & consumers (33:34) CDG's vision for AI-powered car-buying (41:54) Wrapping up Learn more about Fullpath. Check out the website for more and follow me on Twitter @GuyDealership! Interested in adve...

#9 Why we still have vehicle shortages, new and used car price predictions, when we’ll get back to normal & that time CDG bought 50 Chevys at auction | Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist, Cox Automotive

In this episode, I'm speaking with Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist at Cox Automotive. (00:00) Intro (00:51) Our unique market environment (04:12) Jonathan's background (08:45) The Great Digitization (11:46) That time CDG bought 50 Chevys at auction (13:40) Are we in a K-shaped recovery? (18:45) Domestic vs International supply constraints (26:00) When do we get back to 2019 price levels? (33:45) Forecasting new vs used car prices (38:19) Advising a new car buyer (41:42) Jonathan's take on EVs (4...

#8 How much money dealers make, Secret to acquiring 15 car dealerships, Most profitable customers, Tricks to get the best car deal | Jake Lebowitz, Raceway Auto Group

In this episode, I'm speaking with Jake Lebowitz of Raceway Auto Group in New Jersey. We talk about how much he makes as a dealer, his secret method for acquiring 15 car dealerships, the most profitable customers, why he won't touch Ford dealerships, and tricks to get the best car deal. (00:00) Intro (01:08) Raceway Auto Group (02:40) M&A activity (06:47) Sourcing strategies (13:32) Jake's best deal (17:13) Delegating operations (21:45) Best and worst customers (25:09) Jake's thoughts on used ca...

#7 EV lifespan secrets, Tesla prices impact on car dealerships, Investment opportunities in the EV space, Bear case for EV adoption | Scott Case, Co-Founder & CEO of Recurrent

In this episode, I'm speaking with Scott Case, co-founder and CEO of Recurrent. (00:00) Intro (00:56) EV battery reports? Recurrent's story (02:37) What happens when your EV's warranty expires (06:15) The truth behind EV battery range (08:52) Scott's take on EV % of market share by 2030 (11:20) How changing Tesla prices are impacting dealerships (16:06) The Recurrent Flywheel (20:45) When does an EV lose most of its value? (24:01) Investment opportunities in the EV space (31:48) Operational chan...

#6 Carvana’s secret sauce, what’s next for auto lenders, pros/cons of credit unions | Chris Coleman, Co-Founder of WithClutch

In this episode, I'm speaking with Chris Coleman, co-founder and Head of Product at WithClutch. (01:10) Chris' background (03:21) Carlypso origin story (07:11) Carvana acquires Carlypso (13:11) Transitioning post-acquisition (18:27) What is Carvana's edge? (24:56) Pros & Cons of working with credit unions (34:42) Founding and growing WithClutch (44:37) Does Carvana survive? (46:37) Conclusion This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment ...

#5 Future of car-buying, will small dealers go extinct, investment opportunities in EV space | Steve Greenfield, Founder of Automotive Ventures

In this episode, I'm speaking with Steve Greenfield, Founder/CEO of ⁠Automotive Ventures⁠ and author of the book "⁠The Future of Automotive Retail⁠." (0:00) Intro (1:33) What will car-buying look like in 5-10 years? (11:22) Are smaller dealerships at risk of extinction? (14:12) Will auto-makers go direct-to-consumer? (24:22) Investment opportunities in the EV space (33:45) Trends that Automotive Ventures is focused on (51:35) What has Steve changed his mind about in the last 5 years? This podcas...

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