Car Dealership Guy Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to the Car Dealership Guy Podcast. In this episode, I'm speaking with Steve Adragna where we discuss: The biggest trends in dealership hiring, Demystifying pay plans, Rise of the $1M manager, Hottest automotive roles and much more. This episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast is brought to you by: CDG Recruiting - Building on the success of my industry job board, I’m launching CDG Recruiting — a more hands-on, white-glove automotive recruiting service. Our team has decades of experience and has successfully placed over 1,000 roles in the automotive industry. So if you’re ready to find your next rockstar employee, try CDG Recruiting today by visiting cdgrecruiting.com Interested in advertising with Car Dealership Guy? Drop us a line here Interested in being considered as a guest on the podcast? Add your name here Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:46) - Announcing CDG Recruiting (00:06:32) - Steve’s background and career (00:11:14) - What is the general demand for employees looking to make a change? (00:14:22) - Dealership comps by role (00:22:56) - Where are you seeing comp variance in dealerships? (00:28:30) - Why does GM hiring tend to happen later in the year? (00:30:43) - The technician shortage (00:32:23) - What roles are dealers looking for most? (00:35:52) - Why do candidates come to you? (00:40:06) - How quickly do you typically fill roles? (00:41:15) - Do you ever reject candidates or dealers from working with you? (00:44:13) - Predictions for the industry Check out CDG Recruiting here. Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: CDG News - https://news.dealershipguy.com/ CDG Jobs - https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership X - https://x.com/GuyDealership LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/ Everything else - dealershipguy.com

Welcome to the Car Dealership Guy Podcast. In this episode, I'm speaking with Matthew Crawford, Chief Product & Innovation Officer at Cars Commerce. We discuss: How he designs retail experiences for 30M car shoppers, best practices for selling cars online, how dealers are gaming the marketplace algorithms and much more. This episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast is brought to you by: DLRdmv - Everyone knows out of state titling is a major headache. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our friends at DLRdmv have created a program called DLR50 - A revolutionary approach to 50 state titling. With DLR50, your dealership now has 24/7 portal access to calculations, pre-filled forms, checklists, inquiries, plus white glove processing and specialist support. You can even acquire duplicate titles in all 50 states directly through the DLR50 platform! Visit https://www.dlr50.com/ to learn more. Car Dealership Guy Industry Job Board - Connecting world-class talent with top-notch companies in Automotive. Find your next role—or start hiring today—at https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/ Cars Commerce - The platform to simplify everything about buying and selling cars. Learn more at https://www.carscommerce.inc/ Interested in advertising with Car Dealership Guy? Drop us a line here Interested in being considered as a guest on the podcast? Add your name here Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:20) - Matthew’s background (00:02:47) - Cars’ Product roadmap (00:04:37) - What are consumers looking for today? (00:06:25) - What are some best practices for folks to have their listings show up at the top in the Cars algorithm? (00:13:24) - Will consumers eventually have an AI agent that helps them find the exact car they need? (00:16:26) - Where will AI have the greatest impact? (00:19:54) - How do you avoid investing in the wrong technology? (00:24:16) - What are the biggest opportunities for marketplace right now? (00:27:18) - How do you align incentives? (00:29:31) - What’s exciting to you these days? (00:30:26) - What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned in automotive? Check out Cars Commerce here. Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: CDG News - https://news.dealershipguy.com/ CDG Jobs - https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership X - https://x.com/GuyDealership LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/ Everything else - dealershipguy.com This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Welcome to the Car Dealership Guy Podcast. In this episode, I'm speaking with Sanjiv Yajnik, President of Financial Services at Capital One where we discuss: Secrets of the #1 auto lender, How to scale to 100M customers, What's next for car ownership, and much more. This episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast is brought to you by: Lotlinx - Get the best possible market advantage on every vehicle transaction. Optimize operations and boost profits using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Learn more @ https://lotlinx.com/ OPENLANE - The world’s best online dealer marketplace for used cars, bringing you exclusive inventory, simple transactions, and better outcomes. New to OPENLANE? Sign up now and receive a $350 buy fee credit. Learn more at https://www.openlane.com Capital One - Dealers are constantly looking for creative ways to drive customer leads, and Capital One is innovating to help. Muse from Capital One Navigator Platform provides the tools dealers need to create personalized touchpoints for customers, connecting a dealer's digital footprint with their physical world. With Muse, dealers can create individual and unique cards that allow their teams to prospect anywhere by sharing their profile page with a customer so the customer can share contact information, get pre-qualified, and search inventory. Get started today by visiting https://carguymedia.com/3WsS50m Car Dealership Guy News - The #1 source for concise and unbiased car industry news. Stay informed with the most relevant and interesting stories by visiting https://news.dealershipguy.com/ Interested in advertising with Car Dealership Guy? Drop us a line here Interested in being considered as a guest on the podcast? Add your name here Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:28) - Sanjiv’s background and career (00:10:35) - How were you able to scale to this size? (00:16:10)- How can we solve the affordability crisis? (00:21:39) - The Navigator product (00:25:21) - What trends are you focused on? (00:29:12) - What’s your vision for this “card” for dealers? (00:35:42) - How do you come up with innovative ideas? (00:42:46) - What are you seeing in terms of buying signals from the consumer? (00:45:37) - What’s next for CapitalOne? (00:53:32) - Where do you see the auto industry trending? (01:00:57) - Closing thoughts Check out Muse by CapitalOne here. Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: CDG News - https://news.dealershipguy.com/ CDG Jobs - https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership X - https://x.com/GuyDealership LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/ Everything else - dealershipguy.com This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 – Discover Automotive's Leading Customer Data and Experience Platform. Turn your first-party data into customers for life with ⁠Fullpath⁠.  Check out ⁠⁠⁠the website⁠⁠⁠ for more and follow me on Twitter ⁠@GuyDealership⁠! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 next for Brian and his group 50:38 - Wrapping up Follow Brian: brianbeers.com Business with Beers Check out ⁠⁠⁠the website⁠⁠⁠ for more and follow me on Twitter ⁠@GuyDealership⁠! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 ⁠⁠⁠the website⁠⁠⁠ for more and follow me on Twitter ⁠@GuyDealership⁠! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 me on Twitter ⁠@GuyDealership⁠! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 visit this episode's sponsor: ⁠Fullpath⁠ – Discover Automotive's Leading Customer Data and Experience Platform Turn your first-party data into customers for life with ⁠Fullpath⁠.  Check out ⁠⁠⁠the website⁠⁠⁠ for more and follow me on Twitter ⁠@GuyDealership⁠! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 Follow Chad: Chad's website. Give Me The VIN's website. Wholesale Car Club on Facebook. Please take a moment to visit this episode's sponsor: Fullpath – Discover Automotive's Leading Customer Data and Experience Platform. Turn your first-party data into customers for life with Fullpath.  Check out ⁠⁠the website⁠⁠ for more and follow me on Twitter @GuyDealership! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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 follow me on Twitter @GuyDealership! Interested in advertising with CarDealershipGuy? Join the sponsor waitlist ⁠here⁠. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.