Franchised Dealers Podcasts

Today I'm joined by Jack Carter, Co-owner at Turn & Burn Motors, Garrett Jones, President at Ella Blvd Motors, and Luke Godwin, General Manager and Owner at Godwin Motors. These three operators share the specific moves working right now: Luke Godwin took his dealership from 63 percent leveraged, in his words "up to my neck," down to 36 percent today by pausing car buying to let cash flow catch up. Garrett Jones rolled out an AI collections bot thirty days ago that lifted payment penetratio...

Jonathan Kienle's team once sent a salesperson to chase down a customer's canceled check, and he crashed the loaner car doing it, and Kienle says that single moment is exactly why he stopped trusting cash, checks, and credit cards to handle his dealership's biggest transactions. He walks through how switching the default down payment method saved his group $168,000 in fees so far this year, with $300,000 in sight by year's end, and argues that most dealers are needlessly eating card fees and ...

Laddie Stern is the Founder of Stern Auto Group, a 20-store empire he has built over 65 years in the car business. He started as a wholesaler for his uncle before buying and scaling the Skyline and Hatfield auctions into the country's largest privately held auction company, then returned to grow a new car group alongside his son Jonathan. He speaks candidly about the 2008 downturn that changed how he manages cash for good, the mistakes he made prioritizing the business over his family, and...

Kielan Whitner made more in his first 90 days selling cars than he made in an entire year working as a certified public accountant at a Big Four firm, and he says that gap is exactly why automotive struggles to attract the talent it needs. A fourth-generation dealer, he built his foundation on the fixed side of the business, service advisor to service manager, before stepping into the general manager role, and now leans on a network of industry mentors and organizations like NAMAD to keep level...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are John Keohane, VP of Operations and Partner at Temecula Valley Buick GMC, and Liam Golightly, SVP of Customer Success at Podium to discuss how AI operator agents are giving dealership leaders a way to run their entire operation without being in every conversation themselves. John built his own AI agent, which he nicknamed Emily, to scrape telematics data, run weekly revival campaigns on stale leads, and even coach his sales tea...

Leo Portaluppi says the accountability gap holding back growing dealer groups is one owners create themselves. He argues that titles without real equity produce managers who still think like employees, and that fixing it means giving partners a real path to owning 10, then 20 percent of the store they run. Topics: 02:10 Fixed Needs Variable, Vice Versa. 04:10 "If You Want Reliable, Don't Buy This." 08:25 Oil-Change Dad Built An Empire. 15:00 Don't Hire Bad Habits, Train Them. 17:00 App St...

Matt Haiken is the President of Prestige Auto Group, a second-generation dealer who has run stores under the Lincoln, Volvo, and Polestar brands for more than 20 years. He built LotVision, an AI platform that gives dealers live analytics on competitors' inventory, and he watched Polestar pull its franchise from under him with almost no warning. Topics: 13:40 Carvana Runs Without Sales Managers. 21:00 Tesla's Calculator Is The Gold Standard. 24:10 Brokers Fill Dealer Blind Spots. ...

Today I'm joined by Eddie Stivers, President of Stivers Auto Group. He breaks down why his own cost of people sits at 56% of gross against Carvana's 20%, and the plan to fix it within 36 months. Eddie also unpacks how he is using Claude to catch missed fleet sales and rethink decades of gut-feel vehicle ordering. Topics: 03:30Ford Hit Dead Last In Satisfaction. 08:05Stivers Buys Broken Toys. 10:30Repeatable Turnaround Playbook Works. 14:16Car Business Is Now Tech-Driven. ...

Today I'm joined by Frank Esparza, General Manager at Tracy Honda. Frank walks through how his Honda store in Tracy, California, turned a stagnant pay plan into more than a million dollars in net profit growth in twelve months. He breaks down enforcing minimum sales standards, why he moved his advertising budget from broad reach to buyers already in the market, and how a lending partner is approving finance deals that traditional banks reject outright. Topics: 03:00 Raising Standards Drove $...

Today I'm joined by Husband and Wife, Kelly and Rob Ruth of Bob Ruth Ford. Married 24 years, Rob and Kelly built the dealership together while he worked bell-to-bell, 78-hour weeks, and she ran the household solo, raising their kids largely on her own. Kelly reveals the role she played long before it had a title, shaping personnel decisions from behind the scenes and backing Rob's zero-revenue media bet on nothing but belief before any money came in. Topics: 05:45 Why Growth Meant...

Today I'm joined by Nick LaSorsa, Director at LaSorsa Auto Group. Nick runs two very different stores in the New York metro, and he lays out the exact playbook he uses to keep both profitable heading into 2026. He explains how a single hiring platform audit uncovered more than $15,000 in wasted spend, why he cancels every vendor contract the day he signs it, and how a mobile fleet service built around school bus recalls became one of the highest-margin corners of his business. Topics: 03:00 ...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Mike Martucci, General Manager at Jim Ellis Kia, and Kevin Esmezyan, Chief Product Officer at Matador AI to discuss how conversational AI is turning a three-person sales team handling 700 leads a month into a machine that doubles close rates and books service appointments at nearly 90% — while most dealers are still missing after-hours calls and watching customers drive to the competition. Mike walked into a store with a li...

Welcome to Dealer War Room from Car Dealership Guy, where we sit down with top operators to break down how they're navigating the biggest challenges in auto retail. These three rural store owners share the specific moves working right now: Scott Simons bought a Chevy store for $6.9M and tripled sales & fixed ops in under a year. Rob Ruth built a street-sourcing machine buying 300 cars/month from consumers at a 7% cost advantage over auction. Kyle Coleman launched a $59.99 oil change, dr...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Aaron Zeigler, President of Zeigler Auto Group, and Johnny McKellar, who leads NationsGuard for Hendrick Automotive Group, to discuss why Zeigler is leaving its third-party warranty provider to stand up its own dealer-owned program, Zeigler Guard, and what Rick Hendrick himself says has been the single best decision in his 50 years in the car business. Rick Hendrick joins the conversation to explain how his dealer-owned ...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Karen Chagnon, VP Sales at Guidepoint Systems, and Ferris Hamdan, General Manager at Wesley Chapel Honda, to discuss why most dealers are operating blind — unaware of which vehicles on their lot have a dead battery, a check engine light, or low fuel, and equally unaware of what's happening inside the vehicles they already sold, data their manufacturer sees but doesn't share with them. Ferris walks through how Wesley Chap...

Today, Sam D'Arc is joined by Jon Alcorn, Operating Partner at Dogwood Automotive Group. Winchester, Virginia's three-brand Dogwood Auto Group hasn't printed a paper pencil in over a year, yet grosses are up, and finance penetration sits at 89%. Jon breaks down the two systems behind that shift: a salesperson efficiency scorecard that grades reps from 113% down to 58% on metrics they can actually control, and a digital retailing stack that will deliver a 30-second actual cash value and a 60-s...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Ben Atkinson, VP of Auto Lending at Upstart, and Evan Driscoll, General Sales Manager at Audi Jacksonville to discuss why the credit score has become the most overrated number in auto lending and how a full-spectrum dealership running everything from $2,000 used cars to $400,000 Rolls-Royces gets first-time buyers approved at competitive rates with no money down. Evan breaks down how a slow approval costs his store at least $...

Today I'm joined by Marcello Sciarrino, Co-Owner at Island Auto Group. Marcello runs 20 stores across New York and New Jersey — the 37th largest business in New York State, ahead of the Yankees and the Giants — and he watched peers go from 3 stores to 12 overnight while he and his partners sat on their hands. He breaks down the math trap killing over-leveraged dealers, why brokers in the New York market are secretly extracting thousands per deal at the consumer's expense, and why his next big ...

Today I'm joined by Corina Straub Diehl, CEO and President at Diehl Automotive Group. After the sudden loss of her husband in 2007, Corina ignored advice to sell the business and instead scaled it into a 24-store powerhouse generating over a billion dollars in revenue. This conversation breaks down her "rebel" leadership style, her aggressive 5-year ROI acquisition strategy, and why she views collision centers as the ultimate customer retention tool. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Ope...

Today I'm joined by Erikka Tiffani, General Manager at Walser Hyundai Brooklyn Park. In an industry defined by grind and tradition, Erikka breaks down how Walzer has successfully implemented a 4-day work week and a non-commissioned sales model. We discuss the transition from traditional F&I "boxes" to a one-point-of-contact system that actually maintains high PVR. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Podium - the AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. Podium helps dealers consolida...

Welcome to Dealer War Room from Car Dealership Guy — a new series where host Yossi Levi sits down with top operators to break down the biggest challenges in auto retail. Today I’m joined by Matt Bowers, Owner of Matt Bowers Automotive Group, Todd Blue, CEO of LAPIS, and Andy Wright, Managing Partner of VINart Dealerships. In this episode, we get into the growing tension between dealers and OEMs — from affordability and negative equity to mandated tech. We also break down the split in the buy-s...

Today I'm joined by Rob Cochran, 2026 Chairman of NADA and CEO of #1 Cochran. We dive into the high-stakes world of dealer advocacy, exploring how NADA defeated the onerous CARS rule and why the FTC still has the industry in its crosshairs. Rob breaks down the "alignment gap" between OEMs and dealers, the looming threat of Chinese EVs, and why the franchise system must overhaul the customer experience to survive. This episode is brought to you by: 1. EasyCare - Pulseprotectsusa.com is provid...

Today I'm joined by Fred Timbrook, CEO at Timbrook Automotive. We dive into Fred's unique diversification into Power Sports, the intense efficiency required to run a high-volume collision center, and the personal philosophy of a dealer who also serves as a senior pastor. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Experian - By combining precise audience targeting with deep automotive insights, you can identify high-intent buyers, re-engage existing customers, drive service retention, and grow both...

Today I'm joined by Brian Dorsett, President of Dorsett Automotive. Brian breaks down why he is moving away from OEM-mandated digital spend, his "Big Stick" radio branding tactics, and the strict inventory rules required to survive in today's margin-compressed market. We also discuss the "catcher's view" of leadership and the reality of managing sub-prime and prime brands under one campus. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Lotlinx - Meet LotGPT, your AI Inventory Strategist built exclusiv...