Industry Executives 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...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Travis Siebert, SVP at DealerPay, and Kris Towle, Chief Accounting Officer at Niello Company to discuss why one of the auto industry's oldest processes, collecting cash and checks from parts and service customers, still costs dealerships money, time, and trust. They speak candidly about the safety risk of sending drivers out with cash, why most dealerships never question an outdated process until something goes wrong, and w...

Alan Haig is the President and founder of Haig Partners, the leading merger and acquisition advisory firm for auto dealerships, where he has guided some of the industry's largest deals. He tracks buy-sell trends and franchise values across every major brand, and he's watched Infiniti collapse further than any other name in the business while Toyota and Lexus keep climbing. He speaks candidly about which franchises are worth buying today, which ones aren't, and what a wave of new competitio...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Alex Lawrence, CEO and co-founder of EVauto, and Chris Roig, Director of Sales Engineering at Netchex, to discuss how the country's largest EV-only dealer group is scaling into new states without letting payroll and HR become the bottleneck. Alex reveals a payroll tax scare that nearly caught EVauto off guard and how a surprise refund from the IRS became a turning point. Now growing toward 4,000 cars a year across three ...

Today I'm joined by George Karolis, President at The Presidio Group. George breaks down why the average dealer is over 70 years old with no succession plan, why nearly 18% of dealers now say they want to sell in the next year, and why the biggest groups are trading luxury stores rather than walking away from them entirely. He also unpacks why Toyota stores now trade like BMW and Mercedes dealerships, and why Carvana's rapid new-car growth might not be the experiment dealers think it is. ...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Bill O'flanagan, Dealer Principal at Reedman Toll Auto Group, and Todd Kaminski, Head of Direct Markets at Zurich North America to discuss the one interview question that predicts almost everything about whether a new hire will thrive or wash out, and why building a culture of transparency and daily accountability is the real fix for automotive's turnover problem. O'Flanagan shares his go-to interview question, "Who was you...

Today I'm joined by Kelley Stumpe, Founder & CEO at The Car Mom. She has built the largest online following of car-buying moms in the country, and she has never taken a dollar from a manufacturer to do it. That refusal has gotten her blacklisted from press events and cut off from loaner cars, but it has also made her the most trusted voice family car shoppers turn to. Topics: 04:00 The Most Car Seat-Friendly SUV. 06:30 Selling To Women Isn't Different. 09:30 The Seven-Door C...

Today I'm joined by Perry Watson IV, President of NAMAD. Dealership consolidation is accelerating, and the price of entry to ownership has never been higher. Perry breaks down the numbers behind it, including how over 40 percent of new vehicle sales at some brands now come from minority consumers, and why one manufacturer doubled a dealer's sales volume within two years just by getting ownership representation right. Topics: 01:25 Consolidation's Hidden Downside. 02:00 The Academy Training N...

Today I'm joined by Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier, Co-founders at More Than Cars. Paul and Kyle break down exactly how a single exposed API key can hand a hacker access to an entire dealer management system, why dealerships are uniquely at risk given the volume of sensitive customer data they store, and what the best operators are doing to build securely before the first major breach hits the industry. Topics: 00:25 Dealerships' Most Under-Resourced Dept. 02:40 Why Auto Ads Are T...

Today I'm joined once again by Alan Haig, President at Haig Partners. Dealer profits fell 16% in the first quarter of 2026, yet the number of dealerships changing hands surged 39% over the same period last year. Alan breaks down the capital stockpile dealers built during the COVID era, why franchise values have held steady despite softer earnings, and which brands represent the best buying opportunities right now. Topics: 00:20 Buy-Sells Boom As Values Drop. 01:45 The Profit Number Dealers ...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Frederick Grimm, Co-Founder and COO of AppraisalPro, and Danny Galat, General Sales Manager at Lithia Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Bend, to discuss how dealers are using real-time diagnostic scanning to stop taking hidden mechanical losses on trade-ins and turn a wholesale department that was bleeding money into one that's actually profitable. Danny walks through the $8,000 Ford Raptor miss that kept him up at night and drove...

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 ...

Today I'm joined by Vic Keller, Founder and CEO at Experience Ventures. In this conversation, he makes the case that most dealers are sitting on hidden enterprise value they haven't tapped, that the vendor landscape is moving too slowly for dealers who want to win now, and that the single biggest lever in any dealership is still the people, not the platform. Topics: 01:30 Fixed Ops Is Unbeatable. 02:45 The $2,600 F&I Number. 04:10 The Cold Call That Changed Everything. 07:40 Job Descriptio...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Art Dessein, Vice President of Sales at Impel, and Rebekah Scheussler, Business Development Director at Walters Auto Group to discuss why luxury dealers are quietly losing service customers to independent shops and how AI is rebuilding the personalized experience at scale across both sales and service. This conversation surfaces the silent retention leak inside fixed operations: a nine-minute average service hold time, an 80%...

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...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D’Arc are Nathan Johns, CFO of Smith Auto Group, and Justin Feist, President of Auto Dealer Payments, to discuss how credit card processing is the "last frontier" of dealership expense management, yet most CFOs struggle to decipher their 20-page monthly statements. This conversation pulls back the curtain on how processors use "price creep" to erode margins and why dealerships are structurally disadvantaged in the world of chargebacks....

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D’Arc are Dennis Gingrich, Sales and Finance Director at the Niello Company, and George Chamoun, CEO of ACV Auctions to discuss the shift from gut-based appraisals to VIN-specific data science and how Niello Company exploded their lead volume by democratizing trade-in values. George breaks down why traditional inventory management is dying and how automated service drive inspections are uncovering hidden $8,000 mistakes before they hit...

Today, I'm joined by Sen. Bernie Moreno to discuss his legislative plan to "hermetically seal" the US market from Chinese vehicles to protect national security and dealer valuations. We dive into the $400 billion cost of the EV transition, the "Common Sense" way to handle FTC pricing compliance, and why the US needs to return to building sub-$25,000 affordable cars. This episode is brought to you by: Interested in supporting Sen. Moreno? Visit https://secure.winred.com/team-moreno/hd...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D’Arc are Todd Hatch, Service Director at Palm Springs Nissan, and Malcolm Richardson, Senior Automotive Account Manager at Uber for Business to discuss how dealerships can eliminate the massive P&L leak caused by traditional shuttle and loaner fleets. Todd shares how he slashed his monthly transportation spend by $6,000 and reduced his loaner fleet from 50 cars to 12 by pivoting to an on-demand model. They unpack how direct DMS integr...

Today I'm joined by Jim Roche, CEO of Warrcloud. This conversation breaks down the massive $32 billion surge in warranty work, why customer pay is decelerating, and how dealers can use technology to fix "leaky" receivables and technician dissatisfaction. Jim reveals the tactical steps needed to modernize the service lane before the "death spiral" of rising prices drives your customers away. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Podium - the AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. Po...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D’Arc are Michael Naim, VP at Zurich North America, and Jeff Glanzmann, Dealer Principal at Glanzmann Subaru, to discuss why many dealers are "flying blind" by relying on quarterly PDFs for their most valuable profit centers. This conversation breaks down how to move from a reactive "set it and forget it" mentality to a data-driven operation that yields massive returns on premium. Michael and Jeff reveal why transparency in reinsurance...

Today I'm joined by Matt Leone, CEO of DriveCentric. Matt breaks down why "tech bloat" is killing dealership margins and how shifting from task management to real-time engagement hubs can stop lead leakage across Sales, F&I, and Service. We also dive into the future of AI agents and why your next "employee" might actually be a machine-learning model. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Lotlinx – Meet LotGPT, your AI Inventory Strategist built exclusively for car dealers. It reveals competi...

In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D’Arc are Luke Parker, Finance Manager at BMW Greensboro and Erik Wielgos, Director of Dealer Success at Service Payment Plan to discuss how after a new GM changed the goalposts with a "50% penetration or pay cut" ultimatum, Luke Parker had to find a way to sell VSCs to customers the banks wouldn't touch. This conversation breaks down the tactical shift from traditional financing to 0% payment plans that drove a 20% surge in F&I perfor...

Today I'm joined by Alan Haig, President of Haig Partners. We dive into the shifting landscape of the auto buy-sell market, specifically focusing on how potential Chinese OEM entry could devastate U.S. franchise values. Alan breaks down the massive valuation gap between "Blue Chip" brands like Toyota and the struggling "Zero Blue Sky" franchises, while revealing why 15x multiples are still happening in today's market. This episode is brought to you by: 1. Overfuel - Overfuel is the new techn...