Vendor Insights Podcasts

Today I’m joined by George Karolis, President of The Presidio Group. George breaks down the tension between record-high blue sky multiples and the rising cost of capital, offering a rare look at who is buying, who is selling,...

In part 5 of our Pre NADA AI Spotlight series, Sam sits down with Luke Sontag, Marketing, & IT Manager at Kissee Ford and Ari Polakof, CEO & Co-founder of Flai. We explore how one family-owned dealership used voice AI to capt...

Today I’m joined by Brian MacDonald, CEO & President of CDK Global. We explore the massive scale of the CDK's automotive data ecosystem and what it means to have a touchpoint with nearly 90% of car owners in the country. Bria...

Today I’m joined by Alexi Venneri, Co-founder and CEO of DAS Technology. We dig into why dealers are spending a record $29,000 a month on SaaS yet still feel buried by noise, how AI search is shifting power from SEO to review...

In part 4 of our Pre NADA AI Spotlight series, I’m joined by Shaun Sorensen, CEO and Co-Founder of Kenect. We dig into why the biggest untapped profit pool in dealerships isn’t sales —it’s service—and how AI agents are moving...

In part 3 of our Pre NADA AI Spotlight series we break down why call handling is still broken , and how a new generation of agentic AI is changing the equation . Today, Sam sits down with Chris Murphy, General Manager of Volk...

Today I’m joined by Sanjay Varnwal, Co-Founder & CEO at Spyne.ai. In part 2 of our Pre NADA AI Spotlight series we break down how AI is actually being deployed inside dealerships today—from faster merchandising to smarter lea...

Today I’m joined by Eric Cohen, CEO at Merchant Advocate. We break down why credit card processing is one of the most overlooked expense lines in dealerships, how 60–70% of stores are overpaying , and which “non-negotiable” f...

This year, auto retail crossed a real inflection point with AI — not just experimentation, but actual adoption inside dealerships. With that shift came a flood of questions from operators trying to separate signal from noise....

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...

Today I’m joined by Chase Abbott, VP of Sales at Cox Automotive. We break down how AI, data, and connected technology are reshaping dealership operations , customer experience, and competitive strategy. Chase explains where d...

Today I’m joined by Mark Altieri, EVP of Business Development at Zonic Design. We break down why fixed ops is still the most under-leveraged profit center in dealerships—and how communication gaps are quietly eroding customer...

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...

Today I’m joined by Kim Saylor, Senior Director of Product Marketing at CDK Global. We break down why younger customers choose service providers based on online reviews , how AI is reducing wait times in service , and why mob...

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...

Today special guest host Sam D'Arc is joined by Shane Wilson, President at Connected Dealer Services. We dive into the tug-of-war between dealers and automakers for customer ownership after the sale , how real-time vehicle da...

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...

Today I’m joined by Len Short, CEO of Lotlinx. LotGPT is here — and it might change how dealers manage inventory forever. In this episode, Len Short and I break down the world-first dealer-focused LLM , how it diagnoses inven...

Today I’m joined by Amol Waishampayan, Co-Founder of fullthrottle.ai, and David Regn, CEO of fullthrottle.ai. We break down what’s really working in dealership advertising right now , what’s getting left behind, and the new a...

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...

Today I’m joined by Jim Roche, CEO of WarrCloud. We dig into the $100K+ most dealers miss in warranty work, why surging warranty volume has made WarrCloud one of the fastest-growing companies in America (#1 in Missouri), and...

Today I’m joined by Sanjiv Yajnik, President of Financial Services at Capital One. We cover why tech integrations are still the biggest challenge for F&I, how lenders are anticipating an EV market slowdown, why "6%" is the m...

Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...