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Vendor Insights Podcasts

The Next Frontier for Dealership Service Phone Lines (+ The Hours Saved Using It) | Pre-NADA AI #3
Jan. 15, 2026

The Next Frontier for Dealership Service Phone Lines (+ The Hours Sav…

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...

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The Time-to-Sale Problem Dealers Are Dying to Fix (and Who's Figured it out) | Pre-NADA AI Spotlight #2 | Sanjay Varnwal, Co-Founder & CEO at Spyne.ai
Jan. 8, 2026

The Time-to-Sale Problem Dealers Are Dying to Fix (and Who's Figured …

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...

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The Margin Problem Dealers Rarely Audit: Credit Cards (And 3 Practical Fixes) | Eric Cohen, CEO at Merchant Advocate
Jan. 6, 2026

The Margin Problem Dealers Rarely Audit: Credit Cards (And 3 Practica…

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...

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‘The CSI Illusion’ : The Death of the Survey and Why Speed is the Real Driver of Dealer Profit | Industry Spotlight
Jan. 3, 2026

‘The CSI Illusion’ : The Death of the Survey and Why Speed is the Rea…

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....

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The Real Cost of Car Theft at Dealerships – Security, Recovery, and Retention | Industry Spotlight
Dec. 23, 2025

The Real Cost of Car Theft at Dealerships – Security, Recovery, and R…

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 ...

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“Time Kills Deals!” – The 40% Rule and the Speed Strategy That Closes More Car Deals | Chase Abbott, VP of Sales at Cox Automotive
Dec. 18, 2025

“Time Kills Deals!” – The 40% Rule and the Speed Strategy That Closes…

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...

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"Half of their DMS is inactive!" – A Wakeup-Call for Service Drives and How to Bring Customers Back | Mark Altieri, EVP of Business Development at Zonic Design
Dec. 9, 2025

"Half of their DMS is inactive!" – A Wakeup-Call for Service Drives a…

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...

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The Human Skill the Industry Lost — and How Great Dealers Are Scaling It to 10K+ Leads Daily | Industry Spotlight
Dec. 6, 2025

The Human Skill the Industry Lost — and How Great Dealers Are Scaling…

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 ...

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The Future of Service – How Reviews & Mobile Options Are Reshaping Dealer Success | Kim Saylor, Senior Director of Product Marketing at CDK Global
Dec. 2, 2025

The Future of Service – How Reviews & Mobile Options Are Reshaping De…

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...

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The Hidden Leak in Service: How Data is Exposing The Customer Retention Crisis and How to Fix it
Nov. 25, 2025

The Hidden Leak in Service: How Data is Exposing The Customer Retenti…

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 ...

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The New Auto Arms Race: How Dealers Are Turning Vehicle Data into Loyalty and Cash Flow | Shane Wilson, President at Connected Dealer Services
Nov. 8, 2025

The New Auto Arms Race: How Dealers Are Turning Vehicle Data into Loy…

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...

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The Car Sales Secret Lost in the 90's — and How Dealers are Reviving it at Scale | Industry Spotlight
Nov. 6, 2025

The Car Sales Secret Lost in the 90's — and How Dealers are Reviving …

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 ...

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Inside the Lead Response Crisis Hurting Dealers (And What to Do About it) | Industry Spotlight
Oct. 30, 2025

Inside the Lead Response Crisis Hurting Dealers (And What to Do About…

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 ...

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Unveiling LotGPT: Automotive’s First Dealer-Facing Chat Tool — and 7 Problems It Solves | Len Short, CEO of Lotlinx
Oct. 18, 2025

Unveiling LotGPT: Automotive’s First Dealer-Facing Chat Tool — and 7 …

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...

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The State of Dealer Advertising in 2025: What’s Really Working Now | Amol Waishampayan, Co-Founder of fullthrottle.ai, and David Regn, CEO of fullthrottle.ai
Oct. 16, 2025

The State of Dealer Advertising in 2025: What’s Really Working Now | …

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...

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Appraisal Landmines Costing Dealers $1,000's — And How To Defuse Them | Industry Spotlight
Oct. 11, 2025

Appraisal Landmines Costing Dealers $1,000's — And How To Defuse Them…

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 ...

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Stop Bleeding Margin: 3 Red Flags in Dealership Ops — and How to Turn It Around | Jim Roche, CEO of WarrCloud
Oct. 9, 2025

Stop Bleeding Margin: 3 Red Flags in Dealership Ops — and How to Turn…

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...

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The #1 Bottleneck in Car Sales: Broken Tech Integrations—and How to Fix Them | Sanjiv Yajnik, President of Financial Services at Capital One
Oct. 7, 2025

The #1 Bottleneck in Car Sales: Broken Tech Integrations—and How to F…

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...

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The Old-School Process Still Killing Dealer Productivity – And How To Fix It | Industry Spotlight
Sept. 25, 2025

The Old-School Process Still Killing Dealer Productivity – And How To…

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 ...

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"F&I Must Come First!" — 2,900+ Hours of F&I Research Distilled in 30 Minutes | Jason Swiech, Product Marketer at CDK Global
Sept. 18, 2025

"F&I Must Come First!" — 2,900+ Hours of F&I Research Distilled in 30…

Today I’m joined by Jason Swiech, Product Marketer at CDK Global. We discuss what top-performing dealers are doing in the F&I office, why double-entry data is crushing customer satisfaction, the add-on products flying off the...

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The Time Bomb In Labor Rate Increases (& How Dealers Are Maximizing Profit) | Industry Spotlight
Sept. 11, 2025

The Time Bomb In Labor Rate Increases (& How Dealers Are Maximizing P…

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 ...

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"Money's not in the CRM, It's in the DMS!”– Tracking the Pulse of AI in Dealerships | Art Dessein, Vice President of Sales at Impel
Sept. 9, 2025

"Money's not in the CRM, It's in the DMS!”– Tracking the Pulse of AI …

Today I’m joined by Art Dessein, VP of Sales at Impel. We dig into how AI is reshaping inventory management, the playbook big dealer groups use to roll it out without losing culture, and why less customer communication is act...

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Remote Deliveries Are Booming—So Is Fraud (Here’s How to Stay Safe) | Industry Spotlight
Aug. 31, 2025

Remote Deliveries Are Booming—So Is Fraud (Here’s How to Stay Safe) |…

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 ...

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“Like Watching Game Tape”: Exposing How Deals Slip on the Floor—And How to Fix It | Jake Cronin, CEO and Founder of Siro
Aug. 28, 2025

“Like Watching Game Tape”: Exposing How Deals Slip on the Floor—And H…

Today I’m joined by Jake Cronin, CEO and Founder of Siro. The untapped profit potential hiding in F&I, winning strategies to secure consent to record customers, using data to diagnose dealership challenges—and more. This epis...

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