Latest / CBT Live / Will AI Replace Dealership Staff? California CARS Act, FTC Drops Asbury (10.07.26)

Transcript

Will AI Replace Dealership Staff? California CARS Act, FTC Drops Asbury (10.07.26) · CBT Live

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_07: AI is moving fast.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_07: If you're dealing with you, ready for what's next.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_04: And the California Cars Act is raising the stakes.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_04: What needs to change at your store?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_04: Find out all that and more right here on CBT Live.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_07: Hey everyone, welcome into another edition of CBT Live right here at the CBT Automotive Network.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_07: Today is Wednesday, October 7th.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_07: I'm Jim Fitzpatrick.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm Bridget Fitzpatrick.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for joining us today, everyone.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_07: Yep, it's gonna be a great, uh, great show.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_04: We have a great show coming up.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna welcome Todd Smith, CEO of Core AI, and he's gonna be live to hear his perspective on the future of AI within your dealership.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: And the California Cars Act is now in effect.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_04: We'll break down what the new rules mean for dealers and what you need to be doing differently with Brian Moss, president of the California New Car Dealers Association.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_07: So great stuff there.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_07: No question.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_07: That California Cars Act has um caused.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_07: I've spoken to some dealers out in California and they're like, eh, yeah, this is really, I mean, we're talking about return uh, you know, policies and what have you on used cars and some other things.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_07: I'm really looking forward to our discussion with Brian today.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_07: He's a great guy, he does an incredible job for the association out there in California.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: He does.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_07: And uh so I'm I'm really interested to hear what he's got to say about this and how it's impacted the industry.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_04: Me too, for sure.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: Before we get to that, I would like to thank our sponsor, Force Marketing.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_04: Turn your data into more dealership opportunities with automotive marketing technology built for the entire customer life cycle.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: Reach in-market shoppers, reconnect with website visitors, acquire inventory, and keep customers coming back to the service drive.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_04: And you can learn more at forcemktg.com.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Force Marketing.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_07: Yes.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_07: Run by one of the finest executives in the automotive industry.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: He's customer great parents.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_07: He really does.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_07: He really does.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_07: Those guys, man, they just nail it, you know?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: So we've got a few stories here.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: I'm getting all right.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: The FTC has dismissed its case against Asbury and three of its Texas dealerships, ending a legal fight that started back in 2024.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_04: We've talked about this before.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_04: The FTC had accused the dealerships of adding products.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: Adding products consumer.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, sorry.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_04: I I'm gonna blame the writer, which is me.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_08: You're blaming the writer and you?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_04: So they added products on that they that the buyers didn't agree to.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um they didn't agree to uh anyway.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_04: Got caught by the FTC on that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_04: So the FTC dismissed the case for procedural and resource reasons, not because Asbury was found innocent or guilty.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_04: So that's just done.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_07: Interesting.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_07: Guys, the FTC's out there.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_07: Don't be next.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_07: You know?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_07: Radar.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_07: There's a radio.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_07: Radar.
• 2:50
  unknown: Cool.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_07: Go to radar and be true.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_04: So the charging network plans to begin training dealership employees at a few hundred locations in the first quarter of 2027.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: I see why they're doing this.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_04: The idea is to help the people selling EVs better understand charging so that they can explain it to the customers.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: Now, Iona is backed by eight major automakers, including Toyota, Honda, GM, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Cellantis.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_04: So and the network is quickly growing.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_04: They um had 90 active charging locations in January and 191 at the beginning of October.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_07: 191.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 3:34
  unknown: Yeah.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_04: To be exact.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_07: That should take care of a city.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: So we've got a really great show coming tomorrow.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_04: We are going to have two live segments.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: So we're going to have to studio here.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_07: Adam Marburger, man.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_07: He brings in such great uh dealers and he does.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_04: He does.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_04: He he's going to bring in, actually, we'll have dealers in here all day tomorrow getting some great content recorded for Adam's show.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_07: And then um Who's he bringing in that we're going to have live on the show?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we're going to have Lou Ramirez and Fred Lenart's from Dry Coffee.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_04: I love their podcast.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_04: They're going to bring the energy.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_04: We know that for sure.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_04: They are sure.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_04: Always a great, um positive, empowering.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: Whenever we talk to those guys, it's just a lot of fun and very energetic.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_07: They make you feel good about being in the business.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_07: They do.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_07: About the car business.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_07: They do.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: And we should feel good about being in the car business.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_04: So we're looking forward to both of those conversations.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_04: We're going to talk to um Fred and Lou first and then Adam after that.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll have two segments tomorrow.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: Tomorrow.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: But um I bring this up because we would love for you to send in your questions for them.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: We will ask them on air.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_04: So if you have any questions for these guys about anything, we will ask them on air.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: So you can send those questions to live L-I-V-E at cbtnews.com and we'll make sure we get to those questions.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_07: I wonder if they're going to bring us some coffee.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_07: You know, you can actually buy coffee from the Coffee Guy podcast.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_07: Did you know that?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't know that, but no, I do.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_07: They actually sell coffee.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_04: That might be one of the questions I asked them tomorrow.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_04: Let's talk about that coffee.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_07: Tomorrow we'll be uh very busy in here because as I said, when Adam Marberger comes in, um he brings, I think one time he brought like 12 dealer principals.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_07: GMs and dealer principals with him and what have you.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_07: And uh this place, uh our studio and our we we have, I guess around 13,000 square feet total.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_07: And uh man, it's just buzzing when he comes in with all these people.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_07: And in like three, four hours, he knocks out all of his content.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_07: We interview people in the podcast studio as well while he's doing his thing here in the in the studio.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_07: It's pretty exciting.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_07: We love it.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_04: We called it Marburger Day and it's really, really always a great time.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: So we're looking forward to that tomorrow.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_04: So be sure to send in your questions.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_04: Again, that's live at cbtnews.com.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_04: And for any questions that you have, you have any questions for me and Jim or any of the upcoming guests that we have on CBT Live.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_04: We would love to hear even comments, questions, and we'll make sure that we we get the to the get to those on on air.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_04: So that would be really fantastic.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_07: It might even be a question for one of our subject matter experts.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_07: You know, we produce 12 different shows on the CBT network, all focusing on different areas of the of the dealership operation, whether it be fixed ops or F and I or marketing or what have you.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_07: So uh if there's a question that you want one of our subject matters uh experts to answer, then uh send that question in and we'll get right to the right.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_07: Maybe it maybe it's for Dave Anderson that says, hey, how do you how do you lead people better?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_07: Whatever.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_07: Send it in and we'll get with them to answer it.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_04: So we are here for you.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um so before we get to our first guest, who I'm really excited to talk about, he is an AI expert, all things AI, and he's really gonna uh I think uh what's gonna be a really great conversation with him.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna learn a lot.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_04: But before we talk, is it still AI?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_07: Is it super simple?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's not SI.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_04: It's not SI.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: No, we changed it back.
• 6:44
  unknown: Okay.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: I think.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway, um, before we do, there is an interesting video that we want to show.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_07: Hey, let me tell the control room real quick to shut the earphone off so that we don't hear.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_07: So they're they're I know.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_07: We're hearing everything that they say.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_07: I took mine out.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_07: So anyway.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_07: You took it out?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_07: Um we love our control room, but I don't want to hear what they're talking about.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, that's good.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_07: They're talking, they're hard at work in there.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_04: They're hard at work in there.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: We can hear them.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_07: They really are.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um so anyway, we do want to um show you this video about okay, so it was this company out of Finland has um produced this video, and this is um an older generation of robots that they're getting rid of.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_04: Older generation.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_04: They did a very clever thing with them.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_08: Here it is.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_08: Here it is, check it out.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_08: Sorry.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_09: They're not people.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_08: You kind of feel sorry for them.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_08: They are people, robots are people too.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_04: Are they getting pushed by by Arnold?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_04: They they were programmed to do this.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_07: They're programmed to kill themselves, basically.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_07: Wow.
• 8:29
  unknown: Yeah.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_07: That's really something.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_07: Hmm.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so anyway.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_07: And that's that.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_07: They're programmed to do this.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: Schwarzenegger had so much to do with this, he actually recommended them being jump dumped into this molten steel, but then actually it evolved into them programming this too.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: But that makes you wonder.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's funny because when we first saw that, we thought it looks like an AI video, but it's it's not.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's a real full on production.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's full-on production.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: I triple checked.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: So um, anyway, so I'm really excited about our next guest.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_07: Well, we got to ask him about this, by the way.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_07: Because he is the AI expert.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_07: He's um, you know, one of the uh industry leaders on AI, and uh he's literally written a book about it.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and um and uh he's the guy to ask about that video right there.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: So Todd There's the book.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_04: There it is, right?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_07: Intelligent dealership, how AI and data transform automotive retail.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_07: No, let's just talk about the book.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_07: We don't need to bring in mind.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we'll just Todd Smith, CEO of Core AI.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_04: He argues that they won't be replaced, but it will reshape where people spend their time.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_04: He joins us now live to talk about the dealership of the future.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_04: Todd, welcome to the show.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_05: Uh thank you for having me.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_05: Looking forward to our fun conversation today.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_07: Yes, it will be fun.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_07: Is it really Todd?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_07: He could be this could be Is it a clone?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_07: This could be a clone.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_07: Because maybe Todd, Todd's actually off on vacation in the Bahamas.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_07: So this clone is sitting in for him.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_07: No, it's good to see you, Todd.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_07: Thanks so much for joining us.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_05: No, thank you so much for having me.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, synthetic Todd is uh showing up for meetings now.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_05: So there you go.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_08: That's right.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_07: You're like totally dialed in with your chat and your assistance and and and uh Claude.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's unbelievable the way that it that you've got this relationship with.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_07: Sometimes I feel like I'm being cheated on, you know, because it's you do have a relationship.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_07: I'm like, can I get in on this conversation?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_07: No.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_07: The chat's got way better answers.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: Sounds like my my wife uh has her chat GPT tuned as well.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_05: I feel uh I'm just uh at the mercy of it constantly.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, exactly.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: It is the future.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_04: So in your recently released white paper, you say the jobs don't necessarily disappear, they get rearranged.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_04: So talk to us about what you mean by that.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_08: That sounds so nice.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_08: We're gonna rearrange the jobs a little bit.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_05: No, I you know, I I when I originally set out probably two plus years ago, I I had figured at least 20% of jobs would be gone.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, just off the cuff, call center jobs, um, you know, BDCs, all these areas would be dynamically changed.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_05: And um, but as I've watched the industry, not only our industry, just AI itself and its capabilities evolve and what's possible, I realize that's probably not 100% accurate.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_05: I think we'll see a more gradual evolution inside where, and what I mean by by the change that I see happening is AI will replace tasks, of course, and yes, dealerships will lose a person here or there, but they will end up backfilling other positions uh because of efficiency.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_05: Think about it.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_05: If your service department gets 10 times more efficient between a part being ordered to be able to service the car, you're not taking cars, putting them on lifts, pulling them off, moving them to the side, putting another car on the lift while you wait for a part to show up.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_05: So efficiency will require more technicians.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_05: So headcount may not change as much as we originally thought.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_05: I think what we're going to see is just a shift of where the headcount lives inside the dealership.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_07: So yeah, for sure.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_07: You make the point that technicians are already a significant part of the rooftop and that their work is uh much harder to automate.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_07: What happens when AI starts freeing up capacity in other parts of the dealership, as you just mentioning?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so think about that.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, a world where look, do we need more technicians?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_05: Do we already have a massive shortage?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_05: Uh will tech fill that role?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_05: Probably the last role to be filled inside a dealership.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I believe, I think Steve Greenfield, there was a company they invested in called RoboTire or something that was supposed to be a robot to change tires uh on and off cars.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh that one didn't go very well.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: I I think we'll see more of those try to fill the gap where humans, we just don't have enough.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_05: But just from the glide scope, I definitely feel uh that back end, which is the heart and profit center for a dealership, uh, the more efficient it gets, more profitable dealers become, um, you know, more valuable technicians become, it kind of changes the landscape of how a dealership probably operates.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_04: So now you've also said this change doesn't arrive as a big decision, it arrives on a Tuesday.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_04: What what do you mean by that?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so think about it where I think a lot of times we look for the easy button in life, right?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_05: Well, hey, let's hit the easy button, let's just add AI into our entire organization, and it's magically going to make everything perfect.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_05: That's just not what I see happening.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_05: I see lots of small bets, I see lots of iteration, trial and error, things work, things don't work.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: And I I meant by that happens on a Tuesday where you see these little breakthroughs.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_05: And then, you know, let's say your BDC department has six people in it, and unfortunately, one leaves.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe they get a better job, they go somewhere.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_05: And then you just don't backfill that position because you don't need to anymore.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, AI is now taking up more and more of that workload, where before you would be now desperate to hire a new person to fill a seat.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_05: I think those seats get filled less and less through time.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_07: You also argue that dealers need to fix pay plans before they start redrawing the org chart.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_07: Why is compensation part of the puzzle here?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_05: Well, think about it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_05: What what do we all drive from?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_05: Comp plans, right?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: If you want performance of your sales team, give them aggressive comp plan.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_05: And they'll work the comp plan to the nth degree, right?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_05: Now, our comp plans today are the almost the same comp plans.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_05: Well, they are since I started in the business in 1990.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_05: So 36 years almost unchanged comp plans.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_05: I think our reward structure is going to need to change because some of the money we pay people to do, that work will shift into complete automation.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_05: But maybe we shift the pay plan into more longevity of customer relationship, uh, more balanced into this CSI world, how we just maintain our customers through time and maintain that belly-to-belly relationship.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_05: So I think pay plans dictate behavior.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_05: I think we would all agree on that.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_05: And that's why I say we really should rethink our pay plans and automotive.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I just saw another post I thought was very interesting where they said, you know, if I was starting a dealership today, would you just give all your salespeople a six-figure salary and dynamics around that to build a better organization?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_05: Where you're not having people just always leave to the next sales job.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_05: You're trying to re-establish how the organization runs.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_05: Because think about today, sales plans are very cutthroat.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_05: You know, salespeople fight over deals.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_05: They'll change and manipulate data inside the CRM to steal deals.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_07: I'm not saying that really.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_07: Todd, Todd, they're not doing that.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_07: Say it isn't so.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: That really happens, but I I look at this as we probably are going to have to revisit compensation first, then the process of how people work, and then obviously ultimately layering more and more uh AI onto the organization to go from what I consider today we're at this bolt-on to becoming a truly AI native organization.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_07: Sure, sure.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_07: As a side note here, just since you brought it up, what do you think of a of the business model or a new business model in auto retail today that does change the compensation to a salary that individuals can live with and then have different uh KPIs in place to ensure that that salesperson's doing a good job?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_07: Um what what's your take on that?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, look, I'm I'm open if the economics work.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's the challenge uh right now.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_05: Our economics inside retail have always just been geared towards pure production of the salesperson.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um but then we added a whole nother layer of BDC, which is just made our salespeople uh inefficient, right?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_05: Because now you throw another person that's doing all the lead management, yeah, and then now there's a new space and confliction there.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: So I do believe we need to rework our organizations, and I do believe we're going to have to, I'm not gonna say start from a clear blank slate, but I will say we should challenge every process and position organizationally in the age of this agentic workforce that is emerging.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_04: So, Todd, you have what you call the swap test.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_04: If you cancel a vendor tomorrow, what do you still have on Monday?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_04: Why is this such an important question for dealers to ask?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I look at that question as a very specific one around two things.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_05: One, if I swapped a technology, what changes?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_05: And if nothing really changes, how valuable was that technology?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_05: Meaning, like if you had a piece of technology and you got rid of it, did your processes really change organizationally?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_05: Did you have to completely rework the org now that you're missing that piece of technology?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_05: In many cases, the dealership would go on.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_05: They cancel technology every week, right?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_05: And they just keep going on.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_05: The other side of that is what do you keep when you cancel that technology?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_05: So if organizationally, let's say you worked with a voice tool that you have now trained on handling your customers in service, and you keep tweaking it, you give it more instructions, you make it better and better, now you cancel that service.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_05: What do you keep?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_05: And if you don't keep that intelligence, it's not owned by the dealership, you're a renter.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_05: And think about that type of future where how will you grow exponentially if you're restarting every time you change out the tech on top?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_05: Good point.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_05: That's a big change.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_05: And I think we need to think differently uh and run from a data first layer.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_05: And that, you know, I wrote a book about this, but that to me is the number one driving force that I think we have to start thinking separate.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_07: And there's the book the intelligent dealership.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_07: Uh you say that dealers need their own operational record, not just rent access to it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_07: What does uh owning the record look like?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, think about it.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_05: Uh dealers you can now extract data from DMS, CRM, call services, uh payroll companies.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_05: All that data has inherent value.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_05: And it has compounding value the more you have of it and the more it's cleaned up, normalized into something the dealership actually owns.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_05: So I always recommend a dealership.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_05: We we set up dealers in a what's called S3 bucket, an AWS instance uh where they actually own their data.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_05: No matter what happens, no matter what vendor they decide to switch at the higher up, um their data stays preserved.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_05: And there's huge value in that.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um think about it, all these foundational models, the ChatGPTs, clause of the world, they depend on data to build that intelligence layer.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_05: And I think dealers need to think in a smaller version of that for their own operation.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_05: Because right now we're all people driven, right?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_05: Think about that.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_05: We hire people, we hire better people, and then when those people leave, all of that intelligence walks out the door.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_05: Dealers need to build a system to start to capture that intelligence internally and build ultimately new processes from what the system has learned about how it does business.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_07: Um I I've asked this question of others that are in the industry and on the AI side of the industry, and and that is there there was a dealer that I spoke to that's a large uh volume dealer and has got a number of rooftops, and he said over the course of the next five to ten years, he feels he should be able to run his dealership group on about 25% less headcount because of AI.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_07: Do you think that that's that he's he's on onto something there or that uh not so fast or not so fast?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_05: Look, I think I always said in the beginning it was probably 20% of people inside a store are doing things that computers could easily do today.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_05: Um that that roadmap to get there is very complex.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_05: One, we have software that's tied to OEMs that inhibits this complete automation.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um obviously being able to, let's say, just access DMS data to submit warranties, not very easy today.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_05: There's no uh automatic electric transmission for that.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_05: A human has to log in and do that work.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_05: And, you know, headless browsers, which we call just being able to let the software access those systems, breaks a lot of terms and services agreements inside contracts.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_05: And we've really hardened the internet over the last 25 years to be anti-bot, to be anti-crawling by these tools.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_05: So that also changes the dynamic a little bit.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_05: So I think it'll take a little bit of time, uh, but that time will be a pretty accelerated curve, right?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_05: I just saw over the next couple years, our biggest lifts will just change organizationally by changing how we look at technology.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_05: Instead of bolting it on, which what we've done over the last 30 years, uh, we'll kind of look at it.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_05: Well, how could I rethink this process and leverage AI to help me execute what I'm already trying to do?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_05: Which could be sell a car, desk a deal, um, follow up on service, um, maintain a relationship with a customer, follow up on a bad CSI uh survey, things like that.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_07: Now, every book author that I speak to is always working on the next book.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_07: Is that the case with you?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_07: Or do you are you already either working on it or you have one in your mind that you're like, oh, I want to I want to write a book about this?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I'm already part of that work on it.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so I yeah, well, why not?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I feel like a lot changes.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and there's a lot to write about, and I like to write.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_05: So I feel like getting my thoughts out on paper is a fun exercise every morning.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we'll we'll see if the book actually fully comes to fruition.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I'm definitely uh in the throes of continuing to write about our not only our industry, but the technology in general and just how do we how do we interact with it that we can get the most out of it, uh become success more successful or operationally, and uh and also don't lose sight of what we're you know trying to do, which is you know build a great company of a great team, um, and obviously you want to make it profitable, but you know, killing 75% of your people out of your organization doesn't really help, I think, uh, to do that.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_05: But look, the reality is our entire lives are going to change, right?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they're already changing.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, already.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_05: I just think we're gonna see an acceleration of that.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_07: My wife is already uh closer to the AI than you are to me.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_04: You just listen to it.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_07: Like that's understandable or the one.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_08: Show it's a she.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_05: She understands me.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_08: It's a she's okay.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_08: It really is.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_08: I know.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_05: The world is though, like, think about it.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_05: If we can help us do the things we are doing, right?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_05: I I'm taking my wife to I'm doing a 20 group up in New York in a few weeks.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_05: And uh my wife wanted to go because we're staying at a very nice hotel, which is totally always works out like that.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_05: By the way, yes.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but then she's like, oh, let me plan out our time.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_05: So she has a lunch planned at I guess Tiffany's.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: You can eat lunch there.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_05: I did not know this.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, not breakfast, not breakfast at Tiffany's, but lunch.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_07: It's like a lunch.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but she planned out everything with her chat TPT.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_07: That that lunch might be expensive, Todd.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_07: So get I hope uh book sales are up there.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_07: I hope we got a lot of client.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_07: I like the way she did that, though.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_07: Let's have lunch at Tiffany's.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_07: Right?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_07: That's good.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_04: And she did the whole itinerary on yeah.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_07: Six love braces later, right?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, exactly.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_05: I can't wait to get to the next call.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, different.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, sorry, I got the wrong my wife reminds me I got the wrong brand.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_07: Sorry about that.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_07: What would you get at Tiffany's?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_07: Lunch and breakfast.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_07: Lunch and breakfast.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_07: It's gonna be an expensive one for you.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_07: Hey, I think we've got a I think we've got a question.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_07: We do have a question.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, if if a dealer wants to start small, which two departments make the best first AI use case?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_07: That's a good question.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so uh my two big ones are fixed ops.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_05: I think AI can make a very powerful play, not consumer-facing, but internally to be more operationally efficient.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_05: I think there's a lot of opportunity there.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_05: And a back office.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_05: I think back office is a route memory, literally tons of tasks nobody wants to do.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_05: Mistakes are very expensive.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and that could be everything from monthly end-of-month reconciliation, uh, inventory reconciliation, uh, analyzing warranties before factory submission to make sure everything is checked.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_05: There's, I think, a plethora of opportunities in both back office and fixed ops that doesn't necessarily mean I have to touch my customer with the technology.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_07: This might put an end to uh dealer 20 meetings, because now you'll just take your financial statement, send it to chat, and say, tell me where the the the problem areas are.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_04: I know, I know.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: I'm joking.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: I'm joking.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_07: But no, no, seriously, like what you say that.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_07: What are the weak spots?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_07: What are you know?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_05: The real reality is uh the think about a financial statement.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_05: You have a snapshot of the dealership.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you really need all the underlying data, you do, that nuanced data to really do those deep analysis, right?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_05: I I think 20 group is as Brit saying it's about getting together.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_05: It is, it's about working through problems together.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_05: And it's about, to me, like sharing wins and losses.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_05: And I think like you can sit in a team and go, yeah, that was a bad one.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_05: I shouldn't have done that.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_05: And all the other 19 other dealers are like, yep, we told you.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_05: Or they're like, look, you were you were tip of the spear, you experimented for, you know, what do we learn?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_05: Or what did you learn that we can now learn from to apply back to our business?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_05: So I think there's a lot of that componentry in all the groups that I spend time with, uh, even more than just the hard numbers of things.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I definitely see that giving AI deeper and deeper access to the dealer's data pool once they own it begins to highlight things about how the dealer operates that they might not even be aware of.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_07: And by the way, for my good friends at NCM and NAD, I was just kidding.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_07: It was just like a light kind of a joking.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_07: Ha ha ha ha.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_07: It's funny.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_07: AI taking the place of that.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_07: No.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_07: Could never do that.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_05: So what is that ticking mail you're getting from NCM?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh, it's exactly the role.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_07: No, the uh no, I'm serious.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_07: I I was been members of uh of you know and our uh dealer 20 groups, love them, and I agree with you, Todd.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_07: You gotta have them.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_07: It's all about the being in the group and having everybody laugh at your uh loss and your Toyota statement.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_07: Uh no, I'm kidding.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_07: But uh roll.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_08: How did you lose money during a Toyota dealership?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_08: How is that possible?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_07: How is that possible?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_05: It is it is again an amazing time to be in our industry.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_05: I I think we are ill-prepared for the acceleration that we have now already started.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_05: Right now, and I think it's gonna be fun.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's gonna be very challenging for us.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I think smart dealers, look, uh as you know, dealers are entrepreneurs.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_05: And what are entrepreneurs good at?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_05: Evolving.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_05: That's right, that's right, and adapting to whatever gets thrown at them.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that is a hardened, unique quality that makes car people car people.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_07: Todd Smith, CEO of Core AI.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_07: Todd, thank you so much for stopping by.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_07: Very much appreciate it.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_07: This is the guy that you want in your corner for all the answers on AI.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_07: So I would imagine you're gonna be a very busy young man in the next uh five to ten years.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_07: The dealers are gonna be looking to you for saying, okay, help us figure this out.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_07: So we appreciate all of the uh time you've given us here at the station.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_07: Very appreciated.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_05: It was great seeing both of you today.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_05: Thanks.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_05: You too.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_07: He's the man you want your corner for AI.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_07: He is the man.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_07: And how many shows have we done on AI?
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, it's just it's so front and center for so many.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_04: We need to be having daily shows on this because it changes every day.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_07: Is that what your AI assistant said?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_07: That's what she said.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, is that what she said?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, before we get to our next guest.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: So you all know how Jim likes funny clips.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I came across a clip that I thought would be fun to share.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, let's let's see what you got.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: So we have that one, guys.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Can you describe a seat for a second?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I just want to have a quick chat with you.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: I I need to get someone to talk to our sales team, and I need someone to give them like a swift kick in the ass.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_06: I could do that.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, cool.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_06: I'm excited.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna go prep.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_06: It's gonna be good.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_06: Everyone zip it.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_06: Zip it now.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_06: Ice forward.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_06: I'll tell you what the Chevy motto is.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_06: It's together let's drive.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_06: But I'll tell you right now, here, it's more like together let's hide.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_06: Because you guys are selling shit out there.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_06: Sean, send me this pen.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_06: Um, it's red.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_06: That's why silver motto are still everyone stand up.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_06: We gotta do an exercise.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_06: Everyone's too tight.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_06: Stand up, we gotta shake this out.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_06: Go ahead and shake it out.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_06: Shake it out.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_06: Let's go to Harlem with it and shake it, shake it.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_06: Go ahead.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_06: Sean, don't know what the hell you're doing.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_06: Sean, go ahead and belly roll it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_06: Belly roll it.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_06: Something Sean knows a lot about.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_06: One thing that that's very important to me that I learned is Sean, first off, where'd you get the bag of chips?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_06: Sean, don't eat a chip.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_06: I need you to get your head out of your ass and your hand on the bag of chips and pay attention.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_06: Do you understand?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_06: The phrase I came up with that's gonna help you guys is when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, okay, that's when you're gonna be successful.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_06: Sean, what?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_06: Pretty sure that's Eric Thomas.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_06: It's right behind you.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_06: Eric Thomas get salesman of the year in 2010, because I don't think he did.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_06: You don't really say.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_06: But if you guys can do what I said today, you guys are gonna be successful.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_06: T on me, team on three.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_06: One, two, three, tink! All right, we can probably work on that.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_04: That guy was really good.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_04: Not only was the whole skit a funny skit, that guy's a good actor.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_04: He is, he is.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_08: I've seen him on other on other things, but that that is spot on.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_08: It's the it was great.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, swift kick in the ass is whatever his sales team needs.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_04: I think he was pulling pieces from a lot of different trainers that we all know and love.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, we do.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_04: So I thought that was pretty funny too, because I was like, oh, that's that looks like so-and-so.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, oh, that looks like so-and-so the way he was doing that.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that's right.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: So I thought that was great.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_07: No, I I thought it was great.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_07: You so we we should have the the the uh audience vote on who picks better clips, you or I.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_04: So far.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_07: Uh-huh.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_04: You have a lot more to choose from, but is that what your assistant said?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's what she said.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_07: I'm looking forward to this conversation coming up here.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_07: For sure.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_07: So the California Cars Act is now in effect.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_07: You can hear on the West Coast the dealer screaming right now.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_07: No, just kidding.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_07: Bringing new requirements for dealers are really across the state.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_07: So it's it's a big move.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: So what do dealers need to know and what should they be doing differently now?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_04: Joining us is Brian Moss, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, to break all this down for us.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: Brian, thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_07: Hey Brian.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_07: Thank you both for having me.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_07: Do you have to wear a flat jacket into dealerships these days?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_07: Because uh gosh.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I used to be over six feet, but I'm a little shorter now.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_07: Um, this this is a big move out there in California, right?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, they're let's uh for the people that are listening, break break down the uh the the actual law.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh this was a law that was passed in 2025, and we uh asked the legislature to delay its effective date until October 1st, which was just a few days ago.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's probably the biggest change in uh the car buying process since the car buyer's bill of rights all the way back in 2006.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what it requires is that if a customer makes an inquiry about a specific vehicle, uh dealer must give a written disclosure of the total price of that vehicle.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that total price is slightly different than it is under the FTC's interpretation, but that's a significant change, and dealers are trying to figure out how to uh provide that disclosure and keep a record of it because the law also requires they keep a record for two years.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_04: So you have hosted several webinars for your members on this.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: What are the questions or concerns that you're hearing the most from your dealers?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's uh uh because it's something new and uh dealers are used to their processes that they've employed for a while, uh they're trying to understand what the rules are, what the parameters, uh, what they need to do.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the questions uh revolve around uh exactly how do you have to provide it.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: It only has to be a written disclosure at the first inquiry about a specific vehicle.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to keep giving uh the same disclosure over and over, but you have to keep a record of it, and that's uh really important.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the bill contains lots of other things too.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it provides for a uh three-day rite of return for used vehicles priced under$50,000.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another process and procedure that dealers have to implement.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's similar to a two-day contract cancellation option that had been around for 20 years, but some of the rules have changed, some of the numbers have changed, and dealers obviously need to update their processes.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_07: It would seem it would seem as though this is a gonna be a huge uh training uh initiative to retrain all of these salespeople and managers so that they know what the law is and how to abide by it.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_07: And uh are there any parts of the new law that dealers seem to be struggling with more than others?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that some of the initial inquiries that we're getting, uh we run a legal hotline uh at our association and uh staffed with a couple of attorneys who are fielding calls nonstop.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're also talking to lots of outside counsel.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's really about the um uh first disclosure of the total price, how that has to be provided, and uh how it has to be kept.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh most dealers are trying to do that through their CRM so they can have a record of it.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: And some of the CRM uh partners are working uh diligently to come up with the technology to make it as seamless as possible.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_04: So what should dealers uh what should they be doing to make sure these procedures actually become part of their day-to-day operations?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think Jim said it.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's about training.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's about uh explaining the rules to uh your team at your dealership and then implementing those rules.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's no different than any other law or process that uh requires a change.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to post new signs in the F and I offices, um, you've got to uh make sure you're uh keeping records, et cetera, et cetera.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's really about training and then following through to make sure everybody is doing what's necessary.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things um we've made clear and repeated over and over to dealers is you don't want your salespeople using their personal cell phone to communicate this first price unless it's through an app uh that your CRM can track.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't have a record of it, it's you know Jim's personal cell phone, yeah, you're not gonna be able to have the record if the DMV comes calling.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_07: That yeah, there are some big fundamental changes here, that's for sure.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_07: Also, in the event of a trade, if somebody trades a car in on a used car, now that retailer has got to hold on to that trade, can't wholesale it, can't resell it, right?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the the rule does account uh for uh uh the circumstances where a dealer sells uh the trade.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um we we knew that there there's a possibility that dealers uh have processes where they're gonna turn this around instantly.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's probably better if you hold the trade for three days because then you don't have all the paperwork and craziness that you have to do to comply with the law.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um but if uh you know somebody uh does sell a car after day two and the customer comes back on day three, there's a way to give money back to the customer if the car has been wholesaled or retailed.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_07: What what's uh what have you heard so far?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_07: I know it's just the first week, it's week one, but what are what are some of the things that you're hearing back from your your members?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_07: Any anyway.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think most of the calls right now uh, as we've been discussing, are about uh that uh first disclosure of the total price and how dealers are trying to figure out how to comply.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, we've emphasized to our dealers uh you don't have to outrun the bear.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to outrun the dealer that's not uh doing their best to comply.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: So if dealers are making a uh an honest effort to try and uh match the disclosures that are required by the CARS Act, um they're gonna be in good shape.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna take some time for this to sink in in the marketplace.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: And we've been communicating with uh uh folks at the state that you know this is a a huge endeavor.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just new car dealers, of course, it's all independent dealers.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's anybody who sells uh cars as licensed dealers in California.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we're talking thousands of thousands of folks, uh, and we're trying to make sure our dealers are as up to speed as they can be.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you've showed some of the resources we provide on our website.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: We've got checklists, FAQs, that's great, an 80-page compliance guide.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the resources are there, and uh it's about training.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_07: Yes, yeah, I would imagine.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_07: And how many uh roughly do you know how many used car dealers there are independents in in the state?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know the precise number.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody told me a few years ago it's five or six thousand.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now that could be a guy that's selling three cars on this driveway.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um but probably at least a couple of thousand.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Carmax is a used car retailer, and they're gonna have to comply with this too.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, very good point.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_04: All right, switching gears here for for a minute, you just wrapped up your annual convention.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_04: Talk to us about that.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: How'd that go?
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it was great.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: We uh meet every year in Hawaii, and we have uh educational programs for dealers and opportunities for our dealers to network with each other and with our uh vendor partners.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh sponsors are all there, and it's a in a relaxed environment, an opportunity to uh break bread and spend time together and talk about industry trends and things that are happening in the industry.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of the highlights for me is we do a dealer-only meeting where we have our members in the room and they get to ask uh myself and our colleagues questions about what's going on at the association and what might be on the horizon.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_07: Sure.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_07: What is uh on on the uh to-do list before the year runs out here in this last quarter?
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_07: Is there any unfinished business that you want to close out or get to before the end of the year?
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, a couple things, as you know, we've had many conversations in the past.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: Jim, we're in the process of litigation against VW Scout.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: That that case is ongoing.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah uh we're in discovery right now.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I suspect there'll be depositions and document requests provided and those kinds of things.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um in addition, we do uh new law seminars uh every December where we talk about all the new laws that California passes.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: About 1,100, 1200 bills are signed by the governor, and some 50 or so may impact dealer operations.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to explain those to our dealers.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: CARS Act is obviously a big deal.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we'll continue to talk about that, but there are other bills that dealers need to know about uh as well.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, we're gonna plan for a brand new governor and a brand new legislature uh next year.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna have a meeting uh with some of our leaders uh next month to talk about what our priorities are gonna be when the legislature reconvenes in 2027.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I was watching the debate um uh last week between the the two different um candidates that you've got up for governor.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_07: Uh interesting discussions there between the two of them.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_07: It's a very contentious race there, for sure, right?
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're we're a very democratic state, so I think most uh pundits think that uh Avier Becerra, the former HHS secretary and California Attorney General and Congressperson, is likely to win.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh we have to prepare for any contingency, and we're looking forward to working with whoever the next governor is.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, no, no, for sure.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_07: Absolutely.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_07: The uh the dealers need you on the front line there.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, we've talked about that before.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_07: The uh uh and as much as you can get the dealers, your members involved in helping your efforts, right?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, we've said we've said this before that if you're a dealer in California and all All of this is going on, the best thing that you can do, right, Brian, is bring in you know the state legislators and let them know what you're doing there at the at the dealer level, how many people you employ, how many taxes you pay, and all of that, right?
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's an education process.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Many of these legislators, frankly, uh haven't worked in the private sector before.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: They've never signed the front of a check.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: They've only signed the back of a payroll check.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh explaining to them how the car uh dealership uh ecosystem works and why it's important to their constituents, yeah.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, that's what the VW Scout fight is about.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: If um VW can get away with distributing vehicles through a scout brand and ignore their dealer partners, that's ultimately gonna hurt consumers because they're not gonna have access uh to fully functional uh dealerships that our members provide.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we can't let that stand.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_07: No, I agree.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_07: The um, you know, we all are going crazy over gas prices right now.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_07: And uh it's funny because we uh we'll talk about, you know, oh my god, it's$4 a gallon,$4.15 a gallon, whatever, whatever the number is.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_07: What is gas in California?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the precise average is, but I know in my neighborhood uh regular gas is about$650 a gallon.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh diesel's probably closer to$850 or$9 a gallon.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's gonna have a dramatic impact not only on dealerships and the cars that our members sell, but every consumer who uh buys something at you know Walmart or their grocery store.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you need diesel trucks to deliver those things, and it's just gonna be a lot more expensive.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, no, no, no question about it.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_07: So as a result of that, do you have you seen a spike in EV sales in California?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: There have been uh there's been some growth.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna publish our uh quarterly auto outlook uh in the next week or two, uh, which will have uh third quarter uh data.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh what we saw in the first half of the year is hybrid sales really took off.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: And there was a lot of growth in hybrid sales.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you're seeing that naturally.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think consumers are making the calculation, eh?
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: I may not be ready for an EV, but fuel economy sure matters.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd like to improve on you know the 20 or 30 miles a gallon I get now and get 40 or 50 miles a gallon so they can stretch those dollars further.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the companies that have hybrid offerings are doing really well in California.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: And those that uh had hybrids or don't yet have hybrids, um, they're having to play catch-up.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, like GM.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_07: GM, we just did a story on GM that they don't even have a hybrid.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_07: They had no, I think they have one, right?
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_07: Is it yeah, the Corvette?
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_07: It's like, what is going on?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_07: Well, how did they miss the boat?
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_07: There it is.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_07: How did we miss how'd they miss the boat on hybrids?
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_04: They seem to be doing okay, though.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_04: So other other areas.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Brian Moss, thank you so much for joining us today on CBD.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, we have a question from our viewers here.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry, we almost missed that.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_07: Can the initial quote be a discounted price they can buy the car for, or does it have to be MSRP out the door?
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: So um essentially what the CARS Act requires is an MSRP price, uh a manufacturer's suggested retail price.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do that advertising any longer.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: It has to be the total price, everything excluding government uh taxes and fees.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: So uh whatever you're pricing at, uh it could be MSRP, it could be higher or lower than MSRP.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: But whatever your price is, uh the customer has to uh feel confident that that's the price you're selling at.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: So hard ads that are on the vehicle have to be included in the total price.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: Document processing charges, uh pursuant to the FTC's advice have to be in the total price.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: All those kinds of things um have to be included.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: And uh this is the direction we're going nationally.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's just the CARS Act has hit October 1st in a much more meaningful way in California than perhaps in other states.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and our dealers, as usual, are gonna be uh compliant first, and then I suspect some aspects of our law are gonna spread eastward.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_07: Sure.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_07: Is it I'll ask you a crazy question here.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_07: If if a Republican, if the Republican that's running for governor wins, could this could this law go away?
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, if if somebody says, hey, I'm I'm not down with this and we're gonna scratch that law in California.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um the short answer is no.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have a three-quarters Democratic legislature.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: So even if Mr.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hilton uh somehow upset uh Becerra and won the governorship, yeah, chances are really good the three-quarters democratic legislature would not uh change the law.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now that doesn't mean we might not go in once we have some time to say, hey, we need to tweak this.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: The implementation isn't working out the way we thought.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we do that uh every year in a very democratic state.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: The CARs act, as it was initially proposed, was significantly worse than it is now.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I realize dealers aren't thrilled, but it had a 10-day used car cooling off period, for example.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: That is crazy.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was gonna take effect last January 1st.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we got a delayed effective date.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there are lots of things that we were able to push back on and fix.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but it California is a very uh progressive state, they're very consumer friendly uh and consumer forward, and uh we did our best to work with the legislature and come up with a law that dealers could comply with, although it does uh require significant effort.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_07: And your governor, your your current governor could be running for president and be the next president of the United States, right?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_07: Could be.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: I believe he's one of many that are being uh talked about as uh running for president.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, we're not even through the midterm elections yet, so we've got a ways to go.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I suspect uh a lot of folks right now are looking in the mirror saying, hmm, it could be me, uh governors, senators, congresspeople, others.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I expect, certainly on the Democratic side, it's gonna be a huge field.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um to test what's gonna happen two years from now.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_04: Interesting stuff.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Brian Moss, president of the California New Car Dealers Association.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for joining us on CBT Live today.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Brian.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: Bridget Jim, thanks so much for having me.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I think Brian Moss should run for president.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_07: He's a great guy.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_07: I'd vote for him.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, you know?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: Brian Moss for president.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_07: What?
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: Brian Moss for president.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_07: That way we can just call him and say, hey, could you get on CBT Live and now that's your president?
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_07: He'll be like, I don't even know who you people are.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_07: He's a great guy because he runs for the head.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_04: He's a presidential seat that he's in, right?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_07: He does.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_07: He does.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_07: I'm I'm joking, but he's he runs a great organization there.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_04: They really he does.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_07: He does such a good job.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_07: Busy guy.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_07: For sure.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_07: So oh I've got a we've got a couple of comments too, maybe about the conversation.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_07: What do we got, guys?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, I like Bridget's clips best.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_03: Ah, there we go.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, what?
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_04: We can vote.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_07: Wow.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_07: And I've only had one.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_07: Do you vote?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_07: Do you know this individual already?
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_07: Are you already stacking the deck against the sister?
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_09: Thank you.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_09: No.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_07: Boy, that's that's from Coffee Guy.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_07: That's from the uh Car Guy Coffee podcast.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_07: Best news in coffee.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, thanks a lot, guys.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, maybe not.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_07: Maybe we're not looking forward to seeing you.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_07: We are.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_07: I thought you were voting for the code.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_04: No, it wasn't them.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't them.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_04: They're saying the best news in automotive.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks, B.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_04: T.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_07: Thank you.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: Another viewer, Kaylee Crockett.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_07: Kaylee said I like Brigitte's.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_07: Okay, okay.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_04: I was going to say So before you get jump all over them, I did, I did.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_04: You're going to be our guests tomorrow.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_07: All right, I take it back, guys.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_07: We're looking forward to seeing coffee again.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_07: And by the way, bring us coffee.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_04: We'll have lunch for you for sure.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_08: You know this place is going to be jumping when they come in here.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's going to be a lot of fun.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_04: So be sure to tune in tomorrow.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_04: And again, if you have questions for them or Adam Marberger on tomorrow's show, be sure to send those into live at cbtnews.com.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_07: That's right.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_04: So also, while you're at cbtnews.com, be sure to head over and sign up for our newsletters.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_04: You'll get more great conversations like we've had today.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_04: And you'll all and also be sure to sign up for um like, follow, and subscribe on social media.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_07: That's Joe Laham right there.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_07: I love him.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_07: The hardest working man in the car business.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: Love how you comment on the newsletter every time.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_07: He's great.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_07: Whenever he comes on, he tells it like it is, and we get like a million views from his uh We do.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_07: Damn outies, right?
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_07: Whatever it is.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_07: I love him.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_07: Love him.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_04: One more thing before we go.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_04: I do want to mention that we will be out at Use Car Week.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_07: Yes.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_04: November 16th through the 19th.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_04: So please be sure to stop by and say hi if you're going to be there.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_04: We'll be recording CBT live right from the show floor.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_04: We'll be doing other interviews throughout the day.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_04: So we are really looking forward to that.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_04: That's going to be here before we know it.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_04: And um we look forward to seeing you all out there in San Diego.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_08: San Diego.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_04: San Diego.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_08: Do you know what San Diego stands for?
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_04: No, we're not having this conversation.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_04: We will see you all tomorrow.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_04: Thanks for joining us today.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_08: Have a great day.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_00: Keep the whole market tuned in.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: Monday morning, Keystone and Jersey.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: No numbers on the boat room moves.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's a day.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: From the showroom floor to the vendor car.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: We bring the latest stories, breaking down head hard dealers in the room.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us what they see.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: Inventory, margin, digital strategy.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: No rumor, no noise, just the facts and motion.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: We tell out of news with the clear eye focus and on his own head.