Why Dealers Are Losing 70% of Trade-Ins—and How They’re Fighting Back | Brian Kramer, EVP at Cars Commerce

Welcome to the Car Dealership Guy Podcast. In this episode, I’m speaking with Brian Kramer, EVP at Cars Commerce, where we discuss: why dealers are losing 70% of trade-ins for every new car they sell, the future of data ownership for dealers, how Brian and his team are working to tackle—and beat—online vehicle price manipulation, and much more.

This episode of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast is brought to you by:

1. Dealer Pay - Designed to increase productivity and customer retention, offering a dealer-specific payment acceptance solution backed by over 25 years of experience as a trusted payments partner for dealerships across the United States. To learn more, contact Julie @ julie@dealer-pay.com or call 636-442-4901.

2. Pacer - Transform your dealership with Pacer, the all-in-one platform designed to optimize inventory, speed up sales, and boost profitability—all powered by real-time data and analytics. Don’t miss out: Be one of the first 50 dealers to join the waitlist by the end of NADA and unlock free shipping for an entire year. Terms and conditions apply. Visit pacer.co/free

See Brian Kramer at NADA 2025, send him a DM on LinkedIn to schedule a meeting: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkramer1/

And don’t miss Cars Commerce at the big show, booth #1426, schedule a live demo here: https://www.carscommerce.inc/nada/

Check out the 2024 Auto Market Year-In-Review report, packed with data and insights on the trends and shifts in the auto industry in 2024 here: https://www.carscommerce.inc/insights-report/

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Topics:

00:00: Intro

01:21: What problems come up when buying cars?

01:47: What do dealers complain about at auctions?

02:26: How do CarMax and buying cars in bulk change the market?

04:01: What are the main ways to set prices and compete?

05:03: How do customers’ experiences and dealers' actions connect?

10:26: What rules are hard to follow, and what can be done?

16:33: How can negative value in trade-in cars be fixed?

17:17: What’s happening now in buying used cars?

20:16: What problems do dealers have, and what can help?

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