Used Car Dealer Podcast

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer Podcast, Zach interviews Bob Voltmann, the CEO of NIADA, the largest national used car association in the United States. They discuss the used car marketplace, NIADA updates in Washington, the most recent convention, and more! Some of the questions asked include: Q) So let’s get started and for those of us listening talk about what your first year and a half as CEO of NIADA have been like, what have you learned? Q) Follow Up - Any learnings from the TIA (Transportation Intermediaries Association) you have implemented with NIADA? Q) 2022 has been another roller coaster of a year for the auto industry, talk to me about what you observed from your lens at the NIADA?Q) What are your biggest initiatives this year (as an association) when it comes to issues that directly impact used car dealerships? Q) What are your thoughts on online dealers like Carvana or Vroom and their model; there’s been a lot of market pressure recently on these companies? Q) Futures question, what are your thoughts on digital retail, and its role with used car dealerships?Q) What are your predictions for the rest of 2022 and what’s coming down the pipeline for the used car industry? Q) Lastly, anything exciting you want to announce or mention about the NIADA (ex BHPH event later this year)?Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastTranscribe of this podcast - https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/2022-interview-w/-bob-voltmann-ceo-of-the-niada

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer Podcast, Zach interviews Bob Hollenshead, the CEO & Founder of Accu-Trade, one of the largest used car wholesalers in the United States, and a serial entrepreneur. Zach and Bob discuss the current used car market wholesale conditions, Carvana, and the future outlook of the used car marketplace. Some of the questions asked include: 1) So, Bob, we still have a supply chain challenge this year, what has been your view of this 2022 used car marketplace thus far and where are we headed? 2) During the pandemic many dealers started leveraging online wholesale platforms, do you see dealers starting to come back to physical auctions as mask + early COVID restrictions are gone? What are your thoughts longer term on online versus being physically at an auction lane?  3) What are your thoughts on Carvana acquiring the physical auction assets of Adessa from KAR? What’s this mean for used car dealers? 4) If you are a small to mid-size used car dealer listening to this podcast, what advice would you give them in terms of how they should think about buying and holding used inventory right now? 5) One of the popular features of a Vroom or a Carvana website/digital retail experience is the, ”sell us your car” feature where you enter a VIN or DL plate number and they give you an instant cash offer. When we last spoke you told me you invented this concept at a previous company (Buybook). Talk about the importance of having this on your dealer website as many used car dealers do not? How has this technology evolved over the past couple years?Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastTranscribe of this podcast - https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/interview-with-bob-hollenshead-on-wholesale-market-carvana-acquisition-of-adesa-and-more

In this episode, Zach Klempf interviews Chip Perry, CEO of A2Z Sync (Former CEO of Autotrader & TrueCar) on: the "One Person Sales Model': current used car market conditions; and what excited Chip to join A2Z Sync. Some of the questions asked include: Q) Major news outlets have been covering the high inventory prices, inventory shortage, rising price of gasoline, rental cars at an all time high, what has been your view of these economic challenges for dealers from your lens?Q) In several of the recent speaking engagements/podcasts you’ve done, I’ve heard you talk about the one-person sales model, why does this make sense for the modern car buying experience?Q) So with your product, you have basically combined all the F&I technology, credit functionality, of several platforms into a single tool, talk to me about the process of developing A2Z Sync and working with early dealership customers?Q) What advice would you give to a smaller dealer operator in this tough market with fierce competition like Carmax, Carvana, and larger groups?Q) What are your predictions for the used car marketplace for the rest of 2022?Case Studies from A2Z Sync - https://a2zsync.com/case-studies/case-studies/Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastTranscribe of this podcast - https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/chip-perry-ceo-of-a2zsync

In this episode, Zach Klempf interviews Randy Kobat, VP of Inventory Management Solutions at Cox Automotive. Randy discusses the latest developments from NADA, how Upside and KBB ICO help used car dealers, as well as general discussion around inventory management. Some of the questions asked include:Q) So let’s get started, and for those of us listening, talk about how you got into the auto industry? Q) You and the Cox team recently got back from NADA; what were some of the new exciting announcements from that event? Q) Kelley Blue Book Instant Cash Offer is becoming a very popular tool for used car dealers, how are they helping dealers during the inventory shortage challenge? Q) Another new announcement we saw was Upside from Cox for wholesale; what exactly is this product and how can it help used car dealers? Q) Talk to me about the wholesale market dynamics and specifically how new sourcing and acquisition channels are opening up to help used car dealers find and stock vehicles more profitably?Q) If you were running a used car dealership, what would be the essential software solutions you would have to manage everything from inventory acquisition to pricing? Q) What do you think has been most surprising (ex. continued chip shortage) in terms of the auto industry and 2022 thus far? Q) What are your predictions for the used car marketplace in 2022? Q) What’s coming down the pipeline in the divisions you manage that you are most excited about (that’s relevant to used car dealers)? Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode:https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/randy-kobat-vp-of-inventory-management-solutions-at-cox-automotive

Happy New Year and after a December break we have the first episode of the UCDP for 2022 featuring Jasen Rice of Lotpop. In this episode, Zach Klempf interviews Jasen Rice the president of Lotpop which is a lot management software and professional services company. Jasen discusses the latest developments with the inventory / chip shortage, his experience in the industry and at vAuto, as well as best practices for dealers on turn and lot management. Some of the questions asked include:Q) Talk about your background in automotive and why you started Lot Pop and what you guys do?Q) 2020 and 2021 have been surreal from an industry standpoint, what has the pandemic/chip shortage taught us about inventory management?Q) What were some of your observations (in terms of the used car marketplace) in Q4 of 2021?Q) Any predictions for 2022? (in terms of used car inventory)Q) What are dealers sleeping on when it comes to inventory management?Q) What advice do you have for your average independent dealer sourcing inventory and trying to build a strategy for this market?Q) What are some of the most successful dealers doing differently when it comes to inventory management? Q) Why is it hard to build inventory management software, what are/were some of the challenges in getting this product to market?Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode: https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/jasen-rice-president-of-lotpop-on-inventory-and-lot-management 

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer Podcast, Zach Klempf interviews Bill Zadeits the president of Cherokee Media which is one of the most recognizable automotive press outlets with the Auto Remarketing Magazine and the Used Car Week properties. Zach discusses the latest developments from Auto Remarketing including their in-person conference this year and observations from the used car marketplace.Some of the questions asked include:Q) Your AR publication has been covering the pandemic, inventory shortage, M&A in auto software, what has the last year been like from your lens?Q) What do you think has been most surprising in terms of the auto industry and 2021 thus far?Q) You’ve been running the Used Car Week Conference for years, what has it been like over the last 2 years in the conference side of the business, and how has that helped you plan Used Car Week 2021?  Q) What are some of the most exciting parts of Used Car Week this year?Q) We talked earlier about M&A in auto software, with Used Car Week you have a whole segment on venture, tell us about that?Q) What are your predictions for the used car marketplace in 2022?FREE ticket for dealers to Used Car Week - https://reg.unityeventsolutions.com/se/USEDCAR2021/ATT/EN/process.aspx?&utm_discount=DEALER21&utm_source=DEALER21Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode: https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/interview-with-bill-zadeits-on-used-car-week-and-auto-remarketing

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer Podcast, Zach Klempf interviews Lissette Gole the head of automotive retail at Google. Lissette discusses the latest developments from Google including their dealer playbook and how they help dealers sell more cars online. Some of the questions asked include:Q) So let’s get started, and for those of us listening, talk about your career path into automotive at Google? Follow Up - For those unfamiliar with Google’s offering for dealers, talk to me about how Google enables dealerships’ digital presence? Q) 2021 has been a roller coaster of a year for dealers; talk to me about what you observed from your lens at Google on the way dealers shifted and changed their inventory/brand marketing on your platform? Q) Why is a “customer buying experience” so important post-2020? Q) Google (Feb 2021) published its Dealer Playbook; what are some of the most exciting takeaways in this guide? Q) Let’s move on to what some of the most successful dealers are doing differently when it comes to marketing their dealership and inventory?  Q) What advice do you have for a new dealer  when it comes to getting started developing a winning Google strategy? Q) Two auto trends have taken mindshare last year (2020), and wanted to get your thoughts on them: online dealers like Carvana and Vroom, who have gone public, and subscription services for automotive. What are your thoughts on these two trends? Q) Can you share some areas Google is focused on in the future in terms of automotive? Download the Google Playbook for Dealers - https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/future-of-marketing/digital-transformation/auto-dealer-guide/Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode: https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/lissette-gole-head-of-automotive-retail-at-google-on-used-car-sales

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer Podcast, Zach Klempf interviews Joe McCloskey the NIADA President of the board of directors and a successful Colorado-based used car dealer operator who has been in the business for over 50 years. Zach and Joe discuss the importance of IADAs as well as 20 groups, inventory during the pandemic, and thoughtful advice from Joe's years in the business. Some of the questions asked include: Q) So let’s get started, and for those of us listening talk about how you got into the car business and what the last 50 years have been like from an industry evolution standpoint? Q) You mentioned to me on our first call that you have owned franchise dealerships as well as independent dealerships, in your opinion, what are the advantages/disadvantages of running a franchise store versus an independent? Q) Joe, what has this inventory crisis been like from your dealership’s lens? Q) How have you creatively sourced inventory in this market? Q) What’s different about the pandemic customer versus the pre-pandemic customer from your lens? Q) What is your strategy (without giving away anything you don’t want to share) with your inventory in this last half of 2021?  Q) Inventory management is one of the key components of a successful used car dealer operation, what else (ex. customer buying experience) is important for dealers to get right in this market? Q) What advice do you have for a used car dealer just getting into the business and starting up in 2021? Q) Talk about the importance of the NIADA and your state IADA and why they have been helpful for you as a dealership? (From an educational standpoint for example) Q) Lastly Joe, what are your predictions for the rest of the year in terms of the used marketplace? Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/interview-with-joe-mccloskey-on-50-years-in-the-used-car-business

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer podcast, Zach Klempf interviews Danny Zaslavsky the managing partner of VinCue on running a large used car dealership with no floor plan, inventory management in 2021, VinCue product, and the concept of the highest authentic value.Some of the questions asked include:Q) So let’s get started, and for those of us listening:Danny - Talk about your background in automotive and how you got involved in the  VinCue business? Q) 2020 and 2021 have been surreal from an inventory standpoint, what has the inventory crisis taught us about market pricing? Q) Danny, what has this inventory crisis been like from your dealerships (Country Hill Motors) lens? Q) What are the three things that good inventory management should be? Q) We’re all conditioned to drop prices if a car isn’t moving, is that the right strategy?  Q) Obviously inventory management is a key component of a successful used car dealer operation, what else is important for dealers to get right in this market? Q) What are some of the most successful dealers doing differently when it comes to marketing their dealership and inventory? Q) What advice do you have for a used car dealer just getting into the business and starting to build their inventory management strategy? Q) Why is it hard to build inventory management software, what are/were some of the challenges in getting this product to market?Q) Lastly Danny, what’s coming down the pipeline from the VinCue team?Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/interview-with-danny-zaslavsky-of-vincue-on-inventory-management

In this episode of the Used Car Dealer podcast, Zach Klempf interviews Christ Lentz the CEO of AutoSweet and an auto industry entrepreneur with a previous exit. Chris discusses with Zach how dealers have adapted their inventory marketing, Facebook, Google Adwords, best practices with dealer marketing.Some of the questions asked include:Q) So let’s get started and for those of us listening talk about your previous experience as an automotive industry entrepreneur pre-AutoSweet and how you got into the business?  Q) What problem in the industry-led you to start AutoSweet? Q) As we are battling the inventory crunch and getting out of the pandemic what have you observed from dealers when it comes to the way they have changed their inventory marketing? Q) How has Facebook grown over the last couple of years to become an important part of dealers’ inventory marketing?Q) Shifting gears, when it comes to Google Ads, what are dealers missing out on when it comes to running successful inventory marketing campaigns via Adwords? Q) For dealers listening, discuss the importance of joining an association, and how it can help them become successful? Q) Why is reputation management important for dealers in today’s market? Q) What are your predictions for the rest of 2021 and what’s coming down the pipeline? Q) How does AutoSweet uniquely help independent dealers succeed in today’s marketplace? Listen to our other podcast episodes: https://www.sellyautomotive.com/podcastRead the transcribe of this episode https://blog.sellyautomotive.com/blog/inventory-marketing-with-chris-lentz-of-autosweet