Days-Supply Metrics Are Lying to You (And How to Actually Fix Your Aging Inventory)
It's Monday morning, and your inventory report just landed in your inbox. You've got 47 days supply on sedans, 23 days on SUVs, and—because the automotive gods ...
The Conventional Wisdom (and Where It Breaks Down)
In 1959, Chevrolet released the Impala with exactly 17 different body style and engine combinations. The thinking was simple: stock a little bit of everything, ...
The Contrarian Auction Bidding Strategy That Actually Works for Used Car Managers
Seventy-eight percent of used car managers say auction discipline is their biggest operational challenge, yet the dealers winning at inventory turn are doing th...
Why Your 47-Photo Inventory Listing Might Actually Be Hurting Your Sales
Why Your 47-Photo Inventory Listing Might Actually Be Hurting Your Sales How many photos does a shopper actually look at before deciding whether to click away ...
Stop Chasing Market Rates: Why Your Pricing Strategy Is Aging Inventory
The Real Problem With Chasing Market Rates on Every Used Car In 1984, the National Automobile Dealers Association introduced the first standardized used car pr...
Why Your Aged-Inventory Policy Is Probably Backwards (And How to Fix It)
Why Your Aged-Inventory Policy Is Probably Backwards In 1952, a Studebaker dealer in Portland realized he had a problem: his lot was packed with unsold cars fr...
The Trade-In Appraisal Process Is Broken—Here's How to Fix It
What if everything you've been taught about appraising trade-ins is actually costing you money? Most dealerships treat the trade-in appraisal as a straightforw...
The F&I Compensation Model That's Killing Your Profit (And Why It's Still The Industry Standard)
The F&I Compensation Model That's Killing Your Profit (And Why It's Still The Industry Standard) Why do most dealerships pay F&I managers on gross profit per d...
The Contrarian Case Against Rushing E-Contracting at Your Franchise Store
Back in the 1950s, when dealers first started offering financing on the lot instead of sending customers to the bank down the street, the practice seemed like p...
Stop Chasing Chargeback Trends: Why Your F&I Tracking Is Costing You Money
It's 2 p.m. on a Thursday, and your F&I manager just pulled up a spreadsheet showing chargebacks trending up 3.2% month-over-month. The finance director wants a...
The Deal Jacket Audit Checklist Is Lying to You
Back in the 1980s, before deal jackets got shredded by compliance consultants and before every state had a different set of audit guidelines, a finance manager'...
Stop Training F&I Objection Handling—Build a Better Menu Instead
Most dealerships train their finance managers to overcome objections to protection products by working harder. Add more closes. Better scripts. Softer language....