Car Dealership Guy Podcast

Eric Rea and Dennis Steele's first pitch to a car dealership ended with the general manager writing a check for the entire year on the spot, and they say that moment is what convinced them dealerships, not the tire shops they started with, would build their company.

They walk through how a 700-location collision repair network let Podium's voice agent take over 61% of its after-hours phone calls, and how that agent is now on pace to help book $1 billion in repairs this year with a customer satisfaction score higher than the network's own human call center, a result that surprised even their most skeptical engineers.

Eric Rea and Dennis Steele are the co-founders of Podium, the AI platform now used by 4,000 auto dealerships for reviews, texting, and voice-based customer service.

Topics:

00:55 AI Replaces The Entire Dealership Stack.

03:30 Don't Learn To Code, Learn Agents.

09:00 Door-To-Door Tactics Sold Dealerships.

15:05 Jerry Launched In 2023 And Never Left.

22:45 Voice AI Completed 87% Of Bookings.

31:20 Operator Found Lapsed Customers In 10 Minutes.

38:15 Default State Of Any Company Is Stillness.

This episode is brought to you by:

1. Experian Automotive - Experian AutoCheck helps dealers meet them earlier in the buying journey as the only vehicle history report across top consumer shopping sites. Visit @ here for more info.

2. Proton Dealership IT - Around-the-clock protection starts with around-the-clock support. Visit @ here for more information.

3. Podium - the AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. If your AI isn’t driving real outcomes, it’s time to take a closer look @ here.

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Today's show features:

- Adam Crowell, Chief Legal & Strategy Officer at KPA

- Tustin Ulrich, General Manager at Roper Kia

- Scott Traylor, Vice President of Sales at Mia

- Sefi Adasi Lucki, Owner & Controller at Lucki Mazda of Woodbridge

- Mike Lucki, Dealer Principal at Lucki Mazda of Woodbridge

This episode is brought to you by:

Haig Partners – When it comes to selling your life’s work, trust the only advisors who have built a reputation for maximizing value for family-owned dealerships. The team at Haig Partners has achieved record-setting values across multiple franchises and has represented more owners in the sale of their Toyota dealerships than any other firm. If you are considering a sale, divestiture or looking to grow, begin a confidential conversation at http://haigpartners.com/

KPA – On any given Tuesday, one dealership answers to more than a dozen regulators about five different things: the ad running right now, the disclosures at the finance desk, the data in a credit file, the technician in the bay, and the used oil out back. That's why KPA has helped automotive businesses stay safe and out of trouble since 1986. AI-enabled software that’s always watching out for your dealership, training built from what actually goes wrong in a store, and 150 consultants nationwide who keep showing up to find the things software can't see. We do that for more than 15,000 clients, including 40 of the top 50 automotive groups. Ask us what an FTC pricing and advertising review would turn up in your store at https://kpa.co/cdg

Mia – Your dealership is sitting on untapped revenue — service-due customers, unsold leads, inactive buyers who just need the right nudge — but does your team have the bandwidth to go after it? Mia's outbound AI runs omnichannel phone and text campaigns from one platform, pulling context from 35+ systems for natural conversations that get results 3x faster than competing solutions, no lead babysitting required. Book a demo at https://www.mia.inc/

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In this episode of the Industry Spotlight, joining host Sam D'Arc are Shawn Dennis, Marketing Director of the Ron Marhoffer Auto Group, and Patrick Janes, AVP of Inventory Solutions at vAuto to discuss why more than 90 percent of vehicle listings fail to sell themselves, and what it actually takes to merchandise a car the right way in 2026.

Shawn breaks down why proper merchandising, accurate options, a clean Carfax, real angles, video and walk arounds, takes three to four hours per car and functions as a full time job on its own. Patrick shares how his team traces stalled listings back to the exact moment a shopper clicks away, and how a new AI powered health score now audits every photo and description across a dealer group before a performance manager even picks up the phone. At Shawn's five stores, that shift already lets a merchandising staff of two keep pace with roughly 1,200 vehicles a month, freeing him to spend his time on the details a machine still can't catch, like the real story behind a one owner trade in.

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

Topics:
03:46 Your recon bill has selling points buyers never see.
07:10 Why correctly priced cars still sit unsold.
08:26 Your best sales pitch may be missing online.
09:18 The hiring gap behind weak vehicle listings.
10:44 Your merchandising shouldn’t collapse when an employee leaves.
13:06 How Cox Automotive plans to uncover hidden listing gaps.
15:26 Why more AI insights can mean more work.
17:04 Your strongest selling points are getting buried.
22:48 Buyers may not understand what your photos show.
28:50 Waiting for recon could cost you the first lead.

Cox Automotive - As the industry’s premier provider of end-to-end inventory management solutions, vAuto gives every dealer—from a single point store to the largest groups—the data, insights and tools they need to maximize returns from the new and used vehicle inventory investments.

Discover why 96 out of the top 100 used vehicle retailers trust vAuto to help them achieve greater success. Visit @ here for more info.

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Today's show features:

- David Zuniga, General Sales Manager at Performance Auto Group

- Tina Novoa, Director of Operations at We Help Dealers

- Tom Kline, Lead Consultant & Founder at Better Vantage Point | Tuck The Octopus

This episode is brought to you by:

Haig Partners – When it comes to selling your life’s work, trust the only advisors who have built a reputation for maximizing value for family-owned dealerships. The team at Haig Partners has achieved record-setting values across multiple franchises and has represented more owners in the sale of their Toyota dealerships than any other firm. If you are considering a sale, divestiture or looking to grow, begin a confidential conversation at http://haigpartners.com/

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Today's show features:

- Barrett Charapp Beaty, Attorney at Charapp & Weiss

- Stephen Rand, Fixed Operations Director at Mercedes-Benz of Plano

- Lucas Goerlitz, Service Manager at Napleton Palatine Subaru

This episode is brought to you by:

Experian Automotive – Experian AutoCheck is the only vehicle history report available across top consumer shopping sites, helping dealers build shopper confidence and drive more local leads. Visit https://carguymedia.com/4iWIBaA

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