Vendor Insights Podcasts
"Half of their DMS is inactive!" – A Wakeup-Call for Service Drives a…
Today I’m joined by Mark Altieri, EVP of Business Development at Zonic Design. We break down why fixed ops is still the most under-leveraged profit center in dealerships—and how communication gaps are quietly eroding customer...
The Human Skill the Industry Lost — and How Great Dealers Are Scaling…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
The Future of Service – How Reviews & Mobile Options Are Reshaping De…
Today I’m joined by Kim Saylor, Senior Director of Product Marketing at CDK Global. We break down why younger customers choose service providers based on online reviews , how AI is reducing wait times in service , and why mob...
The Hidden Leak in Service: How Data is Exposing The Customer Retenti…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
The New Auto Arms Race: How Dealers Are Turning Vehicle Data into Loy…
Today special guest host Sam D'Arc is joined by Shane Wilson, President at Connected Dealer Services. We dive into the tug-of-war between dealers and automakers for customer ownership after the sale , how real-time vehicle da...
The Car Sales Secret Lost in the 90's — and How Dealers are Reviving …
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
Inside the Lead Response Crisis Hurting Dealers (And What to Do About…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
Unveiling LotGPT: Automotive’s First Dealer-Facing Chat Tool — and 7 …
Today I’m joined by Len Short, CEO of Lotlinx. LotGPT is here — and it might change how dealers manage inventory forever. In this episode, Len Short and I break down the world-first dealer-focused LLM , how it diagnoses inven...
The State of Dealer Advertising in 2025: What’s Really Working Now | …
Today I’m joined by Amol Waishampayan, Co-Founder of fullthrottle.ai, and David Regn, CEO of fullthrottle.ai. We break down what’s really working in dealership advertising right now , what’s getting left behind, and the new a...
Appraisal Landmines Costing Dealers $1,000's — And How To Defuse Them…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
Stop Bleeding Margin: 3 Red Flags in Dealership Ops — and How to Turn…
Today I’m joined by Jim Roche, CEO of WarrCloud. We dig into the $100K+ most dealers miss in warranty work, why surging warranty volume has made WarrCloud one of the fastest-growing companies in America (#1 in Missouri), and...
The #1 Bottleneck in Car Sales: Broken Tech Integrations—and How to F…
Today I’m joined by Sanjiv Yajnik, President of Financial Services at Capital One. We cover why tech integrations are still the biggest challenge for F&I, how lenders are anticipating an EV market slowdown, why "6%" is the m...
The Old-School Process Still Killing Dealer Productivity – And How To…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
"F&I Must Come First!" — 2,900+ Hours of F&I Research Distilled in 30…
Today I’m joined by Jason Swiech, Product Marketer at CDK Global. We discuss what top-performing dealers are doing in the F&I office, why double-entry data is crushing customer satisfaction, the add-on products flying off the...
The Time Bomb In Labor Rate Increases (& How Dealers Are Maximizing P…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
"Money's not in the CRM, It's in the DMS!”– Tracking the Pulse of AI …
Today I’m joined by Art Dessein, VP of Sales at Impel. We dig into how AI is reshaping inventory management, the playbook big dealer groups use to roll it out without losing culture, and why less customer communication is act...
Remote Deliveries Are Booming—So Is Fraud (Here’s How to Stay Safe) |…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
“Like Watching Game Tape”: Exposing How Deals Slip on the Floor—And H…
Today I’m joined by Jake Cronin, CEO and Founder of Siro. The untapped profit potential hiding in F&I, winning strategies to secure consent to record customers, using data to diagnose dealership challenges—and more. This epis...
Booms, Busts, and Big Sales: Top Trends Steering Today’s Dealership B…
Today I’m joined by Alan Haig, President of Haig Partners. We dig into why Stellantis and Nissan are still searching for the bottom, which states are commanding the highest blue sky multiples, the drivers behind Carvana’s fir...
From Dead Weight to Cash Flow: The Transfer Fix for Aging Cars | Indu…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with...
"Stop the Churn": How AI Is Predicting (and Preventing) Service Defec…
Today I’m joined by Vishal Vadodaria, CEO of AutoEngage. We dive into the product obsession Vishal learned under Steve Jobs, why a major public dealer group bet early on his AI tech, how Agentic AI is poised to reshape the fu...
"Race to the Top": How Dealers are Creating Trust at Scale—and Domina…
Today I’m joined by Alex Vetter, CEO of Cars Commerce. We unpack why consumers are getting shellshocked in the service lane, reveal the CRM blind spots from retail research to retail shopping behavior, and explore why 95% of ...
Cut Costs, Go Viral: Taverna INFINITI's Repeatable Formula for Domina…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...
"Customers Calling the Service Dept is a Sign of Failure" — Inside Ho…
Welcome to Industry Spotlight—a focused series hosted by Sam D’Arc, highlighting standout dealerships and innovative companies, and exploring the trends driving success in today’s automotive market. Today, Sam sits down with ...