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vAuto helps today’s leading dealers run better than the competition. With a live market view and powerful inventory management tools, vAuto is the software, the people and the vision you need to achieve record success in any market.
146 Episodes
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There’s no denying that it’s been a difficult year to predict what will happen for the automotive market. While June was down, July was hot for new cars. Tariffs are still a hot topic. In this Q3 Live Market View, Derek Hansen and Jonathan Smoke discuss how the trends may shape the year ahead; what increased affordability for top earners means for the used market; how tariffs have already affected the industry and why they're confident consumers and dealers will handle the impact.
In this vAuto podcast, used vehicle buyer Josh Kor of Richfield Bloomington (MN) Honda shares how UVeye’s AI-powered vehicle inspections and a new vAuto appraisal integration have made acquiring vehicles from service customers more effective and efficient. Kor details the process he follows that yields 1500 completed service lane appraisals and 40-plus vehicle acquisitions each month. Hear how the dealership uses UVeye technology to supplement vehicle inspections and uncover additional RO opportunities; ensures nearly 90 percent of service lane customers receive appraisals for their vehicles; and follows a “soft touch” approach that gives customers 30 days to say “yes” to the initial offer.
In this vAuto Quarterly Quick-Takes video, strategic planning director Bethany Johnson summarizes key take-aways from Q2, which saw a series of ups and downs across new and used vehicle departments for dealers. Get pointers to help you turn a new vehicle bright spot—improving trade-in equity—to your advantage to address slow-moving inventory; diversify your used vehicle acquisition strategy and mix to better serve affordability-minded buyers; and, help your car stand tall in merchandising to spur buyer interest/engagement online.
In this vAuto podcast, dealer principal Rob York of the Indiana-based, six-store York Automotive Group, shares how/why he moved from a “stock to stock” strategy for used vehicle acquisition to a strategic approach, where distinct parameters guide appraising and acquisitions decisions. York shares key metrics to identify the “right” vehicles for their inventories as well as how/when the vehicle transfers occur across rooftops. He also details the steps his team follows to mine the service drive for acquisitions as well as their approach for monitoring/pursuing missed trades.
In this vAuto podcast, vAuto’s Senior Director of Customer Program Management, Dan Winchester, addresses five performance improvement opportunities for groups. The opportunities flow from his work advising dealer groups on ways to improve their businesses. The specific opportunities include ways to bring more consistency to appraisals across group rooftops; how to ensure each vehicle retails at the rooftop that offers the best ROI opportunity; pointers to establish group-level targets to minimize vehicle price discounts; and, guidelines to understand if merchandising or pricing is problematic for a vehicle.
In the Q2 Live Market View, Derek Hanson and Jessica Stafford explore consumer shopping behavior, sales trends, and inventory dynamics in early spring 2025. They highlight how new car leads surged in March and April, how dealers adapted to tariff uncertainties, and how AI-driven tools are helping dealers optimize pricing and inventory decisions. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of real-time data, strategic marketing, and meeting consumers where they are in today’s fast-moving automotive market.
In this vAuto Quarterly Quick-Takes video, strategic planning director Bethany Johnson shares operational priorities for dealers coming off a strong pace of tariff-spurred sales in the first quarter of 2025. Bethany shares pointers to help you minimize age and maximize your new vehicle inventory mix; merchandise used vehicles to capture buyers who can’t afford a new vehicle; and align your used vehicle acquisition strategy to in-demand price points and segments.
In this vAuto podcast, general manager Bill Stanley of the North Dakota-based Ryan Family of Dealerships details his experience working with vAuto’s development team to create a better, faster way of assessing and addressing rooftop-level performance. Stanley also outlines why he expects his team will be “rocking and rolling” this summer, despite the risks of less favorable market conditions due to tariffs and other factors. Hear how Stanley uses a new enterprise-level dashboard to reduce discounting to an average of $150, zero in on pricing, people or process issues that need attention, shave hours of time he previously spent to compile performance reports and strengthen the group’s 60 percent Look to Book average to maintain a balance between sales and stocking levels.
In this vAuto podcast, vAuto and Cox Automotive associate vice president Patrick Janes shares perspective on how dealers can address the impact of tariffs as they manage new and used vehicle inventories. Janes offers pointers to help you acquire inventory from customers in a supply-constrained market; ensure your new/used vehicle pricing keeps pace as the market moves; adjust your inventory/sales momentum as market demand shifts.
In this vAuto podcast, Josh Orthel, director of sales for the Iowa-based McGrath Group and his vAuto Performance Manager Brian Kurtz discuss how the group is achieving its goal of 10 percent growth in new/used vehicle sales this year. Hear how Orthel and his team at the nine-store group right-size their used inventories and align pricing to balance gross/turn objectives. Also, Josh discusses how McGrath tightened their appraisal process to gain inventory acquisition efficiency. Finally, hear about their focus on key new vehicle metrics to drive turn and minimize holding expense.
In this vAuto podcast, Cox Automotive executive analyst Erin Keating and vAuto strategic planning director Bethany Johnson discuss how a rise in market uncertainty and volatility could dampen what’s turned out to be better-than-expected new and used vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2025. Hear why and how economic trends have spurred a two-sided market where luxury and lower-end vehicles rank as the hottest segments. Also, learn about how affordability will remain a challenge for some time, putting pressure on dealers to focus on market-efficient inventory allocations and sourcing. Finally, they discuss how as-yet unchanged federal tax incentives and better battery diagnostics will drive an ever-growing EV opportunity in new and used vehicles for dealers.
In this vAuto podcast, Patrick Janes and Micah Tindor discuss common appraisal process variances and customer disconnects that can result in missed opportunities to acquire a vehicle or appraisers putting the wrong money on the right car. They detail appraisal process steps where the “right” money often goes wrong. Plus, they share how dealers can bring customers into appraisal conversations to build trust and understanding that, more often than not, leads to a “yes” with initial offers and inventory you acquire for the right money.
In this vAuto podcast, dealer principal Marc Cross of San Antonio-based Jordan Ford opens his playbook to share a creative approach to moving aged new and used vehicles—a “Brown Banana” sale. Cross discusses how he spiffs his team to move the cars and ensure customers understand an aged unit for the store means a great value for them.
Cross also details a remarkable car business career that started as a Ford rep, pioneering one-price selling, and an operational philosophy that’s remained constant for nearly 40 years.
In this Q1 2025 edition of Live Market View, vAuto founder and Cox Automotive executive vice president Dale Pollak joins Derek Hansen at NADA 2025 to discuss market conditions dealers will face as the year unfolds. Dealership profitability and the need to acquire inventory—and provide greater transparency to win more vehicles from customers—top the list of key NADA take-aways. In addition, they discuss Dale’s transition efforts in his final year at Cox Automotive.
1In this vAuto podcast, Nick Wright, director of client performance management, discusses how football coaching and play-calling principles can help dealers improve the consistency of appraiser performance to bring in more vehicles on the money. Nick outlines how persistent inconsistencies across appraisers translate to everyone effectively calling their own plays on specific vehicles—something football coaches don’t allow. Hear how you can help your appraisal team follow a strategy that defines the right money on every vehicle, improve the consistency of their vehicle condition assessments, and call the right audibles if/when it’s necessary to make deals.
In this vAuto podcast, vAuto’s Derek Hansen, Patrick Janes and Micah Tindor discuss the innovations vAuto will debut at NADA 2025 in New Orleans. They discuss how the new solutions help dealers and dealer groups implement a more consistent appraisal process with customers looking to sell or trade a vehicle, and centralize inventory management decision-making to improve rooftop-level performance.
In the Q4 Live Market View, Derek Hansen and Chris Stutsman discuss used vehicle sales, inventory and depreciation trends in Q4. They also share how predictive data science and AI-driven solutions from Cox Automotive help you identify each vehicle’s unique profile of investment risk and opportunity, price each vehicle to move in its ROI-optimal timeframe, and create more targeted engagements with current and prospective customers.
In this vAuto podcast, vAuto founder and Cox Automotive Executive Vice President, Dale Pollak shares a sneak peek of his new book, Invested: The New Science, Strategy and System of Used Vehicle Investment Management. Pollak shares:
Why he believes market conditions now require dealers to adopt investment management principles to contend with higher vehicle costs and declining front-end grosses.
How the book gives dealers a way to establish strategic, investment-minded objectives for vehicle acquisition, appraising and pricing.
Where he thinks the market will head in 2025 (hint: mostly favorable, with some uncertainty).
This webinar, “Don't Let Historic New Vehicle Troubles Haunt You Today” presented by Bethany Johnson and Alicia Rudowyj, gives you the tools to work smarter, not harder, in this new era of new vehicle incentives. Get best practices from top-performing dealers and the tools they use to help you accurately and efficiently apply the right incentives to the right vehicles faster.
In this vAuto podcast, Lee Segal, general sales manager at Rodland Toyota, Everett, WA, details how the dealership uses a blend of online and physical auctions to efficiently wholesale roughly 100 vehicles a month. Segal details how the dealership’s multi-channel wholesaling strategy strengthens the store’s ability to acquire vehicles from customers and feed their retail inventory. Segal also highlights wholesaling best practices he follows to build relationships and trust with buyers and deliver an optimal return for each vehicle they wholesale.
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