Car Buying Tips

Guides and advice for purchasing new and used vehicles

Car Buying Tips

The Aged Inventory Trap: 7 Mistakes That Kill Your Gross Margin

The Aged Inventory Trap: Why Your Discount Strategy Might Be Costing You More Than You Think Most dealers approach aged inventory the same way: if a car sits f...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

5 Used-Car Reconditioning Mistakes That Kill Your Inventory Turnover

You know that moment when a vehicle has been sitting in your used-car lot for 22 days, the lighting in the photos is terrible, the interior smells like the prev...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

5 Trade-In Appraisal Mistakes That Age Your Inventory (And How to Fix Them)

It's 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and a customer walks onto your lot with a 2017 Honda Pilot, 98,000 miles, single owner, clean CarFax. Your appraisal team give...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

Why Your F&I Compensation Plan Breaks Down at Scale (and How to Fix It)

Why Your F&I Compensation Plan Breaks Down at Scale (and How to Fix It) Seventy-three percent of dealership groups struggle to maintain consistent F&I performa...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

E-Contracting Rollout Mistakes: Why Dealers Lose Back-End Gross and Create Compliance Risk

Most dealers treat e-contracting like a software implementation when it's actually a behavior change nightmare. You can install the shiniest digital contracting...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

5 Chargeback Tracking Mistakes That Kill Your F&I Profit

Most dealerships are leaving thousands of dollars on the table every month because they're not tracking chargebacks properly. Worse, they don't realize it. Her...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

Deal Jacket Audit Checklist: Where Dealers Go Wrong (And How to Fix It)

It's 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Your F&I manager just walked three deals through the door. You glance at the deal jackets as they hit your desk and everythin...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

Why Your F&I Team's Objection Handling Is Costing You $300,000+ Per Year

Most F&I managers are leaving $400 to $800 per retail unit on the table because they're handling protection product objections all wrong. They treat each "no" a...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

Why New F&I Managers Fail: The Training Mistakes Costing You Thousands

It's July in Texas, and your dealership's F&I manager just gave two weeks' notice. You've got a sharp used-car salesperson on the lot who knows inventory inside...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

Warranty vs. Service Contracts: The F&I Mix-Up Costing Dealers Real Money

The Warranty-Service Contract Confusion That's Costing Dealers Real Money In 1970, the Federal Trade Commission introduced the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and ...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

6 Common Mistakes Dealers Make With Back-End Gross Targets by Store

Back in the 1990s, dealerships operated almost entirely on blind faith when it came to back-end gross. You'd close the car, hand it to finance, and hope the F&I...

Read More →
Car Buying Tips

5 Spot Delivery Mistakes That Cost Dealers Money and Compliance Headaches

In 1915, General Motors introduced the installment plan, and car buying changed forever. Suddenly, dealers could move inventory faster by letting customers driv...

Read More →