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DEALERS
Eliminating Aged Inventory Pt. 2
Each week All Things Used Cars brings together top operators and thinkers to reimagine the retail auto industry's many aspects. Then ASOTU tries to turn that hour of power into a short easy-to-skim piece of this email.
This week we are in for a special treat because the founder, facilitator, and host of All Things Used Cars, David Long, shared his notes with us and we will share them with you.
In addition to the below notes, you can listen to a full replay of "Top 10 Ways To Eliminate Aged Inventory, pt. 2" on Clubhouse or plan on joining the community for the next talk every Friday at 9 am EST/6 am PST.
- Benchmark your process, create your strategy, and review it often.
- A solid appraisal process so you can get the prices right on day one.
- Increase speed to retail.
- Think of a 30-day supply as a two-week supply X2
- Base prices on the market day supply of the car
- Focus on your 10 most expensive vehicles.
- Use your tools.
- Use Google Analytics trends combined with Polk data.
- vAuto heat sheet report
- Color code used cars. Yellow- Orange- Red. When a car is orange, drive the car home.
- Leverage all partnerships.
- Establish and protect a daily trade walk. Act on every thing you notice - tires, lights, oil changes, updated pictures, weird smell, etc.
Telling it like it is - Sometimes process improvement tips are a bit too big to bite off. We suggest starting with any that make you feel called out.
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AUTOMOTIVE
GM Expects Growth In 2023, But Isn’t Making Promises
🗳️👍 All in favor, say "yay!" Workers in the GM-LG joint battery plant in Ohio have voted to unionize. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of joining the United Auto Workers, with 710 votes in support, making 98% of the votes.
🔧🤷♀️ The vote is done. Can we build some cars now? CEO Mary Barra expressed support for worker rights to unionize before the vote took place and said she hopes a union agreement is reached as soon as possible. At an event in Detroit, she said workers want job security and appropriate compensation. She went on to say nobody knows what next year's economic situation will be.
🗓️🚗 2023 ain't so scary once you get to know 'em. Barra says GM's new car sales in the US for 2023 are projected to reach 15M. Up from a projected 14.7M this year, the company says demand remains strong, and it expects new vehicle sales to rebound next year.
Telling it like it is - Workers seem pumped, CEO seems down for whatever, Ultium seems… willing to accept the results of the vote.
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TOGETHER WITH CAROFFER
Tailoring Your Perfect Platform
What happens to feedback after it is passed along?
At CarOffer, they use feedback to tailor their products and help dealers overcome challenges.
"We have been working with CarOffer for a year and a half. It has become our main platform. The offers we get are almost always above market values. The team is very professional and goes out of its way to ensure the easy-to-use process is even smoother. They are constantly working to improve the platform by introducing new features and ways to accommodate us. We are delighted we were introduced to CarOffer, and sincerely recommend it to anyone in the business."
-Boris Tabak, Auto World USA
Contact CarOffer and start tailoring your perfect platform today!
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QUICK HITS
- Walmart gets into fintech. Buy now, pay later.
- FTC voted down the Microsoft-Activision deal. Says the deal would limit competition in the gaming industry
- A pile of awards and new trailers came out of the Game Awards. Check out some of the biggest here.
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AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE
Live Event
ASOTU's 2022 Year End Extravaganza is bigger and better this year. Join us and our in-person studio audience for two hours of fun and insights live from Music City.
Guests from automotive and beyond will join us for a Tonight Show-style event as we recap 2022, look forward to 2023, and see what surprises are in the ASOTU stocking!
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AUTOMOTIVE
Humble Suggestions From OEMs
Lexus heard you want a manual transmission and would like to suggest an alternative - make-believe! The "virtual" manual transmission will put a realistic feeling clutch and stick shift in EVs by Toyota's high-performance brand.
You may think some manual control over the vehicle's acceleration will be directly tied to the feature... but no. It is literally just so drivers feel like they are driving a stick shift.
Lucid would also like to suggest a different plan - not canceling your order. Delivery delays, staffing issues, and an unhopeful production goal outlook have customers bailing on their orders.
Lucid has a fourteen-call plan to save the orders, but we cannot think of a better way to drive customers further away. A case-owner, manager, and regional manager, follow-up call plan adds up to 14 calls over two weeks before the order is finally canceled.
BMW's suggestion is to take the bumpy road next time. They filed a patent for tech that would turn bumps into electricity for EVs. The suspension system would capture energy from the up-and-down movement to recharge the battery while driving.
While patents get filed and are not used all the time, this one, combined with our persistent presence of potholes, could eventually add up to something neat. (Like, for real, tho, why are we even paying taxes if the roads look like swiss cheese?)
TL; DR - Lexus suggests trying a pretend gear shift, Lucid suggestions not leaving them, and BMW suggests potholes are as bad as they seem.
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TECHNOLOGY
ChatGPT
A new chatbot has captured the internet's imagination. Instead of telling you what it does, we will show you.
We asked the bot to "Write a poem about what ChatGPT Does." Within 20 seconds, it gave us this.
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ChatGPT, oh ChatGPT,
A virtual assistant so smart,
With its powerful language model,
It can answer any question you ask,
From simple queries to complex ones,
ChatGPT can provide an answer,
It can engage in conversation,
And help you with whatever you need,
Whether you need advice or information,
ChatGPT is there to assist,
With its vast knowledge and quick mind,
It can help you in a flash,
So if you need help or support,
Just turn to ChatGPT,
It will be there for you,
Ready and willing to assist.
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The bot can follow simple writing prompts and return with anything you ask for…except for the perfect blend of humor and insight you get from ASOTU. (Of course)
After playing with it for some time, I (Chris) can say it is fantastic as a replacement for simple questions on Google. Tired of sponsors and blogs coming up when you want to know how to cook a steak? Ask ChatGPT.
Telling it like it is - It only gets better the longer you try to stump it… seriously give it a try!
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