@Eric Miltsch Why chase AI stocks

in 2 years:
#1: General Motors stock +185%
#2: TSLA +130%
#3: BYD +45%
#4: Rivian, Ford & Toyota in the +20-30% area
Bottom Feeders: Stellantis & Nissan MINUS -43%

As a small dealer, moving to a formal inspection checklist is a smart step—especially if you’re already selling cars honestly in that price range. In New York, state-licensed shops like Carlos Repairs @Ridge follow clear, measurable standards during inspections, which is a good model to borrow from when building your own checklist. Customers often ask basic questions like “How much is a New York State inspection?”, but what really builds trust is having clear numbers and documentation to back up your answers.


From what I’ve seen:

1. Yes—most buyers don’t get an independent inspection, and the ones who do usually already trust their mechanic. Your checklist won’t replace that, but it adds credibility and helps serious buyers feel more confident upfront.
2. Keeping it simple works best. A 3-option system (OK / Needs Attention / N/A) with measured notes (tire tread, brake thickness) is usually enough. Too many options can confuse customers.
3. As long as you’re clear that it’s a condition report at the time of inspection (not a warranty), you’re generally reducing risk, not increasing it—especially if your checklist mirrors what a New York State inspection already checks for safety and compliance.

A solid 40–50 point checklist sounds like the happy medium for your inventory and price range—thorough, professional, and not overkill.

joe.pistell said:

@Eric Miltsch
I joined you with LCID RIVN is zzzz.
View attachment 9572

Click to expand...

@joe.pistell - RIVN hasn't been ZZZZ'n

Our experience with Vettx was poor.

Based on our market, Vettx estimated we would be able to purchase 17 vehicles per month through their program. In reality, we purchased 2 vehicles last month and 1 the month before. The profit generated by the program did not come close to covering the cost.

The program did not perform as it was represented to us. We initially signed up for 6 months, believing the agreement would convert to month-to-month afterward. That was not the case. When we requested cancellation due to poor performance, we were informed that the contract automatically renews for another 6 months, leaving us locked into the program.

I reviewed the situation in detail with them and requested early cancellation, which they refused.

Additionally, Vettx stated that they informed us of the renewal and provided recommendations, which we did not receive. These items were also not part of the original discussion tied to the 17-vehicle estimate. Those recommendations included:

• Providing more aggressive offers to remain competitive in our market
• Picking up vehicles to make acquisitions more convenient for sellers
• Emphasizing the use of Autotrader and creating a new account (which we already have)

I would caution any dealer considering their products to carefully review the contract terms and take our experience into account before moving forward

9 different dealers, all use the "pretend photo booth"
9 different dealers, all cars look the same.
9 different dealers, are back to zero.

We are taking it back in-house next month. I'm adding another marketing specialist with SEO expertise on Monday and I have a contract employee that will take some of it on as well. Looking forward to having more control and a better result at a dramatically reduced expense for our 10 locations.

MB & Benz Guy said:

Drivecentric is incredible, but their new desking is the absolute worst.

Click to expand...

Compared to Tekion Desking, it is pretty good. Other than DC cannot push back a complete deal into Tekion DMS. The irony. But I blame Tekion for that API limitation. Hopefully DC and Tekion DMS get another level of integration which would allow us to Desk in DC. Tekion is the worst Desking DMS out there.

SavvyNick said:

Thanks Chris! I agree its price sensitive and the budget sites lack lead gen. What kind of step up do you think it takes to be worthwhile? When I was in retail I always set the bar at 300% attributable ROI for any marketing spend.

Click to expand...

I am an Independent Dealer.

The Independent Dealer Body is an extremely diverse group of businesses. It is not what a person would imagine until you really dig into it.

I started going to the National Convention several years ago. This is what I learned:

There are a whole lot more Buy Here Pay Here dealers then I would have ever imagined. A lot of these stored don't even have a website and they don't want or need a website. They have a process, don't want customers that are 100 miles away, and word of mouth is what really drives their business.

There are way more Independent dealers selling Salvage Title vehicles than a person could imagine. They just need a place to list their cars and that place uses 3rd party marketplaces to drive traffic to their site. SEO doesn't mean a whole lot to them because they are killing everyone's prices due to the cars being branded titles.

$99 Carsforsale websites are a hell of a lot better than people realize they are. Look at this website https://www.sarpycountymotors.com/ and run it through a comparison with some higher end sites. This site scores 100 for SEO and damn near 100 for Best Practices. This dealership consistently sells 100+ units a month in a little tiny town off of a gravel lot. Good luck explaining to this guy why he needs to pay another $X,XXX per year.

The bigger Independent dealers that are selling late model, retail, and high volume.....they are already using and justifying $1,500/month websites. This is a really crowded space and a really tough audience to sell to.

Maybe $199/mo. $149 is better.

keep seeing the same pattern: Dealers start with the $99 solutions (Carsforsale, DealerCenter basics, etc.) because they're affordable, but those sites are cookie-cutter, slow, and not built for actual SEO or conversions.

Click to expand...

Those dealers get a good bit of value from the $99/mo. Carsforsale.com platform. But I agree they're lacking especially for lead gen. I think that market is more sensitive to price, but if you can deliver a significant improvement in lead volume and traffic I could see some dealers opting for it. Unless there's a big step change I think many of those dealers are happy with the bang for the buck.

Welcome!

I am a smaller Independent dealer as well. I have been in business for about 15 years and have a really strong grasp on all of the DMS Providers. I have used several.

#1 Frazer Computing. It is simple, intuitive, has Accounting built in at no added cost, integrates with lenders, integrates with 3rd Party marketplaces, has JD Power integrated, etc. The biggest negative to Frazer is that their system is not visually appealing. I host Frazer in my dealership on my own "server" which isn't really a server at all but a stand alone PC that we don't use for anything else. It is secure because it sits in my store. They do have a hosted version of their product as well. They do not offer websites but they do integrate with everyone. You can use Frazer for your DMS, Carsforsale for your Website, and pay about $215/mo. Add Feather Light CRM and you are under $400 all in.

#2 Dealer Center. Visually appealing but very cluttered in terms of the Interface. They just have too much stuff going on for my taste. Dealer Center does not offer Accounting but they do have a Quickbooks Interface if you want to do something like that. I personally did not like the Quiclbooks Interface. The number never matched and there were always posting errors. I spent too much time tracking down mistakes. Dealer Center does NOT interface to OFAC. If you were to do business with someone on that OFAC Watch List and got caught it would be really bad.

Doing business with someone on the OFAC watchlist can lead to
severe civil penalties, such as fines of up to $250,000 or twice the value of the transaction, and serious criminal penalties for willful violations, including up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million. Other consequences include reputational damage, blocked assets, and increased regulatory scrutiny.

They also offer websites but they are not the greatest on the SEO Side...unless you pay more for that.

If Westlake is going to be your only lender, Dealer Center has an advantage because they are the same company and actually share a building in LA.

#3 Auto Manager. Auto Manager has a nice product but it gets expensive in a hurry. When I used this company, they were integrating Accounting with Quick Books. I am not certain if they still do that or not. Nice people, all of the normal integrations, but they are not all free like Frazer. They also offer websites but they aren't the best.

There are others like Wayne Reeves Dealer Cloud, etc but I don't know much about them.

CarData Support said:

I haven’t seen this happen @ Franchise stores. What dealer wants to deal with the headaches that possibly comes with? I guess there may be some but I haven’t come across any.

Click to expand...

How do you know? How can you look at a Franchise store website and know that this isn't happening?

playersclubcars said:

Hey everyone,

I'm relatively new to the forum and have been following a lot of the discussions on maximizing profit and cutting marketing costs. It's clear that customer communication is key, but it can be a real time sink, not to mention expensive to produce high-quality video updates.

I wanted to get your thoughts on something our company is doing. We've developed a way to create professional, custom-tailored AI videos for car dealerships in minutes, not days. The idea is to turn a simple text prompt into a professional video of a salesperson, service advisor, or finance manager, delivering a message to a customer.

For example, instead of a salesperson having to record an update for a new arrival, you can have a video ready in minutes. We've seen great results with videos like this one we made for a dealership with a new G63 AMG: Login to view embedded media View: https://youtube.com/shorts/zFDtHNSWs94


The process is incredibly fast, and what would normally be a $1,500-$5,000 production budget can be done for a fraction of the cost. I'm curious to hear if this is a tool you could see your team using. What are your thoughts on using AI to streamline customer communication?

Click to expand...

That’s a really smart approach — cutting down production time while keeping the personal touch is a huge win for dealerships. AI video like this can make communication faster, more consistent, and still feel genuine to customers. The G63 AMG example sounds like a great showcase of what’s possible. Excited to see how this tech continues to evolve!

Andrew Hobdy said:

I am a regional sales manager from CarCutter and we are one of the oldest in this space. I can only tell you from my experience, it's in our terms and conditions that we do not touch the car ever. Our AI backgrounds only cover the backgrounds. While we have things to reduce glare etc., we strive to "make the car the star" in whatever condition it is in. We have no software whatever to cover up any imperfections in the car, our goal is to present the unit in the best way it can be presented, whatever condition it's in. Again, I cannot speak for all the companies in this space, only mine. Coming from the dealership world, that is part of what attracted to me to this company is their strive for transparency and the trust it builds.

Click to expand...

That’s a solid stance, and honestly, the right one to take. Transparency builds long-term credibility, and it’s good to see companies like CarCutter drawing that line clearly. AI should enhance presentation, not distort reality — and focusing only on backgrounds and lighting while keeping the car untouched shows integrity. Dealers and customers both win when trust stays at the center of the process. See attachment.

BillVaughnAlWestNissan said:

I guess I don't see how improving lighting changes the charge. That doesn't seem possible to me.

Click to expand...

That’s fair — improving lighting alone doesn’t really change the substance of what’s being shown. It’s more about presentation than alteration. The concern usually comes in when edits start masking flaws or altering the vehicle’s actual appearance. But simple lighting and color balance adjustments are generally seen as acceptable — they just help the photo look more true to life, not misleading.

Brian Michael West said:

Hey everyone!


I’ve been seeing a growing trend lately of dealerships using AI to enhance or even generate their inventory photos. From virtual background replacements to lighting adjustments and even touchups that remove blemishes, AI is making it easier than ever to present a “clean” look online.


That got me thinking about the potential gray area here. At what point does enhancement cross into misrepresentation? We all know that transparency is key to maintaining trust with customers and avoiding potential legal headaches. But if AI is subtly concealing minor damage, wear, or imperfections, could that be interpreted as misleading advertising?


I’m curious if anyone has looked into the legal side of this or has compliance guidance from their OEM or dealer group. Are there best practices being discussed to balance digital presentation quality with accuracy? Or am I overthinking it?


Would love to hear how others are handling AI-enhanced imagery in their stores.

The image below is an exaggeration, obviously.

View attachment 9640

Click to expand...

That’s a really thoughtful question — and one that’s becoming increasingly relevant. AI tools can absolutely help present inventory more professionally, but there’s definitely a fine line between enhancement and alteration. Once edits start concealing actual condition details, you’re stepping into potential misrepresentation territory.


Some dealer groups are starting to set internal policies: using AI only for background cleanup, lighting balance, or color correction — never for removing dents, scratches, or other physical flaws. Clear disclosure is also key if enhancements go beyond basic retouching.


You’re not overthinking it at all — the industry really needs consistent guidelines here to protect both trust and compliance.

jsjung35 said:

It’s definitely refreshing to see options like Dominion DMS taking a more modern approach to infrastructure and usability. For years it really did feel like CDK/Rey&Rey had a lock, so new competition is a good thing for dealers.


What I am curious about, and maybe this is something others here have seen, is how these newer platforms are influencing the way groups think about operations more broadly. When the DMS becomes easier to work with, does it open the door for groups to rethink workflows across rooftops, or are most of you still handling those handoffs such as title, recon, and accounting in the traditional ways?

Click to expand...

Excellent point — modern DMS platforms like Dominion really do change the game. When data becomes more accessible and systems more intuitive, it naturally pushes dealerships to rethink traditional workflows. I’m seeing more groups explore integrated approaches to recon, accounting, and even title work. It’s not just about replacing legacy systems anymore — it’s about reimagining how information flows across the entire operation.

Alex Snyder said:

It is an exciting time for data in the car biz. Franchised dealerships finally have viable DMS options! It isn't just the CDK/ReyRey show anymore.

With this in mind, it is time to get to know the other options better. Dominion reached out to DealerRefresh to help our community better understand what they are doing. We plan to host them on RefreshFriday early next year and in preparation, I'm curious how many of your stores have demoed the Dominion DMS? If so, what did you think?

Click to expand...

That’s great news! It’s refreshing to see more competitive DMS options entering the market — dealerships have been waiting for this kind of innovation for a long time. Excited to see how Dominion performs and what fresh ideas they bring to the table.

Well based upon the current state of the Retail Auto Industry, I would say that it's a stretch to even think that editing out damage on a photo would be considered "illegal" unless you are in one of the states that seems to overregulate car dealers.

We can advertise a price that isn't within 25% of what it actually takes to purchase our cars. I doubt anyone is going to squeal too loud about a little photo shopping. It is sort of the wild west, you can do pretty much anything you want.

The ethical part of it typically bothers me much more than the legal part.

Really nothing has changed.

vAuto is still the best. Everyone is trying to be a "cheaper alternative to vAuto".

Every platform has its own personality. Training is the key to using these complex platforms. There is a lot going on and they are just not simple to use.

VinCue, Autoniq, Laser Appraiser, Dealer's Link, they are all good. It is more a matter of what someone wants to pay.

shoppers are saints and they never lie.

"buyers are liars"

the harder the question, the more AI hallucinates.