Latest activity

joe.pistell · Aug 6, 2025

Todd Caputo said:
Start delivering a Carvana/Amazon-like experience — before they eat your lunch.

# of Leads as a KPI is dead:

Carvana sells 50,000 cars per month, up +40% YoY. Website traffic is unchanged.

From Carvana's Quarterly conference all to investors:

Q4 2023:

Average calls per sale down ~40% YoY <--wait for it!
Average sales per customer advocate doubled YoY <--F*ck leads
Each support rep handled 2x the sales with fewer customer calls <--F*ck leads
Call duration down ~20% YoY <--F*ck leads

Q4 2024:

Average calls per sale down ~20% YoY <--F*ck leads
AI-powered chats with ZERO human assistance has nearly tripled over the past two years <--F*ck leads

Q2 2025:

18% more customers complete transactions without any human support vs prior year
Customers who do call spend 25% less time on calls <--F*ck leads
Sales per customer advocate up 23% YoY <--F*ck leads

Todd Caputo · Aug 5, 2025

Amazon sells purchases — not just eyeballs, phone calls, and form fills.

If Amazon can show that their model delivers sales-ready customers, that’s a far superior ROI for dealers.

For years sup par dealer websites and 3rd-party marketplaces have sold us impressions, VDP views, and lead forms.
Carvana flipped the script by proving something bigger:

Consumers will pay MORE for a frictionless, transparent experience so they do not have to walk into a car dealership.
Everyone in the car business thought Carvana wouldn’t make it.

They were wrong.

Now comes Amazon — not to dabble, but to scale what Carvana started:
• Upfront, transparent pricing
• Online financing
• No back-and-forth games
• 3-day return policy
• Buy online, pick up at the dealership
• Used and CPO inventory — starting in LA, coming to your town in the near future.

It’s what many customers have wanted for years.

The difference?
Amazon has the TRUST, the TRAFFIC, the TECH, and the TIMING to pull it off at scale.
Most dealers still make car buying way harder than it has to be.
Amazon won’t.

Every ounce of FRICTION in your process is a point of VULNERABILITY now more than ever.
The disruptors are HERE again —

Dealers: This isn’t the time to panic.

It’s the time to audit your processes, tighten up your reconditioning and merchandising game, and rethink your entire digital-to-physical HANDOFF.
Want to stay relevant?

Start delivering a Carvana/Amazon-like experience — before they eat your lunch.

*imported from fb

Tallcool1 · Aug 4, 2025

It doesn't matter if you are getting screwed or not. It is what it is.

III. Seller Responsibilities:

1. Sellers should avoid using ambiguous, confusing, or deceptive announcements or disclosures as these may be grounds for arbitration.

2. Seller will be held responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all representations or descriptions. This includes handouts, catalogues, vehicle markings, condition information or vehicle listings and verbal or written statements made by Seller, Auction, Auctioneer or Selling Representative at the time of sale. This includes the condition report written by or on behalf of the seller as per the “NAAA Generic Condition Report Position Statement”. The Seller understands that the sale light/video display is a binding arbitration representation of vehicle condition, and is therefore responsible for ensuring that their vehicles sell under the correct light in the lane.

According to the Manheim Arbitration Policy, the seller owes you the Charging Cable or they need to take the car back.

You will not get it no matter how many times you ask or how many claims you open. They pretty much do whatever they want.

joe.pistell · Aug 4, 2025

This LI post I created is red hot and it connects to this thread:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7357861679205949440/

Carvana sales: 48,000 sales every month

What's Driving This Growth in Sales Volume? Carvana's Website Traffic is UNCHANGED

Garcia's Obsession: Get MORE Sales with LESS Friction & FEWER Leads

The Evolution of Efficiency:

"We want to give customers simple experiences with an efficient machine that's getting smarter all the time. And I think every single thing inside that system is a lever for us." -Garcia

Q4 2023:

Average calls per sale down ~40% YoY
Average sales per customer advocate doubled YoY
Each support rep handled 2x the sales with fewer customer calls
Call duration down ~20% YoY

Q4 2024:

Average calls per sale down ~20% YoY
AI-powered chats with ZERO human assistance has nearly tripled over the past two years

Q2 2025:

18% more customers complete transactions without any human support vs prior year
Customers who do call spend 25% less time on calls
Sales per customer advocate up 23% YoY

Change is coming... fast.

Dan Sayer · Aug 1, 2025

brad p said:
1232 good leads
21 percent sold
39 percent appt set
58 percent confirmed
244 sold

1232 good leads > How many did you have total?
21 percent sold > Are these only internet (XML) or do they include Phone
39 percent appt set > Again, internet and phone or just internet
58 percent confirmed > Should be knocking on the door of 80%
What is the shown rate?
Do you have a Visit rate that includes both appointments that have shown and the visit from a non-appointment pop-in?

Tallcool1 · Jul 26, 2025

Zack_AF said:
Appreciate your input!

Totally agree with making things easy which is part of the thought behind the convenience of meeting someone at they’re at. What we have is just like Facetime but unlike Facetime, it includes Androids and doesn't require any apps/downloads.

Just trying to think outside the box. I occasionally see LinkedIn posts talking about the need to acquire more cars but never seem to see a lot of solutions being presented.

If Carvana/CarMax have a simple process and they offer more $$, how can dealers create an advantage?
One thing I know they don’t do is utilize live video for trade-in appraisals and use that as a sales opportunity with capability for a walkaround.

So the person wanting to sell their vehicle would have to download an APP? Or does the APP reside on the dealership website so there would be no need for a Software Download?

Tallcool1 · Jul 25, 2025

Zack_AF said:
Appreciate the info, fellas! Sounds like you have a solid process working. Curious, would you know how many are buying from you vs just selling?

I’m not a dealership so I don’t have a process in place. Just have an idea that is sort of an offshoot of a live video product we have.
Contemplating if optimizing for a trade-in type experience would be useful and if dealers would even want/use something like this.

The thought here is sort of along the lines of we don’t know what we don’t know. I just wonder how many people bypass a dealership‘s trade-in processes in favor of CarMax/Carvana (whom are typically known to pay more) and how much of that market could be captured with a human connection.

Nobody is offering this, so what might customers think if this was an available option.

I am really not sure what advice I can give, and know that I have thought about it a lot.

My store has been open for about 15 years. From day 1 we have worked to build a reputation as a dealership that would put a number on absolutely any vehicle that someone wants to sell. Even if the customer doesn't like our number, we give them a number.

We actually get some vehicle bought in situations where the dealer down the road is low balling on the trade so they sell it to us and go buy the vehicle from the guy down the street.

The kicker is that I am low volume compared to what most are. An app or video process might actually be more of a barrier than simplifying things. People are familiar with texting a cell phone picture. It is simple and something that they do all the time. Facetime is the same thing. It is so easy to just Facetime the customer and walk them through how to reverse the camera is we want to look at a trade in or purchase vehicle. Native Mobile features are just engrained into everyday life.

Now don't let my opinion hinder your outlook for a product. You may very well be onto something special. I am simply not a person that has the background or need for something like it so my input isn't worth much.

Tallcool1 · Jul 24, 2025

bringles said:
thanks! Do you mean in Quickbooks?

Yes, Quickbooks Payments.

Tallcool1 · Jul 24, 2025

It's pretty frustrating @DrewAment . I don't like it at all, and it isn't just Carfax.

What I see frequently is that the "Great Deal" vehicles are typically really tacky but have no REPORTED Accidents. These cars might be scratched up with door dings, cracked bumper covers, stained seats, headliners that look like they survived an Apocalypse, oxidized head lights, etc...but the Value Rating is really strong especially if they have even a decent service history.

Think about the cars that work really good for Sub Prime and you realize that those are the cars that score well on these 3rd Party sites.

Why they won't just tell us how the Rater System works is beyond me. I suppose they are afraid that dealers will somehow game their system?

bringles · Jul 24, 2025

thanks! Do you mean in Quickbooks?

Tallcool1 · Jul 24, 2025

I process through Intuit and anytime someone is using a Debit Card I process it as an E-Check for a flat $3 per transaction.

Tallcool1 · Jul 24, 2025

For me, it depends largely on how new the pickup is. I would never mess with deleting a truck that is still under factory warranty.

As @Alex Snyder said, the performance difference is staggering. I have always known that diesel pickups are "de-tuned" to less than half of what they are capable of, but it is hard to really comprehend that until you have felt it.

I have recently been thinking about buying an old Ford 6.0 and having it Bullet Proofed and Deleted. Those things run amazing with a little bit of love.

What year make model engine are you wanting to delete?

Tallcool1 · Jul 24, 2025

We get basic information like @Richie K and have the customer send us pictures. We tell them that we don't need fancy pictures and that they don't need to wash and vacuum the car. We also tell that anything that can't be captured in a photo (windshield, scratches, etc) they can just tell us about "we will see it as soon as you bring it in anyway" and we will do the same for you on the vehicle you want to buy.

It works really good for us. We rarely change an appraisal.

bringles · Jul 24, 2025

I source most of my tires from ebay. I would avoid generic new tires and go with good quality name brand tires any day. The cheap Chinese tires wear out very quickly. For example, I just bought a matching set of Hankook 245/55r19 tires with 6/32" tread for $105 including shipping. I pay $15 per tire for mounting at a local tire shop.

Alex Snyder · Jul 24, 2025

This isn't the usual question for DealerRefresh, as we are more focused on solving dealer issues. With that said, I love diesels and think they are unnecessarily hampered by government bullshit. The fight against diesel is one of the best examples of eco-morons who only see the soot in front of them versus those who recognize the larger issues truly polluting our air.

I'm in the "remove all the government-mandated crap" on your diesel truck crowd. I had a deleted and bulletproofed F350 that I loved. The performance gain was tremendous (380hp to 600hp) with the delete. You'd see soot come out of the tailpipe only on a super cold day with a cold start (no engine warming with the plug).

With that said, you need to know your emissions restrictions in your state and what kits are available for your car. My F350 was a 2005, so it fell outside of current restrictions in my state.

Chris Cachor · Jul 23, 2025

This is data right from our groupwide roll-up GA4 property for last month:

Wow, no kidding. Thanks for sharing that. Facebook would skew towards mobile but still. Great info!

Chris Cachor · Jul 23, 2025

~80% of dealership traffic is mobile, so the top navigation bar isn't even visible.

I'd argue most mobile sites aren't even usable on mobile. I don't even bother on my phone - I just go direct to Cars.com or CarGurus.

But 80%? That seems high? Last I checked it was closer to 60%?

CarlAutofusion · Jul 22, 2025

Here is an example of a landing page we use on Google's Vehicle Ads. We created a separate set of VDPs that are optimized for Vehicle Ads. They generate more leads and visitors are more engaged.

It was a whole process to A/B test and come up with these landing pages. We initially noticed the normal VDPs had a high bounce rate when coming from Google's Vehicle Ads. When we looked into the analytics, we saw that a high percentage of users that stayed scrolled down and clicked on a similar vehicle. So initially, we expanded that section from showing 3 vehicles to 6 vehicles.
Somewhere down the line, we added a link to the SRP. More people stayed and shopped.
We went crazy and expanded that section again to 12 and a little more people stayed.
We then decided to redesign the VDP and create a separate VDP just for VLA. Through several more iterations, that screenshot is where we're at now.
We did a case study with another dealer group and they saw an overall increase of 59% more leads, 122% increase in engagement and a 36% decrease in bounce rate.
This is all due to changing the landing page. Same spend and more leads.
You can carry this same process to all campaigns, even monthly offer campaigns.

CarlAutofusion · Jul 22, 2025

DjSec is right on point here. A good landing page makes a huge difference. Think about it. You paid for that person to click on your ad and now they're on the website. You want to maximize the chances of converting that visitor into a customer. If you advertise a special lease rate, a landing page that goes into more details on the special lease, along with matches in inventory will outperform landing that visitor on the homepage or even on your SRP.

bringles · Jul 22, 2025

Hi,
I have been doing wholesale only the past 3 years and just adding retail back in. I am shocked by the fees that are charged for debit cards. I complained and my vendor (everyware) offered to lower it to 2%. That is still way too much. Most of my inventory is under $15k and we get a lot of cash buyers. 2% of 15k is $300. I cant afford to eat that and asking a customer to pay that is also unexpected and unreasonable. We do take personal checks (after verifying funds) and cashiers checks (time consuming), but most people don't carry around checkbooks anymore.

I am not as concerned about the credit card fees. We charge the customer 3% and most people are fine with that and expect it. Who are you guys using and what are you paying for debit fees?

joe.pistell · Jul 21, 2025

DjSec said:
And then pushes corrected data back through an API or integration with the dealership’s inventory system?

This one has such promise but has much to learn

-yoda

DrewAment · Jul 21, 2025

DjSec said:
Why not skip the traditional homepage entirely?

Users want inventory first.

You're removing friction. When someone visits yoursite.com, they’re not saying “wow, nice hero image!” They’re thinking:

"Do they have the car I want?"

By showing the SRP right away, you're answering that immediately.

Your removing a click and turning the traditional homepage into the SRP page. That speeds up the buyer journey and aligns with user intent.

Your homepage becomes the indexable inventory. Google gets real-time updates on vehicle listings right from the start, helping with organic rankings.

Mobile users don’t want to hunt through a homepage for the link to the inventory and that design gets them instantly to filters, photos, and price.

Agree -- but most dealers have fixed/service departments.

DrewAment · Jul 21, 2025

Homepage == 3 buttons.....that's it.

"Shop New", "Shop Used", "Service Appointment"

MAYBE 4 if you have a solid buying program, so - add "Sell Your Vehicle"

Dealers that load their homepage with hero images, large luxury type cool photos, and other things a customer really doesn't care about.... just insane. Get the customer, as fast as possible, to the info/section they are looking for.

A stat thrown around a lot is that less than 15% of vehicle shoppers even see your "homepage" - as most traffic is direct to SRP or VDP.

DrewAment · Jul 21, 2025

Just had a meeting with Carfax - the badging came up (good, fair, etc). I asked what was the cadence for applying a badge and level. They said it was algorithmic and that they (corporate) does not share. WHAT??? So no customer, or dealer, transparency on why you are badging a vehicle a certain way?

When you click the info button, the website says - for great == "The dealer has priced this car well below the CARFAX History-Based Value."

Note the rep is saying it is more than just price, it is "history based" and takes into account the vehicle history. Like how?

So 2 questions....

1 - do you care that the rating is algorithmic but they don't share, even on basic level, the WHY of the badging. What would push it from good to great?

2 - Do you use these badges, and price/reprice accordingly, when pricing your vehicles for your website and 3rd party listings?

CarlAutofusion · Jul 18, 2025

Without good data, its' hard to make decisions that maximize ROI. Make sure all your data is there. Are you tracking all your leads (including phone calls, chats, sms, etc)? If not, you should. Then make sure they are making it into Google Ads. This will allow you to funnel your $$$ to your best performing campaigns.

PMax campaigns are probably one of the better performing campaign types right now, especially if you add in Vehicle Listing Ads but its' easier to spend a ton there and some mistakes can be costly. Start small, learn, optimize then spend more.

Latest activity

Latest activity

Sticky Amazon SELLS purchases — not just eyeballs

Carvana sales: 48,000 sales every month What's Driving This Growth in Sales Volume? Carvana's Website Traffic is UNCHANGED​

Garcia's Obsession: Get MORE Sales with LESS Friction & FEWER Leads​

The Evolution of Efficiency:​

Users want inventory first.​

Filter

Sticky

Amazon SELLS purchases — not just eyeballs

Carvana sales: 48,000 sales every month

What's Driving This Growth in Sales Volume? Carvana's Website Traffic is UNCHANGED

Garcia's Obsession: Get MORE Sales with LESS Friction & FEWER Leads

The Evolution of Efficiency:

Users want inventory first.