What auto and AI leaders posted, October 14. Carvana gets the trade-in before the store

Today almost every post is about one thing. The buyer decides before they get to the store. Carvana values the car in their driveway, AI answers the lead in a second, and the dealer still waits in the showroom.

News from the trade press is in the morning issue. AI tips are in a separate post. I added my take to each post.

What dealers say#

Trade-ins go to Carvana and CarMax before the buyer visits the store#

Car Dealership Guy shared a clip with Marc Steiner, founder of Turn Automotive. His words. "We're all losing trades to Carvana and CarMax. Why? 'Cause they got sold before from home in the driveway."

His answer is to do the same thing. Value the car remotely and give a firm trade-in price while the buyer is at home. Do not ask them to come to the store first.

My take. The buyer does not choose between Carvana and a dealer. They choose between "now" and "later". The first one to give a firm number gets the car. In 2026, "come in and we will value it" sounds like "please wait".

What you can do today. Take the last five buyers who sold their trade-in to someone else. Find out who got a price before you did. If the answer is "all of them", fix your appraisal process first, not your discount.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

AI texts the buyer the second they send an appraisal request#

Alex Perdikis, owner and CEO of Koons Motors, spoke to Car Dealership Guy. A buyer sends car details on the website and gets a text right away. This attacks an old problem. There are many appraisal leads and few deals.

In the full podcast he gives one more number. AI texted service customers at his Ford store with an offer to sell or trade their car. 60% replied, and the store bought some cars the same day.

My take. A 60% reply rate from service is not about AI. It is about a dealer who finally asked the people who already come to the store. Your best used car inventory sits in your service lane and drinks coffee.

What you can do today. Export this week's service customers with cars older than four years. Send each one a single line: we can value your car while it is in for service.

Car Dealership Guy post on X · Episode on YouTube

Managers now see a missed follow-up in real time#

Eric Wilmeth runs operations at a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store in Waxahachie, Texas. He says managers now see in real time when a customer still waits for the store. His main point. "Having the information is just one part of it, but executing on that information, that's the key to success."

My take. Almost every CRM has a screen with overdue tasks. Nobody opens it. The screen does not do the work. A manager who walks to the salesperson every hour and asks "why is this customer waiting?" does.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

A second store nearby turns your own store into a competitor#

Alex Keenan of Ewing Automotive explains why central marketing matters more when a group opens a second store close by. "Whether you buy it from my Celina store or my Plano store, I'm gonna thank you for my business. But someday I can't both win."

My take. This is the same story as Niello and its buying team three days ago. A group grows and starts to bid against itself. One ad, one price and one person per lead. If not, the buyer picks the store that gave the bigger discount.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

What carmakers and the market say#

Lease returns are up 21% from last year#

Car Dealership Guy cites the Manheim index for Q3. Lease returns are up 21% from 2025 and up 11% from Q2. Cox Automotive chief economist Jeremy Robb says many of these cars come from 2023 leases. Returns are still 55% below 2019. The share of EVs in lease returns will grow to 16% by the end of the year.

My take. Three-year-old cars with one owner and a clear history are the best stock for a used car lot. The dealers who talk to banks and leasing companies now will get these cars before the auction does.

Car Dealership Guy post on X

A new car loan payment is $148 higher than a lease payment#

Automotive News published a column by Tarry Shebesta, president of the National Vehicle Leasing Association. Per Experian, the average new car loan payment in Q2 was $765. That is $148 more than the average lease payment. Leases are 24% of financed new cars, down from 30% at the end of 2019. Kelley Blue Book puts the average new car price at $50,089, and 36% of loans are longer than six years.

His point. "We have become very good at lowering a payment by extending the debt."

My take. When a salesperson knows only one answer to "too expensive", they make the loan longer. Three years later the buyer owes more than the car is worth, and the next deal is gone. A lease is not a product for rich people. It is the second answer to the payment question.

Automotive News post on X

AI and sales#

Lemkin says a leader who does not do the work will fail#

SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin has a new post. The number one sign that a new sales, marketing or tech leader will fail is that they do not do the job themselves. "Execs who won't do the job themselves always fail."

My take. It is the same in a dealership. Some sales managers do not take a call or meet a buyer even once a day. After six months they manage a spreadsheet, not people. With AI you see this even more. If you have not tried an agent on your own calls, you cannot teach your team to use it.

Jason Lemkin post on X

For people who work with AI#

Mollick expects AI assistants to flood customer service with requests#

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick warns about a coming wave. An AI assistant can ask for old refunds and negotiate deals without limits. When millions of people learn this, customer service teams will get a legal DDoS attack.

My take. For a dealer this is not the far future. Soon buyers' agents, not buyers, will write to your website and chat. An agent does not get tired and does not feel shy. If your chat has no clear rules on price and discounts, the agent will negotiate them out of you.

What you can do today. Write one page with what a salesperson can promise in chat and what they cannot. Cover price, discount and delivery date. Your people need it now, and your future AI assistant will need it too.

Ethan Mollick post on X

SaaStr keeps search for its agents on all day and night#

Lemkin says SaaStr's agents use the search service Exa a lot. It fills the gaps that other data services leave. It is cheap, so they do not limit it and run it 24/7.

My take. An agent needs a lot of cheap search, not one expensive search. If your agent checks each lead once a week because every request costs money, it is not an agent. It is a report.

Jason Lemkin post on X

Teams cloned a $43,000-a-year SaaS in one weekend#

swyx ran a hackathon. Teams had one weekend to copy a real service that costs $43,000 a year, with AI. There were 72 entries and about 100 billion tokens, and both AI and humans checked the results. In the podcast he explains what is still hard to copy even in a mid-size service.

My take. A dealer does not need to build their own CRM. But simple tools now cost much less. A report, a service booking bot or a trade-in calculator is a weekend of work, not a yearly subscription.

swyx post on X

In brief#

• Electrek says Tesla will finally show the new Roadster on Thursday.
• Automotive News reports that Acura will add two models, including its first eight-seat crossover.
• Car Dealership Guy says Shawn Fain won a second term as UAW president, with turnout just over 10%.
• Automotive News reports a fire at a Cadillac store in Fort Worth. Six EVs burned, nobody was hurt.

Also on video#

• Automotive News, Retail on the Record. Jeff Wyler Automotive Family CEO David Wyler on Carvana and why he will not sell Chinese cars.
• Automotive News, October 13 show. Stellantis plans a V-8 Hellcat Charger, and experts debate who pays for tariffs.
• Car Dealership Guy, Daily Dealer Live. Three posts above come from this show.
• SaaStr, The Agents #015. A vendor asked $240,000 a year for API access, and SaaStr said no.