The Accounting Mistake Costing Dealers Thousands a Month | Car Dealership Guy Podcast #61

I never want to see you again because every time you come in my dealership, you can deliver bad news. And then a few years later, this came about. And I want to see you every day. I said, hey, Brian, I finally get to give you some good news. This accountant has spent an entire career on investigating financial fraud cases in the automotive industry. But what he's doing now could have the biggest impact on dealership financials yet.

每次你走进我的经销商店，总是带来坏消息，因此我再也不想见到你。然后几年后，出现了这种情况。我想每天见到你。我说，嘿，布莱恩，我终于可以告诉你一些好消息了。这位会计师在汽车行业调查金融欺诈案件上花了整个职业生涯。但他现在正在做的事情可能对经销商的财务状况产生最大的影响。

Today, I'm speaking with Franco Bryan, a partner at Withum, a technology-driven advisory and accounting firm that specializes in automotive. We discussed catching $800,000 stolen by a dealership controller, the accounting mistake costing dealers thousands. How to attract and retain service-based talent and much more. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.

今天，我和Withum的合伙人弗兰科·布莱恩进行了交谈，这是一家专门从事汽车行业的技术驱动型咨询和会计公司。我们讨论了如何发现一个经销商控制人员盗窃了80万美元，以及会计错误如何导致经销商损失成千上万。还涉及到如何吸引和留住基于服务的人才等话题。别忘了点击订阅，这样你就不会错过任何一集。

What's up, everyone? This is Car dealership guy. You're listening to the Car dealership guy podcast, which is my effort to give you access to the most unbiased and transparent insights into the car market. But before we get into the show, this episode is brought to you by Car's Commerce. The platform is simplified everything about buying and selling cars, including the quote-unquote follow-up. Let me explain.

大家好！我是汽车经销商大叔。你正在收听汽车经销商大叔的播客，我努力为你提供最客观透明的汽车市场见解。但在开始节目之前，本期节目由Car's Commerce赞助。这个平台简化了购买和售卖汽车的一切，包括所谓的“跟进”。让我解释一下。

Dealers, fast and effective follow-up is crucial for converting leads into customers. But here's the problem. 40% of shoppers report that they are not getting timely or helpful responses from dealerships. This is a huge problem because your own team could be leading four out of every 10 sales opportunities on the table.

经销商，快速和有效的跟进对于将潜在客户转化为客户至关重要。但问题是在这里。40%的购物者报告称他们并没有从经销商那里得到及时或有帮助的回应。这是一个巨大的问题，因为您的团队可能会错失十分之四的销售机会。

Car's Commerce makes it simple to measure and improve your follow-up performance. A cars.com experience report tracks the percentage of leads your teams responding to and how customers rate those responses. While dealer inspires retailing technology enables your team to quickly text follow-ups with personalized financing options to make the most out of every opportunity. To learn more about how you can measure and improve your team's follow-up performance, go to carscomers.ink.x experience or click the link in the show notes below.

Car的商务让衡量和改善您的跟进表现变得简单。cars.com的体验报告跟踪您的团队回应的潜在客户百分比以及客户对这些回应的评价。与经销商激发零售技术使您的团队能够快速通过个性化的融资选择发送跟进短信，以充分利用每一个机会。要了解如何衡量和改进您的团队的跟进表现，请访问carscomers.ink.x体验或点击下方的链接。

This episode is also brought to you by CDK Global. CDK Global has been empowering nearly 15,000 dealers with the tools and technology they need to build deeper relationships with customers. Their team is keenly aware of the state of dealership technology and while many vendors promise seamless experiences between your CRM, DMS, digital retail and fixed ops, most of these bolt-on solutions tend to break workflows and cause more harm than good.

本集还由CDK Global赞助。CDK Global已经为近1.5万家经销商提供了他们建立更深入客户关系所需的工具和技术。他们的团队对经销商技术的状况了如指掌，虽然许多供应商承诺在您的CRM、DMS、数字零售和固定操作之间提供无缝体验，但大多数这种外挂解决方案通常会破坏工作流程，带来更多的伤害而不是好处。

That is why CDK has launched a new dealership experience platform. This new integrated software consists of everything you need to operate a dealership officially while delivering an unparalleled experience to your customers. Basically, everything working together, not separate, one system to run your dealership as opposed to 10.

这就是为什么CDK推出了全新的经销商体验平台。这款新型一体化软件包括您在经营经销店时需要的一切，同时为您的客户提供无与伦比的体验。基本上，所有的功能都整合在一起，而不是分开运作，只需一个系统就可以管理您的经销店，而不是十个。

CDK developed it with an outside-in approach listening to dealers every step of the way. You can learn more about CDK's dealership experience platform by visiting CDK Global.com slash DXP for clicking the link in the show notes below.

CDK采用了一种由内而外的方法，一路倾听经销商的意见。您可以通过访问CDK Global.com/ DX或在下方的节目注释中点击链接了解更多关于CDK的经销商体验平台。

Lastly, this episode is also brought to you by Withum. I'd like to thank Withum for coming on as a guest and also supporting this podcast. Frank O'Brien on the CDG podcast. Frank, welcome. Thank you very much, Yossi. I appreciate you being here. Have me on. It's funny to hear my actual name being called. I'm used to people. People are usually about to say my name and then they're like a car dealership guy. It's funny. Quite a change of pace. It's good to have you on.

最后，本集节目也由Withum赞助。我想感谢Withum作为嘉宾参与支持这个播客。弗兰克·奥布莱恩在CDG播客节目中。弗兰克，欢迎。非常感谢，约西。感谢你邀请我。听到别人叫我的真名有点好笑。我习惯了人们通常要叫我的名字，然后他们就像是汽车经销商这样的人。这真有趣。这是相当值得期待的变化。很高兴能有你的参与。

Before we even get into the market, lots of questions from people about where's the market headed. You clearly have a really front row view here with what you do in your line of work. I want to take a step back before that and just talk about your background, how you got started. Specifically, I saw that you had some background in automotive fraud. Automotive fraud. I did an episode with another gentleman a couple of months back. It was an extremely hot episode. I just want you to give us a little bit of background into that world.

在我们进入市场之前，很多人都问市场的走向。你在你的工作中显然有一个非常前排的视角。在此之前，我想从你的背景谈起，谈一谈你是如何开始的。具体来说，我看到你有一些汽车欺诈的背景。汽车欺诈。几个月前我和另一位先生一起做了一期节目。那是一期非常火爆的节目。我只是想让你给我们一点关于那个领域的背景信息。

What was it like starting into auto business and really specializing in fraud? Partly, that was some of your background. I started in public accounting. I graduated from Villanova in 1998 and worked for a regional accounting firm called O'Connor & Drew in Green Tree, Massachusetts. The funny thing is, I still technically, I never left because O'Connor & Drew, last year, merged with him, Smith & Brown, which is the third largest automotive accounting firm in the country. My career path has always been in automotive accounting.

开始从事汽车业务并专门从事欺诈方面是什么感觉？部分原因是因为这是你的背景之一。我从事过会计工作。我在1998年毕业于维拉诺瓦大学，并在马萨诸塞州格林树的奥康纳和德鲁会计师事务所工作过。有趣的是，从技术上讲，我其实从未离开过因为奥康纳和德鲁在去年与希思和布朗合并了，后者是美国第三大汽车会计师事务所。我的职业路径一直都是在汽车会计方面。

I started off doing taxes and audits like your normal typical young CPA. I realized early on that wasn't what I really enjoyed. I was fortunate in my first summer after taxis and I was able to just randomly get selected to be on a fraud project. I said, hey, if you can get me on more of these projects, I like these types of projects. I started that transition. Give us some interesting stories. I'm sure you've seen a lot through your career and I'm sure people are wondering, right? What are some types of fraud? Give us a little juicy story to kick off. Several years ago, we got a call from an owner and he said, hey, I got a dealer in New York that needs help because they think they're a controller steal from them and they don't want to use someone local because they already use a local guy and they need someone from outside the area. I drive down with Kevin Carnes, who's another partner at the time. We get up at five in the morning, drive to New York, get there. We pull up to the dealership and it looks like a dairy court. One of the old school 1960s dairy court, right? It turns to me. It was funny too because it was March 9th. This is right before the corporate deadline. It turns me because I'm so sorry for wasting your time. I said, wasting my time. You're the guy that has to deal with the taxes. I'm just doing projects, special projects. I'm not that busy right now. We go in, we talk to a guy by the name of the ****. He said, how's business? Now, this is 2009. This is right after the market crashed. The economy's in the tank and we're figuring, this guy's going to go out of business, especially if his controller ripped off and they're like, it's never been better. This is right around the time Sue really started to take off. He had made more money that year than he had the previous year. I think that year he made half a million bucks and we had the account until 2017 when he finally sold it. By 2017, he was making $3 million a year. They were absolutely killing it. He tells me the story. He said, listen, I got a call from my bank. They say, I'm $2.3 million out of trust. Before I can even hang up the phone with the controllers at the door saying, you're going to get a call from the bank saying you're out of trust. Here's where you spent the month. She provides him with a list of all the personal expenses that he's run through the business. He goes, don't you think that's strange? I said, yeah, but let's take a look at things. Let me get a bank ring. I go to the controller. I say, hey, can you give me the February bank ring? She's like, February's not done. I said, okay, that's no problem. Give me December. She's like, well, I don't have December either. I said, well, what can you give? She said, October. I said, okay, fine. Give me October because if cash reconciles through October, it's unlikely that she clipped them for $2 million in the last five months. At least we have a starting point. We're working away doing a cash flow. Nothing makes sense. The books are a mess. Kevin turns to me and he said, he's like, I got to figure out where this money got posted to his loan account. I said, well, let me find them. Let me get that bank ring. So then I walked up. I said, do you have that bank ring? I mean, we've been there for like four or five hours. I said, do you have that bank ring? She goes, it got lost in a flood. I'm like, what? How? We got lost in a flood. Is there a flood? I don't know about that. What are we doing here? So I go, what can you give me? And she goes, I can give you June. I said, well, just give you June. She gives me June. It's one piece of paper. It says, balance per bank, outstanding checks, balance per GL. I said, oh boy, we got a problem. So we launched the investigation. I mean, we uncovered that she stole about 800,000, but we stopped at a certain point just because we're just going back in time. And we just got to a point where the data and the records became difficult to follow. But you see, ladies and gentlemen, never, never a dull moment in the car business. No, no, no, not at all. I got a lot of it. So Frank clearly have had an interesting career.

我一开始就做税务和审计，就像你们普通年轻会计师一样。我很早就意识到我并不是真正喜欢这个。在我第一个暑假，我很幸运地被随机选中参加了一个欺诈项目。我说，嘿，如果你能让我参加更多这样的项目，我喜欢这类项目。于是我开始了过渡。给我们讲讲有趣的故事。我相信你在职业生涯中见过很多，人们肯定会好奇吧？有哪些种类的欺诈？来讲一个耐人寻味的故事给我们听听。几年前，一个业主给我们打电话，他说，嘿，我在纽约有个经销商需要帮助，因为他们认为他们的控制人员从他们那里偷钱，他们不想使用当地的某人，因为他们已经使用了当地的人，他们需要一个外地的人。我和凯文·卡恩斯一起开车去，他是当时的另一位合伙人。我们早上五点出发，开车去纽约，在那里。我们到达经销商，看起来像个奶场。一间老式的1960年代的奶场，对我说，真有趣，因为那天是3月9日，这是截止日前的正好几天。他对我说，真抱歉浪费了你的时间。我说，浪费我的时间，你才是需要处理税务的人。我只是在做项目，特殊项目。我现在并不是很忙。我们进去，和一个名叫****的人谈话。他说，生意怎么样？这是2009年，就在市场崩溃后不久，经济在垃圾桶里，我们认为这家人可能会倒闭，尤其是如果他们的控制人员骗走了钱。他们说，这是历史上最好的时期。这正是苏开始飞速发展的时候。他那一年赚了比前一年多一倍的钱。我想那年他赚了50万美元，直到2017年他最终卖掉。到了2017年，他一年赚了300万美元。他们确实表现出色。他告诉我这个故事。他说，我接到银行的电话，他们说，我失信了230万美元。我还没有挂断电话，控制人员就来敲门说，银行会打电话给你说你的信用出问题了。这就是你这个月花在哪里的清单。她向他提供了所有他私人支出的清单。他说，你觉得这不奇怪吗？我说，是的，但我们来看看事情的原委吧。让我去查银行账单。我去找控制人员，我说，嘿，请给我2月份的银行账单。她说，2月份还没准备好。我说，好吧，那没关系。给我去年12月的。她说，嗯，我也没有去年12月的。我说，那你能给什么？她说，10月份的。我说，好吧，那就给我10月份吧，因为如果到10月份现金对账是清晰的，那么最近5个月里她不太可能把他们骗了200万美元。至少我们有一个起点。我们一直在忙着做现金流，一切都不合理。账目一团糟。凯文对我说，他得找出这笔钱是怎么被记录到贷款账户的。我说，让我找找看。让我看看那个银行账单。于是我走过去，我说，你有那个银行账单吗？我们已经在那里待了四五个小时。我说，你有那个账单吗？她说，被洪水冲走了。我说，什么？怎么会？是有洪水吗？我都不知道。我们到底在干什么？所以我说，你给我什么信息？她说，我可以给你6月份的。我说，那就给我6月份吧。她给了我6月份的。只有一张纸，上面写着，银行余额，未兑现支票，总账余额。我说，哦，天哪，出问题了。于是我们展开了调查。我们发现她偷了大约80万美元，但在某个点我们停止了，因为我们回溯太久，数据和记录变得难以追踪。但是，各位，汽车行业绝对是动作不断的地方。弗兰克显然有一段有趣的职业生涯。

Fast forward to present day. What are you currently doing? We know what you're with, right? But just also a little bit about what you're currently doing. I want to get a bit more of the nitty gritty. Again, given the fact that you have such a front row, you know, for you into these dealerships and, you know, P and L's and everything. So I want to get into that. Start us out with a bit more about what you're currently doing today. Sure, absolutely. So right now I still handle some fraud work, especially in automotive related. All my work is automotive related. And we still, we still do some fraud projects. But I would say 80% of the work we do is centered around fixed stops and specifically warranty reimbursement. Tell me, tell me more about just the overall industry. I've talked a lot about on the podcast just about the last three years, you know, dealership earnings have been, you know, through the roof on a relative basis or much higher than prior years.

快进到现在。你目前在做什么？我们知道你是在做什么，对吧？但也稍微谈谈你目前在做什么。我想更深入了解一些细节。考虑到你有如此密切的关系，可以进入这些经销商和财务报表等，我想深入了解一下。先给我们谈谈你目前的工作情况。当然，目前我的工作还涉及一些欺诈调查，特别是与汽车相关的。我的所有工作都是与汽车相关的。我们仍然在进行一些欺诈项目。但我要说，我们80%的工作都围绕固定停车点，具体来说是保修金退款。告诉我更多关于整个行业的情况。我在播客上已经谈了很多，过去三年，经销商的收入相对来说飙升，远高于以往的年份。

We're sort of coming back to pre pandemic levels now. Give us a lay of the land, right? Where are we out today? What's your outlook? Yeah, we're seeing the exact same thing. The last three years were record profits, gross profits were way above what we normally see. And now the month of January was was a tough month for car dealers. The SARS, I think it was a 14 and 20 million, which is which was down below what they would they originally projected. So and again, for anyone that doesn't know what that means, right, you're referring to just the seasonally adjusted annual rate, which is really how many new cars we're expecting to sell this entire year. So now, you know, February is off to a sluggish start as well. We are seeing higher inventory levels. We're seeing the interest rates are a major factor.

我们现在有点回到了疫情前的水平。给我们一个全面的情况，对吧？今天我们处在哪个阶段？你的展望是什么？是的，我们看到了同样的情况。过去三年利润创下了记录，毛利润远远超过我们通常看到的水平。而现在一月份对汽车经销商来说是一个艰难的月份。如果我没记错的话，销售增幅率被降低到了14到20％，这比最初预计的低得多。所以，对于不了解这意味着什么的人们来说，你指的是季节性调整后的年度销售率，这实际上是我们预计整年要销售多少新车。现在，你知道，二月份也开始步履蹒跚。我们看到库存水平较高。我们看到利率是一个重要因素。

So the vehicles are at actual cost to buy a new vehicle is at an all time high. The used vehicle market follows the new vehicle market. And when consumers are faced with high interest rates, now they get hit on both them, right? They get hit on both both sides of it so that it's a more difficult purchase for the average consumer. And it also extends the loan terms as well and the life of the vehicle. So what we're seeing and what we're advising our clients is fixed operation really is going to be the forefront of the upcoming months and maybe all the way through the next couple of years. Tell me more about that, right? So first of all, your margins are declining. There's no doubt about it. You mentioned interest rates are an issue. What does that mean? Like what is really happening? Like let's go a level deeper on that.

因此，目前购买新车的实际成本非常高。二手车市场通常跟随新车市场。当消费者面临高利率时，他们现在要同时受到两方面的冲击，对吧？他们在两方面都受到冲击，这让普通消费者的购买变得更加困难。同时，贷款期限和车辆寿命也相应延长。因此，我们目前观察到的情况是，我们建议客户将售后服务置于未来几个月甚至未来几年的重要位置。您能详细介绍一下吗？首先，您的利润率正在下降，这是毫无疑问的。您提到了利率是一个问题。这是什么意思？事实上发生了什么？让我们深入探讨一下。

So when the average person when they buy a car, they don't pay cashflow. They find it. So you have you have two aspects to the purchase. You have the vehicle that you're looking to buy. So you have whatever the cost is, less your trade, less your down payment. So it comes to a net price. And then that gets financed over the course of what used to be five years. Now it's six, seven, even even sometimes eight years in order to keep the monthly payment down because ultimately most consumers are focused on what can I afford to pay for my car payment each month as opposed to what is the actual vehicle cost and whatnot. So what that does is it ties up, you know, expendable cash, which is obviously not strong for the industry, but the automotive, you know, the automobile vehicle is a necessity for the individual.

所以，普通人购买汽车时，他们不是用现金付款的。他们找到方式。所以在购买过程中有两个方面。你要买的车辆是一个方面。所以你有成本，减去你的旧车的价值，再减去你的首付款。这就是净价。然后这笔款项通常会在过去的五年里进行分期付款。现在是六年、七年，甚至有时候是八年，为了让月供降低，因为大多数消费者关注的是每月能负担得起多少汽车贷款，而不是实际车辆成本。这会将可支配现金绑定起来，这显然对该行业不利，但是汽车对个人来说是必需品。

However, if you can take that vehicle and say, okay, you know what, I don't need a vehicle right now. I can just maintain and service my current vehicle. And instead of trading in and after three years, four years, five years, six years, I can extend that a couple years. Then that helps the overall, just a personal cost of the average consumer. So what we're seeing is the, it becomes a purchase of need rather a purchase of one. So that which is ultimately going to hurt sales in the industry, but that should help, you know, the service department, the fixed operations because in order to maintain that vehicle, you have to service it properly and you have to make the necessary repair. Do you think the industry is equipped for a potential like secular rise in service? You know, obviously, like you mentioned, car prices are still through the roof on a relative basis when you combine it with interest rates. And but we also know that, you know, it remains extremely difficult to hire technicians and, you know, to properly, you know, to have proper labor for, you know, to support service business. What do you think about that?

然而，如果你能够拥有那辆车并且说，好的，我现在不需要一辆车。我可以继续维护和保养我的现有车辆。在三年、四年、五年、六年后，我可以延长使用几年。那么这有助于普通消费者的个人成本。因此我们看到的是，购买变为需要而非一时冲动。这最终会影响行业销售，但应该会有助于服务部门和固定运营部门，因为为了维持这辆车，必须正确地进行保养和必要的维修。您认为行业是否准备好应对服务需求的潜在上升？显然，正如你提到的，汽车价格相对较高，当你加上利率时，但我们也知道，雇佣技术人员仍然极其困难，为了支持服务业务，确保有适量的劳动力。你对此有什么看法？

Yeah. So I think it's, I think it's a challenge. There are some well-run service departments that can absolutely handle the influx of the business, but you have two issues. One, you have capacity issues. It's really the main, the main issue. And that is your technicians in your service days. So the problem that you would run into is that technicians, and this is, no, this isn't a new problem. Technicians have been hard to find for a better part of a decade. What, what is my personal opinion on the matter is there are just few, it's a supply and demand issue, right? So there are fewer individuals becoming automotive, automotive mechanic for two reasons. Number one is, you know, I was, you know, born in the 80s. I graduated from college in the 90s. Ever since I was in high school, there's always been a push for, you know, four year higher education, right? So plus those jobs tend to have longer staying power, higher, you know, growth potential from a revenue standpoint, whatnot. But on the flip side, there are still a lot of kids going into the trades, but from, from that standpoint, the trades that tend to get most attraction are the ones that are tied to unions. And there aren't a lot of, uh, mechanic shops that are tied to unions. And that's predominantly because the benefits are better. So, you know, one, one of the areas that dealers have never been known for is there is there, you know, benefit just in general. So it's something that that dealers should look at and maybe try to get creative as the ways that they can attract more, uh, people into their business, especially technicians. Mm hmm. Is anyone doing anything interesting on that end? Like have you seen any best practices that you're like, wow, if, you know, if every dealer under the, in the country operated this way, there would be a technician surplus.

是的。所以我认为这是一个挑战。有一些运作良好的服务部门绝对可以处理业务的涌入，但你会遇到两个问题。首先，你会遇到产能问题。这确实是主要问题。这就是你的技术人员和服务日的问题。所以你可能会遇到的问题是技术人员，这并不是一个新问题。技术人员在过去的十年中一直很难找到。我的个人意见是这只是供需问题。作为汽车维修技师的人数较少的原因有两个。首先，我是80年代出生的。90年代大学毕业。自从我上高中以来，一直在推动四年制高等教育，因为那些工作往往具有更长久的职业发展空间，更高的收入潜力等。但另一方面，仍有许多孩子选择从事技工行业，但从吸引力角度来看，获得最多关注的技工行业往往与工会有关。而与工会有关的技工店并不多。这主要是因为那里的福利更好。经销商以前一直以来都不以福利而著称。所以这是经销商应该考虑的一个领域，也许可以尝试制定创新方法来吸引更多人，尤其是技术人员进入他们的企业。有人在这方面做一些有趣的事情吗？你看到过任何值得推荐的做法，让你感到"哇，如果国内每家经销商都这样运作，就会有技工过剩了吗？"

One of the areas that is, is you can get tied into the, you know, mechanic schools. Like that's a great way to do it. Take kids out of the school. That's, that's usually the primary one. I did have a dealer years ago. He had, he had a pretty good, benefit program. It was a Christmas phone, right? And what he did was it ran from September to August, but it got paid out on December, first payroll of December, but he had to be there to get the month. So it took a percentage of the bonuses and the commissions. Everybody that was on commission and bonus and deferred it till December. And it, it, not only the employees loved it because they got a big check. I mean, there were sales managers got like 2030 grand at right around Christmas time. It was great for their savings, right? There was a four savings on their end, but it was also really retention policy, right? Because think about it, you're not getting your paycheck until three months after you finish earning it, then you're already three months into it. Nobody's leaving their job and right before Christmas because it's too busy, right? Now it's in your four months and you're, you're, you're a third of the way through the year. So dealers can, can use, and they can, they can, you know, customize that into, you know, retirement benefit plans or, you know, get creative to, to figure out ways to just retain, retain technicians. Because it's not only important to hire them, but it's important to retain them because it just, it doesn't, it just no good to spend all the money training the guy and then have them have move over, you know, and so.

有一个方法是，你可以参加机械学校。这是一个很好的方法。把孩子们从学校带出来。这通常是主要方法。我以前有一个经销商。他有一个相当不错的福利计划。那是一个圣诞电话。他的计划从九月到八月，但是在十二月的第一个工资单上支付，但是必须在那个月在那里。他把奖金和佣金的一部分推迟到了十二月。不仅员工喜欢这种方式，因为他们能得到大额支票。一些销售经理在圣诞节前后得到了大约20到30万元。这对他们的储蓄来说很好。这也是一种留存政策，想想看，你要等到你赚到钱的三个月后才能拿到工资，那时你已经工作了三个月。没有人会在圣诞节前离开工作，因为那个时候太忙了。现在已经过了四个月，你已经度过了一年的三分之一。经销商可以利用这种方式，他们可以将其定制为退休福利计划，或者以创新的方式找到留住技术人员的方法。因为不仅重要的是雇佣他们，重要的是要留住他们，因为只是花费大量资金培训一个人然后让他跳槽是没有好处的。

Yeah, it's, I mean, labor is one of the biggest expenses always recruiting. I mean, we, I'm sure, you know, because we've only blasted it like a thousand times already, but we recently launched a free industry job board. So we've kind of put it all over the, just all over our website and whatnot. But you know, technicians is obviously the toughest part to, to support and to help. It's, you know, the job board is to track again, CDG jobs.com. And you can see there's plenty of different roles there over a hundred roles at this point. But technicians is a big thing on my mind, right? Like, you know, how, how do we make it more attractive and, you know, how do you really invite more technicians to a platform like this? Because it's obviously a huge need in the industry. And whoever can solve that will definitely be a billionaire. Yeah. With, with everything going on, the service side of the business, tell me a little bit more about what your specialty is in this industry.

是的，我是说，劳动力成本总是招募的最大开销之一。我是说，我确信你知道，因为我们已经像火车一样轰炸了一千次，但我们最近推出了一个免费的行业招聘网站。我们已经在网站上各处都有了。但是你知道，技术员显然是最难支持和帮助的部分。你知道，这个招聘网站的网址是CDGjobs.com。你可以看到目前有超过一百个不同的职位。但技术员是我关注的一个重要问题，你知道，我们如何让它更具吸引力，如何真正邀请更多的技术员来到这样的平台？因为在这个行业中显然有巨大的需求。谁能解决这个问题，肯定会成为亿万富翁。嗯，随着一切的发展，企业服务部门，请告诉我更多关于你在这个行业的专长是什么。

And I know you're working on warranty reimbursements. You know, if, can you tell us a little bit about that, explain what it is. Every state has a, has franchise laws. Well, we call them state statues, but they're really, you know, state franchise laws, which provides certain rights to the, to the, to the, to the cardio. And specifically, when it comes to warranty reimbursement, these states have these laws that allow the dealer to submit for a warranty rate increase on both parts and labor, which will yield, which will ultimately change their warranty rates to a higher number and, and yield them more, more profit. And it, and it's a, it's a labor intensive process because it requires 100 repair orders with warranty-like services, or what we call 100 qualifying repair orders. And in order to get that, you have to get thousands, you have to go through thousands of repair orders. And what's interesting is that with, first of all, the state statutes all vary rather significantly. Some are, some are more like the others, but we have some that are very basic and generic. Well, we have others like state of California and state of Alabama, very detailed. They go through, they, they give you very specific instructions as to how to submit, but also what repairs to exclude, which is important. And also, it gives certain submission instructions, response time that the OEM can only take so long to respond and what, what the process is there. So the, the, but what's interesting and what I've noticed over the years is that you could take the same statute and two different manufacturers can have different interpretation. How did this issue even arise? Right? Like, where did this come out from that with reimbursement issues with the manufacturers? Right? When was the, where was the line drawn where, you know, people like yourself said, Hey, we can fix this for the dealer community. Let's just start there.

我知道你正在处理保修赔偿。你知道如果可以的话，能不能给我们讲讲这个，解释一下是什么意思。每个州都有特许法。我们称之为州法律，但实际上它们是特许法律，为经销商提供某些权利。具体来说，在保修赔偿方面，这些州有法律允许经销商对零件和人工费用提出保修费率增加的申请，从而最终将他们的保修费率提高，赚取更多利润。这是一项劳动密集型的工作，因为需要提交100个类似保修服务的修理订单，或者我们称之为100个符合条件的修理订单。为了达到这一目标，你必须检查成千上万的修理订单。有趣的是，不同州的法规差异相当大。有些州的法规比其他州的更为基本和通用。但像加利福尼亚州和阿拉巴马州这样的州则非常详细，他们具体说明了如何提交申请，同时指出了哪些修理需排除在外，这一点很重要。此外，它还提供了一些提交说明，原始设备制造商只能在规定时间内作出回应，还有整个过程是怎么样的。但有趣的是，多年来我注意到同样的法规可以被两个不同的制造商有不同的解释。这个问题是怎么出现的呢？就像，经销商的赔偿问题是怎么产生的？何时划定了界限，你这样的人说：“嘿，我们可以为经销商社区解决这个问题。就从这里开始吧。”

So, so back in the 2000s, couple of states starting with Jersey and then Florida and Maine, really around 2007, put these laws on the books. And in what they stemmed from for the length of time, the relationship between the car dealer and the manufacturer was a one-sided relationship. You know, they talk about a sales and service agreement. It's not an agreement. It's a take it or leave it. You have one choice. You either sign this, Mr. dealer, if you want to be a dealer for whatever manufacturer, you have to sign this agreement. Right? So the dealer's not agreeing to anything. It's not a negotiation. It was just, okay, and we're going to reimburse you and they'll start off and say, okay, we're at the time, say back in the dealer gets his point back in the 90s of the 80s. We're going to pay you 80 bucks an hour for warranty and we're going to pay you cost plus 40 on the part side. So fast forward to 2000, you know, mid 2000s, 2007, the state associations, couple of them, Florida, Maine started in the Northeast. New York was followed suit afterwards. They rewrote the franchise laws and included a reimbursement, a warranty reimbursement section that then basically required the manufacturer to reimburse the same rates that the dealer is charging to his retail customer.

所以，在2000年代初期，从新泽西州开始，然后是佛罗里达州和缅因州，真正是在2007年左右，这些州颁布了这些法律。而这些法律的背景是，经销商和制造商之间的关系是单方面的。你知道，他们谈到销售和服务协议。那不是协议。这是一个拿或不拿。你只有一个选择。你要么签署这份协议，如果你想成为某个制造商的经销商，你必须签署这份协议。对吧？所以经销商并没有同意什么。这不是谈判。只是，好吧，我们会赔偿你，他们会开始说，好吧，我们当时，比如说回到80年代或者90年代，经销商每小时会获得80美元的保修费，零部件方面我们会支付成本加40美元的利润。所以快进到2000年，你知道，中期的2000年代，2007年，一些州协会，其中有几个，佛罗里达州、缅因州开始在东北部进行。纽约州随后也效仿。他们重新修订了特许经营法律，并包括了一个保修费用补偿部分，基本要求制造商以与经销商向零售客户收费的相同费率进行补偿。

However, in order to determine what that rate is, you had to go in and substantiate what you're actually charging your retail customer. It's basically it's a weighted average calculation. Right? So if you're marking up a transmission, you know, 40% versus you're marking up a light bulb, 300%, you know, that's going to ultimately, you know, net out to some other, you know, over the course of the weighted average of the of all the parts in that same thing on the later side. Tell me more about just the overall exposure, right? Because it seems like such a niche little thing that you don't, you know, the average person, whether dealer consumer, I mean, you don't really think about, but it's clearly a big thing. What's the annual exposure here, a dollar exposure that you've seen, you know, dealerships, you know, lose out from something like this or benefit from it in the case where, you know, they do like a reimbursement like this.

然而，为了确定费率是多少，您必须核实您实际向零售客户收取的费用。基本上这是一个加权平均计算。对吧？所以如果您对传输件定价涨幅为40%，而对灯泡则涨幅为300%，最终实际上，您知道，这将在相同事物后面的所有零部件的加权平均中平衡出来。告诉我更多有关整体暴露的信息，对吧？因为这似乎是一个小休闲的事情，你不太关心，无论是经销商还是消费者，你真的不会考虑，但显然这是一个大事。您在这里每年看到的金钱暴露是多少，您知道，经销店会因此失去一些利益，或者在他们像这样进行报销的情况下会受益。

So the benefit will vary based on the volume of warranty work that you do. And also the increase that you're receiving. But it's also it's a cumulative perpetual stream of revenue. So we've seen, you know, the domestics that will pick up 12, 12,000 on a labor submission on an average where imports will pick up say 7,500 and the luxury stores will pick up, you know, say 15,000. But we just did a BMW store that was picking up $85,000 a month in parts and labor. On the flip side, we also did a Honda store that only picked up 1600 bucks a month.

因此，收益将根据您进行的保修工作量而变化。还有您所获得的增长。但这也是一个累积的持续收入流。所以我们可以看到，国产车平均每次劳务提报都能获得约12000美元的补偿，进口车大约7500美元，豪华车店可能可以获得15000美元。但我们刚刚为一家宝马店提供服务，每月的零部件和劳务收入达到了85000美元。另一方面，我们也为一家本田店提供了服务，他们每月只获得1600美元。

But they do it twice a year because Florida, you're allowed to actually do it twice a year. Most states are only allowed to do it once a year. But they're allowed to do it twice a year and they do it twice a year. So they're clockwork every six months, they're ready to do it. And they'll pick up, you know, 1500, two, three grand a month every time. But that adds up that accumulates over the course of time. The next time that you're submitting, you're actually you're working from the higher rates. You never lose out. It's at a perpetual stream of revenue. But it can be a significant amount. We did one dealership in California that picked up $180,000 a month. Hearts and labor. This is when the California law first got passed. They absolutely have Christ of Jeep Dodge ran. That's incredible. I mean, it's sitting under someone's nose. If there's an entrepreneur listening to this or a dealer, maybe other opportunities that exist like this in a car business that come to mind.

但他们一年做两次，因为佛罗里达州允许实际上一年做两次。大多数州只允许一年做一次。但他们可以一年做两次，而他们确实每年做两次。所以他们每六个月准时待命。每次他们都可以赚1500、2000或3000美元。但这些金额会随着时间的流逝而累积。下次提交时，您实际上是按更高的费率收费。您永远不会亏本。这是持续的收入流。但它可能是相当大的金额。我们在加利福尼亚的一家经销商，每月赚了18万美元。这是当加利福尼亚法律第一次通过时发生的。他们绝对是奇思傲吉普道奇经销商。这是令人难以置信的。我意思是它就在某人的眼皮底下。如果有一位企业家或经销商听到这个信息，也许在汽车行业中还有其他类似的机会可以考虑。

No, nothing of this magnitude of this scale. But what's happened in what we've helped with dealers over the years is really trying to maximize the profitability in fixed offs. So they basically go hand in hand. I was told a long time ago, when I was first starting out in this business was that dealers were only motivated by two things. Fear and greed. I remember early on, I was doing a lot of fraud. I was doing a lot of compliance stuff. I was even getting involved in safeguards, rule and red flags and all that. You know, F&I, you can't want compliance. And I had a dealer, Brian Kelly, one time say, Frank, I never want to see you again. Because every time you come into my dealership, you can deliver bad news. And then a few years later, this came about. I said, hey, Brian, I finally get to give you some good news. But what we've done is we've really changed the way we look at our just our standard fixed offs reviews. And yeah, we'll look at processes and procedures and whatnot. But we're also looking at profitability, trying to help dealers with their profitability, because there are ways that that a dealer can be more profitable. And then ultimately, it helps them on the back end with this warranty reimbursement, because they can get higher rates from the manufacturers when they submit.

不，没有这样规模的事情。但是多年来我们与经销商合作的经历中，我们努力最大化固定利润。这两者基本上是相辅相成的。很久以前有人告诉我，当我刚开始做这个生意的时候，经销商只被两样东西激励着：恐惧和贪婪。我记得早期我主要处理欺诈和合规事务，还涉足保障、规则和红旗等等。你知道，金融和保险，你不能只想着合规。有一次，我和一个名叫布赖恩·凯利的经销商讲到，他说：“弗兰克，我再也不想见到你了。因为每次你来我经销商，都是要给我坏消息。”几年后，我终于可以给他一些好消息。但是我们真正做的是改变我们审查固定收入的方式。是的，我们会审查流程和程序等等。但我们也会关注盈利能力，试图帮助经销商提高盈利能力，因为有很多方式可以让经销商更有利可图。最终，这也对他们的保修费用报销有帮助，因为他们能够以更高的价格向制造商提交报销。

Well, I think what's most interesting to me is, you know, typically when you hear help dealerships, it was profitability. You'd think, you know, kind of knee jerk reaction is it comes at the expense of the consumer. But I think it's interesting here that it actually benefits the consumer. With this specific example, like you mentioned earlier, right? Well, if I'm being reimbursed, you know, a full market rate for a job for a consumer, I'm going to be more incentivized to do that job. So it's it's unbelievable how something so small can have such a big, you know, kind of downstream impact on on your customers and ultimately the perception of your brand.

我认为最有趣的是，当你听到帮助经销商时，通常会想到的是盈利。你可能会认为，反应迅速的反应是这是以损害消费者为代价的。但我觉得有趣的是，事实上这是对消费者有利的。就像你早些时候提到的那样，对于这个具体的例子。如果我为消费者的工作获得全额市场价格的报酬，我将更有动力去做这项工作。所以就是这么令人难以置信，一个如此微小的举动可以对你的客户产生如此巨大的、最终对你品牌形象产生影响的效果。

Just where do you see trends for dealership profitability from here? Where do we go from here? So the, you know, labor rates are at an all time high. We've seen that. But one of the areas is like number one, the service department has to be competitive on the maintenance side, right? The oil change, the services, the tires, the alignments, those all have to be priced competitively, where the profitability and where there's an opportunity is in the mechanical repair. It's the mechanical repair because it's a specialized, it's a specialized service that you're providing for the customer.

你认为经销商利润趋势会在哪里？我们接下来该怎么做？你知道，劳动力费用目前处于历史高点。我们已经看到了。但其中一个方面是，首先，服务部门必须在维护方面具有竞争力，对吧？换油、维修、轮胎、定位，所有这些项目都必须定价具有竞争力，利润和机会所在在于机械维修。它是机械维修，因为这是一项为客户提供的专门服务。

It's just like anything else, no matter what, what line of work you do, if the way I look at it, it's very simple, right? I'm paying for something for two reasons. Either one, I can't do it myself or number two, I don't want to do it myself. So that's something that plays into the car business. You know, the average person can't fix their own car. The cars are becoming much more sophisticated. So the value of a certified technician from the franchise car dealer has, you know, a benefit over the independent. So but you have to be competitive on the maintenance items to be competitive with the independent.

就像任何其他事情一样，不管你做什么工作，我是这样看的，非常简单，对吧？我付费是有两个原因。要么是我自己做不了，要么是我不想自己做。所以这就是汽车行业的一个因素。你知道，普通人不能修理自己的车。汽车变得越来越复杂了。所以认证技师来自特许经销商有更多的价值，比独立技师有优势。但你必须在维修项目上保持竞争力，与独立技师保持竞争力。

One area though, that we definitely see an opportunity for dealers to be more profitable is on putting in labor grids. So what does that mean? Yeah, what does that mean? So what a labor grid is, is that you have your standard door rate, right? So say your door rate's 150 bucks an hour, right? Then as the hours increase, typically the sophistication of the job increases. So as the hours increase, the actual rate increases.

然而有一个领域，我们确实看到经销商有更多利润的机会，那就是建立劳动力网格。这是什么意思？是的，这是什么意思？所谓劳动力网格，就是你有一个标准的工时费率，对吧？比如说你的工时费率是每小时150美元，对吧？然后随着工时增加，通常工作的复杂性也会增加。因此随着工时增加，实际费率也会增加。

So if it goes up an hour, it might go up in like a buck 50 and then two hours three bucks and then three hours, you know, four bucks. And it goes up and it actually usually peaks around like six hours. That's what we've determined. That's what we've seen is like kind of a sweet spot because when it gets up to 10 plus hours, you don't want to be up over 200 bucks an hour because then you might price yourself out of the repair. You can't. So and you're going to make a lot of money.

所以如果时间延长了一个小时，价格可能会增加大约1.5美元，然后两个小时三美元，然后三个小时，你知道，四美元。价格会上涨，实际上通常会在六个小时左右达到巅峰。这是我们得出的结论。我们看到这是一个很好的时机，因为当价格超过10个小时时，你不希望每小时超过200美元，否则可能会定价过高，无法修复。所以你会赚很多钱。

So it's almost like a bell curve. It goes up and then it hits like, you know, that depending on the imports is usually like four to six hours on the on the on the domestic, and luxury is more like six to eight hours is the people there. Is this a thing now? Would you say this is like pretty common or is this a? Yeah, it's fairly common. We have we have several dealers that do that. You know, some don't, but we we typically we typically recommend that dealers do it.

所以这就几乎像一个钟形曲线。它上升然后到达，你知道，根据进口情况通常是国内四到六个小时，奢侈品更像是六到八个小时的人。现在这是个事吗？你会说这很普遍吗？还是？是的，这相当普遍。我们有几家经销商这样做。有些不这样做，但我们通常建议经销商这样做。

We have a couple that is funny. We'll go out there and they'll be on the the last one you say, oh, you're on a labor grid. And they're like, oh, yeah. And then you look at it. It's like each, each income goes up like 30 cents. So well, we can probably get a little more aggressive on that grid guys. That's interesting. You know, but I think I think the the interesting part of the inshura now is that if you look at the data, I think Cox Cox ought to put out some data through their x time platform. And there are pockets of the country where dealers are losing some market share to the independent repair shops.

我们有一对很幽默的夫妻。我们出去时，他们总会在最后说：“哦，你们在劳工网格上。”他们会说：“是的。”然后你看看。每个收入大约增加30美分。所以，我们可能可以在网格上更加积极一些。这很有趣。你知道，但我认为现在的有趣之处在于，如果你看数据，我认为考克斯公司通过他们的x时间平台发布了一些数据。在全国各地，有些地区的经销商正在失去一些市场份额，被独立修理店取代。

Do you think these trends are overall threatening the dealership service business? Is there going to be, you know, a reversion similar to how there's been a reversion in pricing, or it's at least starting? What do you think about that? Like where do we head from here?

你认为这些趋势会总体上威胁汽车经销商的服务业务吗？是否会出现类似价格逆转的情况，或者至少已经开始了？你对此有什么看法？从这里我们该走向何方呢？

I think it's a market by market scenario because in service managers and general managers and dealers, they have to know their market. So when you when when dealers are doing a market rate survey, they need to understand what the independence are charging. And whether or not you're in an independent market, like there's some areas of the country, and there's just some areas in general. Like you might be in the Northeast, but you're in an area that has a strong independent, a group of strong independence that can bite into your overall overall share.

我认为这是一个市场情景，因为服务经理、总经理和经销商们需要了解他们的市场。所以当经销商进行市场价格调查时，他们需要了解独立机构的收费情况。无论你是在一个独立市场，还是在全国的某些地区，有一些地区，比如你可能在东北部，但你所处的地区有一群强大的独立机构可以影响你整体市场份额。

So the key thing for the dealer though, is to number one first and foremost, take care of the customer. The customer comes first. The best thing a service department can do is take care of the customer. Understand what the customer wants. Communicate with the customer. If you're doing a really maximizing your quick lane, right? If your quick lane services cannot take two, three hours. Your customer is looking for an oil change. They're looking to get in and out in 30 minutes, right? They're not looking to get to spend half a day there. I had a colleague of mine was telling me a story. He went in for an oil change and stayed in inspection. It took him any unemployment and it took two and a half hours. And he said, because that was five years ago, I've never been back to that dealer. And it's true. Because people value time, in a lot of cases, more than money. Because that time is a precious commodity. Money you can gain back, time you can't get back. So time is a very precious commodity. If you're doing a big repair for someone, do they need a loaner? Where do they need to get to? What's their plan for the day? And these are all basic questions that an appointment coordinator or service advisor can ask upfront before the customer even walks in the door. So a lot of it is communication. Understanding your customers, understanding what they want. And everybody's different. Everybody's different. So I can't say that in one size.

因此，对于经销商来说，最关键的是首要任务是照顾客户。客户至上。服务部门能够做的最好的事情就是照顾客户。了解客户的需求。与客户沟通。如果你真的想最大限度地利用你的快捷服务，对吧？如果你的快速服务不能在两三个小时内完成。你的客户就需要一次换油服务。他们希望在30分钟内进来然后走掉，对吧？他们不希望在那里花上半天。我有一个同事告诉过我一个故事。他去换了一次油，还做了一次检查。这花了他很多时间，花了两个半小时。他说，因为那是五年前，我从那以后再也没有去过那家经销商了。这就是事实。因为人们更加重视时间，在很多情况下，比金钱更加重要。因为时间是宝贵的。金钱可以赚回来，时间则无法挽回。所以时间是一种非常宝贵的商品。如果你为某人进行大修，他们需要租车吗？他们需要去哪里？他们的一天计划是什么？这些都是预约协调员或服务顾问在客户甚至走进门之前就可以提前问的基本问题。因此，很大一部分取决于沟通。了解你的客户，了解他们的需求。每个人都是不同的。每个人都不同。所以我不能用一个标准来衡量。

It's funny you mentioned this now because the podcast that's actually airing after this one is with Brian Benstock, who's the GM and president or VP at Paragon. And the biggest thing that I think about when I think about his operation is the pickup and delivery for service. And so you're speaking about valuing time. I'm over here nodding. And it's going to be a really good conversation. Honestly, it's going to be a great conversation. I've heard him speak multiple times. The first time I heard him was at the AICPA Auto Dealers Conference. And I literally went back to all my clients say, you need to do this. This is the greatest idea I've heard in the last 10 years. It is absolutely amazing. And he executed it. And don't get me wrong, it's not easy. Technicians are shortage and technicians.

很有意思你现在提到了这个，因为这期播客之后一个将出现的嘉宾是Brian Benstock，他是Paragon的总经理和副总裁或副总裁。当我想到他的运营时，最让我印象深刻的是提供取送维修服务。所以你说到了珍惜时间，我在这里点头。这将会是一个非常好的对话。老实说，这将会是一个很棒的对话。我听过他讲话多次。第一次听他讲话是在AICPA汽车经销商大会上。我当时回去告诉所有我的客户，你们必须做这个。这是我过去十年听到的最棒的想法。真的太神奇了。他把它执行了出来。不要误会，这并不容易。技术人员短缺，技术人员。。。

So he runs multiple shifts. And he runs well, he outsources the delivery service, which is good. But think about it, right? You're an executive in Manhattan. I mean, your car gets picked up in the middle of the night. And it's done in the morning. And it was wild. And I don't want to steal a thunder. But he says it's his labor pro, labor pro, increased. Oh, I would, I mean, if I had that service available where I live, I would absolutely pay. I would want to pay a fixed fee per delivery. I would be more than per mile or however you want to charge it. But that's a value add and a half, for sure. 100%. I'm the same way. Zooming out a bit and just thinking about the broader industry and the role you play in our industry, we're industry's headed. Do you see any major threats, any legislation on the horizon? Anything that concerns you? I don't know about legislation. I definitely think that what the whole industry is talking about is electric vehicles. I am a skeptic of electric vehicles, not in the functionality of them, but more so in just the mandates that the government has put on 2030, 2035, and in having an all electric fleet because the consumer has not, the American's consumer has not shown that it's ready for an all electric fleet. We don't really have the infrastructure for an all electric fleet, although that could certainly change. But most importantly, and this is the area that I don't think is talked about enough, is the electric, this electric grid can't handle it. And not that I'm a master scientist, but we don't have an unlimited amount of electricity out there. And the state of California has rolling blackouts constantly. So it would basically take one problem and replace it with another problem. So I think you look at Toyota, they've taken the wait and see approach, which is the right approach. They've really kind of doubled down on their hybrids, the plug-in hybrids, which makes a lot of sense. I think there are alternatives that could potentially impact the industry so that these mandates, I think ultimately, will be lifted or postponed.

因此，他运行多个班次。而且他经营得很好，他将交付服务外包出去，这很不错。但想想，对吧？你是曼哈顿的一个高管。我的意思是，你的车在深夜被接走。然后早上就完成了。这太疯狂了。我不想抢风头。但他说这是他的劳动专业人员，劳动专业人员，增加了。哦，我是说，如果我住的地方有这种服务的话，我绝对会付钱的。我想付固定费用每次交付。我想对每英里收费或以其他方式收费更多。但这绝对是增值的半数。百分之百。我也是这样。放大视野，思考更广泛的行业和你在我们行业中扮演的角色，我们行业的发展方向。你是否看到任何重大威胁，即将出台的法律？有什么让你担忧的吗？我不清楚有关法律的情况。我确实认为整个行业关注的是电动车辆。我对电动车辆持怀疑态度，不是对其功能性，而是对政府在2030年、2035年制定的法规，要求所有车辆都是电动的，因为美国消费者并没有表现出他们准备好拥有全电动车队。我们实际上并没有为全电动车队建立基础设施，尽管这可能发生变化。但更重要的是，这是我认为没有被充分讨论的领域，电网无法承受这种压力。虽然我不是科学家大师，但我们手头没有无限的电力。加利福尼亚州经常出现滚动停电。因此，这基本上是用一个问题来替代另一个问题。因此，我认为看看丰田公司，他们采取了观望的态度是正确的。他们确实大力发展了他们的混合动力车和插电混合动力车，这是非常明智的。我认为还有其他的替代方案可能会影响这个行业，从而导致这些法规最终被解除或推迟。

So as we're heading in here, we're two months now into 2024. What's your just general sentiment outlook for the rest of the year? I think it's going to be a tough year, all total, but I think dealers will still be profitable. When it's interesting, because we're all a byproduct of the recent past, right? We all focused on, okay, the last three years, we're record profits. So if we come down and have 50% profit, well, that's still a good year. By any standards, if you go pre-COVID and you were making $2 million, and now you're making $5 million and you come in post-COVID and now you're making $2.5, you'd say, oh, yeah, that's a good year. So I still think dealers will adapt. There was some of the most resourceful people we've ever known. They really know how to persevere. So I definitely think, and also too, January, February, I live in the Northeast. So they're typically slow months because of the weather. You're coming off Christmas. There's a bit of a lag, but the economy is getting a little tight. So it's definitely, I do think dealers will adapt and still be profitable, but they won't nearly be as profitable as they were in the last three years.

现在我们已经进入2024年的第二个月了。对于今年剩下的日子，你的一般情绪如何？我认为今年会是一个艰难的一年，但我认为经销商仍然会盈利。有趣的是，因为我们都是最近历史的产物，对吧？我们都关注过去三年，创纪录的利润。所以如果我们降低利润50％，那仍然是一个好年份。从任何标准来看，如果在COVID之前你的利润是200万美元，现在是500万美元，再从COVID之后来看，现在是250万美元，你会说，哦，是的，这是一个好年份。所以我仍然认为经销商会适应。他们是我们所知道的最有资源的人之一。他们真的知道如何坚持不懈。所以我肯定认为，同时，一月、二月，我住在东北部。由于天气原因，这些月份通常比较慢。你从圣诞节过来，有点滞后，但经济变得有点紧张。所以肯定会，我认为经销商会适应并依然盈利，但他们的利润绝对不会像过去三年那样高。

Humans have a very short memory, my friend. As my dad used to say, though, you get used to the good life very quickly. So it's funny. You're right. People do get used to increased earnings, lifestyles adapt, and then you get slapped in the face when things revert. And so it's not just businesses. It's not just dealers. It's people. It's everyday consumer. So and I appreciate your candor because you're right. It is some not so positive trends throughout the overall industry, but it's got to roll through it.

人类的记忆力很短，我的朋友。正如我爸爸过去常说的那样，人们会很快习惯美好的生活。所以这很有趣。你说得对。人们会习惯增加的收入，生活方式会适应，然后当事情逆转时会遭受打击。所以这不仅仅是企业。不仅仅是经销商。这关乎人。关乎普通消费者。所以我很感激你的坦率，因为你说得对。整个行业确实存在一些不太积极的趋势，但我们必须挺过去。

So Franco, Brian, this has been great. You definitely definitely taught me some stuff I didn't know today. So really enjoyed it. Appreciate you coming on. Thanks for having me. I actually had a great time. All right. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating. Consider subscribing to the show and check the show notes for links to what we talked about. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next time.

所以弗朗哥，布赖恩，这很棒。你们今天确实教会了我一些我不知道的东西。我真的很享受。感谢你们的参与。谢谢邀请我。我其实过得很愉快。好的。希望你们喜欢这一集。请给这个播客一个评分。考虑订阅这个节目，并查看节目笔记中我们谈论的内容的链接。感谢收听。下次见。