A customer goes on to Amazon, they find a vehicle they want to purchase, they see the price, they say, okay, I want to buy that car. Hyundai recently announced one of its most ambitious efforts yet, a strategic partnership with Amazon to bring cars onto the world's largest digital marketplace with the launch finally around the corner. It's time to find out what's happening behind the scenes. Today, I'm speaking with Andrew Wright, managing partner of VIN Art dealerships and chairman of Hyundai's National Dealer Council. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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Andrew Wright on the CDG podcast. Andrew, finally, finally welcome. Thank you, Yoshi. Good to be good to be on with you. It's been a while since the Amazon announcement. I think it was the last time we chatted rather impromptu, but great to be on the show. Yeah, that was great. It was very spontaneous. You came on right away. I was actually away. I was away on this business pleasure trip thing. And I suddenly got the notification. I'm like, whoa, got to cover this. And so never did a lie of podcasts or Twitter spaces, but did it then worked out really well. Of course, you came on. People found it very valuable. I never actually gave you just feedback, but people were telling me like, hey, that was just really insightful, like the specifics and the details kind of, you know, were able to really cut through the noise and say it how it is.
And I mean, and there was a lot of press when Amazon and Hyundai made that announcement. There was a ton of press. So a lot got lost, you know, through the noise. Yeah, sure was. That was a, that was an exciting time. Unfortunately, the, the negotiation is still ongoing and the finer details. And I'm sure you'll want to get into that a little bit later on, but we're still working away at it. I'm still very optimistic for what that could represent for the industry and for the Hyundai brand. Yes, definitely. So we'll get into that later on. Of course, you're, you are the chair of the Hyundai dealer council. We'll talk about what that even means and what you're doing current role before we even get started with that, right? Who is Andy Wright? How did we get here?
Well, that's a long story that I'll try to keep short, but yeah. So I'm a second generation dealer. I've been doing this, this business my, my whole life. I started like a lot of dealer sons, washing cars and doing tasks around the dealership, taking the trash out, doing those types of things. I even did pinstripes and gold kits back when those were popular. If you remember that, I mean, I was, I was trained in that and, and did all that type of stuff. Growing up as a kid though, I, I, I played all kinds of sports, ended up landing on golf, had a very successful junior golf career, which led me to college. I was drafted by, or I was recruited, excuse me, by several schools and had an opportunity to play golf collegiately. I started at Villanova University outside of Philadelphia, was there for two years and then transferred to a small division three school here in Allentown called Muhlenburg College and that's where I finished things out and I had a great, I had a great experience in college.
I had aspirations, believe it or not, to get into law and I, my family in addition to our automobile dealership business, we have a real estate development company, very, very much, very small real estate development company. We primarily focus on commercial and multifamily and I had aspirations of getting into the legal field and I really wanted to go to school in New York City and I applied and didn't get in anywhere for law school. So I, I applied to all the big schools up there, had an opportunity to enroll in graduate school at NYU in Stern School of Business and seize that opportunity and that was 2001 and we all know what happened in this, in September of 2001.
I was living in New York City in an apartment in Greenwich Village on Bleeker Street and I was attending class at NYU until those two planes hit those towers and of course that turned everybody's life upside down, especially those of us that were living in New York City. So we didn't know what was going to happen in New York at the time so I, I decided to leave the city and go back and just start working for my father in the car business and sort of the rest is kind of history from there and it's been a great run ever since. I, I went to, went to somewhat traditional route I guess you could say of attending NADADiller candidate academy school and doing all that type of stuff and that was a great foundation but really the, the blessing I had was I just, I have a, I have an amazing father, amazing parents and my mother and father who just did, have just been incredibly supportive. They hold, they've always held me accountable, always held me to high standards and something I've always taken very seriously and that translated into the car business for me and and here we are five stores later, 400 employees, we retail about 6,000 cars a year, around 370 million dollars a year in sales. So nice little business here in the Lehigh Valley, which I'm very proud to call home. I've called it home my entire life and it's been, it's been a heck of a run. I'm excited for the next 45 years. So we'll see what happens. Incredible story.
Tell us a little bit about the group, Vinart group and your growth, right? Since you joined until today, right? How many stores were you out? How many are you out today? What brands have you accumulated along the way? So right now we have five franchises. We have Acura Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz and Porsche. So we are located all in the Lehigh Street, Auto Mile here in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour north of Philadelphia and about an hour west of New York City for people who aren't familiar with the geography. It's the third largest market in the state behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It's one of only a handful of counties in the state of Pennsylvania that are growing. There are currently 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania. And I think on last count, the economic data I saw, only around 12 or 13 of them were growing. Most of them were in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets. And then the others were Lehigh County, Northampton County, Bucks County, which are in the immediate area around my dealerships. So all my stores are right in the row. And I've been blessed to have that as an opportunity. I did have other stores. I had a Honda store in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour and a half west of me. I owned a Hyundai store in New Jersey at one point. But I really wanted to focus on the Lehigh Valley because it's a growing market.
I have great brands here. I have a great team. And while I'm absolutely in acquisition mode or if I am absolutely acquisitive in my approach to the business, I want to do it the right way. And I want to make investments in additional dealerships when I have the people to run them, which I'm growing and developing a great team of people right now. And I'm prepared to do that as soon as an opportunity presents itself that makes sense in today's market. As you well know, you'll see prices have been pretty high for dealerships. It's definitely a seller's market. But at the same time, there's a lot of cash on the sidelines. And that's why prices have hung in there like they had. So I get that and I have a lot of respect for people that have gone out and bought dealerships over the course of the last couple of years. The opportunity has been tremendous, at least until recently with cheaper interest rates and abundance of COVID profitability to redeploy that capital to redeploy. It makes a lot of sense. My business partner has done the same thing.
Tell me more about your strategy. You mentioned staying in the Lehigh Valley. So I know Lehigh Valley, the market you're in, phenomenal market, right? We sold lots of cars into the Lehigh Valley. We did lots of deliveries into there. What are the benefits that you believe you're getting? Because you mentioned specifically, you said, I want to do it right, which means that to you, this is the right strategy. So why is that? Why do you believe in keeping your stores close together? Why is that the right strategy? Yeah. And I should probably clarify that comment because I didn't mean to convey that I think my strategy is the right strategy and everyone else's is not. It's the right strategy for me and for where I want to be in my life. I'm just, I'm at a point where I didn't, at one point I had an appetite and a desire to say I'm going to become a mega dealer and have stores all over the place that I got to get an airplane and fly to or I got to drive two hours to get to. I'm just at a point in my life right now where I don't need to do that. I would do it for the right opportunities, of course. I never say never to anything. But for me right now, with the five brands that I have in this market, were the number one Hyundai dealer in the state of Pennsylvania. I think that says a lot about our operation and about this market. We were the number one Honda dealer in the state of Pennsylvania until right before COVID. And I'm confident we will get back to number one post COVID. Once we have an opportunity to earn more cars, we're completing a facility renovation right now and the way Honda does it, they give you facility action cars when you remodel your building for them. So that's a great opportunity for us to get back to number one with Honda.
Let me know one more time, one second. Expand out what does Hyundai give you? What does Hyundai give you? So a lot of manufacturers, when it comes to remodeling dealer facilities or enticing dealers to build new facilities, a lot of them will dangle different carrots, if you will, for dealers to take advantage of. Some will outright pay dealers per car that they wholesale to them or that they retail as a means for reimbursing them or rewarding them for making investments in facilities. Honda doesn't do that. What Honda does is Honda has always notoriously been very, very like in their on hand day supply at dealerships. So that inventory is notoriously scarce for Honda. So as a result of that, you said Honda with an A, not Hyundai. Yes. So Hyundai has more of a traditional program that is tied to wholesale and retail and things like that. Honda gives you over the top or on top allocation. So if I get allocated 100 cars this month, they might give me 30 more as a reward for building my building. Does that make sense? For how long? For what I've heard? So usually the way Honda does it, it's two months worth of your planning potential. So planning potential is what the factory estimates is the expected sales volume at a dealership in a market on an annualized basis. So what Honda does is they give a dealer that agrees to do their facility program the equivalent of two months of your planning potential.
So in my case, that was 550 cars. So basically on average, Honda's saying that our store should be selling 225 cars a month. So I mean, and then I can spread that out over however long I want to, as long as their production can meet what I'm requesting. So that's how Honda does it. So that'll give me an opportunity to earn the cars back that I didn't get during COVID so that I can hopefully return to the top spot here in the state for Honda. So yeah, that's the plan. And 2018, 2018 we acquired Mercedes Benz and Porsche, which is right next door to our Honda store. That was a great opportunity. The guy that owned that store was a gentleman and a friend for a long time who decided to retire and always told me he would give me an opportunity when he was ready to go. And he did exactly that. And we were able to shake hands and put a deal together. And we operated that store for 18 months right until COVID happened. And then obviously, the world changed. And now we're in a post COVID more of a pre COVID type market post COVID, if you will. And we're excited about the prospects for that store as well. So again, I'm just I'm blessed with great brands and a great market. You'll see.
What's that been like for you going from, you know, more mainstream brands to luxury? You mentioned Porsche, Benz, right? What's that transition been like for you on the operating side? So you know, it's actually been pretty easy. And I say that only because the dynamics of the business are different. There's some idiosyncrasies involved with the high line car business. But at the end of the day, it really is the same thing that we're accustomed to doing at our other stores, which is try to provide the best environment for our employees to thrive and flourish in so that they're delivering the highest level of customer service at the best possible value and creating as many repeat and referral customers as possible.
You know, in our survey, crazy business and world that we live in right now, where we're surveying people and asking them 50 questions after every visit to the store, which is crazy. But that's the way it goes right now. That's the JD powerization of our businesses, I like to say, but that's the way it is. And you know, but there's nothing more flattering than someone that says, yes, I'll be back and I'm going to send in my friends and family. I mean, at the end of the day, what further validation does one need to know that they're doing something right? And to me, that's the biggest compliment I can get is when someone says, you know, I'm a three time, four time, five time customer and I've sent my friends, my family, my kids, it's that that's that's the best feeling that I get every time I hear that. So that's why I keep doing this.
Tell me more about the brands that you're very bullish on, right? Again, you've you've kind of dabbled in different brands here, right? As you as you as you're speaking, you spoke about a Honda Hyundai Porsche, like I'm curious to know you think about the future, right? What brands really are you bullish on and why? Well, I have to admit, I'm bullish on all five of my brands. And I know that that's easy to sit here or to stand here and say, but I think that Honda has has successfully gone to market with a strategy where they have figured out a way to effectively balance their production mix and their strategy with respect to internal combustion engine vehicles.
They have their first bev coming in the prologue, which should be out any day. And then they have hybrids in between. And I think that, you know, the market has has spoken. And the market is saying that the next iteration that the consumer needs to go through in terms of vehicles that they buy are hybrids or plug-in hybrids. The transition from ice to bed is not going to happen as quickly as perhaps the government would like it to with the current market conditions as they are. So I think Honda has struck the right balance much like Toyota has in what their go to market strategy is so that they can deal with the transition to bev, right?
Then you have brands like Hyundai and Mercedes. I continue to be extremely impressed by my Korean friends at Hyundai, the investments they've made in product. The product is fantastic to think, you know, we've been Hyundai dealer since 1990. And you know, to think that, you know, the Hyundai. You've gone through a hell of a change. Yeah. Yeah. We've been through. We've been up and down the roller coaster. But I have to tell you, because of that experience, I know when I'm in a position that feels different from what it maybe has historically. And I feel very strong about the future of Hyundai. The product lineup is fantastic. The business model is dialed in. The value promise to the consumer is there. They're just doing things right. Do they have their challenges like any brand? Yes, they do. They're doing a lot of things really, really well right now, which makes me bullish about them.
So what would you say? What are those challenges for Hyundai? Right? Because we hear so many good things. And you know, we look at valuations. These Hyundai dealerships have just skyrocketed over the last decade. I mean, let alone five years. Right? What are some challenges that the brand is facing? Well, I think, first and foremost, let me just address what I think they're doing really white, really right? And that is their designs are great. Their in-car technology is terrific. Their powertrains are exactly what the diversity of powertrains are exactly what the market is demanding. And I think that's something to tip your cap towards, right? The challenges really revolve around the customer experience. And you know, when Hyundai had historically lagged the industry, Yossi, by quite a bit in terms of dealer profitability.
So when dealers can't make money or are not able to garner a return on their investment, they do one of two things. They sell the store. Okay. And when it's, you know, distress merchandise or something that doesn't have a lot of buyers lined up, the people that end up buying it are maybe not the most savory characters. And that just leads to not good things happening, right? Self perpetuating cycle, yeah. Yeah. Another thing that happens is they put the underperforming franchise in their secondary buildings and facilities with their secondary management teams, right? They're just, you know, that's just the way it goes. And I think that, you know, that happened for several decades with Hyundai.
Well, now we have product that's on par with Honda and Toyota. We have brand, we have branding and marketing on par with Honda and Toyota. And I think we still have a subset of dealers that are sort of stuck in the old way of doing things and are maybe not representing the brand to the best of their ability. And I think that Hyundai's doing what they need to do in order to affect change there. I mean, you could see it. You see the buy sell statistics. I mean, the number of Hyundai and Kia stores that have turned over in the last 24 months is astronomical. So it's definitely attracting the savvy buyers and the sophisticated buyers. They're coming in and gobbling up Hyundai and Kia franchises. And they're taking them to the moon, Yossi. I mean, these stores are making money now. The product is great. And the customer experience is improving every day. Is it improving as quickly as I think we would all like to see it? You know, generally speaking for the brand, I'm talking now, probably not, but we're on our way and we're making progress. So I'm very encouraged about that.
And then in addition to that, the other challenges really are no different than what every OEM has right now, which is challenges related to in-car electronics. You know what I mean? The infotainment systems and all this stuff that's just sort of wreaking havoc throughout the industry and how that impacts vehicle operability and things like that.
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Tell me more about the Hyundai experience. You run a great business, right? You're well off, life's good. Why go and put your hat in the ring to become the chair of the Hyundai dealer council? And what does that even mean? Like, give us the context here of what led up to this, why you decided to embark on this and to spend your time dedicated to this. So really, it goes back to my father.
My dad was and still is a very influential force in my life. And my dad, being a self-made guy that came from nothing, he very much appreciates and reveres the franchise system, right? And if you look at the franchise system for what it's done for people, it's really, I tell people all the time, my dad is the embodiment of the quintessential American dream. You know, came from nothing. Family of a big family in Norristown on a row home, had no money. You know, he just worked hard, worked his way up, got an opportunity, had a little bit of luck. And the franchise system that made him wildly successful and helped him deliver the life that I was able to enjoy and continue to enjoy to this day.
But as a result of that, my dad's always been an advocate for the franchise system. And he's always been a big-time advocate of the dealer council process. And that is the process whereby the manufacturer liaises with a group of dealers that represent the brand as a whole. So in the case of Hyundai, it's 12 dealers from throughout the country. We meet with Hyundai executive management four times a year. We have a process whereby we bring issues to the table that we believe warrant attention from the manufacturer. We work with them on strategic initiatives. We work with them on product planning and marketing and all that type of stuff because at the end of the day, we're the retailers on the ground dealing directly with the customer.
And so that relationship, while it can be contentious at times, it's incredibly important because we both need each other. And I would argue that we need each other now more than ever. So I just find it incredibly important. Tell me about that. Why do you say that? You think car manufacturers and dealers need each other more than ever? So the reason is, is because if you look at the amount of disruption and tumult that our industry is experiencing right now, primarily because of the forced transition to BEV. We need each other now more than ever because they have to produce cars.
Okay, we need to make sure that that product continues to move. And customers have a tremendous amount of customer demand, not only for replacement vehicles, but also for vehicle maintenance and repair. Because of the price of new vehicles has increased so much, the last couple of years has been well documented. You've talked about it extensively. The price of used cars subsequently has gone up. So there's a ton of capital deployment out there on the part of the manufacturer and on the part of the dealer. And if we don't keep the wheels turning, the part in my pun, that's when things can really start to go sell. And so they produce the cars, we sell the cars.
They stand behind the product in the form of the warranty. We're on the front lines letting the consumer know that we have their back. The manufacturer is going to stand behind their products. And when you need something, your local franchise dealer is here to help you when you have a problem or you're in need of service. And I think that's tremendously powerful. And I think it's tremendously valuable. And I think the consumers recognize that as well. Have we always, as it always been, peaches and cream in that relationship? No. I think things have changed dramatically for the better lately. And I see things only getting better. And a lot of that you can point to the disruptors who have, I think, taught maybe some of the traditionalists, some best practices.
But at the same time, the manufacturer dealer relationship is more important than ever in my opinion. Mm hmm. You know, I had a pretty prominent dealer on the podcast and he said a line that stuck with me. The manufacturer is not your friend. Yeah. Mm hmm. What do you think about that line? Well, did you listen to that one? Yeah, I did. And listen, I think that I'll paraphrase my dad. Okay. There are going to be times where we're going to agree. And there's going to be times when we're going to disagree. And the disagreements are usually going to fall or are going to usually result from one of us taking a position that we are steadfast because it benefits us.
But then there's going to be areas where we're going to need to find common ground so that we can continue to coexist, right? And I think that that largely still governs the relationship. So can you say that we're not friends? I mean, I think we're business partners at the end of the day. And I think if you want to say that that is not a friendly relationship, I understand that position. I think that my relationship with all of our manufacturers is good. It's cordial. It's respectful. But yeah, there are times where it gets contentious. And sometimes we need to put our foot down and they need to put their foot down and we got to do what we got to do. So yeah, I get that position. I don't know if I agree with that 100%, but hopefully my explanation or my response to that gave a little bit better clarity to how I approach it. I'm a little more diplomatic. Yeah, I can tell.
But I do get your point. Like, you know, it's not always going to be black and white. I want to ask you a bit of a different question, right? Lots of use cardiologists listen to this podcast as well. And I'd have to imagine there's one use card dealer out there at least and I'm sure many more that are listening and thinking, wow, like, you know, you started or your father started with Hyundai in the 90s, right? And obviously look at the brand today. It's gone through been a roller coaster ride, but today it's worth a ton. And it's appreciated a ton. I mean, talk about a, you know, a great asset to acquire.
If you are a used car dealer today, right, that was looking to get into the franchise world or maybe you have a franchise, but you're looking to grow. Is there any brand out there that you'd like bet on? You'd say, you know what, this is a brand, whether it be a newer, newer entrant or it be, you know, an existing brand that maybe you believe has a bright future ahead of it. But is there a brand out there like that that comes to mind? Yeah, there, there absolutely is. I think the only other sort of caveat to that that I would add is I think you also have to take a look at the marketplace too, because, you know, I would love to have it to a store, you know, as I tell people all the time, like pretty much everybody that comes on your podcast.
Everyone, yeah. Everybody wants to join the store. Right. Yeah. So join the club. But at the same time, there may be instances in markets in other parts of the country that I'm not aware of where maybe Toyota is over dealer. And therefore it would make it difficult to go in and pay all the money for that store and expect a return on your investment within a certain amount of time and do it the way that I'm accustomed to doing it. And I, you know, I'm still a businessman. I, I still want to go out. And when I deploy capital, I expect a return on my investment in X amount of time at X amount of a return rate. And if I can't, if I can't get that, then I'm not going to do the deal. I just because I don't have to, I don't have shareholders that I have to answer to like the public companies do. I, I, you know, I have me and my business partner and we do what we think is best for us. And we don't really listen to outside, you know, outside influences. But right now, I mean, look, I think, I think Toyota and Honda are, are doing it really well. I mean, Hyundai and Kia, the Koreans, I think are, are the up and comers. They're the real challengers that are rapidly transitioning from being challengers to being tier one brands. You see, are they up and comers or have they already came? Like I'm thinking about even below that, right? Anything, anything come to mind. And by the way, maybe not. But I feel like Hyundai and Kia is already like, you know, the prices at this point. I mean, it's real. It's, it's an established brand. It's, it's not cheap anymore. Right. Yeah. So like, is there like, is there like, is there a Hyundai and Kia out there? Like the next Hyundai and Kia, anything come to mind? Not really. I mean, you know, a lot, a lot has been said about Nissan. And I think that, you know, Nissan's been around a long time and, and certainly had a lot of turbulence throughout their tenure, at least of late. You know, but if, if an opportunity arose and someone could acquire a Nissan franchise for the right amount of money in the right location and could get in with, with reasonable overhead, I mean, you could really say this about any shingle, about any franchise. I mean, at the end of the day, if you can, if you can put yourself in a situation to make an investment where you're not going to be living and dying by the new car market, because I can tell you right now, if you are, you're setting yourself up for failure.
And that's one of the things that always made us set up for success was we always had very strong parts and service operations, fixed operations as we refer to it in, in the retail auto industry, you see, and as a result of that, we've been able to achieve above average, fixed overhead coverage percentages, which is, which means we don't have to sell a car and our expenses are covered. And that's a, that's a fortuitous position to be in. But it's hard to do that if you, you have a rent factor, which is how dealers, which is the mechanism by which dealers largely will cover their, their debt service. If your rent factor is astronomical and out of line with the market and with the brand, it makes it really tough. So that's what, that's, those are all the factors that have to get weighed when one is deciding whether or not to make an acquisition.
I want to talk more about fixed ops and what you just mentioned. Give us just a little bit more insight on rent factor. So like what do you look at, like any specifics you can share with audience? Yeah, I mean, so, you know, normally when, when I'm, when I'm assessing a deal, I'm going to look at, I want to make sure that my, my fixed expenses, primarily my rent factor, which is in essence, my debt service is on the very, very high end around 12 and a half percent of, of, of the gross that we generate, of the gross profit that we generate every month, right? Okay. So just, just so, just to recap that, right? The rent factor you say it's your debt service because you are buying the property, right? So you're just passing along the mortgage payment. That is essentially the rent. And then your total dealership gross profitability sales service, you don't want rent to be more than 12 and a half percent, roughly speaking. That's, that's, you know, the sweet spot for me is really 10%, but you know, 12 and a half is on the high end.
You know, so again, it's one of those things where if I had an opportunity to acquire a Nissan store or a CDJ or store or, you know, pick a, pick a franchise. It doesn't really matter. If, if your debt service is going to equate to on a monthly basis, a number north of 12 and a half percent of the gross profit generated by the store, that's where I start to, I start to question the validity of moving forward with an acquisition like that or pursuing an acquisition like that. If that makes sense. Got it. All right. That's helpful. So now I want to go back to what you said about fixed ops. So you said that, you know, you have over a hundred percent absorption, right? And for, for anyone listening, again, it just simply means that your service revenue or profitability is enough to cover your fixed expenses and incredible position to be in. Cause you're just, you're building a very formidable business that can withstand headwinds, right? How did you get to this point? Right?
You, you said that very emphatically, like, you know, we've taken service very seriously. What does that actually mean to you? So I think, I think first and foremost, it starts with having a great product and having a great team that can deliver on the customer service promise that you make upfront when you sell the car, right? So if people are coming in for service and a lot of OEMs now are including a lot of car manufacturers are including, you know, maintenance, which is really oil changes and tire rotations in, in the price of the vehicle now for anywhere from one to two to three years, depending on the brand. But even prior to that, you know, we would always give away our, our first, our first oil change, we would, we would provide complimentary to the customer because we wanted them to come in and experience what it was like to do business with us.
So I thought we did a really nice job of, of establishing a foundation from which to grow our relationship because I am a big believer, Yost that sales sells the first car, service sells all this, the subsequent cars, right? Yeah. I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of merit and there's, there's a lot of truth to that. So, you know, we, we couple the way we approach the customer experience, the training of our people, the condition of our facilities, we have a free Pennsylvania State Inspection Program that we give to all of our customers and members of their household. So it really has just become one of those things where service was always a big part of what my dad focused on. He was still trying to make the mistake. He was a sales guy, still is a sales guy, you know what I mean?
Like most dealers, you know, they're sales guys. But he understood the, he understood the importance of, of fixed operations of parts and service. And it was always a big part of how he structured his business, how he structured his facilities, how he structured his processes. And I just feel like I came in was given his insights and he imparted a lot of his wisdom on me in that respect. And I took it to the next level only by the grace of a tremendous team of people that work for us. They deserve all the credit. I just simply have provided tools and resources and they've done the work and just been incredible. And that's why we're successful. So it's, it's a big part of our business model.
Yeah. And when it comes to processes and you mentioned, you know, the way you operate, you have multiple stores, is there anything that you do? Would you say that's like non-traditional on the actual just general processes side? Anything specific that comes to mind or is it really, you know, just focusing on fundamentals, the nuances, doing it really well, nothing too crazy to flashy? Yeah, no, it's funny. So we actually had a Ford store years ago that we sold in 2003, 2004. Yeah, 2003, 2004. And a lot of the fixed ops training that I received was from the Ford around the wheel program. I don't know if you've ever heard that or if anybody's ever mentioned to you. But basically the around the wheel program was basically get the car in the shop, get it up on the lift and get the wheels off of it. And you know, everything kind of goes from there because it's tires, it's brakes, it's, you know, obviously, you know, if the car's up in the air, you're changing oil. So a lot of it revolved around that.
是的。在谈到流程时,你提到了你的运营方式,你有多家店铺,有没有什么你会说是非传统的在实际的一般流程方面?有没有什么具体的想法或者说,你只是专注于基本原则,细微之处,做得很好,没有太过炫耀的东西吗?是的,挺有趣的。我们实际上多年前有一家福特门店,我们在2003年或2004年出售了它。许多我接受过的固定运维培训都是来自福特的around the wheel项目。我不知道你是否听说过或有人向你提到过。基本上,around the wheel项目就是把车开进车间,抬升起来,把车轮卸下来。你知道,一切从那里开始,因为这涉及到轮胎,刹车,显然,如果车抬起来了,你就在更换机油。所以很多流程围绕此展开。
We were one of the first people in our market and in particular with Honda that implemented a multi-point inspection form. That was a paper form. And this was probably yours back in 2008 or something like that, 2007. And then quickly with the advent of electronic MPIs, we jumped into that space and the electronic MPI was a game changer. And it was a game changer because we could not only document what the condition was of the vehicle and provide that to the customer as a no charge value add. Here's your vehicle's report card. We would call it. But we also had the ability to keep a documented record of what happened the last time they were in. So when it came to addressing, you know, previously declined services or things that somebody was overdue for.
I mean, listen, not everybody wants to spend all the money to maintain their vehicle at any given moment in time. So we try to help people manage their budgets. We try to help people manage keeping vehicle maintenance affordable while also doing things the right way to ensure the longevity of their vehicle. So it's just as much about the consultation, Yose, as it is about the transaction. And I think that, you know, we're still a people business. I know that's a cliche. We're still a relationship business. I know that's somewhat cliche too. But it's true. And I think that, you know, when you approach that relationship with the customer that way, that's what leads to that long term relationship. And I think we've been successful with that. And I think that's been a hallmark of our success.
So I want to build on top of that now, right? Relationship business, which, you know, is, of course, people say it out a lot. And then how do you reconcile that with the Amazon Hyundai announcement? Like are we moving to a future where we're not going to be a relationship business or where that is going to be the way that people buy cars exclusively? Like explain that to me. Like what does that future look like, especially given in light of just, you know, Amazon and Hyundai working very closely on this online buying experience? Sure. I think that Amazon relationship, yes, is really a response or reaction to the fact that there is a subset of the population that has an aspiration or a desire to transact 100% online, right? There's also a subset of the population that aspires or wants to transact 100% in store. And then there's the largest chunk that's out there right now, which wants to do a combination of the two, right? So there's a, there's a, you know, Amazon is the world's largest marketplace. No one, no one refutes that, right? And there are people out there, you might be one of them, that buy everything on Amazon. You know, that's just what they're inclined to do. They, they, they like the experience of just being able to hit a button and something shows up at their house and, and things like that. Why should buying a car be any different, right? But that doesn't mean that that's how everybody wants to do it. What it means though is, is that if there is a subset of the population that aspires to transact in that fashion as good retailers, we should be there. And that's why, you know, that's why I think it's an opportunity.
Okay. So, how does this not disintermediate the dealer? And, and the second question is like, and if it doesn't, if the dealer is still fulfilling everything and doing the transaction, is this any different really than like a, you know, third party marketplace, like we've, you know, like cars.com or any other marketplace that enables you to get a certain part in the transaction? Well, the short answer to that last part of your question is no, it isn't really any different, but it is different because it's Amazon and Amazon has set the bar and established the standard for transacting electronically as easy and seamlessly as possible, right? So if they can bring their standards and their technology and their ecosystem to retail automotive and help us cater to the customers that want to transact that way in an effective, efficient, seamless process, I think that's a good thing because the dealer is at the end of the day still fulfilling the transaction.
Okay, a customer goes on to Amazon, they find a vehicle they want to purchase, they see the price, they say, okay, I want to buy that car. At that point, the dealer picks up the communication, gets involved and facilitates the transaction. That's how it's set up to work. But it, but it is going to happen. The, the electronic signing, all that type of stuff is going to happen as much as possible within the Amazon ecosystem. Okay, it can't all happen because there's still a lot of states, Pennsylvania included, that still require wet signatures on certain documents. So the customer is still going to have to come into the dealership or have someone come to them to deliver the car and they're still going to have to sign one or two documents with wedding. So, you know, we're, we're getting closer. So, but again, I, I just, I think that Amazon gives us an opportunity to connect with that consumer that wants to transact in that fashion. But they still are going to call us the dealer when they have a problem with their vehicle, when they need service, they're not going to call Amazon.
So again, Amazon's a facilitator. They're not a retailer in this instance. And that's how I view it. Correct. That's the big difference here, that they're not a retailer. Now, this is, this is more of speculation, but I'm curious to hear your take. Like, for them to go, you know, build a lot of this at the partner, I mean, have they considered just making an acquisition of a third party marketplace or do you, or again, you're not Amazon. So I'm not asking you to, you know, give me a precise answer, but it almost seems like to me, it's like, you know, you're going to try to, you know, reinvent the wheel here.
You know, as a consumer on Amazon, I'm not going to buy a car. It doesn't mean I can't be trained to do that over many, many years. But that's the other thing that comes to mind. I mean, is there a world where, you know, a company like this acquires a marketplace, be it third party or an actual retailer? Of course, you know, Carvana has been, you know, I've heard that one many times. What do you think about something like that? I'm purely speculating at this point. So I just want to be, I want to preface my comments by saying that.
I, I, you know, I formed relationships with people at Amazon throughout this process. There's a lot of really good people on, on their side that are trying to do the right thing. And it's been, it's been a pleasure getting to know them, but I haven't asked them those questions. I'm just speculating. I would think that if that were an option for Amazon, they would have pursued it already. The truth of the matter is, is that Amazon already has a dealer council that is comprised of dealers of all brands and all sizes, and all geographic territories throughout the country. They were already advising Amazon on things related to their approach to the automotive marketplace. Okay. Hyundai just took it upon themselves to be first to market with this new found relationship with Amazon, which they announced at the LA Auto Show, where not only were they going to be first to market with selling cars on that platform via dealers, mind you, but, but connecting consumers with dealers on that platform. But also they have Alexa as in car technology in Hyundai's, and they're also using AWS for their cloud services. Those were two other additions that were a part and parcel to this arrangement. But yeah, I mean, I got to believe that if Amazon thought that they could go out and acquire a dealership, I don't even know what I mean, they could have probably just found a retailer in Seattle that represented one of the brands and said, we're going to send all this business through you. I don't know. I'm just speculating.
I think there are 100% a myriad of things they could have done to not fully engross themselves into the politics of the franchise system and all that other type of stuff. Because that, I mean, yes, that's what I've been telling them throughout this whole process is they have to be careful for how they, regarding how they position themselves. Because if they want to take up the mantle of being an automotive retailer, they are now then subject to CFPB and FTC and all of the regulations that you know, auto dealers are subject to at the federal and the state and even the local level, right? But if they remain sort of simply a third party facilitator, they get the benefits of being, you know, party to the transaction, I guess is probably the best way to characterize it without having to deal with all of the regulatory scrutiny. Now I say that, that doesn't mean that the government, you know, might not turn around and they have the CFPB knocking on their door for whatever reason. But yeah, I mean, this is the direction they've chosen to go and we'll see what happens. I'm excited about Hyundai being first to market on it.
You know, hats off to Jose and the whole team at Hyundai for putting this together and hopefully we get it off the ground in a meaningful, broad-based way. I still am pilot and I know some of the pilot dealers are going through some growing pains, but hopefully we'll get to a point where we have a boilerplate agreement in place that will govern the relationship and this will be rolled out to any Hyundai dealer that wants to participate. And do you have a rough timeline for when that could be? You know, if you'd asked me that two weeks ago, I just said hopefully by May 1st, but we had some scheduling conflicts and I think we're pushed back to probably June 1st at the earliest and probably more likely to die first. But it's not. Yeah, I mean, we're not talking that far out either way. No, no, but we've been talking since the LA Auto Show, Jose, and that's back in November, right? So it's been a while and there was a lot of urgency to get this done. Yeah, so we got to keep working in that direction.
Well, it's going to be interesting to watch how that unfolds. I'm really curious to see just the experience and how well it gets adopted. And if people actually use it, right, because it's like it is Amazon, but I don't go there to make super discretionary purchases. So it's just going to be interesting to see the intent of the consumer and if they can properly train them to bring value to dealers for the return on the investment actually makes sense. I agree. I agree. It's a brave new world. Yeah.
So I want to shift to just overall economy. You know, this is really I wanted to ask you as an operator here in Lehigh Valley, like what are you seeing on the ground floor right now? Consumer health, right? Like just market demand. Where are we out right now? What are you seeing? Yeah. So people ask me this all the time, you know, house business, what's going on in my, my response has been the classic dealer house business. Yeah. Yeah. Or like you go to the auction, you go to the auction house business. Or what do you do? What do you do on exits temperature check? I think is what you do. Yeah. Yeah. I read those. I read those. That's and that's one of my most popular posts. And I know that just by people by people constantly tell me, and they're like, yeah, I read through the comments, see what's done. It's great. It's amazing. But yeah, again, what I've been telling people and I stand by this is that it's been surprisingly resilient.
We had we had we were two cars short three, excuse me, three cars short of an all time record at our Honda Hyundai location in March. So that was combined new and used cars. So our all time record at that location is 522 cars and we did 519 in March. And that was that was shocking because January and February were not great. I mean, they weren't hateful. They weren't terrible. They were more akin to a typical January and February in a pre COVID market. But then for March to come out and and and show that that much force in the marketplace was just great to see. And then of course, you know, here we are in April, we're always fighting the tax man. That impacts people's, you know, appetite to make big ticket purchases when they got to write big checks to the government and things like that. But, you know, the consumer overall, I still think is in a good place.
I think there's definitely people out there that are experiencing challenging times. And, you know, that's regretful and hopefully we can get the economy growing again so that the rising tide lifts all boats. I'd really like to see that happen. Interest rates are definitely having an impact. I saw a thing in automotive news on on Monday. I think it was that the average interest rate on a used car in March was 11.2%. Don't don't quote me on that. But I think it was pretty that that's incredible. Yes. When you think about it, I mean, think back when you were selling cars a couple of you, I mean, 11.2% average rate. So that's, you know, that's definitely going to be problematic as we continue to move forward here. So I think that also though, is going to give an opportunity for leasing to come back in a big time way. And it is already.
So leasing is really starting to come back with a vengeance. We're seeing it with our brands. I mean, Hyundai in the Northeast last month was 58% lease penetration in the Northeast. 68% in the New York City metro area. So those are staggering numbers that are definitely akin to pre-COVID levels. And I, you know, personally, I think that's a good thing for the industry and it's a good thing for consumers. I, I've always been an advocate and proponent of leasing. So I don't see that as a bad thing. So why do you think that's a good thing? Because I think that when consumers make the decision to lease, they're, they're obviously making a good decision with respect to their budget and affordability.
They're, in essence, insulating themselves from the, the cost of the more expensive maintenance and repair services that come once a vehicle is out of warranty. If you know, customers that are leasing are usually under warranty for the duration of the lease. And again, I, you heard me say earlier, most of the manufacturers have some form of prepaid maintenance now included with the purchase of a vehicle. So when you start to look at total cost of ownership, or as I like to refer to you now, total cost of mobility, because that's really what, you know, we've been talking to our customers about is you really need to change the way you think about buying a car and really looking at your, the cost of mobility, you know, and the cost of mobility is your car payment, your gas, your maintenance, your, you know, obviously tolls, all that, that insurance, you've done a great job chronicling the rise in insurance rates, which is a huge issue that I'm surprised more people are not talking about.
But yeah, I mean, consumers need to start taking a look at the total cost of mobility, and they need to get over this while I don't own the car. Well, if you're financing for 84 months, you don't own the car anyway. Okay. And, and if you lease it for 36 months, at the end of the lease, if you like it, you buy it. If not, you give it back to the bank. You know, it's really, it's a great way to, to, it's a great way to own a car, if you ask me. And then as a dealer, I like it because, you know, there's that life cycle of customers coming back and opportunities for pre-owned inventory and things like that. So it's a, it just, it just makes the business more cyclical, more predictable, and I think more efficient. And you had a statistic the other day about the number of people with $1,000 plus car payments, it's just crazy to think that that's where we're at, but that's where we're at. And, you know, leasing can help with that.
I totally agree on a leasing front. I think, you know, the numbers are rising very quickly. And it's almost like, even if I didn't agree, the market needs it at this point. It's one of the only ways that are sustainable. And I say sustainable because your alternatives are extended terms on loans, right? Maybe four months, 96 months. But leasing is just offering, you know, it just offering your lower payment. And what I spoke about the other day is about like, I call it like the hurdle where maybe a couple of years back, leasing could be a nice to have because you could get a lower payment. Maybe today it's a need to have because the payment difference is, you know, to stock or you simply can't, you know, every penny matters at that higher, you know, you're not paying 300 amounts. And I, you're paying 500 amounts. And that extra $200 is very meaningful. And so you go with the lease. So I couldn't agree more on that front. I think I'm going to, we're going to keep falling this closely, but I definitely think we're going to continue seeing rise also with use car leasing and programs that are, you know, enable, are you doing any use car leasing at your stores? A little bit, not a lot.
It's something that's always intrigued me. And for whatever reason has been a challenge overcoming that hurdle with the consumer. But use car leasing historically when I've done the payment comparisons, yes, it's, it's really not, in my opinion, a big enough of a difference for the consumer to make the leap. I think EVs might change that, my friend, but we'll see just because of how pricey EVs are. But who knows? But I think I think everything needs to be on the table as the business evolves and as things change. So I think for those of us that have been around around a long time to sit here and say that, well, that's never going to happen. I just, I don't, I take those words out of my vocabulary anymore. It's just, I've just seen too much. And listen, it's an exciting time to be in the car business. I love this business. I love everything it represents. It's been amazingly wonderful for my family. And I'm incredibly blessed. So yeah, the car business is awesome, man. My final infamous question that I was like to ask, and keeping you up at night nowadays, what's on your mind?
The thing that keeps me up at night is definitely people. You know, we're incredibly blessed to have a great team here. But because we've been in business for so long, and we have some people that have been with us for a long time, they're starting to retire now, right? So I got to replace them. And, you know, replacing people that have been with me a long time that are consummate professionals that just do their job and are turnkey and represent us well and take care of their customers and are good people and etc, etc. It's getting harder and harder to find the people that we can replace them with, train them and get them up to speed to do the job like the people they're replacing, right? So I'd say the biggest thing keeping me up at night is just, you know, the, the readiness of our workforce to pick up where the people that are that are stepping away are leaving things off. So that's, that's probably the thing that keeps me up most at night. I'm very, I'm very bullish on the franchise system. I'm very bullish on retail. I'm still very bullish on the United States of America. We certainly have our problems.
Oh, there you go, baby. Let's go. Yeah, I'm still. Yeah, I'm still bullish on the United States of America. And yeah, we'll see what happens, but definitely, definitely people keep me up at night. You're the man, dude. Andy, you're on a killer operation. So this was really, really fun, especially because of the first time we chatted. I didn't know too much about you other than, you know, your dealer group and, and, and, you know, what you do, but just learning about your father, the connection to Piazza, who I, like I said, have bought tons of cars from them. And I'm just very familiar with that, you know, with the organization. So small world, great conversation. Thanks so much for coming. We're going to have to do this again for sure, especially as these things roll out, things unfold. I'm sure I'll have many more questions for you.
Well, listen, my friend, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Congratulations on your success. You've done amazing things for our industry. The more people we can expose to retail automotive and how great it is, give them the insights. All the things that you're doing, keep it up, man. You're doing a great job and it's a pleasure to be here with you today and looking forward to the next. You know, it's, it's truly incredible how like some people that just tune in, obviously look at the followers on X. I mean, like a lot of these people have no connection to the car industry, but they're just so interested because it's like, wow, it's like an uncovering an entire new world. And so it's funny. Like you read some of the comments and stuff. I get some of the emails from listeners. And it's just fascinating to see the people that are not in the industry that listen and just how interested they are. They always tell me, they're like, I have zero connection to auto, but I just find it interesting to learn about like how it works.
嗯,听着,我的朋友,认识你真是一种快乐。恭喜你的成功。你为我们的行业做了很多了不起的事情。我们能让更多的人接触到零售汽车行业以及它的伟大之处,给他们洞察力。你正在做的一切,继续努力,伙计。你做得很棒,今天能和你在一起是一种快乐,期待着未来。你知道吗,有些人就是觉得真的很惊人,明显地就是看了 X 的关注者。我是说,很多这些人与汽车行业没有任何联系,但他们却如此感兴趣,因为它就像是揭开了一个全新的世界。所以很有趣。你读一些评论和东西。我收到一些听众的邮件。看到那些不在行业内的人听并且那么感兴趣,真是令人着迷。他们总告诉我,他们和汽车领域没有任何联系,但是他们觉得学习它是很有趣的。
So well, hey, it's, you know, it's a glamorous business. You know, as a lot of people say restaurants and car dealerships, everybody, everybody wants to be in both those businesses until they realize what it takes to be successful. And then things change, but, you know, that's the way it goes. Good stuff. All right, Andy, thanks for coming on. This was awesome. My pleasure. Thank you. All right. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating.