#256 - 1099s, Cash is King, CFPB vs CAC

You are listening to the Independent Dealer Podcast with hosts Luke Godwin and Jeff Watson. Hello, you are listening to the Independent Dealer Podcast brought to you by Buckeye Dealership consulting. Luke, man, 2023. I'm super excited.

It's already here. I mean, that's hard to believe, Jeff. I mean, 22 was a blink of an eye. I mean, you would think that with COVID you know, 2020, 2021, 2022, that they. This would have been a slow. You know, like a slow burn and feel like a hundred years, but, man, it's those last three years. Feel like it was three minutes, right?

Yeah. I keep. We joke around about stuff like that, and I'm like, dude, how long have you been here?

How long have you been.

It feels like you've only been here, like, four months. And these guys are like, nah, I've been here like three years. I'm like, oh, my gosh. What. What went on? Just this whole time warp. I don't know if things are just getting faster or things are changing so much faster. Even when you look at the price of cars, right? And you look back and you're like, oh, remember when we said that prices were going to go up and then go back down? And now we're living it out. These things happen. The economy down substantially. That whole post Covid bounce is now gone. It's like, well, we all kind of knew this was going to happen, and then it actually happened.

Yeah, it is crazy. I was building out my finishing up my forecast for 2023 just yesterday, and I was going back, and I said, well, 2020 had to be the most cars I'd ever sold. Right. And so I start digging through and looking at my actuals compared to everything else, and I'm like, huh, well, that's interesting. I didn't realize I sold that many cars in 2019.

Wow.

And we sold that many cars in 2020. I tell you, I'm trying to get back to a level playing field. It feels like to me, Jeff, and I tell you, it's. It's scary, but I think we're back to normal for the most part. We just have to go back to being normal, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's going to be huge. Luke. Before we get into the episode, I think we've got a couple calendaring items and a few things for the dealers that are listening. Of course, guys, always go subscribe to our YouTube channel. Leave us a review. Thank you so much for the people that have done that. You know, Luke and I put minimal to no effort into this. But guess what? Leaving a review is also minimal to no effort. So I say that jokingly, we're doing better.

We're trying, Jeff, you know, one of our friends in the industry, Amanda Sanchez, and hopefully she doesn't mind me talking about this, but she, you know, she runs that Facebook group and she was talking about how much work she puts in it, and she's like, luke, how do you and Jeff continue to put that much work into. Into it? And you don't think, you don't think that's a lot of work. And people may be listening, don't think it's a lot of work. But, you know, Jeff and I, we spend hours a week going over this and, and we talk to each other a lot. We talk to people in the industry. I mean, it's a lot of work, you know, and what's the end results? Well, hopefully the end result is people. People like what we're doing. We get to meet new people, we get to do things in the industry which we really love. So make sure you're, you're listening to the podcast, you're subscribing, you're. You're leaving us reviews.

Yeah.

And you're getting the newsletter, right?

Yeah, yeah, we appreciate that. The email newsletter is a great way to get more info, tactical tips that are going to help you out on your Monday morning meeting. I'll tell you what, every Monday morning when we have our all hands meeting, I use the quote from the newsletter. I always use the quote as an inspirational message. And then I look at the to do item and say, okay, what can I tackle this week in my dealership to move it a little further ahead, Whether it's, you know, implementing things and Luke's video giving us advice on how to, how to just fine tune the dealership incrementally. We can't do it all at once. We're going to do a little bit at a time.

It's the same with, it's kind of the same with building your person. Right. I mean, I can't decide tomorrow that I'm going to go out and, you know, shoot a 72 on the golf course. Right. I've got to, I've got to practice. I got to get better. I've got to hit. You got to learn to put. You got to do all this. And that's, that's what it is in business. You're not going to, I mean, some people do somehow hit lightning in a bottle and learn how to sell 100 cars in a Month. I mean we've been doing this 35 years and I still can't do it or 37 years, I still can't do it. So, you know, it's one of those things, you take those incremental steps to make you better and hopefully we are helping you do that. Right?

Yeah. So speaking of getting together and being better, just quickly guys, you're listening to this mid January, it's not too late to get in on the DPG supergroup that's down in Orlando at the end of January. So look that up. The DPG super group. That'll be a great time. It's open to everyone. You don't have to be a Buckeye client to attend it. Obviously we've got buy here, pay here United coming up at the end of April. Yep. So you're going to start hearing a lot more about that from us. So get that on your schedule. Look up BHPH United and get that on your calendar. Get registered, be in Las Vegas the end of April. And then of course NIADA has got convention coming up in Vegas as well. I think towards the mid June, June 18th, something like that. So get those on your schedule now. Start planning those out. I know everyone's summer schedules are starting to fill up, but we really want to see you at these conventions. It's a great time to get away from your dealership, get the large picture, get re motivated, learn some stuff and then get back into your dealership and take it to the next level.

I tell you what's also I had a dealer, I've had dealers reach out to me a good bit and, and I'm just going to make this invitation. If you're ever in the Columbia, South Carolina area and you want to stop by the dealership and talk with me and do whatever, please reach out. Had a guy, a dealer from up in Tennessee that was in town over New Year's and we spent about two hours together. I'll tell you, it's refreshing to see younger dealers trying to, trying to grow and older dealers who are looking at what we're doing and they even get motivated. So, you know, reach out to us if you're ever in the neighborhood, if you're ever in South Utah or South Carolina and please, let's, let's chat.

Yeah, definitely.

It's fun.

So Luke, just to jump in real quick, a couple of issues that I've been looking at or things that have been on my mind that I think is good for all the dealers to look at is kind of these January 31st deadline projects. Right. It's something that I've never really been great at. And in full legal disclosure, we are not accountants nor lawyers. So everything we say on this topic, please, please, please consult with your. Your accountant to make sure you're doing these January 31st projects correctly. But they are things you need to be aware of. So that's why we bring them up here. Because a lot of dealers just don't know what they don't know.

Sometimes I don't know what I don't know. I mean, IRS changes these. These laws every year.

Yeah. So.

And we heard about it.

But it's like, man, do I really need to do that? Do I really, like, am I ever really going to get called on the carpet for not sending these out?

I have. Everybody knows that. Dave Keller, God rest his soul, big mentor of mine, and we were talking about one of these topics we're about to go through here. And. And I said, do I really need to do that? And he said, well, Luke, this is the way I'm going to put it. Have you ever done it before? I said, no. He said, I wouldn't start doing it now. And I said, well, okay, there we go.

Wait. He said, if you, if you haven't done it before, I wouldn't start doing it now.

Yeah, he said, there you go. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

But is it defensible? Is it defensible against an audit? That.

I think, I think that. I think that was his. I think that was his point. You can. You can claim that you just didn't know, and then if they make you go back and fix the problem, you can. But, you know, if you start doing it now, they're going to say, why didn't you go back and fix everything? Yeah.

Anyway, why'd you do it for a couple of years and then stop and then pick it back up? And that's just. It's the case we run in when we're small dealerships and we're wearing a million hats. So some of those things we need to look at. And I think, to me, probably in the order of, I don't know, easiest or most important. You got to send out the 1099s, right. You're 1099, like NEC, your 1099 miscellaneous, your 1099 interest.

1099 is, you know, I think you really need to focus on the ones you. The $600 or more. Focus on those first. Your CPA should be able to get all your books, put that together for you, and they're not going to Charge you an astronomical amount of money, but you got to get those done. That's first.

Yeah. And QuickBooks does it as well. So if you're entering these people into QuickBooks, name and address, and that they're an individual, that you have paid over $600 something, if they're not a corporation or something like that, you need to send this.

But if they're an llc, I think you have to do it. I tell you this. This grades on my nerves so bad that the burden is put to small businesses to collect money by the irs, I think is such an abuse of power and an abuse of. It's just stupid that we have to do it. But that being said, we still have to do it. So get it done. That's the first thing you need to get done.

Yeah. Just enter in, get their names, and pick off the top five or six that are the most important. Right. If you've got vendors, if you've got the guy that's coming by and doing bodywork for you or doing headlights and you're just cutting him a check directly to his own name, definitely pick those ones off first. It's maybe start with the highest dollars and work your way down. QuickBooks sends those out. So along those lines are also getting your W9s in order, right?

Yeah.

So probably less or maybe way down the list, because I know a lot of us don't do it, but you should have W9s from all your vendors.

Again, that's one of those garbage things that IRS is making us do. But, yeah, it's probably. Probably something that you need to do, and it makes. Actually makes it 1099 a lot easier when it comes to that time of year.

What about sending out the notices for the 8300 form?

That is the most important thing on this list, Jeff.

Really. So when you. When you take in more than $10,000 from an individual in cash, you have them fill out and sign an 8300 form. Right. And that form is then supposed to be.

They don't have to sign it.

Yeah, you fill it out.

You fill it out. You send in.

You're supposed to send it in within 15 days of the transaction, and then.

You have to send it. Then you have to send something else at the end of the year.

And then at the end of the year, by January 31st, you need to be sending a notice to that customer that you sent in the 8300 form. So not only do you send it into the IRS and the customer knows you filled it out because you Got all their info. Then you again have to tell them that you sent it in.

So I have been audited. I have been audited twice on this. Okay.

Wow.

And I'm telling you, it is something you need to do. And both times. Both times we passed our audit. One time, the reason we were audited is because someone who was running for the Republican National Committee chair buys cars for me. And I guarantee they went directly to the cars he bought for me and wanted to know how he paid for them. I mean, the whole nine yards. I mean, that is. Out of all the deals I did, that's the ones they focused on.

So money laundering.

So it is, again, it's something you need to be doing. And. And the one thing, it's in related transactions during the calendar year. So I want everybody to remember this, okay? If someone gives you $8,000 in cash down as a down payment, it doesn't have to be cash, cash, or cash equivalents. So that could be money orders, certified checks for less than $10,000 and cash. And what can happen is, let's say they put $8,000 in cash down and then pay you in cash or money order for the next four months, and that triggers over $10,000. It's got to be done. All good. DMS should keep track of this for you, so make sure you're doing it. Because having an IRS agent sit in your office for three days is not a lot of fun. And I've had it happen twice, so just make sure you were doing this.

Yeah, I just don't accept cash, so that's just chickens, dogs, other types of transferable livestock is what I like to. I don't have to. Is that a cash equivalent? I guess that would be a cash equivalent.

Could be.

Yeah.

Well, trade trades. Trades aren't considered a cash equivalent, so.

Yeah. So why would. Like a. Why would a horse. I don't know. So anyways, those are super important. And the last one I would say is if you do have an RFC, you're sending out your 1099 CS to those folks that you ceased collection activities.

I just never cease collection activities, buddy.

Interpret that how you may. Yeah. If you go and hit a repo A customer and then you hit them with a 1099 C the next year, that they have to pick that up as income.

If you want to make you all. If you want to make every repossession in your portfolio mad at you, go ahead and send these out.

And you should be sending these out again. We are not attorneys. We are not legal Advice.

We are not. We're not.

You may end up with bricks through your windows. So also get a good.

You know, you'll have. You'll have 45. You will have 45 negative reviews in about 10 minutes when they're expecting $10,000 back. And they get four, I'm telling you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they had to pick up your forgiven car, you then sold at the auction or. Or ACV valued at 2 grand, and they have to pick up 8 grand on a 1099 C. Man, that's.

Again, they're supposed to be done. I'll leave it at that.

Yeah.

And ours is making. Making us do their job anyway, so.

Speaking of getting things done, Luke, guys, it is tax season. This is your final warning and opportunity to get signed up with Tax Max to process tax returns in your dealership. So the guys at Tax Max say that they're. The IRS is already processing tax returns for them. Right. That we already have W2s in hand. We are doing the taxes right here in our dealership for the people that come in. And we're applying for the refund advance right away so we could get up to $6,000 in a refund advance today so that we're covered. And then, of course, when their check comes in or when their refund comes in later in February, March, April, who knows what's going to happen and when these things are actually going to be issued, you're covered.

Yeah. And just make sure you're. You're using Tax Max to get that money. Because it's gone, Jeff. It will be gone so fast. And if you've already done it, then you're good to go. So make sure they are proven asset, and they are an asset of dealerships. We recommend them, and Jeff uses them like crazy.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I think we've already done four fourth quarter deals, and now we're in full first quarter swing. So it's not too late to get set up, guys. Give them a call, check out their website. You can learn how to do it in a matter of an hour, and you can be up and running. So speaking of getting the cash in so that you keep your dealership open, and that's. That's a big part of that. Right? We all need more cash so that we put less money on the street. We can get larger down payments, we can sell more back end products because the cars are still expensive. Interest rates have still gone up on our customers. So having a larger down payment is crucial because, I mean, I know we're Getting callbacks from some of our credit unions and their rates are still okay, but they're not lending like they used to. You know, they're still being a little stingy and these customers are having to come up with more down. But all that plays into keeping your dealership open, guys. I mean, we've got, I don't know, I look down the street when I drive through my town. One, two dealerships, I know that are just gone, Just gone. Just shut down the 5th of every month. I love to drive the town. I drove my used car row just to see who didn't open up the next month.

And there's some big, there's some big people going down too. So it's not just. Well, I shouldn't say going down. Some big bigger people just closing some locations. So, I mean, this happens. It's contraction. And the biggest thing to think about here is that how much money are you losing on the inventory? Sit on your lot, right? And this happens if you have cash, not a big deal. If you're not flooring the inventory, you're going to lose, you're going to lose paper money. Your profit's not going to be as good. Okay, that's fine. I mean, it's real money, but it's, you know, it's play money. But when your interest rates goes up on that line, you're flooring, or on your wholesale, you know, line of credit, that's real money. I've talked to multiple dealers in the last three months that their interest on their, their big line of credit is costing them an extra $40,000 a month.

That's insane. So I know a lot of guys, you know, your flooring lines and your lines of credit are all, they're all prime, plus, you know, a couple points or whatever you got back in the day, and they're all floating. I know I got a notice the other day. I have a small line of credit with a bank that I keep open so that I have access to it. But it just jumped up to 10, 10 and a half percent.

Holy cow.

Yeah, I went from like five to seven to eight. And now they just sent me a notice at 10 and a half. And I, I'm like, oh, and it's a small amount, so it doesn't break the bank. But I start thinking, man, do I pay this thing off? You know, do I just get rid of this? Because if I had a large amount, that would be a substantial jump.

So let, let's think about this. If you're flooring, if just your Flooring line's a million dollars. Okay. Just your floor line. And let's say your prime plus one is probably what a lot of people are at. You know, prime plus one. Prime has gone from, I mean, essentially zero. Maybe it was four when we started all this, and it's up to seven or. Or or so right now. That's a. That's a big number. That's the reason it's costing, you know, some of these people with lines of credit $10 million or so. It's got some extra 40 grand a month. An extra 40 grand a month. That's a big expense. So you've got to make sure you're juggling those balls in the air properly. Because, Jeff, I don't think I could handle another $40,000 expense a month. Could you?

It would be painful. Right? And especially when you're a retail dealer and you need to cover that 40 grand out of sales. Right. Guys that are buy here, pay here. You've got a little bit of a buffer because you can weather a storm by just eating into your portfolio. Assuming you don't go out of covenants with your lender, you stay at the right ratios, you can eat away your portfolio to weather the storm. But if you're a retail dealer and now you got hit with a 10 or $20,000 extra a month interest bill, plus you've got a handful of cars, you're underwater on that, you're needing to get out. So now your grosses are being. Your upfront grosses have gotten cut because you're taking a bunch of slim deals just to move that inventory. That's a perfect storm situation.

Yeah. And, Jeff, actually, we've got a sponsor now that can help everybody with lines. Right?

Yeah. Primal End has come on to back up the podcast, to step in to be a great sponsor and to help us out, obviously, full disclosure, like with last episode, Luke and I, neither of us use them, but we do know them.

We know them. And let me tell you this. This is a tricky area, and this can take you out of business if the line you currently have is too high or your covenants are what you think is too hard. You know, are you trying to grow? You need to call Prime Land. My buddy Todd Yates over there, super guy, he'll help you out. And. And they don't only just provide the line of credit. They help you, Jeff. And that's the biggest reason we're. We're talking about them here. You may not have the books yet to get that line of credit. You may not Be taking care of what you, what you have there. They'll come in and they'll, they'll help you and tell you what you need to do to get the line of credit because you cannot grow in a buy here by here space without it. And also if you need to buy some property or something like that, they can help you out there too.

Yeah, yeah. It's really interesting and it's important too, guys, when we go back into all this about projections and statements of cash flow and all these financial things that you need to put together because you need to know those before you need them. Right. Like if you're not tracking them now, you might not need a line of credit today, you might need it In a year, six months, 12 months, six years, whatever it is, you need to have those historical built out.

Yeah. Like I always said, if you, when people ask me what you need to get in, into the buy here, pay here business, I say you just need cash. How much cash? A lot of it.

Yeah. The best way to turn 2 million into 1 million starting by here pay here overnight, which I think a lot of people are getting into. Right. Because people are looking for that value. And you know, some of the folks I follow on YouTube, some of the car dealer guys, you know the Chevy guy and lucky Lopez down in Vegas and who's the other guy that's really good, that has some good YouTube content. And some of these guys on Twitter too, the car dealership guy has blown up over the last 12 months. He's a really interesting follow on Twitter and he talks about industry insights and what he's seen on the ground. And a lot of people are seeing lenders are tightening up. I think that's obvious. We see it and industry wide, everyone's seeing it. That leaves that opportunity for buy here, pay here, lease here, pay here. And arguably folks like cac, you know, when they don't get in trouble. But we're going to see a lot of folks get pushed into that subprime non prime category.

And some people, and some people get all the way out of it. And you know, that's where the buy here, pay here space was built because people were getting out of that, the lending to people we lend to. And I'm hoping that happens.

No, absolutely. We need good people with bad credit for guys like Luke and I to thrive. The CAC thing is really interesting to me and if you guys, if you follow this at all, this is kind of a bit of a warning to all buy here, pay heres because of what new York and the CFPB has brought against cac. Right?

Yeah, it's scary. You know, it should. It shouldn't be scary to people who are doing it the right way.

Well, but. But they're doing it the right way.

I'm not. I'm not saying they aren't. I'm not saying they aren't.

Of all people, CAC is doing it the right way.

I don't know. I don't know, though, that we're big enough to worry. Like they should worry. You understand what I'm saying?

For sure, they have a huge target on their back. I get that.

If I was drop time, I would be worried.

Of course. Here's the thing. When you look at the complaints and you read through it, the New York Attorney General and the cfpb, they are mad at CAC for running a smart business. They basically said, hey, cac, you're putting these people into loans and you're calculating. You know exactly what you're going to collect from that customer before it repos. You know it's going to repo and you know how much money you can extract from them before it repos. Well, you. Yeah. We've got millions of loans that we've run the data on. So, yes, When I underwrite Mr. Customer, I know that he's going to make it 18 months before he reposts based on all of my data and history. That's called smart modeling. And because I have a smart model, you're telling me that I'm now a bad business owner because I know this guy's going to default and I know when he's going to default.

I think there are dealerships out there that, that plan to repo cars when they sell them. And I think that is a bad business model to be in. And I think.

I think it's a fine line between planning and knowing. Luke, you know what your collateral recovery rate is?

Yeah, sure.

It's 80, 90%, right?

Yep.

So, Luke, you know that 10% of these people are not going to finish their loan. You're predatory.

Well, no, because if you look at. Yeah, because if you look at promotion, if you look at prom loans, prom loans default as well.

Sure. So just because I know I have a high default rate, it knows I'm dealing with a high default customer. You can't blame Lean that my default rate is high and that I calculated it out to be high. But Jeff, if you're inner city Atlanta, you know your default rate is 60 or 70% and you model accordingly.

But if I Know this, and this is where CAC is different than we are. If I know that I'm selling a customer car today and they only have all, all the money they have in the world is $1600 a month and I'm putting them into a 550amonth car payment, are they going to be able to make it? You think they'll be able to make it?

No, but I wouldn't do that.

No chance. You wouldn't do that long, but I.

Don'T think they are either.

Well, I can tell you this. I think that sometimes the dealers that are selling the CAC may put people in things that they know are not going to last. And CAC buys them not knowing. It's just what I would say.

Well, okay. So, yeah, bad information. Junk in, junk out.

I get that.

And if you can prove to me that CAC is saying, hey, I know you only make $1,500 a month, I'm going to put you in a $500 payment only because you have 10 grand down today, you know, and I know I can repo that thing tomorrow and be safe. Yeah, that's a problem, right? Yeah.

Okay, it is.

If you're just trying to use tax money to do bad deals, that's predatory. But I don't know, man. I have an issue with that. I think the problem you're going to have CAC is going to be like they're going to give the middle finger to New York and say, fine, that's how you want to be. You find me, you sue me, I pay a bunch of fees. I'm not lending in New York anymore.

But if we're talking about a cfpb, we're not talking about just New York, Right?

But these states, I mean, that's, that's where. I don't know, I don't know all the details, but, but that's the state that's going to come after them. And what happens is these guys, they say you're predatory, you're doing xyz, you push out. And we see it, right? We see lenders that won't deal with certain states because of it is not friendly to take those risks in those states. Right. Or to be in those areas. So now what happens? Who's going to step in and fill that void? Nobody. Maybe your local. Buy here, pay here, Buy here, pay here. Small guy that's not on the radar.

And you know, I mean, you know, it's. I think it'd be hard to do business in California. I think it'd Be hard to do business in New York. I think it'd be hard to do business in Massachusetts. I think there are states where our business model is hard to hard to do. And you know, and unfortunately I'm not sure that I would, I do business in those states. I wouldn't do this business in those states is what I'd argue. And I think, I think that's what you're going to see.

Totally.

You know Jeff, I just had a thought. I just saw the other day where people complain about, about lenders not funding. Have you seen that out there?

I haven't. Not on my side. I mean I do. I'm like a 20, 30% retail, you know, a couple of CAC deals a month. The credit union bank. I don't have any else contracts in transit right now. There's, I'm still funding quickly.

That's interesting. I just saw a couple people talking on the Facebook forum that they were having. There's two lenders specifically that are taking a long time. And then there's one guy said yeah, this group said they weren't funded at all because they were out of money. I mean that would be. What do you do in that situation?

You tightened. I mean your contracts in transit need to be incredibly tight which means when you submit the package, the deal, all your stips have got to be there. Don't give them a reason to piss backwards on you. Remember back in the day this was man, when was that? When we had a bunch of dealers saying I'm getting notices from my bank and credit union that I booked this deal wrong 12 months ago and now they're trying to come back on me. Well, saying that I power booked a car because oh yeah, they found out that it didn't have power seats or it didn't have leather and now they're trying to get money back from me because I booked this thing wrong and they over lent on it.

Yeah. And I can tell you this, when, when lenders start losing money and they're.

Looking for the exits, they're looking for.

The scapegoat, they're going to find a way out. So you know one of those house cleaning things you could, you should probably be doing if you're a retail dealer is you need to sit down and talk with a used car manager. You need to sit down and talk with your finance manager and making sure they're not doing these things. And if there are lenders that are, that are not doing what they're. That aren't funding quickly, I probably wouldn't send any more deals to those lenders.

It's the perfect storm again, Luke. We've got cars we're underwater on, and so maybe. Maybe your F and I guy is power booking a car in order to get a couple extra bucks on the front end so that he can make some gross and put some money in his pocket. And he's hoping the credit union will never call him on the carpet for it. And they are.

He's. Or he's left your dealership before you find all this out.

Yep. And he's gone. And he. He. He fudged on a step, this, that, or the other. And then eventually these lenders start getting more scrutiny because guess what? All of a sudden, now they have surplus underwriters that are standing around not doing as many deals. So they're getting more. Yeah, yeah, it is. It is such a funny, funny thing how things can just start getting tweaked and out of hand in desperate times. Maybe is the word.

Yeah, just. Just keep your house clean, right?

Yeah. Yeah, that's a. That's a. That is definitely a hard thing to do. When you say keep your house clean. It is constant. And just as a side note to wrap this up, Luke, I think we've taken up everyone's time, but I. I have to keep reminding myself at my scale of dealership, you know, I'm fairly small, but I'm big enough that I don't do a lot of the day to day. But you're a trainer. Like, I really just have to keep looking at myself. Like, I'm a. Unfortunately, I'm an. I'm a nagger. I'm a nanny. I'm a trainer. I'm a housekeeper. I'm a. I'm a firefighter. And we got to remember that, like, training. You know what? Maybe my job today is just to stand right in between my salesman's cubicles and just listen to every single conversation that's happened and then go in and coach them, and then sit down and listen to every single phone call and then coach them and then follow them on an up. And then coach them. Sit in my collector's office for three hours today and coach her. Like, maybe that's just what I need to be doing.

Training is the game. The most important thing a business owner can do, period. There's nothing, you know, keeping. Keeping tight your financials is probably, you know, 1B, but 1A is training your people properly. If you train your people Property properly, your 1B will be a lot easier.

And retraining and Retraining and retraining every.

Week have a process down. We talked about that last week with Justin. You got to do it. Stop what you're doing now. Make a, make your training for this week. You got to do it. I train three to four times a week with people, so it's something you.

Got to do because things can get out of hand quickly. And what was your. A salesman can quickly fall off the wagon and go completely dry the next month because he has started to put in the wrong wording. He's gotten desperate. He said the wrong thing, he got cocky. He started brimming people. They have done something and they've fallen off the path.

Or, or you are not looking at your up numbers and your, your ratios and maybe, maybe something went bad with your website and you didn't know, or maybe something, some advertising you were doing is not working anymore. So these are the things you've got to do and train on the numbers they. That they provide and make sure they know how to collect the numbers properly as well.

Yeah, absolutely.

Hey, Luke. Good to see you, buddy.

Hey, man, you too. I'm excited. Luke's going to come out here to Utah in a couple of weeks and we're going to have some fun.

And so speaking of that, Jeff, any, any dealers in the Vegas area, in the southern Utah area? I'm not sure I'm going to get. I'm not sure we're going to get all the way up to Salt Lake, but. No. But anybody in the Vegas or the area between there and southern Utah, I'd love to see you. Yeah. Love the talk. And actually, I'm going to St. Thomas next week. If there's any dealers listening to St.

Thomas, they don't even sell cars. They have bicycles and golf carts.

They've got to have a car. If you're in St. Thomas, reach out to me. I'll come by and see you. And hey, what the heck? We'll have fun. Yeah.

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