#313 - Just Keep Buying

This is the Independent Dealer Podcast, education by Dealers for Dealers. Now here are your hosts, Luke Godwin and Jeff Watson.

Hello and welcome to the Independent Dealer Podcast brought to you by Buckeye Dealership Consulting. It has been a great, great start to the year, Luke. How about you? Your January was amazing. February is just rocking and rolling.

Well.

Yeah, I mean, you were on vacation for half of it. Of course it's good for you.

I wasn't talking about sales. I was talking about my tan.

Oh, you're tan. It's looking great, buddy. You're not, you're not blinding me with your big dome right now.

Thanks.

Appreciate that. It's been a little slow on the retail side and the buy here, pay here side. As far as selling cars, we brought in some experts, some guys we know that know the retail space and they know the, the struggles that I think a lot of dealers are facing right now as we kind of like hold our breath waiting to see if there's going to be a tax time. Yeah, Luke.

Yeah.

And, but, you know, it seems like retail dealers that know what they're doing and they do it the right way, they, they seem to make it through even when times get tough. And if you're like me, sometimes I, I root for these tough times to root out the bad dealers and the people who don't do it right so we can make more money. So, you know, with that being said, Hubert, thanks for being on the podcast again and reintroduce yourself and the special guest you got with you.

Okay, great, thanks. It's good to be with y' all again. My name is Hubert Keller. The dealership I have is called Keller's Auto Sales. We're in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. We've been open, I think 18 years now, and it's been, it's been up and down, but so far, so good. I mean, we're, we're. I think we did 11, 60 cars, I think it was last year, so we averaged about 100amonth. And this is John. I brought John on because I'm more of the wholesale buying side. John's my brother in law. We married sisters and he got the younger one, I got the older one. But anyway, yeah, I got the bossy one. I won't comment, but yeah, he better not comment. In trouble. I'm always in trouble, so. But yeah, he, he started in sales and he still is in sales. He's more active in sales than anything, but he does manage the front end and then I kind of stay in the back. So John will have a Insight to, you know, the financing, the numbers, that kind of stuff. So yeah, and that's a nutshell.

You know, we, we, we try to, we were trying to break this 5050, Jeff, with some buy here, pay here, some retail dealers. It's great to have retail dealers on. But you know, in the last six months what we've been hearing, Jeff, is how it's getting harder and harder to be the retail dealer when interest rates are going up, banks are pulling out. Is that what y' all are seeing?

Well, to be quite honest, the way Hubert has, you know, started this whole dealership. Yeah, we do see a lot of, you know, people a little cautious about the interest rates, things like that. But we're in this little niche market where you, we're still in a, everybody still needs a vehicle, but interest rates aren't that vital when you know, we're 10, 12, 13, $14,000 maybe. So when you're going to buy 30, $40,000 pre owned vehicle, they may hit a little harder. So I mean we're still seeing some, some pullback, but I mean not to the, not to the extent of what, you know, I'm seeing online through, through other dealers.

What, so your average price is in that $15,000 range?

I'd say. Yeah, we're, that's kind of like our, our comfort, you know, comfort spot.

Yeah, like everybody, it's moved up over the years. We were used to being the eights. And then the last few years, I would say definitely in the, in the 13s. I think we did a little, little report. I think that's kind of right where we are and that's great.

So what percentage you were saying, if most your cars are landing right in that teen range, what percentage of those would you say are cash purchases over people getting loans from banks? Because you do seem like you're kind of in that spot where yeah, there's probably some people who could just straight out pay 10 or 12 or 15 grand for a car. And then there's the rest of the world that still has to finance something like that. Where do you guys land?

So, so month to date, for example, we are Almost, we're only 6 off. We're at 22 finance, 16 cash. That's strong.

Is that normal?

Yeah, last month we were, you know, 58 and 35, but I pulled last year. Last year we were six 44 finance and 447 cash.

All right, what was that cat? What was the finance deal?

I'm sorry, it was 624 and 447.

Okay.

So, you know, we do a, we do an awful lot of.

Yeah, yeah, it sounds, sounds not right.

Is, does that change since interest rates have gone up or is it, is it always been that?

It's. To be honest, it's always been just about there.

What do you.

We, we, we do a lot of, you know, and people ask. I mean, we do our fair share of finance, but I mean, we, you know, most of these dealers, they want a finance deal. You know, we like all the deals, you know, finance, we like cash. We like them all.

Yeah.

Have you.

What is the average interest rate that you're seeing right now with customers that are financing.

Hey, everybody, real quick, make sure you guys are signed up for buy here, pay here. United 2024 happening April 23rd through the 25th at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Going to be a lot of fun. Jeff, you and I are going to be wrapping up every day, going back over to the things everybody learned during class. There's a, there's a Spanish track, there's an English track. There are a lot of great speakers, a lot of dealers trying to teach you how to do it their way. And these dealers are really, really solid operators. You'll learn a lot. You'll meet us, you'll get to hang out, be in Vegas, and we'll see you there. What is the average interest rate that you're seeing right now with customers that are financing.

Your prime buyers are, you know, 8, you know, 8 to 9%. You know, the lowest rates that I've seen are in the Sevens, you know, and that's not even considered, you know, a couple, couple years ago that wasn't considered low.

Yeah, no, yeah, we did.

We.

Our number one bank right now is Capital One.

Capital One.

Yeah.

Capital One is who's probably given us our best prime. Prime buyers.

What. So that's prime, I guess, but you're seeing those, those eight to nine. I mean, what are so, you know, what are so called subprime rates? Right now.

We'Re seeing, you know, mid to upper teens, you know, through some of those. And some of those lenders we have to go to, like finance companies. You know, that's when you, then you step into a different, you know, tier.

You're talking about lower, like local shops.

To get those bought, I think like.

Linmark Financials, your one main financials, your professionals, those kind of things.

Yeah.

Have you noticed any kind of a general tightening even across the board between the prime and the subprimes? Are they, are they getting harder to underwrite Are they scrutinizing your deal more?

Not necessarily. I would say. There's one of our lenders in South Carolina. They only do South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. They. We have seen them kind of tighten the reins on just overall approvals. Capital One. They haven't. Their deals are pretty much straightforward. They haven't tightened the reins. They haven't. You know, the only thing that we've seen from Cap One is just the. The rate hikes. But, I mean, that's not just us, but the deals are pretty, pretty straightforward.

Have you, have you lost any big lenders in the last 12 months?

No, no, we haven't lost any. We lost that Wells Fargo deal. I think I said something about that.

But that's 2020.

Yeah. Been a while ago. I think. I think they just.

I think. Well, they just got out. Yeah.

Independence. They got out of Independence, but, you know. Yeah, but nobody else.

We haven't lost anybody.

That's. That's interesting because I think that that probably shows that y' all have been around long enough to. To weather the storm. So there. Nobody's getting. Getting too crazy. Hubert, what do you. What do you see on the. On the wholesale side? Cars easier to buy than they were at this time last year.

I don't know. I think I went a little crazy. I mean, if you saw my lot right now, there's cars everywhere.

Say, same here. Same here.

Okay. Okay. So we've trying to fix them all, but, yeah, I bought a lot going into this and we've sold, you know, sold pretty good. But I have definitely noticed in the last, like. Like I was in Orlando yesterday in Jacksonville, two sales I go to, and I didn't get a car. And that would have normally gotten, you know, 13 or 14 cars out of that. Just. Just because, well, one like you, I've got a lot of cars, so I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna reach for them as much as I might have just because I've got a lot I need to sell, so. And to today, now, my local sale, I think I ended up at 8, and they were mostly cheaper cars. I did. I think I got one Volvo that was like in the 19 range, but everything else was probably under 10, so I felt good to be able to get that. But it was a big sale today. They had a bunch of cars and a bunch. You know, it was a promotion sale, so we'll see. But, yeah, I'm still buying. I'm addicted, so even if they're high, I'm like, well, that's Shiny. I don't know.

Yeah, I tell people all the time, like, oh, you don't like to go to Vegas and gamble? I go, no, I like buying cars. That's, that's gambling enough for me. But what's interesting is you said, okay, you were buying in Orlando yesterday and you didn't get a car. I bought in Florida yesterday and I bought eight cars that. It's so, so funny how perception.

Go ahead. You were at Central probably, you were probably buying at Central because I talked to a lot of people that ended up buying there. But at the Odessa one, I could. Was it central that you were buying?

I balled in Tampa and I bought Central yesterday afternoon. So it is.

Yeah. Okay.

Super interesting how, how that, that works.

But I think it was a little better there. I don't know. I was in a Tesla lane and it was just, it was always hard. Yeah.

What I find is it's, it's a lot mentality of the buyer, right? Like, like you're saying, Hubert, like if, if you feel like you have enough cars, you're looking for deals. Either, either I need a deal on a car or I'm okay buying the cheap, cheap stuff because for four or five grand I can't go wrong.

Right.

I'll buy those all day long.

Oh yeah.

Like, yeah, maybe winning with the mentality of like, hey, I got 50 grand in my wallet, I need to take home any cars. It's tax time. I would rather buy now than in four weeks when everything's definitely going through the roof like it always does. I need to stock up now on some holes that I have in my inventory. And I find that right now for myself, I'm only buying like one or two makes and models right now. And I'm not looking at anything else because I've got a lot that's bursting at the seams. So I'm not desperate. So I'm only looking for deals and I'm not willing to step up on anything if someone, you know, they hit me back with a calendar or something. I'm just numb, you know, I'm not going to overpay right now. So I think it's, it's mentality that we get in as dealers.

Yeah, I think, I think and this is one thing we're figuring out really fast and really hard, you know, around Covid the twenty thousand dollar plus cars they were, you could sell them. I mean, we didn't have any issues. And I guess again it's coming back to the interest rates now. Twenty thousand dollar car I'm not. I'm trying not to buy those. It's like the, The. It's just. It's a harder sell than it used to be. It was so easy before, but now, you know, just adjusting. It's. It's, It's. It's kind of like. And, And I'll talk to John a lot of times. I'll look at what they did that day, and then that'll kind of help me figure out what I need to do. And if I can't get online and see what they did that day, I'll call them and say, hey, what. What have y' all sold? What have y' all got deposits on then? Especially if they got a deposit on that certain car. I mean, you know, you'll try to find a replacement for that car. Vans for us right now, wouldn't say Vans are super hot. Odysseys, if you can get Odysseys, those seem to be what's. What people are wanting for us. And, And I'll tell you this. I mean, I don't mind telling my secrets right now. Mustangs and Chargers, man, we cannot keep a Mustang or a Charger. It's. It's been fun, but I can't.

I can't keep Chargers. I can keep bus things, but it's so interesting. Vans and we. I don't even. I don't even buy them anymore. But. So we're all kind of trying to stock up, and, And I did stock up, and I'm still buying lead into tax season here, and that's one of the things we want to talk about. And all three of us can weigh in on this. Hubert, what is your preparation for tax season, like, when it comes to the inventory side? And you know, what, what are we. What are we doing? What should we be doing? John, what do you feel like from people shopping? Are they. Are they waiting on tax money? Have they gotten tax money? Where are we right now on. On February 15th?

I think as far as inventory goes, you're just. We. And, And I told my guys, yes, we're going to be buying less cars. But what we do need to do, since we're not going to have enough cars to. To work on so much, we need to be getting on those cars and checking them out, starting them, driving them, getting them ready, because you don't want to sell 15 cars in a day and have half of them, you know, get clogged up in the service end. So that's what we're trying to do right now. It's just kind of get prepared you know, it's like the boy scouts always say be prepared. I mean I try to always, you know, to look at that and, and walk a lot. So that's, I would say that.

Go ahead, give it to me in a number. What day supply are you? Do you have a goal you're shooting for? Because it looks like you got about 140 on your website. Yeah, 146. And if you're selling about 100amonth, I mean, do you have another 50 in the back that are getting ready? So you got about a two month supply right now?

No, not at all. We've, we've got probably, I would say 20 maybe the body shops and different, different. That's what's killing us, you know, is the body shop stuff. That's what takes.

So you're, you've stocked up to about a 45 day supply, you know, say on average. Luke, where are you at right now?

60 day.

You're at a two month supply. I'm closer to like a three month supply which is why I stopped buying. So I just ran out of money. I got nowhere to park them. Yeah, but, but so Hubert. Yeah, so I mean you sell high volume where. Yeah, you are running a little thin as far as maybe compared to Luke and I. But still I would say a 45 day supply is respectable.

Yeah, I, I would say when I look at the lot, we, we, we're, we sell a lot in one thing that we end up doing a lot. And I'm sure everybody does this, but we, we'll sell a car in the back. So what. Or you know, the guys will. We got one guy that loves to sell out of the back before they get out of the house. Yeah, he's selling him before I even buy him.

John, how do you feel about that?

I mean he, he moves cars.

It's okay.

Some cars. Oh yeah.

All right.

I mean he is, this guy is literally trying to put somebody in a car. The, I mean the moment it hits the, the ground.

You gotta love that.

Oh yeah, yeah, we love that. Yeah. All I was going to say with that, I was kind of going is that we've got a lot of those cars already up front, you know, so we've got more detailers. We actually got our, we're at four detailers right now. And that was always our kind of one thing that kind of held us back. So we do. I, I would say one thing that we're ready for tax season is we've never had this much staff. We've never had We've got three technicians and a tire guy and four detailers, you know, and so we're in a good shape.

And that allows Uber to be more free and buying because now we have the, the people to, you know, to get through them. So instead of them bottlenecking from service to detail, they're coming up to us at a more consistent pace, which, you know, allows us to sell them quicker.

That still doesn't sound like enough for 100 cars a month.

So, So I was, I was about to bring that up, but what's so funny is I have, I have six technicians for, let's say, 40 cars a month being sold now. I guess one thing, you know, it. What I've always noticed is that buy here, pay here is a lot more labor intensive than, Than retail. We also, we're also selling our service contracts and this, that and other. But what'd you say? Three or four texts? How many texts?

Really?

It's, it's two. And a tire guy and, and, and, and I got that member of me talk. We talked about my other guy, Justin. He's kind of like making sure they're staying together. I mean, yeah, it's wild up here sometimes.

You know?

I know, I know. I, I mean, I listen to y' all and I'm like, okay, I, I sometimes, like I've told y' all before, I don't think they're doing enough, but shouldn't be complaining.

They're doing, they're doing a ton.

We run them ragged from the sales side. I know. You know, with, with getting through the stuff that Hubert buys and then us harping on them to hurry up and get through them because we've already got them sold. Like, they, they, they do a good job.

They do, they do. And yeah, it's, it's, you know, it's been. And, and speaking of the back end, again, it's been, it's been trouble hiring. I've always, I've struggled with one. I always had one good tech and tried to get another tech and I just couldn't get. Finally one showed up two months ago and he's been great. So, yeah, we're excited. So, yeah, we, it takes the strain off of me because when I'm, like I said, where we're at is my shop where I'll do my work, use the electrical diag. Now I'm pretty much free to just buy. So it's, it's been a blessing.

So if you are running a buy here, pay here, and even if you're running a Retail operation and you need someone to process your credit card payments. The guys that Blitzpay are great. I just barely, barely switched over my whole buy here. Pay your portfolio to BlitzPay. And I have had zero pushback from customers. People are delighted with the ease of payment. We simply send them a text with a link. They click the link and that's their wallet with all their cards and they hit pay. They could set up their own auto pay. It's really been an incredibly smooth transition and I was scared. I was very, very nervous about switching my credit card processor.

Right.

Because all of a sudden you have to set everyone up on auto pays and you got to get everyone familiar with it and comfortable. But this is honestly the easiest transition for our customers that I think it's actually improved and helped our collections because it's been so easy.

Yeah, I mean, I'm the case in point. We switched a year ago. We had immediate buy in and ease from our customers to, to use the platform. My collectors bought in and learned how to use their collection platform a little better. And it's, it's a, you know, it's just a help to, to IDMs or whatever DMS you're using to get your collectors a little more involved and get your customers a little more involved and get your payments processed.

Yeah. And you found a way to do it where you've actually saved a ton of money.

Right.

Because you revamped your payment policies and your late fees and things like that. So, yeah, the good time to look at that. Guys, call the, the folks over at BlitzPay, let them know that the independent dealer podcast sent you, and you will get three months of free software and three months of free cash network. So their cash network is coming out. Yeah, we, your customer can go to any, you know, 7 11, CBS, a bunch of retail locations. They can scan a barcode, give the teller the cash for their payment, and it gets deposited into your account. So it's a cool, cool deal. So they're doing the three free months of software, three free months of cash network. For our listeners, when you mentioned that you heard it here at the independent Dealer podcast. Okay, so, Huber, what I'm curious is before we get onto the retail side, talking about tax returns and things like that, one more question on the buying side. Are you, do you feel like you're stocking up right now where, you know, prices are, you know, still kind of affordable, you know, based on all the MMR retention data? Like, we're still where we normally are year over year and Then of course, going into week 10, 11, 12, people start getting desperate as the tax money flows and everyone starts overpaying for cars just to stock their lots. What's your philosophy? Are you buying a bunch of cars now because they're cheap and then you just stop buying in March, or are you kind of a consistent buy a little bit each week? Yeah, like.

Like I know a guy who did. Does that buy here, pay here? They bow and then they just kind of quit. And I. I pretty much keep buying and I just don't. I never really stop. I just get a lot fewer cars, probably like y'.

All.

I mean, it's just like you're not buying a ton of cars, and then usually you get through it and you get your lots pretty much decimated. Hopefully, that's. That's our goal. We don't have a museum. We. We don't want these to stick around. We want them gone. So then. Then in May, you know, usually, you know, it's kind of starts to slow down. May and June and just. But I really never stop. I kind of try to keep going. And that's.

And I think, I think that's a good philosophy to have. I tried to buy as many as I can leading in, because I know it's just like you're talking about you're not gonna be able to buy very many. You're gonna have to freaking search and search and search and get lucky and to buy, you know, for. For eight weeks. I mean, almost, Right.

It kind of seems like those are the two philosophies, right? Like, if you're a buy here, pay here dealer, it's just buy low, sell high, and it doesn't matter what it is or when or who or when. Like, I mean, I've got cars I've been sitting on for 365 days, right? Like, saying, eventually I'm going to find a butt for that seat. I don't care.

That's right.

But if you're retail, it's all about turn time, right? And you're going to chase the market up and you're going to chase the market down and you're just going to ride those ways because your turn time is so fast that that's the only way to survive, it seems like in the retail world, I don't know.

Yeah, I. I completely agree with that. What we do, this is. And everybody does it, but what, what we try to do is we'll. And John's. I mean, I bought once a week, maybe twice a week or every two Weeks. I'll just start looking and we'll see what's old, what's what. What. What's old, what's getting. Just no interest in it. And then we'll just slash them. And sometimes I'll freak them out. They got to go get more numbers because we sticker our cars. They're like, dude, we need to call the guy, get more numbers. Because we'll do.

We'll.

Sometimes we'll cut 30.

Do a third of the lot, you know, and.

And it makes a huge difference. Two things we've noticed. I mean, it. In two weeks, I would say not always, but in two weeks, we sold half those 49 cars just because.

Just because of the price change.

Just because of a price change.

And, and how much do you change them, Hubert?

It all depends. I kind of look at cost and look at what the markup. And if some of them had a big markup. Oh, yeah, I'll. I'll get to two grand over whatever. Some of them will be negative like all of us, but, you know, it just depends. But yeah, most of them get cut. I'd say 1000 to 1500.

Yeah. Some of them, like, we. Everybody instantly goes back to their. Their notebook, customer, notebook. Be like, look, man, like this thing just came down to grand or.

Yeah.

And, you know, generate some interest again.

Yeah, for sure. Sorry. Yeah, Yeah, y'. All.

Y' all had me thinking about how many, you know, how many age units I have, and I don't. Over 90 days. And I've got. Right now, I've got 115 cars available over 90 days. I only have 24. So I. I kind of feel a little. A little good about myself.

Yeah, you're probably better shape than we are.

We don't have a ton.

We.

We got a couple. Couple lingering units.

But. But you're like me. I'm sure, you know, when you buy a certain car, you're like, dude, that's. This car is not gonna last.

Yeah, it always sits there forever.

Yeah, it can. Or. Or not.

Opposite. Yes, it is always the opposite. Forever. Moves, moves quick.

Yeah, and we got. We got a lot of duplicates. We just like certain cars. We'll just, we'll just. We'll know like, our. Like, I think you've seen we had a lot of Jettas that. We've actually got through some of the Jettas. But yeah, just, just, just. Yeah, keep it going. Keep it rolling. If they're not selling, let's cut them. Yeah, yeah.

And John, are you seeing a lot of customer interest for Tax season, if they've been talking about it. What are you saying?

To be quite honest, no. We haven't even really heard the word tax season much at all. And. And I'd say over the last couple years, it's been kind of. Kind of much of the same. It's like we talk it up a little more than what we actually see. We see pretty much a. A consistent. We may see an influx of phone traffic, foot traffic, that kind of thing, but, you know, nobody's really talking much about tax season.

I wonder if it's because y' all sell so many cars in regular months, it, that you're not seeing a big bump during tax season, but you're seeing tax money. What do you think about that, Jeff? You think that could be possibility? Jeff, we talk about it every week. We've been talking about it for years. If you don't have a reinsurance company set up, you got to do it. You got to call Buckeye dealership consultant today. You know, I had a dealer reach out last week. Hey, what is. What is DPI you're talking about? Guys, it's cpi and it's a game changer. That's all I can tell you. It's a game changer where you buy here, pay here, dealers out there. I know it's hard for me to understand what I'm saying, but cpi, collateral protection, insurance is key if you want your buy here, pay here dealership to run properly. And Buckeye is a place to get it set up for you.

Yeah, I don't know, man. I can't speak to that a lot. I know that as far as tax money goes, it's only people that have gotten refund advances that this point, you know, H block cards, things like that. Because, yeah, we. Outside of our tax max deals.

Yeah.

I have not seen a physical tax return, you know, refund yet. Understandable.

Right.

We're still a couple weeks out.

Yeah, I mean, it's coming, so, I mean, just sit and relax everybody out there, because the money's coming. I hope it is. If not, Jeff, you may have to find a new co host because I got a bunch of. Bunch of money on the line on this one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's just. It's the gambling that we do. We get in this business. Like you said, it's. It's just the gamble, you know, every. Every, you know you're gonna win. I mean, I mean, I lost. I wholesale the car today. I think I lost 3, 500 bucks on it. But I learned A lesson I. Any escapes?

I had a couple of those last year. I don't like to talk about them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It seems, it seems like when you're dealing with a, you know, that retail again, it's the turn time, right? And that's so crucial to just take your lumps, take your losses if you have to, and just turn the car, you know, when it's time.

And sometimes. And sometimes what happens. I mean, what happened to me a couple times last year is I kept putting money in a car that I thought that finally was going to fix it and it never would fix. And you can't sell that car to a customer because you know exactly what's going to happen, right? So you just, you just go, you know what? Somebody else can, can have this beautiful piece for, for the right money and hopefully get it fixed because I'm, I'm done with it.

Yeah, we had that with the Kia and an engine and we were like, we thought we could fix the engine and yeah, it ran great until he took it on a test drive and it blew up again. So it blew up twice. So we're like, bye bye.

Yeah, it gives all that, gives all the guys up front a little bit of, you know, a little gun shyness of. Was it a customer? What?

By chance, was it a Kia Soul? Because Jeff loves those.

No, it wasn't. Kia souls are actually good. Sorry.

Oh, no.

It's the ones that. So what we figured out is the ones with the 2.4, for some reason, those are the bad ones. And they don't rarely put those in the soles. So, you know, it's something about that 24 engine, man.

I just, I, I can't believe you just did that to me.

Yeah, no, we probably have how many.

Souls we sold two. Two souls already this week.

You are, you are missing the boat. Okay, Souls, man.

All right.

Yeah.

Hey, the souls only need cats, you.

Know, like, that's all we do. A lot of cats.

We like that Rock Auto, baby. Rock Autos at our place every day.

So, yeah, I, I think you guys, you do, you do point out something we need to make clear to everyone listening is you guys have a niche, right? You have. Even though, you know, you're not buy here, pay here, you're not this, you're, you know, you're retail, but you have a price point and you know that price point and you know who your customer is. And you're staying right in that teen range because you can finance it. People can pay cash. You've decided to Kind of play both sides. Whereas there's other dealers that are like, look, we only want to do off lease, right? We only want to do as low miles as possible and we're going to chase everything from 20 grand to 50 grand. I think it's a lot of dealers that get lost is when they kind of, they go into the no man's land, you know, and they got, they got some buy here, pay here, over there, and they got some retail and they got some 50 grands and they got some five grands and they're just buying everything that's shiny and looks good, you know, I think you guys have weathered any kind of a storm for that reason, right? I mean, you, you kind of know who you are and your customers know who you are. And to sell 100 cars a month, I mean that's, that's an accomplishment in.

That doing, doing something right. And, And Huber, did you ever join a 20 group or you, you still.

No, still. Still.

He's too busy. Yeah, we gotta get them back.

It's all that record keeping y' all have to do and all that homework. I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, I know it would be fun, dude, but I, Yeah, possibly in the future, whatever. But yeah, cool.

To wrap this up, guys. Any other like words of wisdom or advice you'd have for dealers listening, things you're seeing out in the market or strategies you're taking.

I would say just, just keep, keep buying. Like when, you know, even when. That's one thing I could say is, is when it, even when it's slow, because we do have slow days, we'll have days we don't sell. So a lot. And it's just to keep buying, just keep buying. Because that's, that's, that's the gasoline for our, for what we do. I mean, even when you don't want to buy and you're like, I don't know, but just keep buying, you know.

So it may be slow for a week, you know, throughout the month, but it's not going to be slow forever.

And you'll have those 10 car days and you're like, wow, okay, dang, I need to get busy. So. And if you don't buy, it just flows for us. It messes everything up. They don't have enough cars to work on. They'll get caught up. And I, I don't know, it's just, it's, it's, it's like being on the razor's edge trying to balance like a bunch of different Things, it keeps me up at night. But, you know, I think, I think.

That'S very, very good, good knowledge there. One of my best friends in the car business, Eric Freeman, I asked him one time, I said, Eric, when do you know you bought enough cars? When, when do you stop buying? And he says, I, I'm, I've never, I've never had enough cars. And I mean, you know, he's selling 250amonth. He's like, yeah, I just never had enough cars. And yeah, I think, I think that's how you have to live. You have to live like wide open buy. Because we're gonna, we're gonna sell them. We're gonna sell these cars.

Yeah, the goal is to keep Hubert gone. If Hubert is gone, that means he's buying, that means we're selling. So the goal is to keep him out of here.

Yeah, that's right, that's right.

Y' all got some deep pockets. Geez Louise.

Well, I mean by. Again, yeah, Lord's blessed us. I mean, I, I think I said this earlier. I never expected to be, you know, selling this many cars. My only goal was to get a swimming pool and to take weekends off. So it's, it's, it's been good.

So I don't know what a weekend is. So.

Yeah, he, he's right. Well, yeah, he's working week. We're trying to implement where they can take more time off, but yeah, kind of a bad thing. We're, we're, we're definitely open on Saturdays. I mean, we thought about maybe trying to close Saturdays, but it just doesn't.

After the last two Saturday. After the last two Saturdays we have, I may, I may institute back to Saturdays, but.

Oh, you're, you're, you're opening again?

Well, we opened open February or March and man, the last two Saturdays have been great. So I'm just like, I understand that.

Like people are off work, that's when they buy cars.

I know, it's the crazy. It's the craziest thing, though. I mean, we can have a beautiful day and it'd be nothing. That's right. You know, so we'll take, we'll take what we can get.

But we're here.

We're here and ready.

Yeah.

Well, Hubert, John, thank you guys so much. Appreciate your time. I know you're short staffed. I got to get back to it, man. I hope you didn't miss out on, miss out on sales or get further behind.

No, anytime we could talk to y', all, man.

We appreciate you having us.

Yeah, for sure.

Thank you for listening. Please leave us a review. We'll catch you in the next episode.