Bob Voltmann CEO of NIADA Interview
Transcript
Sean :nHello Car Motivators followers. I’m Sean Kelly the car biz coach, CEO of Car Motivators and author of u201cThe Visitoru201d, and on this edition of the Automotive Leaders-Winning Cultures Webcast today, we’ve got the CEO of the National independent Automotive Dealers Association CEO Mr. Bob Voltmann, Bob, it’s great to have you on. Thank you for joining us. The big question looming right now is Baylor football cursed for being dubbed the Big 12 favorite going into the 2022 season?n
nBob : I think that’s right. It is the curse of the comeback team.
nI can tell you that. We went to the Cotton Bowl my senior year. And didn’t go back until my sons were in college at Baylor. But since then, it’s been rocking and rolling. Can’t wait for the season to start. I have not been in the new stadium.n
nSean : You’re excited to check that out! I understand. Well, Bob, let’s go ahead and dive in. Yeah, let’s say your resume speaks for itself as president of NIADA, and you’re the first presidential appointee we’ve actually ever had on our webcast! Tell us a little bit about your background. How did you end up as the CEO of NAIDA.n
nBob : So my career has been all advocacy and political affairs. I started out as a political consultant. I worked for a legislative session in the legislature in the Texas Legislature one session, I’ve worked for two trade associations representing large land developers getting them to work together to solve common problems.
nAnd I was lucky enough to be appointed by President George HW Bush, to be chief of staff to a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission. So my wife and I went up as newlyweds and served the President.n
nI worked on deregulation finishing the job of deregulation of transportation. I then went to a trade association. When President Clinton beat President Bush, I went to a trade association representing large manufacturers and worked there to write the transportation rules for NAFTA. And completely finished the job of deregulating the motor and rail transport sectors.n
nI then left there and went to the transportation intermediaries Association, where I represented third party logistics companiesnand served on the executive board of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations.n
nAnd then in May of 2020, after 23 years at FIATA, I decided it was time for a change and it was looking like that industry had changed. It was no longer being run by small entrepreneurs. And I wanted to get back to working with small entrepreneurs and making a difference in their lives as they make a difference in their communities. And that is the home I found in NIADA.n
nSean : Well, that is an amazing mission. As once I was a young and budding startup company owner and someone who founded a nonprofit, I respect your mission to help entrepreneurs. I respect you so much and thank you for your service to our country. Being appointed to a role by the president is no nothing to sneeze at. Right? That’s very important. And you know what you said about deregulation is really interesting. I’d love to ask a little bit more about that. I was in the Army. I was in Special Ops. I got out, I started selling cars in u201804 and then I became a used car manager in u201807 and that’s when I started dealing with transport a little bit. But I’m curious what sort of obstacles there were with the transportation in the automotive industry that deregulating helps solve for?n
nBob : Well, the deregulation started during the Carter administration, freeing up prior to 1980. The government had to approve all rates and rounds. But after 1980 still left in place state regulation. And so until 1994 u201895, u201896 u201897 Summeru2026n
nThere my memories are lapsing, states still heavily regulated intrastate transportation. For example, it was more expensive. This was one of the examples we use. It was more expensive for Mary Kay Cosmetics to ship something directly from Dallas to Houston than if they shipped it to Louisiana to Houston.n
nBecause then it became interstate commerce. The same thing happened in California. Why are there so many warehouses on the Arizona-California border, and the Nevada-California border, because it was cheaper to ship something out of California to Nevada, and then right back, because then it became interstate commerce. Congress preempted that state regulation. And it really launched the logistic system we have today, which is the most efficient in the world. And just to put it in perspective, logistics as a percentage of GDP was about 24% in 1980. And today, it’s about nine.n
nSean : Wow, that’s what the impact of allowing the marketplace to work has. That is a beautiful impact. I guess I owe you thanks for all the vehicles I was able to buy from auctions and other states and ship them to my dealership here in St. Louis. Thank you.n
nBob : You’re welcome. Well, that’s pretty bland. I had a part in that.n
nSean : Absolutely. And then you mentioned the part you’re looking to play now, which is helping entrepreneurs. What do you do, what kind of help are you able to provide for these entrepreneurs, and I’m guessing by entrepreneurs, you’re referring to the automotive dealership world community and the vendors that serve them itu2019s that safe to say?n
nBob : That’s safe to say. So I worked with my third party logistics, my small entrepreneur, third party logistics companies, and loved every minute of that. But as that industry changed, I wanted to get back to working with small entrepreneurs. And I found that with our huge independent used car dealers, I believe that small can beat big every day, as long as they play their own game. And they know what their superpower is, which is service, that they don’t ignore reality, and that they have a team behind them and weu2019re their team.n
nBob : So we can help them with advocacy, and information and education, and peer to peer networking, and discounted products and services.n
nSean : And tell us more about when you say playing their own game. I love what you said there. It reminds me of one of my first calls with my mentor in the coaching world. And he shared with me that you know, he’s like, u201cyou got to make your own game and then you have your own rulesu201d. And that’s how you can win the game. Would you say more about that? Because I think that when you talked about service and the small guy winning, I love what you said there. So tell us what does that mean when you say when making your own game?n
nBob : So one of my examples that I use is David and Goliath. We all know the story of David and Goliath. But what we don’t know is what we gloss over is so Goliath was 6u20199u201d. He’s clad head to toe and Bronze Armor. He’s got a sword, a spear and a javelin. Scary, scary individual, a scary individual. David’s the only volunteer Saul has. So they tried to put him in armor, give him a sword, a spear and a javelin. And he said, u201cNo, no, no, no, that’s not who I am. I’m a slingeru201d.n
nI mean, we remember from Sunday school and Bible study that he was a shepherd, but he was actually part of the Army as a slinger, so he goes as he is, he picks up five rocks. He walks toward Goliath, because remember, if you’re fighting with a sword, it’s close. It’s close contact fighting. He puts his rock in his sling and he spins it up and lets it go and it hits Goliath smack in the forehead with the speed and impact of a .45 caliber bullet. Down he goes.n
nSo David knew who he was. And he knew that’s who he had to be. Another example is my wife and I were lucky enough when our younger son went off to college. We went to the Caribbean in January, and we realized we were flying home to a snow storm. So I called our little local hardware store. And they said, Oh, yeah, Mr. Voltmann, your snowblower is ready. I said well, here’s the deal.n
nI will get there in time to pick it up before the snow starts.
nHardware Store
nNo problem. We’ll put it in your shed for you with an extra gallon of fuel, just like Home Depot or Lowe’s would do, right?n
nSean :nYeah, no, I was gonna say, maybe if you paid them a couple of 1000 extra dollars on it.n
nBob : So small business can be big business if they know who they are. And they know what their superpower is, and their superpower is service.n
nSean : I love what you said. I couldn’t agree more. Some of the most successful dealers I work with, you know, one of my dealer’s Paul Sansone Junior principal of Juniors 66 Auto Center talks about our handshake has to be better than the competition’s it’s that simple and, and being involved in your in the community, you can be involved in that community.n
nHe does this u201chope for a ride” thing where he gives, you know, he goes to different churches and gives away a free car every quarter. So you may think that’s crazy with how hard it is to get inventory right now. But it’s paid dividends because if you take care of the community, they take care of you.n
nAnd it’s when the employees at the dealership also believe it starts at the top. So if the top believes in those relationships, I couldn’t agree more than the frontline will. And then that you can’t put a price on customer retention. So great, great info and great reminder for all the entrepreneurs out there that are watching this webcast. And you mentioned your deep background in the third party logistics sector. And you’re familiar with who we interviewed on in the Car Motivators webcast last weeku2026Acertus, Trent Broberg. And so we had a great convo about how the current economy has kind of been impacting things. So through your perspective as the CEO of NIADA, how has the current economy impacted the overall vehicle transport industry, like from an independent dealer standpoint?n
nBob : independent dealers are having to look farther afield to get inventory. Inventory is tight for everyone. And so they’re looking farther from their normal market. You know, many of them come to the DFW area, because they’re looking for pickups, or four wheel drives or cars without rust. And then they have to get those back to their market.
nAnd that’s where a service comes in and Trent’s a rockstar, I know him from my previous role in his previous role. So as the dealers look farther afield for vehicles, and they’re competing more against the new car stores for those vehicles, because there are no new cars, or there weren’t new cars. That’s why transporting those vehicles back to the dealership becomes so important.n
nSean : Yeah, I see. And you’re, you’re so knowledgeable in the auto transport arena. As it relates to looking for a great transport partner, what should a dealership avoid and what should a dealership seek out as it relates to a partnership, a good vendor partner in the transport industry?n
nBob : So whenever anyone causes a motor carrier to be on the road, when you’ve hired a motor carrier, you need to and that includes auto transport, whether that’s, you know, one of the big 18 wheels with the stacked cars on it, or the guy with a pickup truck and a gooseneck trailer behind it with three cars on it or two cars or one car. When you cause a truck to be on the road, you need to make sure that that motor carrier is properly licensed, does not have an unsatisfactory safety rating and is properly insured. And you have to do all of that at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website fmcsa.gov. And their system there is called SAFER.nMany of our dealers today use services where they can, you know, they can look and hire a motor carrier transport.n
nThat service is just a dating service. They’ve done nothing to vet those carriers. They’ve done nothing to make sure that carriers properly licensed have better than unsatisfactory safety ratings and are properly insured. A service that is a third party logistics company is looking at those things and making sure that the motor carriers they hire are safe to move that vehicle. So what happens if you hire an auto transport and they have an accident and hurt someone? The federal government requires that carriers have $750,000 in liability insurance, most motor carriers carry a million.n
nThat doesn’t go very far in a lawsuit. So then they go looking for the deep pockets, which could be the dealer that put that truck on the road. And there’s a whole bevy of case law building around this. And that’s why I say, dealers who hire motor carriers directly need to have a written system, and they need to follow it every time. They have to check that license, they need to check the safety rating, and they need to check the insurance every time or they open themselves up to liability.n
nSean : I would have never thought that there was so much potential exposure, legal exposure at the transportation level. And it’s interesting how many dealers focus around red flags or the financial compliance side of things. But on the logistics side, maybe don’t pay much attention to it. So this is great info. If it’s just because there haven’t been lawsuits in this sector yet.n
nBob : But in a downturn economy, even lawyers have downturns and they start looking for new areas to sue or expand into . You know, as you drive around the country, and you look at billboards, you’ll see lawyers advertising, been in a truck accident, call me. That’s what they’re doing. They’re suing the trucking company, their insurance company, and the people who caused that truck to be on the road.n
nSean : Wow, well, that’s great info. And that’s when that could save some of our listeners, potentially millions of dollars. So thank you for that wisdom.n
nBob : You’re welcome. And that’s it.n
nSean : Thank you for sharing that website. We’ll make sure that there’s a link in the comments for people to click through so they can vet their transport. And guys, please listen to Bob, when he shares that and vet your transport companies, you know, go check them out, make sure they’re on the site. And that way you can protect yourself from that exposure.n
nBob : Let’s talk a little bit more about the NIADA body as a whole. How big exactly is the membership body and how many total independent dealers are there in America right now? We have 16,000. Members. Wow.n
nBob : We have 33 state associations that are affiliated with us.nYou know, the market. The market has a lot of estimates about the market. We still see plenty of room to grow as an association.
nAnd we see plenty of opportunities. We know new dealers are coming in. We know it’s a very healthy market, new Dealers come in, dealers retire.n
nSean : Yeah, it’s interesting seeing the dealer base owned by maybe some baby boomers, the baby boomer generation that’s been selling off. There’s been a lot of dealership transactions lately. Have you been seeing that in the independent realm as well?n
nBob : Yeah, yes, we have and in generational changes. I was just at our South Carolina affiliates meeting where their new board leader is the third generation from his family to be president of the board.nWhich is very, a very cool thing and very rare in the association world.n
nWhat’s the agenda? The three generations so committed to an industry and an association that for three generations, they’ve had the chief elected officer position? Wow, that’s pretty cool. That takes so much involvement. One of my dealers has been on the Missouri automotive, NADA Missouri Automobile Dealers Association board, and has been the president. And it’s amazing how dedicated people like you and like your third generation dealer are to the entire dealer community. What do you think? What are your favorite benefits?n
nBob : I guess that the entrepreneurs, the dealeru2019s part of the NIADA that they receive from being in that community.
nIt’s that interconnectedness. It’s knowing that there are people just like you that want to do the right thing. And people who are willing to help you, even if you’re right next door and you’re competing. I heard the story last night of a dealer whose DMS crashed and they couldn’t do contracts. And so they called somebody and they said, You know what, just send all the information over here, we’ll put your name on it, change our contracts to your name, and we’ll get them and send them right back to you so you can get to those deals. That’s what it’s about. It’s about good dealers helping each other be better.n
nSean : Hey, man, you know, it’s a that’s one of the things I love about the Car Motivators community is, we’ll you know, we’ll come up with a growth plan with one dealer group or dealership and, and then I’ll see another dealer that needs that same info, what worked, what didn’t, to share with them to help. And I always ask permission, you know, but when we ask them, hey, can we share this with one of my other dealers who could use help in this area? I’ve never had one say No, I love that about the automotive world. How it really is. It’s like a huge community, but it’s so tight knit and overall, it seems like the vast majority of everyone wants to help each other, which is pretty, pretty rare, I think.n
nAnd you know, what you’d said earlier about the third generation, I think that’s one of I would love for you to share any tips and pointers. That’s probably one of our niches at Car Motivators in our leadership development area, when we coach dealers, we help the younger generation, the second or third generation, learn to lead and run a business right? Over just the tactical role that they’re in, right. So we help them. So when doing that, one of my dealers recently told me that one of the reasons for him working with us, too, was he said, the third generation success rate is really low. I think he’s like, 15%. I don’t know where he got that information from. So he said that’s why I use you. And I guess through your lens, I want to ask you what, what can these younger dealers do to ensure success? Yn
nBob : You know, especially the third, second or third generation dealers in the independent world , it’s very common in family business that the first generation builds it up. And it disappears by the third generation. So the key there is just what you just said, it’s, it’s, it’s having a coach, because the struggles that the first generation went through to build that business are not experienced by the second.n
nAnd there’s rarely a training mechanism. I mean, I’ve heard parents talk about, u201cYeah, we started our kids, they had to clean the bathroomsu201d.nYou know, does that really prepare you for reading balance sheets and checking trends? It does prepare you for being humble, and knowing that it’s not about you. But they need that help to understand because these businesses are complex.nAnd especially if you’re in the buy here, pay here, space, you’re not even really selling cars, you’re you’re selling paper.
nIn some, but for all of it, there’s information you’ve got to watch and measure. You have to understand trends. And that’s where training comes in, you know, from NADA, from NIADA from Car Motivators. Avail yourself of a coach, and you can’t just rest on your laurels. Or the work that was done before you.n
nBabe Ruth said, yesterday’s home runs don’t win tomorrow’s games. So you have to be playing today’s game and looking forward to what’s coming tomorrow.n
nSean : Right. Yeah. You reminded me that one of my favorite sayings is that that species that survive the longest on the planet are the ones that adapt the quickest. And I think the industry is in a major paradigm shift right now. You know, the demand for US inventory has never been more competitive. I mean, it’s still the auction prices and trade values that continue to amaze me. And well, I guess I’d be curious to know, how is your membership base, the entire community handling the incredibly competitive challenge of inventory acquisition right now?n
nBob : It’s a challenge. It’s it’s easy thing. But it’s still a challenge. And as I said earlier, they’re going farther afield. But the other thing that’s changing in the marketplace, is we have come to expect Amazon service, Google speed and Apple design in everything we do, people don’t want to spend all day at the dealership. They want that simple Amazon buying experience.n
nThey want something fast and convenient and friendly. And that’s a major paradigm shift for the auto industry. But if we’re going, if our independence and our franchise dealers are going to compete with major companies that have huge amounts of money behind them to make the experience easier and simpler, our folks are going to have to do the same thing. So it’s about the handshake, right? And the relationship and the service.n
nBob : But you can’t ignore reality. And the reality is, you know, just, have you bought something on Amazon today?n
nSean : I have a yesterdayn
nBob : Why? Because it’s so easy, convenient. We want that in everything we buy. Cars are no different.n
nSean : Yeah, and it’s interesting how that applies to the sales side of things in the service side of things. And yet at the same time, it seems like dealers have a bigger struggle than ever to, I mean, get cars reconditioned and Frontline ready. And at the same time, you know, staffing issues, and I think a lot of and maybe we get the baby boomers retired after COVID.n
nBut service departments are short staffed across the country. What do you think? How can how can your independent dealers best address thenspeed situation when there’s so many obstacles to getting things done fast right nown
nRob: They just have to have everybody, the number one shortage in the United States and Canada, are people. We went from having a growing population. We were the only western country with a net positive growth to a shrinking population.n
nWe almost overnight started looking like Europe.nWe need people, we need people to get off the couch and go back to work. We need new immigrants. And we need to be able to have that debate at an adult level in our nation’s capital. But everybody, did you ever in your life in your life, not as long as mine has been, but did you ever in your life think you would see McDonald’s offering a signing bonus?n
nSean : Never Never thought I’d see it.n
nRob: I worked at McDonald’s as a kid for date money.n
nRob: No, it was not a career.n
nSean : I was at Hardee’s. I thought it was going to be my career. But no I’m just kidding? No, that’s a really great point. And we wonder, you know, when should we offer a signing bonus for a technician? I mean, it’s a no brainer, right? If McDonald’s is doing it…n
nRob: And then if you don’t have one, and you can’t service the car without it, it becomes a redundant question.n
nSean : Yeah, and, you know, to your point, we just had a really interesting thing play out with one of our dealer service departments where, you know, they had a union negotiation, and five technicians quit supposedly, because the union negotiation? Well, we went, we did a little, I guess, post, you know, post career interview with each of them and found out that it was that they quit the culture, the union negotiation had nothing to do with it. So we worked to develop the culture and ended up being able to bring them back in the same pay as they left that, that the union contract was agreed but it but it was the culture.n
nAnd I think you know, dealers are either going to have to invest a bunch of money to recruit the right people and replace them or you can invest in the ones you have and try to build that team in that culture. And if you do that, what we see is that it actually attracts people, you don’t have to go out and find them anymore because people want the word gets out, right?n
nIt’s that small world of the car business. What’s yours? Some of the dealers that you get to work with? What’s the best practice around building an amazing culture? What do you see that works? It’s all different, but it’s building on their superpower. It’s service. It’s knowing who their people are. It’s, it’s being flexible.n
nIt’s, you know, at an independent dealership that culture is much different than being at a franchise dealership. It’s more family. It’s it’s, it’s, I don’t want to say easier pace, but it’s a different pace. So, again, they have to know their superpower. And I read recently one of the phrases that we all have to learn in business is when somebody leaves, instead of saying, Goodbye, tell them they’re welcome to come back.n
nWell, because we have just like, we have a shortage of vehicles, we have a shortage of people who are willing to work. And that’s going toncontinue to get worse, not better in the foreseeable future unless, until we open, you know, and bring in more immigrants that can do those, those jobs, or figure out what motivates someone to come backninto the workforce. But there’s some 2 million baby boomers that left the workforce during the pandemic, and have not come back.n
nSean : You know what I love about what you just said there, what motivates them to come back into the workforce, there was a, you’ll love this one, Bob, there was a dealer in mind, we had a master certified technician, he’d been there for 30-40 years, a long time. And literally, he was about to quit. And we had a similar kind of, myself and the service manager sat down with him.n
nAnd you know, hey, well, what would it take you to stay? And if you, if you are like, well, there’s no way you do that? And I like to do a lot, right? We just listened to him. And it was amazing. And that’s what family does right? When there’s a lot more to say about family because family listens to one another and cares about winning another and tries to help each other achieve their goal.n
nSo we said no, we care what is it that we could do, if anything, imagine anything’s possible so well, I get really cold in the winter up here in New Jersey. And if I can just go down to Florida for a month or two during the winter with my wife and our state or our winter home, come back and be a tech again. After that I’d stay here until I could no longer turn a wrench and the sort of standard likeu2026 done.nAnd he’s still there today. That was two, three years ago. Right? If you have a good employee, do whatever you can to keep them because it’s going to be harder and harder to replace them.n
nSean : Alright, so tough question for you to answer. I know you’re gonna be great, though, is now a better time to own a buy here, pay her a lot, a regular independent dealership or a franchise dealership? And why?n
nRob: Yeah, that’s a tough question. So a good friend of mine once said, I’ve got friends on one side of the issue and friends on the other side of the issue. So I’m going to be with my friends, all three are different. I would much rather be on the I think I represents the independent guy. So I’m going to have to side with the independent guys. But I’m not picking between retail independence and Buy Here-Pay Here independence.n
nSean : Well, I like what you said. Or if you’ve got that superpower, which is the service and the family and the team culture in the community. I think if you combine those things, it does make sense that it sounds like you believe they can all succeed and thrive right? Even in these times.n
nRob: I do but in tough economic times. So it’s very expensive to be poor. In America, we are in inflation, we’re in a very weird time, we’re in an inflationary period, with very low unemployment.n
nBut vehicle prices, new vehicle prices have become astronomically expensive. And with interest rates now going up really for the first time in 40 years, that’s going to push more and more people out of the new car market.n
nThat’s going to hurt the franchisees that have commitments to the OEMs. It’s also going to put a lot more pressure on the used car market. The US vehicle market. Were those franchisees. The independent retailers and the Buy Here-Pay Here, subprime folks are all competing for the same vehicles.n
nSean : Yeah, you know, as you were talking, I was wondering, is this the dawn of the used car right with microchips and supply chain disruptions likely due to the geopolitics? I mean, you know, the whole Evie thing, which requires probably twice the microchips and all that, that we already are short on. I mean, is this the dawn of the US car? I remember my time in Iraq and Bosnia in the military, just remembering every car I saw looked like it was 30-20 to 30 years old. And I could say, Oh, is that the route we’re taking here in America? Is that going to be the situation? What are your thoughts on that?n
nRob: Well, we’ve been in in the era of the used car, and we saw used cars become an appreciating asset, which nobody thought possible. They were, they are. And again, as as new vehicle prices increase, and now, interest rates have more than doubled.n
nAnd it takes 18 months for a Fed rate hike to work its way all the way through the market. So we’re 18 months, at least, into this or ahead of us. So people are being priced out of that new car market. And it’s just going to continue to put pressure on the US vehicle market. And if you have people like, like me who have a have a very decentnvehicle, I’m not getting rid of it. Because I don’t know that I can get a new one.n
nSean : Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I’m in the same boat, right? We have a decent vehicle and miles are fair, it’s in great condition. And normally, in normal circumstances, we probably would have traded in a year ago, but we’re just gonna hold on to it a little longer. Right? I completely understand.n
nGreat insight. And I would have never guessed that it took 18 months for the Fed for a rate hike to affect the whole economy. So it’ll be interesting to see how it affects everything that we deal with on a day to day basis over time.n
nRob: Some things like loans are immediate. You see what’s happened with interest rates, mortgage rates, they doubled in a year, people know what car loans are doing if they can even get a car loan.nBut it takes a long time for rent increases to work their way through and other things.n
nSean : Sure. So buy everything you want to buy now people aren’t. And so what’s the main idea? Let’s switch gears a little bit and definitely interesting times and things that we ever when business owners need to be aware of and plan for. So thank you for sharing all that. Bob. As it relates to the NIADA, an eye as it relates to the NIADA boardroom or Zoom rooms as a late what are some of the main topics of conversation.n
nRob: So we’re talking about the Federal Trade Commission’s safeguards rule that goes into effect on December the ninth, and those are going to, you know, every dealership needs to be affected by this. And dealerships that have more than 4000 customer identifying records, that’s not sales, it’s anything customer identification related, have more hoops to jump through. And the really scary part of this, this rule is it’s not so much going to be enforced by the government. It’s going to be enforced by trial lawyers, should there be a breach? And if you didn’t have your plan, and you didn’t follow it, you could be facing a class action lawsuit. So yeah, it’s very scary. I know that we have materials. NADA has materials, I’m sure NIADA has materials to help our dealers prepare for this. So we’re talking a lot about that. We’re talking about the tax bill that just passed the Senate and is now pending in the house and what that means, and what does 80,000 More IRS Auditors mean, for s-corps?n
nSean : Yeah, that’s an interesting thing that could lead to some serious diversions or distractions from business focus, which is really where entrepreneurs need to be focused right now, not on protecting, I mean, protecting your assets is key. But, you know, the distractions that come with an audit or something. Could you say on the safeguard and I know what when does that when your dealers need to have their plan? Buy on the safeguardn
nRob: December the ninth?n
nSean :nOkay, gotcha. And what are some of the biggest risks that they’re going they could face if they don’t have a plan? What what are they?n
nRob: nThe rule requires, and this rule has been in place for financial institutions. It is now expanded to anyone who collects identifying information about consumers, our dealers, they have to make sure that If they have to have a qualified individual, they have to do training, they have to have response plans, they’re responsible for their vendors keeping information safe.n
nSo I was just at a meeting where somebody said, Well, my DMs provider will keep it all say, now you’re responsible for your D. DMS provider. So you better make sure that they are keeping it safe.nAnd it’s all about protecting the consumer. So you know it, it’s going to be a process for us all, and it’s going to be somewhat challenging to get that process. But the goal is good. We don’t like more time, because I don’t think anybody paid attention to it being you know, but December 9 is coming up on us quickly.n
nAnd itu2019s not like you’re gonna get shut down. But if you don’t have your plan, or you’re not developing your plan, and something happens, you could face a serious challenge. Yeah, I think a lot of the software companies out there need to be very leery of that and adapt accordingly.n
nSean :nI remember, in my tenure with Drive centric CRM, the first conference we went to was it was a driving sales event, I believe. And then there was a lot of Canadian dealers there. And it was, it was interesting when they started bringing up the Castle Law they have up north and how it was, which sounds similar to this one, where it’s very, very strict around who you can call after how much time and your database. And so it sounds like this is really critical for making suren
nRob: This is more about protecting data. So if you collect a driver’s license,nbecause someone’s going to go on a test drive, how are you protecting that driver’s license, that it isn’t going to be stolen or or credit information or any, any identifying information of a consumer has to be protected? And we know that there are no good NICs out there trying to hack everybody to get this information. So again, the goal is good. But it’s one of those, there’s gonna be a lot of pain between now and December the 9th.n
nSean : Maybe you can pull some of your political strings and get this to where it’s not enforced by trial lawyers. That would be great Bible fingers.n
nRob I think that ship has sailed as we’re doing.n
nSean : Where Bob, do you see the future of the used car market over the next 10 years as gas gets phased out?n
nRob: If gas gets phased out? I don’t believe gas is going to get phased out.
nI do believe the government has its thumb on the scale.nand its tipping, it’s definitely tipping toward electric. I think if the marketplace was allowed to sort itself out, that we might be looking at more hydrogen or compressed natural gas.n
nBut up until the Obama administration started putting limitations on drilling. We had gone from an oil importing country to an oil exporting country. And in fact, at the end of the Bush administration, the W. Bush administration, we were producing more oil than Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined. So what the real question I believe we should be having or the real discussion we should be having is, number one do consumers want to drive electric vehicles?n
nIs it even practical? You have a 10,000 unit apartment complex? How many chargers are you putting in? Can you drive 400 miles without it becoming an overnight trip?n
nBecause yeah, they’ll say they have this range. But the range on the highway is much less because you’re not braking and adding more fuel. And then the other thing that happens with electric vehicles is that a lot of the premise on savings is based on one person in the vehicle so when you add more weight, it changes that dynamic.n
nSo I think what we saw when gas prices do jumped to $5 a gallon is the realism that the American people don’t want to give up their gasoline powered vehicles. And they’re going to react negatively to the government that forces that gas price to get to $10 a gallon, which is what it’s going to take in, and then politicians need to be honest. They ran from those five and six and $7 gasoline per gallon. Oh, it’s the oil companies fault. It’s the service station’s fault. No, it’s your fault. Your policies created that own it. If you want people to get out of their gasoline powered vehicles, you’re going to raise gas prices to $10 a gallon. And let’s have that debate at the ballot box.n
nIt allows people who live in urban areas. I don’t. I think electric vehicles are cool. I just saw the Rivian pickup truck. Yesterday, somebody had it here at the hotel that I’m at.
nIt’s great. But I’m a believer in the free market and the belief that the market should sort this out and not the government.n
nSean : I am with you. 100%. Bob, I’m hoping I’m trying to find something we disagree on here. But what you said about the questions, right, like, do people even want this? I think that’s what it boils down to is like, Can we ask the hard questions and then have well thought out answers right? Can our power grid support this? And what happens?n
nWhat sort of how much will it cost to add all these class 2 and chargers to apartment complexes? Gas stations everywhere, right? And who’s going to pay for that? Which we know it’s gonna be the taxpayer, which, so it’s a bunch of people who maybe aren’t behind it. But yeah, and I don’t want to sound like I’m anti UV because I just had a Tesla rental the other day when I was traveling, and, and it was a really awesome fun car to drive.n
nBut at the end, at the end of the day, we got to ask the tough questions, and we need to have good honest well thought out answers. And I love what you said about the politicians owning it. It’s like if you’re going to make a decision and stand by it, couldn’t agree more. But Bob Voltmann, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your insights. And thank you for protecting our amazing automotive dealer dealer base. We really appreciate you and I wish you good fortune moving forward and please keep fighting the good fight.n
nRob: Thanks, Shawn.n
nSean : That was an absolute honor to have you on our show. For the Automotive Leaders-Winning Cultures Webcast. I’m Sean Kelly, the car biz couch. Have an awesome day and thanks for tuning in.
nBob : I think that’s right. It is the curse of the comeback team.
nI can tell you that. We went to the Cotton Bowl my senior year. And didn’t go back until my sons were in college at Baylor. But since then, it’s been rocking and rolling. Can’t wait for the season to start. I have not been in the new stadium.n
nSean : You’re excited to check that out! I understand. Well, Bob, let’s go ahead and dive in. Yeah, let’s say your resume speaks for itself as president of NIADA, and you’re the first presidential appointee we’ve actually ever had on our webcast! Tell us a little bit about your background. How did you end up as the CEO of NAIDA.n
nBob : So my career has been all advocacy and political affairs. I started out as a political consultant. I worked for a legislative session in the legislature in the Texas Legislature one session, I’ve worked for two trade associations representing large land developers getting them to work together to solve common problems.
nAnd I was lucky enough to be appointed by President George HW Bush, to be chief of staff to a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission. So my wife and I went up as newlyweds and served the President.n
nI worked on deregulation finishing the job of deregulation of transportation. I then went to a trade association. When President Clinton beat President Bush, I went to a trade association representing large manufacturers and worked there to write the transportation rules for NAFTA. And completely finished the job of deregulating the motor and rail transport sectors.n
nI then left there and went to the transportation intermediaries Association, where I represented third party logistics companiesnand served on the executive board of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations.n
nAnd then in May of 2020, after 23 years at FIATA, I decided it was time for a change and it was looking like that industry had changed. It was no longer being run by small entrepreneurs. And I wanted to get back to working with small entrepreneurs and making a difference in their lives as they make a difference in their communities. And that is the home I found in NIADA.n
nSean : Well, that is an amazing mission. As once I was a young and budding startup company owner and someone who founded a nonprofit, I respect your mission to help entrepreneurs. I respect you so much and thank you for your service to our country. Being appointed to a role by the president is no nothing to sneeze at. Right? That’s very important. And you know what you said about deregulation is really interesting. I’d love to ask a little bit more about that. I was in the Army. I was in Special Ops. I got out, I started selling cars in u201804 and then I became a used car manager in u201807 and that’s when I started dealing with transport a little bit. But I’m curious what sort of obstacles there were with the transportation in the automotive industry that deregulating helps solve for?n
nBob : Well, the deregulation started during the Carter administration, freeing up prior to 1980. The government had to approve all rates and rounds. But after 1980 still left in place state regulation. And so until 1994 u201895, u201896 u201897 Summeru2026n
nThere my memories are lapsing, states still heavily regulated intrastate transportation. For example, it was more expensive. This was one of the examples we use. It was more expensive for Mary Kay Cosmetics to ship something directly from Dallas to Houston than if they shipped it to Louisiana to Houston.n
nBecause then it became interstate commerce. The same thing happened in California. Why are there so many warehouses on the Arizona-California border, and the Nevada-California border, because it was cheaper to ship something out of California to Nevada, and then right back, because then it became interstate commerce. Congress preempted that state regulation. And it really launched the logistic system we have today, which is the most efficient in the world. And just to put it in perspective, logistics as a percentage of GDP was about 24% in 1980. And today, it’s about nine.n
nSean : Wow, that’s what the impact of allowing the marketplace to work has. That is a beautiful impact. I guess I owe you thanks for all the vehicles I was able to buy from auctions and other states and ship them to my dealership here in St. Louis. Thank you.n
nBob : You’re welcome. Well, that’s pretty bland. I had a part in that.n
nSean : Absolutely. And then you mentioned the part you’re looking to play now, which is helping entrepreneurs. What do you do, what kind of help are you able to provide for these entrepreneurs, and I’m guessing by entrepreneurs, you’re referring to the automotive dealership world community and the vendors that serve them itu2019s that safe to say?n
nBob : That’s safe to say. So I worked with my third party logistics, my small entrepreneur, third party logistics companies, and loved every minute of that. But as that industry changed, I wanted to get back to working with small entrepreneurs. And I found that with our huge independent used car dealers, I believe that small can beat big every day, as long as they play their own game. And they know what their superpower is, which is service, that they don’t ignore reality, and that they have a team behind them and weu2019re their team.n
nBob : So we can help them with advocacy, and information and education, and peer to peer networking, and discounted products and services.n
nSean : And tell us more about when you say playing their own game. I love what you said there. It reminds me of one of my first calls with my mentor in the coaching world. And he shared with me that you know, he’s like, u201cyou got to make your own game and then you have your own rulesu201d. And that’s how you can win the game. Would you say more about that? Because I think that when you talked about service and the small guy winning, I love what you said there. So tell us what does that mean when you say when making your own game?n
nBob : So one of my examples that I use is David and Goliath. We all know the story of David and Goliath. But what we don’t know is what we gloss over is so Goliath was 6u20199u201d. He’s clad head to toe and Bronze Armor. He’s got a sword, a spear and a javelin. Scary, scary individual, a scary individual. David’s the only volunteer Saul has. So they tried to put him in armor, give him a sword, a spear and a javelin. And he said, u201cNo, no, no, no, that’s not who I am. I’m a slingeru201d.n
nI mean, we remember from Sunday school and Bible study that he was a shepherd, but he was actually part of the Army as a slinger, so he goes as he is, he picks up five rocks. He walks toward Goliath, because remember, if you’re fighting with a sword, it’s close. It’s close contact fighting. He puts his rock in his sling and he spins it up and lets it go and it hits Goliath smack in the forehead with the speed and impact of a .45 caliber bullet. Down he goes.n
nSo David knew who he was. And he knew that’s who he had to be. Another example is my wife and I were lucky enough when our younger son went off to college. We went to the Caribbean in January, and we realized we were flying home to a snow storm. So I called our little local hardware store. And they said, Oh, yeah, Mr. Voltmann, your snowblower is ready. I said well, here’s the deal.n
nI will get there in time to pick it up before the snow starts.
nHardware Store
nNo problem. We’ll put it in your shed for you with an extra gallon of fuel, just like Home Depot or Lowe’s would do, right?n
nSean :nYeah, no, I was gonna say, maybe if you paid them a couple of 1000 extra dollars on it.n
nBob : So small business can be big business if they know who they are. And they know what their superpower is, and their superpower is service.n
nSean : I love what you said. I couldn’t agree more. Some of the most successful dealers I work with, you know, one of my dealer’s Paul Sansone Junior principal of Juniors 66 Auto Center talks about our handshake has to be better than the competition’s it’s that simple and, and being involved in your in the community, you can be involved in that community.n
nHe does this u201chope for a ride” thing where he gives, you know, he goes to different churches and gives away a free car every quarter. So you may think that’s crazy with how hard it is to get inventory right now. But it’s paid dividends because if you take care of the community, they take care of you.n
nAnd it’s when the employees at the dealership also believe it starts at the top. So if the top believes in those relationships, I couldn’t agree more than the frontline will. And then that you can’t put a price on customer retention. So great, great info and great reminder for all the entrepreneurs out there that are watching this webcast. And you mentioned your deep background in the third party logistics sector. And you’re familiar with who we interviewed on in the Car Motivators webcast last weeku2026Acertus, Trent Broberg. And so we had a great convo about how the current economy has kind of been impacting things. So through your perspective as the CEO of NIADA, how has the current economy impacted the overall vehicle transport industry, like from an independent dealer standpoint?n
nBob : independent dealers are having to look farther afield to get inventory. Inventory is tight for everyone. And so they’re looking farther from their normal market. You know, many of them come to the DFW area, because they’re looking for pickups, or four wheel drives or cars without rust. And then they have to get those back to their market.
nAnd that’s where a service comes in and Trent’s a rockstar, I know him from my previous role in his previous role. So as the dealers look farther afield for vehicles, and they’re competing more against the new car stores for those vehicles, because there are no new cars, or there weren’t new cars. That’s why transporting those vehicles back to the dealership becomes so important.n
nSean : Yeah, I see. And you’re, you’re so knowledgeable in the auto transport arena. As it relates to looking for a great transport partner, what should a dealership avoid and what should a dealership seek out as it relates to a partnership, a good vendor partner in the transport industry?n
nBob : So whenever anyone causes a motor carrier to be on the road, when you’ve hired a motor carrier, you need to and that includes auto transport, whether that’s, you know, one of the big 18 wheels with the stacked cars on it, or the guy with a pickup truck and a gooseneck trailer behind it with three cars on it or two cars or one car. When you cause a truck to be on the road, you need to make sure that that motor carrier is properly licensed, does not have an unsatisfactory safety rating and is properly insured. And you have to do all of that at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website fmcsa.gov. And their system there is called SAFER.nMany of our dealers today use services where they can, you know, they can look and hire a motor carrier transport.n
nThat service is just a dating service. They’ve done nothing to vet those carriers. They’ve done nothing to make sure that carriers properly licensed have better than unsatisfactory safety ratings and are properly insured. A service that is a third party logistics company is looking at those things and making sure that the motor carriers they hire are safe to move that vehicle. So what happens if you hire an auto transport and they have an accident and hurt someone? The federal government requires that carriers have $750,000 in liability insurance, most motor carriers carry a million.n
nThat doesn’t go very far in a lawsuit. So then they go looking for the deep pockets, which could be the dealer that put that truck on the road. And there’s a whole bevy of case law building around this. And that’s why I say, dealers who hire motor carriers directly need to have a written system, and they need to follow it every time. They have to check that license, they need to check the safety rating, and they need to check the insurance every time or they open themselves up to liability.n
nSean : I would have never thought that there was so much potential exposure, legal exposure at the transportation level. And it’s interesting how many dealers focus around red flags or the financial compliance side of things. But on the logistics side, maybe don’t pay much attention to it. So this is great info. If it’s just because there haven’t been lawsuits in this sector yet.n
nBob : But in a downturn economy, even lawyers have downturns and they start looking for new areas to sue or expand into . You know, as you drive around the country, and you look at billboards, you’ll see lawyers advertising, been in a truck accident, call me. That’s what they’re doing. They’re suing the trucking company, their insurance company, and the people who caused that truck to be on the road.n
nSean : Wow, well, that’s great info. And that’s when that could save some of our listeners, potentially millions of dollars. So thank you for that wisdom.n
nBob : You’re welcome. And that’s it.n
nSean : Thank you for sharing that website. We’ll make sure that there’s a link in the comments for people to click through so they can vet their transport. And guys, please listen to Bob, when he shares that and vet your transport companies, you know, go check them out, make sure they’re on the site. And that way you can protect yourself from that exposure.n
nBob : Let’s talk a little bit more about the NIADA body as a whole. How big exactly is the membership body and how many total independent dealers are there in America right now? We have 16,000. Members. Wow.n
nBob : We have 33 state associations that are affiliated with us.nYou know, the market. The market has a lot of estimates about the market. We still see plenty of room to grow as an association.
nAnd we see plenty of opportunities. We know new dealers are coming in. We know it’s a very healthy market, new Dealers come in, dealers retire.n
nSean : Yeah, it’s interesting seeing the dealer base owned by maybe some baby boomers, the baby boomer generation that’s been selling off. There’s been a lot of dealership transactions lately. Have you been seeing that in the independent realm as well?n
nBob : Yeah, yes, we have and in generational changes. I was just at our South Carolina affiliates meeting where their new board leader is the third generation from his family to be president of the board.nWhich is very, a very cool thing and very rare in the association world.n
nWhat’s the agenda? The three generations so committed to an industry and an association that for three generations, they’ve had the chief elected officer position? Wow, that’s pretty cool. That takes so much involvement. One of my dealers has been on the Missouri automotive, NADA Missouri Automobile Dealers Association board, and has been the president. And it’s amazing how dedicated people like you and like your third generation dealer are to the entire dealer community. What do you think? What are your favorite benefits?n
nBob : I guess that the entrepreneurs, the dealeru2019s part of the NIADA that they receive from being in that community.
nIt’s that interconnectedness. It’s knowing that there are people just like you that want to do the right thing. And people who are willing to help you, even if you’re right next door and you’re competing. I heard the story last night of a dealer whose DMS crashed and they couldn’t do contracts. And so they called somebody and they said, You know what, just send all the information over here, we’ll put your name on it, change our contracts to your name, and we’ll get them and send them right back to you so you can get to those deals. That’s what it’s about. It’s about good dealers helping each other be better.n
nSean : Hey, man, you know, it’s a that’s one of the things I love about the Car Motivators community is, we’ll you know, we’ll come up with a growth plan with one dealer group or dealership and, and then I’ll see another dealer that needs that same info, what worked, what didn’t, to share with them to help. And I always ask permission, you know, but when we ask them, hey, can we share this with one of my other dealers who could use help in this area? I’ve never had one say No, I love that about the automotive world. How it really is. It’s like a huge community, but it’s so tight knit and overall, it seems like the vast majority of everyone wants to help each other, which is pretty, pretty rare, I think.n
nAnd you know, what you’d said earlier about the third generation, I think that’s one of I would love for you to share any tips and pointers. That’s probably one of our niches at Car Motivators in our leadership development area, when we coach dealers, we help the younger generation, the second or third generation, learn to lead and run a business right? Over just the tactical role that they’re in, right. So we help them. So when doing that, one of my dealers recently told me that one of the reasons for him working with us, too, was he said, the third generation success rate is really low. I think he’s like, 15%. I don’t know where he got that information from. So he said that’s why I use you. And I guess through your lens, I want to ask you what, what can these younger dealers do to ensure success? Yn
nBob : You know, especially the third, second or third generation dealers in the independent world , it’s very common in family business that the first generation builds it up. And it disappears by the third generation. So the key there is just what you just said, it’s, it’s, it’s having a coach, because the struggles that the first generation went through to build that business are not experienced by the second.n
nAnd there’s rarely a training mechanism. I mean, I’ve heard parents talk about, u201cYeah, we started our kids, they had to clean the bathroomsu201d.nYou know, does that really prepare you for reading balance sheets and checking trends? It does prepare you for being humble, and knowing that it’s not about you. But they need that help to understand because these businesses are complex.nAnd especially if you’re in the buy here, pay here, space, you’re not even really selling cars, you’re you’re selling paper.
nIn some, but for all of it, there’s information you’ve got to watch and measure. You have to understand trends. And that’s where training comes in, you know, from NADA, from NIADA from Car Motivators. Avail yourself of a coach, and you can’t just rest on your laurels. Or the work that was done before you.n
nBabe Ruth said, yesterday’s home runs don’t win tomorrow’s games. So you have to be playing today’s game and looking forward to what’s coming tomorrow.n
nSean : Right. Yeah. You reminded me that one of my favorite sayings is that that species that survive the longest on the planet are the ones that adapt the quickest. And I think the industry is in a major paradigm shift right now. You know, the demand for US inventory has never been more competitive. I mean, it’s still the auction prices and trade values that continue to amaze me. And well, I guess I’d be curious to know, how is your membership base, the entire community handling the incredibly competitive challenge of inventory acquisition right now?n
nBob : It’s a challenge. It’s it’s easy thing. But it’s still a challenge. And as I said earlier, they’re going farther afield. But the other thing that’s changing in the marketplace, is we have come to expect Amazon service, Google speed and Apple design in everything we do, people don’t want to spend all day at the dealership. They want that simple Amazon buying experience.n
nThey want something fast and convenient and friendly. And that’s a major paradigm shift for the auto industry. But if we’re going, if our independence and our franchise dealers are going to compete with major companies that have huge amounts of money behind them to make the experience easier and simpler, our folks are going to have to do the same thing. So it’s about the handshake, right? And the relationship and the service.n
nBob : But you can’t ignore reality. And the reality is, you know, just, have you bought something on Amazon today?n
nSean : I have a yesterdayn
nBob : Why? Because it’s so easy, convenient. We want that in everything we buy. Cars are no different.n
nSean : Yeah, and it’s interesting how that applies to the sales side of things in the service side of things. And yet at the same time, it seems like dealers have a bigger struggle than ever to, I mean, get cars reconditioned and Frontline ready. And at the same time, you know, staffing issues, and I think a lot of and maybe we get the baby boomers retired after COVID.n
nBut service departments are short staffed across the country. What do you think? How can how can your independent dealers best address thenspeed situation when there’s so many obstacles to getting things done fast right nown
nRob: They just have to have everybody, the number one shortage in the United States and Canada, are people. We went from having a growing population. We were the only western country with a net positive growth to a shrinking population.n
nWe almost overnight started looking like Europe.nWe need people, we need people to get off the couch and go back to work. We need new immigrants. And we need to be able to have that debate at an adult level in our nation’s capital. But everybody, did you ever in your life in your life, not as long as mine has been, but did you ever in your life think you would see McDonald’s offering a signing bonus?n
nSean : Never Never thought I’d see it.n
nRob: I worked at McDonald’s as a kid for date money.n
nRob: No, it was not a career.n
nSean : I was at Hardee’s. I thought it was going to be my career. But no I’m just kidding? No, that’s a really great point. And we wonder, you know, when should we offer a signing bonus for a technician? I mean, it’s a no brainer, right? If McDonald’s is doing it…n
nRob: And then if you don’t have one, and you can’t service the car without it, it becomes a redundant question.n
nSean : Yeah, and, you know, to your point, we just had a really interesting thing play out with one of our dealer service departments where, you know, they had a union negotiation, and five technicians quit supposedly, because the union negotiation? Well, we went, we did a little, I guess, post, you know, post career interview with each of them and found out that it was that they quit the culture, the union negotiation had nothing to do with it. So we worked to develop the culture and ended up being able to bring them back in the same pay as they left that, that the union contract was agreed but it but it was the culture.n
nAnd I think you know, dealers are either going to have to invest a bunch of money to recruit the right people and replace them or you can invest in the ones you have and try to build that team in that culture. And if you do that, what we see is that it actually attracts people, you don’t have to go out and find them anymore because people want the word gets out, right?n
nIt’s that small world of the car business. What’s yours? Some of the dealers that you get to work with? What’s the best practice around building an amazing culture? What do you see that works? It’s all different, but it’s building on their superpower. It’s service. It’s knowing who their people are. It’s, it’s being flexible.n
nIt’s, you know, at an independent dealership that culture is much different than being at a franchise dealership. It’s more family. It’s it’s, it’s, I don’t want to say easier pace, but it’s a different pace. So, again, they have to know their superpower. And I read recently one of the phrases that we all have to learn in business is when somebody leaves, instead of saying, Goodbye, tell them they’re welcome to come back.n
nWell, because we have just like, we have a shortage of vehicles, we have a shortage of people who are willing to work. And that’s going toncontinue to get worse, not better in the foreseeable future unless, until we open, you know, and bring in more immigrants that can do those, those jobs, or figure out what motivates someone to come backninto the workforce. But there’s some 2 million baby boomers that left the workforce during the pandemic, and have not come back.n
nSean : You know what I love about what you just said there, what motivates them to come back into the workforce, there was a, you’ll love this one, Bob, there was a dealer in mind, we had a master certified technician, he’d been there for 30-40 years, a long time. And literally, he was about to quit. And we had a similar kind of, myself and the service manager sat down with him.n
nAnd you know, hey, well, what would it take you to stay? And if you, if you are like, well, there’s no way you do that? And I like to do a lot, right? We just listened to him. And it was amazing. And that’s what family does right? When there’s a lot more to say about family because family listens to one another and cares about winning another and tries to help each other achieve their goal.n
nSo we said no, we care what is it that we could do, if anything, imagine anything’s possible so well, I get really cold in the winter up here in New Jersey. And if I can just go down to Florida for a month or two during the winter with my wife and our state or our winter home, come back and be a tech again. After that I’d stay here until I could no longer turn a wrench and the sort of standard likeu2026 done.nAnd he’s still there today. That was two, three years ago. Right? If you have a good employee, do whatever you can to keep them because it’s going to be harder and harder to replace them.n
nSean : Alright, so tough question for you to answer. I know you’re gonna be great, though, is now a better time to own a buy here, pay her a lot, a regular independent dealership or a franchise dealership? And why?n
nRob: Yeah, that’s a tough question. So a good friend of mine once said, I’ve got friends on one side of the issue and friends on the other side of the issue. So I’m going to be with my friends, all three are different. I would much rather be on the I think I represents the independent guy. So I’m going to have to side with the independent guys. But I’m not picking between retail independence and Buy Here-Pay Here independence.n
nSean : Well, I like what you said. Or if you’ve got that superpower, which is the service and the family and the team culture in the community. I think if you combine those things, it does make sense that it sounds like you believe they can all succeed and thrive right? Even in these times.n
nRob: I do but in tough economic times. So it’s very expensive to be poor. In America, we are in inflation, we’re in a very weird time, we’re in an inflationary period, with very low unemployment.n
nBut vehicle prices, new vehicle prices have become astronomically expensive. And with interest rates now going up really for the first time in 40 years, that’s going to push more and more people out of the new car market.n
nThat’s going to hurt the franchisees that have commitments to the OEMs. It’s also going to put a lot more pressure on the used car market. The US vehicle market. Were those franchisees. The independent retailers and the Buy Here-Pay Here, subprime folks are all competing for the same vehicles.n
nSean : Yeah, you know, as you were talking, I was wondering, is this the dawn of the used car right with microchips and supply chain disruptions likely due to the geopolitics? I mean, you know, the whole Evie thing, which requires probably twice the microchips and all that, that we already are short on. I mean, is this the dawn of the US car? I remember my time in Iraq and Bosnia in the military, just remembering every car I saw looked like it was 30-20 to 30 years old. And I could say, Oh, is that the route we’re taking here in America? Is that going to be the situation? What are your thoughts on that?n
nRob: Well, we’ve been in in the era of the used car, and we saw used cars become an appreciating asset, which nobody thought possible. They were, they are. And again, as as new vehicle prices increase, and now, interest rates have more than doubled.n
nAnd it takes 18 months for a Fed rate hike to work its way all the way through the market. So we’re 18 months, at least, into this or ahead of us. So people are being priced out of that new car market. And it’s just going to continue to put pressure on the US vehicle market. And if you have people like, like me who have a have a very decentnvehicle, I’m not getting rid of it. Because I don’t know that I can get a new one.n
nSean : Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I’m in the same boat, right? We have a decent vehicle and miles are fair, it’s in great condition. And normally, in normal circumstances, we probably would have traded in a year ago, but we’re just gonna hold on to it a little longer. Right? I completely understand.n
nGreat insight. And I would have never guessed that it took 18 months for the Fed for a rate hike to affect the whole economy. So it’ll be interesting to see how it affects everything that we deal with on a day to day basis over time.n
nRob: Some things like loans are immediate. You see what’s happened with interest rates, mortgage rates, they doubled in a year, people know what car loans are doing if they can even get a car loan.nBut it takes a long time for rent increases to work their way through and other things.n
nSean : Sure. So buy everything you want to buy now people aren’t. And so what’s the main idea? Let’s switch gears a little bit and definitely interesting times and things that we ever when business owners need to be aware of and plan for. So thank you for sharing all that. Bob. As it relates to the NIADA, an eye as it relates to the NIADA boardroom or Zoom rooms as a late what are some of the main topics of conversation.n
nRob: So we’re talking about the Federal Trade Commission’s safeguards rule that goes into effect on December the ninth, and those are going to, you know, every dealership needs to be affected by this. And dealerships that have more than 4000 customer identifying records, that’s not sales, it’s anything customer identification related, have more hoops to jump through. And the really scary part of this, this rule is it’s not so much going to be enforced by the government. It’s going to be enforced by trial lawyers, should there be a breach? And if you didn’t have your plan, and you didn’t follow it, you could be facing a class action lawsuit. So yeah, it’s very scary. I know that we have materials. NADA has materials, I’m sure NIADA has materials to help our dealers prepare for this. So we’re talking a lot about that. We’re talking about the tax bill that just passed the Senate and is now pending in the house and what that means, and what does 80,000 More IRS Auditors mean, for s-corps?n
nSean : Yeah, that’s an interesting thing that could lead to some serious diversions or distractions from business focus, which is really where entrepreneurs need to be focused right now, not on protecting, I mean, protecting your assets is key. But, you know, the distractions that come with an audit or something. Could you say on the safeguard and I know what when does that when your dealers need to have their plan? Buy on the safeguardn
nRob: December the ninth?n
nSean :nOkay, gotcha. And what are some of the biggest risks that they’re going they could face if they don’t have a plan? What what are they?n
nRob: nThe rule requires, and this rule has been in place for financial institutions. It is now expanded to anyone who collects identifying information about consumers, our dealers, they have to make sure that If they have to have a qualified individual, they have to do training, they have to have response plans, they’re responsible for their vendors keeping information safe.n
nSo I was just at a meeting where somebody said, Well, my DMs provider will keep it all say, now you’re responsible for your D. DMS provider. So you better make sure that they are keeping it safe.nAnd it’s all about protecting the consumer. So you know it, it’s going to be a process for us all, and it’s going to be somewhat challenging to get that process. But the goal is good. We don’t like more time, because I don’t think anybody paid attention to it being you know, but December 9 is coming up on us quickly.n
nAnd itu2019s not like you’re gonna get shut down. But if you don’t have your plan, or you’re not developing your plan, and something happens, you could face a serious challenge. Yeah, I think a lot of the software companies out there need to be very leery of that and adapt accordingly.n
nSean :nI remember, in my tenure with Drive centric CRM, the first conference we went to was it was a driving sales event, I believe. And then there was a lot of Canadian dealers there. And it was, it was interesting when they started bringing up the Castle Law they have up north and how it was, which sounds similar to this one, where it’s very, very strict around who you can call after how much time and your database. And so it sounds like this is really critical for making suren
nRob: This is more about protecting data. So if you collect a driver’s license,nbecause someone’s going to go on a test drive, how are you protecting that driver’s license, that it isn’t going to be stolen or or credit information or any, any identifying information of a consumer has to be protected? And we know that there are no good NICs out there trying to hack everybody to get this information. So again, the goal is good. But it’s one of those, there’s gonna be a lot of pain between now and December the 9th.n
nSean : Maybe you can pull some of your political strings and get this to where it’s not enforced by trial lawyers. That would be great Bible fingers.n
nRob I think that ship has sailed as we’re doing.n
nSean : Where Bob, do you see the future of the used car market over the next 10 years as gas gets phased out?n
nRob: If gas gets phased out? I don’t believe gas is going to get phased out.
nI do believe the government has its thumb on the scale.nand its tipping, it’s definitely tipping toward electric. I think if the marketplace was allowed to sort itself out, that we might be looking at more hydrogen or compressed natural gas.n
nBut up until the Obama administration started putting limitations on drilling. We had gone from an oil importing country to an oil exporting country. And in fact, at the end of the Bush administration, the W. Bush administration, we were producing more oil than Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined. So what the real question I believe we should be having or the real discussion we should be having is, number one do consumers want to drive electric vehicles?n
nIs it even practical? You have a 10,000 unit apartment complex? How many chargers are you putting in? Can you drive 400 miles without it becoming an overnight trip?n
nBecause yeah, they’ll say they have this range. But the range on the highway is much less because you’re not braking and adding more fuel. And then the other thing that happens with electric vehicles is that a lot of the premise on savings is based on one person in the vehicle so when you add more weight, it changes that dynamic.n
nSo I think what we saw when gas prices do jumped to $5 a gallon is the realism that the American people don’t want to give up their gasoline powered vehicles. And they’re going to react negatively to the government that forces that gas price to get to $10 a gallon, which is what it’s going to take in, and then politicians need to be honest. They ran from those five and six and $7 gasoline per gallon. Oh, it’s the oil companies fault. It’s the service station’s fault. No, it’s your fault. Your policies created that own it. If you want people to get out of their gasoline powered vehicles, you’re going to raise gas prices to $10 a gallon. And let’s have that debate at the ballot box.n
nIt allows people who live in urban areas. I don’t. I think electric vehicles are cool. I just saw the Rivian pickup truck. Yesterday, somebody had it here at the hotel that I’m at.
nIt’s great. But I’m a believer in the free market and the belief that the market should sort this out and not the government.n
nSean : I am with you. 100%. Bob, I’m hoping I’m trying to find something we disagree on here. But what you said about the questions, right, like, do people even want this? I think that’s what it boils down to is like, Can we ask the hard questions and then have well thought out answers right? Can our power grid support this? And what happens?n
nWhat sort of how much will it cost to add all these class 2 and chargers to apartment complexes? Gas stations everywhere, right? And who’s going to pay for that? Which we know it’s gonna be the taxpayer, which, so it’s a bunch of people who maybe aren’t behind it. But yeah, and I don’t want to sound like I’m anti UV because I just had a Tesla rental the other day when I was traveling, and, and it was a really awesome fun car to drive.n
nBut at the end, at the end of the day, we got to ask the tough questions, and we need to have good honest well thought out answers. And I love what you said about the politicians owning it. It’s like if you’re going to make a decision and stand by it, couldn’t agree more. But Bob Voltmann, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your insights. And thank you for protecting our amazing automotive dealer dealer base. We really appreciate you and I wish you good fortune moving forward and please keep fighting the good fight.n
nRob: Thanks, Shawn.n
nSean : That was an absolute honor to have you on our show. For the Automotive Leaders-Winning Cultures Webcast. I’m Sean Kelly, the car biz couch. Have an awesome day and thanks for tuning in.