#474 - 🛒 Driving Change

TOGETHER WITH

Do you ever feel like you’ve been lacking in the fun department? Sometimes we forget what it feels like to delight in our business or just straight up enjoy the day.

So today, commit to shedding one thing off your “to-do" list that's actually eighty items long. Give yourself some space to do something that isn't work, or laundry, or whatever adult thing absolutely must get done.

Throw the doors wide open! Let the fun in.

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris, and Kristi

LOT WALK

• Shopping for change with Walser. 🛒

• Calling out the fakers. 🥸

• Tesla and Rivian lawyer up. 👩‍⚖️

• Hackers jailbreak in-car software. 💾

Reading time: 4 mins 43 sec

DEALERS

Shopping for a Cause at Walser Auto

The Walser Foundation is living up to its motto — “Our cars drive change”. Their successful annual initiative “Shop for a Cause” combines car buying with philanthropy, allowing customers to contribute to their favorite nonprofits while purchasing a vehicle. Here's how the campaign works:

1️⃣ Partner Up: The Walser Foundation thoughtfully selects charities each year to ensure that the supported causes align with their mission and values. These nonprofits focus on areas such as men's mental health, homelessness, domestic violence, childhood illness, food insecurity, continuing education, and more.

2️⃣ Choose a Cause: For every vehicle purchased at the Walser Automotive Group in the month of June, $25 is donated to a charity of the customer’s choosing.

3️⃣ Make a Difference: The donations raised through the campaign go directly to the partner charities, empowering them to continue their vital work and make a difference in the lives of those they serve. This year they raised over $101K for nonprofits in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and Wichita, KS region.

AUTOMOTIVE

Fighting Auto Loan Fraud

Fraud experts recently reported that sophisticated scammers are increasingly making cars a new target for their schemes with auto loan fraud rising by more than $400M in 2022. 📈

Here’s what you need to know to stay protected:

🚩 Common Concerns

• Synthetic Identity Fraud — AKA using a stolen or manufactured identity, accounts for nearly 25% of all cases. Red flags include out-of-state driver's licenses, credit profile mismatches, sudden credit-report growth, and being an "authorized user" on someone else's line of credit.

• Income and Employment Misrepresentation — These remain the most common avenues of fraud with tricksters utilizing more sophisticated tactics like fake employers and advanced paystub forgeries. 43% of auto lenders cite them as the largest threat for 2023.

• Dealer Scrutiny — Lenders will quickly sever ties with dealers they suspect of falsifying records so accuracy and due diligence is crucial.

🛑 The Art of Prevention

• Education Matters — Consistent coaching and training for employees at all levels to spot fraud is critical and requires constant improvement of strategies, operations, and technological responses to combat evolving fraud patterns.

• Whack-a-Mole Challenge — Fraudsters gonna fraud, so there will always be new tactics to combat. It’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest trickster techniques to safeguard your dealership and keep one step ahead.

TOGETHER WITH ASOTU CON 2023

Yo, You Coming?

Collaboration is critical to success these days, and this is where you need to be to make connections and bring big ideas to life! 👆

Join us for ASOTU CON in Baltimore on September 25-27th to get connected and stay ahead. 😎

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Today on David Long’s All Things Used Cars we’ll get some firey takes on vendor relationships. Join the discussion today at 9am EST!

AUTOMOTIVE

Tesla and Rivian

Tesla and Rivian are taking it to the courtroom. Tesla's concerned that former employees are using company secrets in their new roles with Rivian. Rivian says, "Nu-uh." Despite the legal inquiry, the two companies are working together on uniting their charging solutions. So, no matter who loses in court, people who drive their cars still win... so that's nice.

It’s like two kids fighting over who REALLY owns the toy they are currently playing with together. 🏈

Ford

Ford is selling trucks and SUVs like they have treasure maps in the glovebox (they don't). US sales for the company were up 5.6% in July despite F-150 Lightning sales dropping 28% due to plant upgrade delays. It's safe to say Ford ain't waiting for lightning to strike. It'll build a fire the old-fashioned way — by rubbing two pickup trucks together.

I recently bought a 97’ F-150, and it did have a treasure map in the glove box. The only problem is that the treasure was in a Circuit City.🤷

General Motors

Cruise, GM's robotaxi division, has signed what could be the driverless car industry's first labor union agreements. Partnering with two San Francisco unions, the deal will employ human workers to construct and manage Cruise's car-charging facilities. It is a milestone for the industry due to historic hesitancy by unions to embrace automation.

Union talks are already intricate, but imagine them once the robots have opinions. 🤖

TECHNOLOGY

Jailbreaking a Tesla

Researchers from Technische Universität Berlin jailbroke a Tesla, accessing paid features for free via a voltage glitching technique on its processor.

Jailbreaking is a term for hacking a device to remove its brand-implemented limitations. You may hear of a Jailbreak iPhone that can run Android software or even has free access to the 5g network.

The Tesla hack allows:

• Manipulation of the car's infotainment system

• Potential enabling of self-driving in unauthorized regions

• Extraction of personal data

The researchers will present their findings at the upcoming Black Hat conference, but the discovery emphasizes the broader industry vulnerabilities in software-defined cars.

We’ve got a jailbroken microwave at the ASOTU writer’s office, and now it only makes mac-n-cheese. No matter what you put it, it comes out as mac-n-cheese. We will not be releasing peer-reviewed research data at this time.

Quick Hits

• Billie Eilish performs a zero-emission Lollapalooza set thanks to the Music Decarbonization Project. 🌎

• “Saw Patrol” is set to be the next “Barbenheimer” as the new double-bill movie trend continues. 🧩

• Post Malone buys a one-of-a-kind “Magic: The Gathering” card valued at over $2M. 🪄

History

• 1693: Dom Pérignon's invents Champagne. 🍾

• 1984: Prince's album "Purple Rain" goes to #1 on the Billboard charts. ☔️

• 2015: Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog announce an end to their relationship. 💔