TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
Is easier credit actually good for you?
Auto credit just hit its best availability since 2015, and that's real. But easier approval doesn't mean a healthier buyer, it means more of them are getting approved for loans already stretched thinner than ever.
Same buyer. Just a faster yes.
Also in today's email:
The sentence to use if a customer asks about tariff refunds before you have a real answer
The recruiting tool one Missouri dealer installed for the price of an AC unit
A T. rex, a home run derby, and a burrito controversy, because Tuesday needed some levity
Keep Pushing Back,
—Chris with Paul, Kyle & Kristi
Reading time: 4 mins
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The Fed Just Went Hawkish. Wholesale Just Got Worse. Your Buyers Are Still Stretching to the Limit.
Somebody say “hawkish?”
A few signals moved the same direction this week. None of them is good news alone. Together, they're the story.
The Middle East ceasefire ended, and markets reacted fast: the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.56%, and the Fed's June minutes showed a 12-0 vote to hold rates steady. Markets now put better-than-50% odds on a rate hike by September.
Auto credit availability hit its best level since December 2015. Meanwhile, wholesale values dropped 0.51% last week, the steepest decline in over a month, and 23.9% of new-vehicle buyers are still financing for 84 months or longer.
Easier approval isn't the same thing as a healthier borrower. It just means more borrowers are getting approved for loans that are already stretched thinner than before.
Auction conversion actually improved to 57%, meaning demand hasn't disappeared; buyers are just more selective, concentrating on the cleanest inventory. Worth having your F&I team treat every approval this month as an affordability conversation, not just a green light. The buyers coming through your door are more approved and more stretched at the same time.
Retention Starts Before Someone Quits
Employee turnover rarely happens overnight. It builds through missed opportunities, unanswered feedback, and disengagement that goes unnoticed.
The dealerships with the strongest teams don't wait for resignation letters to understand what employees need. They measure engagement, identify trends, and take action early.
ESiQ gives dealership leaders real-time insight into employee satisfaction, helping reduce turnover, strengthen culture, and improve long-term performance.
A Tariff Refund Lawsuit Just Handed You a Question You'll Get Asked
A new lawsuit against Ford argues customers deserve a cut of the roughly $1.3 billion in tariff refunds automakers are receiving after the Supreme Court struck down certain import duties.
The complaint calls it a "double recovery" if Ford keeps both the refund and the price increases customers have already paid. GM and Stellantis expect similar refunds, so this isn't a one-automaker story.
Nobody knows how this resolves yet. That's exactly the point. If a customer who bought a tariff-affected vehicle asks whether they're owed anything back, "we haven't heard anything about that" is a worse answer than "we're watching this closely, and we'll let you know the moment there's something real to share."
Get ahead of the question before it becomes a complaint.
Email, text, social media, press conference. The moment is ripe with trust-marketing opportunities.
He Bet the Farm, Literally, to Buy His First Dealership.
Missouri dealer Eric Gentry just bought back the store where he sold his first car in 1994.
His plan: air conditioning in the shop (a real technician recruiting tool, per 94% of surveyed techs), shared used inventory between his two locations, and marketing brought fully in-house.
California's New EV Rebate Is Smaller Than the Last One.
A revived $3,500 rebate for first-time EV buyers only, capped at $50,000 for new vehicles.
Unlike the old program, this one's built for conquest sales, not rewarding existing owners, which changes who gets the pitch.
Auto
📉 Lucid's stock crashed as much as 57% on an unverified bankruptcy rumor before partially recovering. The company denied it outright and says it has liquidity into late 2027, genuinely struggling, not collapsing.
🤝 U.S. and Mexico resume USMCA talks the week of July 20. Unresolved issues dropped from 54 to 14, but the administration wants tariffs to stay regardless of what gets renegotiated.
🇯🇵 Toyota's Koji Sato is pushing all seven Japanese automakers to standardize commodity parts like wire harnesses, freeing resources to compete harder against China on software and EVs.
Not-o
🦖 A T. rex fossil named "Gus" just sold for $50.1 million at a New York auction, a new record. Somewhere, a natural history museum is checking its couch cushions.
🌮 Chipotle is reportedly planning to sell its Mexican food in Mexico, and the internet has thoughts. Bold strategy bringing burritos to the birthplace of actual Mexican food.
⚾ Jordan Walker took down Kyle Schwarber in a walk-off finish to win the 2026 MLB Home Run Derby. Peak "nobody saw that coming" sports theater.
🦸 Xolo Maridueña is officially returning as Blue Beetle in James Gunn's upcoming DC sequel, "Man of Tomorrow." The DC universe keeps building, one beetle at a time.
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1799: French soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone in Egypt during Napoleon's campaign, the key that later unlocked the ability to translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
1916: William Boeing founded what would become the Boeing Company in Seattle, starting with a single seaplane.
2006: Twitter launched publicly, going on to reshape how the entire world shares news and opinions in real time.
