🚗 YOTH

Life has a way of placing small graces in dark corners.

In the text that comes right when you needed it. In the laugh that breaks up a hard day. In the person who stays a little longer than they had to.

And when you find it, it feels less like luck and more like a reminder.

Keep your eyes open for tiny blessings, Friend. They’re everywhere.

Keep Pushing Back,
—Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

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Monday — Tariff refunds could put nearly $20B back into the auto industry's pocket, and the used market rolled into spring with EV values outperforming gas vehicles. Ford's Jim Farley also made headlines by leaning into Chinese partnerships overseas. Competition and cooperation in the same sentence.

Tuesday — Europe's EV surge hit 50%+ year-over-year growth in March, driven by fuel prices more than policy. Meanwhile, dealer service lanes are generating record revenue, but customers are quietly drifting to independent shops. The opportunity is there, retention is just getting decided visit by visit.

Wednesday — Wholesale pricing kept climbing but buyers got pickier. Negative equity hit a record, defaults rose to their highest since 2010, and front-end gross kept shrinking. Oh, and Tesla promised a Roadster reveal by end of April. Nine years after the concept. We'll see.

Thursday — Carvana picked up its 7th CDJR store in Cleveland, building what looks less like a dealer group and more like a distribution machine. Amazon Autos crossed 130 cities. And GM pushed its electric truck timeline toward 2030 while Volvo couldn't build its EV SUV fast enough.

Friday — AI-cloned dealership sites are scamming buyers out of tens of thousands and leaving bad reviews on your profiles. Negative equity is now on nearly 1 in 3 trade-ins. And Cox Automotive bought Fullpath, a signal that whoever controls the data layer controls the conversation.

Every credit card swiped is costing you, but most dealers don’t know how much. Or more importantly, what to do about it.

In our most recent webinar, payments expert Randy Modos and Fixed Ops veteran Don Andres break down how dealers are cutting payment processing costs by 50% or more through compliant surcharge programs without tanking CSI or creating friction at the counter.

Catch the 30-minute session here.

Jen Suzuki brings the kind of energy you feel before you can explain it. In this episode, she gets real about mentorship, staying relevant, and why leaders can’t afford to coast while AI reshapes the business.

She breaks it down in ways you can actually use:

If you care about growing your people and keeping your edge, this one’s worth your time.

Most dealers are locked in on performance metrics. Don Moss shifts the focus to something happening in plain sight, your team’s content and what it represents when it hits the public.

He makes a clear case for being more intentional. Every post carries the dealership’s name, its values, and the reputation built in the community. A video might drive traffic, but it can also turn people away without you ever knowing.

Watch the full episode here.

Building something real sounds exciting until you’re the one carrying it.

As guests on Glenn Pasch’s podcast You’re in Charge, our very own Paul and Kyle sit down to get honest about what it’s taken to grow over the last few years, from leading a team that keeps getting bigger to making decisions that don’t always have a clear answer.

There’s also a thread throughout the conversation that ties back to where everything is headed, especially as AI keeps accelerating, and why staying grounded in people continues to shape how we build.

Check out the full interview to learn what it takes to keep the ASOTU ship steering in the right direction, and what’s on the horizon.

This week, our feeds started filling up with photos of people holding signs that read, “This Human Will Be at ASOTU CON,” and you could feel the momentum building in real time.

People are excited to come. They’re excited to see each other. They’re excited to be part of something bigger than their own store, team, or corner of the industry.

ASOTU CON has always been about bringing people together, and this year that idea hits even harder. Year of the Human puts the spotlight where it belongs: on the relationships, the conversations, the shared experience, and the simple truth that this business moves forward because people show up for each other.

That’s what these photos capture so well. They remind us that this industry takes a village, and every person holding one of those signs adds something to it.

And that kind of excitement? You can feel it.

(Wanna join in the fun? Post your own pic on socials and tag #ASOTUCON and #YOTH!)