Auto Collabs

A mobile service van can look like an expensive side project—right up until it starts bringing back customers the dealership hasn’t seen in years. Amir Alahwal shares how Mercedes-Benz of Temecula turned mobile service into a real retention strategy after losing a significant after-sales loyalty bonus. The launch wasn’t easy. The service team was skeptical, adoption was slow, and Amir admits they didn’t really know what they were doing at first. But instead of judging the program by instinct, he went to the data. By September, the store had booked 37 mobile appointments in its biggest month yet, and 70% of the customers served remotely had not been back to the dealership in at least a year—some since 2021. That approach fits Amir’s career. He entered automotive in 2016 wearing his high-school prom suit to interview for a job that didn’t technically exist, started as a receptionist, and eventually learned to see the dealership across departments instead of through one silo. Later, he was asked to build a consolidated receptionist call center and hire a team while still in his early twenties—an experience he says taught him to be “universally resourceful.” Paul, Kyle, and Michael dig into what happens when data challenges experienced operators, why mobile service can change both retention and trust, and the surprisingly useful lesson hiding inside one almost-perfect four-star review. YOU'LL HEAR ABOUT How Amir talked his way into a dealership that told him it wasn’t hiring Why starting at reception gave him a view of the entire dealership Building a call-center operation while still early in his automotive career Why losing an OEM loyalty bonus pushed the store toward mobile service How mobile service brought back customers who had been gone for years Why Amir believes changing processes based on feelings is dangerous What a four-star review revealed about customer retention and convenience CHAPTERS 00:00 Data over feelings, a prom suit, and becoming “universally resourceful” 02:43 Amir’s unconventional start in automotive 04:19 From Wells Fargo to a dealership that wasn’t hiring 06:34 Why receptionist became one of Amir’s best training grounds 08:16 The advantage of seeing the dealership beyond one department 10:11 Building nontraditional roles—and a receptionist call center 12:01 How a lost loyalty bonus led to mobile service 14:13 Launching the first van without knowing exactly what would work 15:17 The numbers that changed the team’s mind 18:07 Getting buy-in when experienced operators are skeptical 19:21 Why managing by feelings can be dangerous 20:27 Winning back a customer who moved 50 miles away 22:26 How mobile service changes the dealership retention path 23:12 Removing service-lane friction and building trust 24:25 Finding the right technician for mobile service 26:12 Why the four-star review may have been better than five 27:19 The hosts start imagining what mobile service could become LINKS Amir Alahwal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amiralahwal/ ASOTU CON West: https://asotuconwest.com/ More Auto Collabs: https://daily.asotu.com/auto-collabs Subscribe to the Automotive State of the Union Daily Email: https://daily.asotu.com/

Amazon has trained consumers to expect convenience, transparency, and fulfillment. But when it comes to selling cars, Carlos Mojica sees one important difference: Amazon still needs the dealer. Carlos, Senior Manager of Retail Development at LaFontaine Automotive Group, joins Paul Daly and Michael Cirillo to explain why a group with 43 stores across Michigan decided to lean into Amazon Autos instead of treating it like a threat. He walks through the customer experience—from syndicated inventory and financing to deposits, vehicle holds, and delivery—and explains why LaFontaine views Amazon as an addition to its marketing ecosystem rather than a replacement for existing channels. The conversation also gets into the comparison with Carvana, why Carlos believes Amazon’s model is fundamentally dealer-driven, and what LaFontaine learned from its first Amazon transaction. That customer arrived to find the vehicle actually there, with the transaction matching what they had completed online down to the penny. And Carlos isn’t expecting Amazon to suddenly become LaFontaine’s biggest source of traffic. He sees something potentially broader: Amazon can put dealer inventory in front of shoppers on a marketplace they already trust—and give the dealership another way to meet customers wherever they’re comfortable buying. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 00:55 How Carlos found his way into automotive retail 03:03 Learning internet sales before it became the norm 04:23 Growing with LaFontaine from 10 stores to 43 05:35 What has—and hasn’t—changed about internet leads 06:52 Why LaFontaine leaned into Amazon Autos 09:53 How an Amazon Autos transaction actually works 12:29 Why Amazon is an addition, not a replacement 13:11 Is Amazon a threat to dealerships? 16:34 What happens when the Amazon brand meets the dealer brand 19:38 What LaFontaine learned from its first Amazon transaction 20:13 Why Amazon traffic isn't the whole point 21:19 Turning Amazon presence into a dealership trust signal LINKS Carlos Mojica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlitomojicajr/ LaFontaine Automotive Group: https://www.familydeal.com/ Amazon Autos: https://www.autos.amazon/ More Auto Collabs: https://daily.asotu.com/auto-collabs Subscribe to the Automotive State of the Union Daily Email: https://daily.asotu.com/ Carlos Mojica's appearance on Auto Collabs is sponsored by Amazon Autos.

Your Dealership AI Is Only 90% Right. That’s the Problem. AI can make messy data look usable. But AJ McGowan says that gets a lot more dangerous when you expect AI to actually run dealership workflows. AJ, VP of Research and Development at Reynolds and Reynolds, joins Paul, Kyle, and Michael for a conversation about what changes when dealership AI moves beyond chatbots and analysis into truly agentic systems. His argument cuts against an increasingly common assumption: just because AI can figure out relationships between disconnected data doesn’t mean you should make it solve that problem every time. At scale, fuzzy matches become a trust problem—and a 90% answer isn’t good enough when software starts taking action. AJ explains how Reynolds is approaching that challenge with Rey, an AI software agent designed to work across the Reynolds ecosystem, pursue a user’s goal, and pull together information from multiple systems. Today, Rey is being used to answer questions and perform analysis. The bigger step ahead is giving an agent the ability to affect action. Along the way, AJ traces his builder mentality all the way back to coding a game in first grade and building computers for his parents’ friends in sixth grade. It’s a fitting origin story for a conversation about why the next era of dealership technology will still require something surprisingly old-school: understanding the fundamentals well enough to know when AI’s answer can actually be trusted. YOU'LL HEAR ABOUT Why AI can turn a 15-day learning curve into 15 minutes How dealers’ thinking about unified CRM, DMS, sales, service, and inventory data is changing Why messy data becomes more—not less—important with autonomous AI The difference between getting an AI system to 90% and trusting it at 100% How Rey can pursue answers across the Reynolds ecosystem What changes when dealership AI moves from analysis to taking action Why getting your reps in with new technology still matters CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro with Paul J Daly and Michael Cirillo 03:40 AJ’s first software project—and his sixth-grade computer business 06:31 How AI changed the way technologists build 08:13 Compressing 15 days of learning into 15 minutes 11:25 How quickly are dealers actually adopting AI? 12:18 Why unified dealership data matters more with agentic AI 14:29 DAGs, data structure, and whether AI can handle the mess 16:42 Why AJ thinks messy data is still a problem 19:31 The danger of the 90% AI answer 20:29 What Reynolds’ Rey AI can actually do today 23:01 When AI starts taking action inside the dealership 24:31 The next big step for dealership AI—and why reps still matter LINKS AJ McGowan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajmcg/ Reynolds and Reynolds: https://www.reyrey.com/ More Auto Collabs: https://daily.asotu.com/auto-collabs Subscribe to the Automotive State of the Union Daily Email: https://daily.asotu.com/

Zach Doran believes dealer relationships are built long before there’s a problem to solve. As president of the Ohio Auto Dealers Association, he’s pushing the organization beyond traditional advocacy and member services by creating more reasons for dealers to engage, connect, and see the value of the association before they ever need to call with their “hair on fire.” That approach shows up in some unconventional ways. OADA has brought younger dealers to Washington, D.C., hosted wake-surfing days, built Concert for a Cause, and created new opportunities for members to connect outside the moments when something has already gone wrong. Zach also takes Paul Daly and Kyle Mountsier inside one of OADA’s smartest communication plays: a quarterly publication that collects the charitable and civic work Ohio dealerships are already doing, then puts those stories directly in front of dealers and elected officials across the state. What started with the association hunting down most of the stories has grown into dealers actively submitting their own work because they want to be included. Along the way, they get into Zach’s unexpected path to leading OADA, succeeding his father, the entrepreneurial energy of car dealers, and what it takes to make an event with more than 4,000 people and over $100,000 raised for charity feel like the beginning instead of the finish line. YOU’LL HEAR ABOUT Why Zach wants dealer engagement to happen before there’s a problem How Concert for a Cause brought together dealers, vendors, employees, and more than 4,000 attendees Why OADA started bringing younger dealers to Washington, D.C. What Zach learned after entering the association world during the dealership bankruptcies and economic downturn How OADA turns dealership community service into a recurring advocacy tool Why dealer competitiveness actually helps generate more community stories How Zach thinks about representing dealers with both energy and credibility CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro with Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier 2:13 Concert for a Cause raises more than $100K 4:21 Why Columbus dealers rallied around the event 7:24 Zach’s unexpected path into the association world 10:57 Rising to the occasion when dealers are counting on you 12:49 Engage dealers before their “hair is on fire” 16:40 Turning dealership community work into a bigger story 19:01 Putting dealer impact directly in front of elected officials LINKS Zach Doran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-doran-a320a791/ Ohio Auto Dealers Association: https://www.oada.com/aws/OADA/pt/sp/home_page OADA Members Spotlight: https://www.oada.com/aws/OADA/pt/sd/news_article/628849/_PARENT/layout_details/false Auto Collabs: https://daily.asotu.com/auto-collabs Subscribe to the Automotive State of the Union Daily Email: https://daily.asotu.com/

Everyone is talking about how AI search is changing changing how dealerships are evaluated, how reputation gets interpreted, and which marketing metrics still tell the full story. Chad Graves of Reunion Marketing joins Paul and Kyle to unpack what’s happening as ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI tools become part of the vehicle research process. Chad’s view is that GEO, AEO, and the rest of the acronym soup still sit on top of strong SEO fundamentals, but the environment around those fundamentals has changed dramatically. AI systems are pulling from more sources, interpreting sentiment, and forming real opinions about dealerships. That shift also creates a measurement problem. If shoppers can research the vehicle, compare options, understand your reputation, and get most of their questions answered without ever submitting a lead, cost per lead and total lead volume may become weaker standalone indicators of marketing performance. The conversation also gets into brand, community involvement, reviews, About Us pages, and why dealerships need to do a better job telling the stories that are already true about them. Chad closes with a few lessons Reunion has picked up from working in home services, where operators are often more aggressive about specialization, lead routing, response time, and end-to-end ROI. Timestamped Takeaways 0:00 Intro with Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier 03:22 Is GEO real, or is it just SEO with another acronym? 05:14 When AI starts forming an opinion about your dealership 07:12 Search is fragmenting beyond ChatGPT 09:35 The attribution problem dealers aren’t ready for 11:05 What happens when the shopper never submits a lead 13:26 Are leads becoming the wrong marketing barometer? 14:33 Why your About Us page suddenly matters more 16:40 The dealership stories marketers never knew existed 18:31 What automotive can learn from home services 19:34 Why top HVAC operators route opportunities differently 21:22 The data visibility auto marketers wish they had 23:46 What Reunion is learning about AI, search, and other industries LINKS Chad Graves: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-graves-a3506b45/ Reunion Marketing: https://reunionmarketing.com/ Auto Collabs: https://daily.asotu.com/auto-collabs Subscribe to the Automotive State of the Union Daily Email: https://daily.asotu.com/