Podcast – DealershipNews.com

Motivator Minute: Learn From the Past, Focus in the Present, and NEVER Worry About the Future

Sean Kelley — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:36:36 +0000

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The Driving Sales Executive Summit – Expectations are Super High!

Kelly Kleinman — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 19:52:14 +0000

The DSES is coming Oct 9-10 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and if you aren’t attending – you need to rethink your schedule.

The Driving Sales Executive Summit is on in a BIG way Oct 9-10 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The industry is currently in a very dynamic yet super profitable state, but for how long? Change is just a supply chain kink or governmental policy away. Innovations are being introduced all the time, and now is the time to decide which ones are worthy and which ones are half-baked. Bottom line, it all comes down to people.

Is your dealership culture a positive, winning one, and are you and your team prepared for the next market phase that’s on the horizon? No one saw the Covid crisis coming let alone that it would usher in an era of unparalleled profit…we may not be so lucky next time…but we’ll be ready. This summit is focused to help you handle whatever is next.
Reg here and use Kelley100 to save $100:-): https://bit.ly/3RI7E0b

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Trent Broberg CEO of Acertus Discusses Their New Partnership with NAIDA

Guest Blogger — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 20:41:53 +0000

ACERTUS, an omnichannel automotive logistics platform, today was named the preferred vendor for vehicle logistics by the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA). This new, strategic partnership brings ACERTUS’ comprehensive technology to thousands of NIADA members nationwide – giving independent automobile dealers access to enhanced services to seamlessly move, store, recondition, title and home deliver vehicles to compete in today’s market.

Providing necessary technology to small and independent dealers is paramount to leveling the automotive retail playing field, allowing every auto dealer, no matter the size, to easily sell vehicles nationally and meet customers where they are without logistics or title and registration being a roadblock. The new dealermallUSA by NIADA provides association members access to a range of affiliated products and services supporting the needs of small and independent dealers, including ACERTUS’ proprietary Transportation Management System (TMS), VINlocity. Through ACERTUS’ platform, members can instantly connect to capacity of more than 7,400 carriers, 1,000 drivers, 66 hub and home delivery prep locations and title and registration processing capabilities in all 50 states, as well as get quotes, place and manage orders.

“Automotive retail has a long tail of small and independent dealers critical to meeting the current unprecedented demand for inventory,” said Trent Broberg, ACERTUS CEO. “Through this strategic partnership we can deliver technology to thousands of dealers, empowering and enabling them to expand the markets in which they can sell and acquire inventory, meet expectations for faster fulfillment and upshift the customer experience all on our logistics platform.”

The partnership kicks off during the 76^th annual NIADA National Convention and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada bringing together independent dealers to learn the latest strategies, best practices, and emerging trends from the industry’s top minds, subject matter experts, and peers.

“Independent retailers are disproportionately feeling the effects of industry disruptions and inventory challenges,” NIADA CEO Bob Voltmann said. “NIADA members are calling for a solution to navigate these challenges and address the current gap between the independent dealers and the top 150 dealers and large digital retailers. ACERTUS provides a unique blend of technology, infrastructure and experience to empower our members to remain competitive.”

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Acertus Ties the Knot With the NAIDA to Best Serve Indies and Others As Well

Guest Blogger — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 20:38:31 +0000

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Data Breaches Can Cost Dealerships Millions in State Fines and Lawsuits

Kelly Kleinman — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 19:43:23 +0000

Ken Hill is the Managing Director of 700Credit, the largest provider of credit and compliance products in the automotive industry. During his 12 years with 700Credit Ken has been responsible for the leadership and growth of the company. In 2007, Ken started with 700Credit when they had a respectful 700 customers and 5 affiliate partners. Fast forward to 2019 and 700Credit is now the largest in the industry, providing credit and compliance solutions to over 11,000 automotive dealerships, and integrating with 150 affiliate partners.

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Is the Computer Chip Shortage End In Sight?

Kelly Kleinman — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 14:42:49 +0000

Almonty Industry’s CEO Lewis Black Breaks it Down to a Specific Time Frame – But Geo-Politics Ain’t so Specific

Lewis
Well, I just like to say my bold prediction is that by the end of q/4 ’23, I think you’re going to see the whole semiconductor business start to stabilize.

Kelly
That’s good news. So where do you think automotive interests will start seeing some new deliveries? Maybe 2020, late 2023 2024.

Lewis
I would say you’ll start to see some normalization after the summer of next year. I think that’s when you’re going to start seeing it settled down a little bit.

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Will Environmental Issues and Lack of Political Will Keep the Supply Chain of Semiconductor Chips In Enemy Hands?

Kelly Kleinman — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 12:32:42 +0000

Environmental Issues with US Mining and Politics

The Lewis Black of Almonty Industries Interview

Kelly

So let’s talk about the fun stuff. And that would be mining in the United States. And there needs to be a political will. But I would assume that there also has to be environmental impact studies that need to be annulled. And that’s got to take some time as well. Do they have the testosterone across both sides of the aisle politically here, the United States actually started doing this here in the US? What’s your take on that?

Lewis

No, I don’t believe it’s going to really be feasible for either side, you know, to really get behind this, because ultimately, neither of their bases are pro mining. Mines had that day, and they’re now seen as a very 19th century kind of, you know, throwback to history. They, you know, there is no appetite to now push domestic mining, you know, yes, there’s regulations. Yes, they’re the, you know, this is normal in every democracy, but they don’t want it in their backyard. I read this thing the other day, about wind farms of Cape Cod, that you have an enclave of people who are very environmentally active. And yet they don’t want to look at the wind farms.

So it is apparently, according to the candidates who were there, that it’s difficult to land your plane with a wind farm, which, you know, I suppose, is one rationale. But ultimately, you know, I think that really sums it up. There are some communities still in the Appalachians and some communities that are pro mining, but it’s not on a national level. And it’s I don’t think that I think that what we’re looking at, there’s a bill going through now called the Irie shore act, where it classifies say tungsten as a rare earth. And they’re basically saying that if you’re in the defense contractor business in the US, you can’t use Chinese sourced rare earths and that includes manganese, lithium and tungsten, and then all the rare earths 17 of them, that I can’t even pronounce the atrium and the opium and, and so on.

But it also talks about stockpiling commodities, strategic minerals and government offtakes, and I think that’s the direction they’re gonna go. They’re going to basically say, Look, you know, you’ve got to build it, where we can see transparency. But we’re not going to say you should build it here. We’re just going to say, here’s a government contract, if you meet these conditions of ESG, we’ll buy for you. And I think that’s probably the most creative approach they can take.

Justin

Yeah, so Louis, a little bit lighter of a question, how much earth do you have to move to get enough tungsten to make, let’s just say, one semiconductor and I know you’ve already mentioned they’re very, very small.

Lewis

Well, I mean, to be honest, not a huge amount. Because we use, you know, the Tungsten is used in a semiconductor is crushed down to a nano sized fraction, which is then injected into a gas because you can’t smelt a tungsten. And then the gas is pumped into each semiconductor, the coat on a microscopic level, a coating of tungsten, because one it’s very conductive. And secondly, it dissipates heat. So you don’t have to worry about, you know, a cobalt in anodes, they combust you know, a battery can go up and it burns, what 48 hours, you put tungsten on that same anode, it’ll get as hot as the sun and it won’t smelt,the temperature of the sun, it will smelt tungsten, but noncombustible. So it can take the heat. So you don’t need a huge I mean, the entire planet, we only produce about 90,000 tons a year of tungsten. That’s it. So it’s very dense, same density as gold. But we don’t mind. We don’t move a lot of Earth.

Justin

When a mine is kind of fished out, so to speak. Is there a reclamation process that you guys do around the globe? I know you have mines elsewhere, and I would assume that that process would be different in the United States due to our regulation. Can you elaborate?

Lewis

You’re working in a democracy, that’s all pretty much the same thing. Yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s, you know, you have certain, you know, different like in Canada, for instance, now you have first nations as well and have to be consulted. In Australia, you have indigenous Aboriginal people. So you have these additional layers, but ultimately, in terms of reclamation, environmental compliance, the international standards are just that now that they’re pretty much across the board. I think the main difference in the US is that even if you comply with all of the regulations, and all the laws that exist, you can still run into trouble if the political will is against you. So there’s the legal framework in the United States, there’s also the emotional framework and that can also impact you so that’s something to also consider in the US.

Justin

Yeah. So which has more impact on the land is it oil drilling, strip mining? What what has more impact on the environment?

Lewis

Strip mining. I mean, you know, drilling for oil is your drilling drill, it’s a hole and they kept the hole after you finished and that’s the end of it. When you strip mine, I mean, we hard mine, we strip mine, the strip mine, you have to when you finish, you have to fill in the hole. It’s a big hole. But in that time where the hole exists, it’s very visible. The mining in South Korea is underground. And we’ve developed systems where we put all of our waste and all of our tailings back on the ground. So that we know evidence that we’re there. And that’s the future. But strip mining has a lot more of an impact on the environment. Well, optically, environmentally.

Kelly

Yeah. So that’s a big nay nay. So um, I, for one, I’m in favor of the bill. I’d like to see it actually increased the amount of money that we put towards some of the most absurd things that just defies logic. Our dependence on China is ridiculous. It’s costing jobs. It’s blowing up prices left and right. And if we have the ability to eat more of the semiconductor pie, we may as well open our mouths. That’s the way I look at it, though.

Lewis

You in the United States are the biggest consumer of semiconductors? I mean, it’s a classic example of how globalization has put everyone sort of, you know, in a precarious position, the US consumes more semiconductors than anybody else. And yet, you really don’t produce any semiconductors. But that doesn’t really make an awful lot of sense. But then you can say that about many, many industries. I mean, the car sector in the in the Europe right now, they have problems with wiring looms that you know, they have companies that make the wiring looms and then ship them to the cloud plants have installed, they have problems because over the years, they’ve been pushing that the subcontracting that out further and further east because they’ve been following the cheap labor and then are done by Ukraine. Of course, now Ukraine is rather busy to be making wiring looms for Volkswagens. So you know, you have, you know, car plants that are sitting idle because there’s no other, they don’t have anyone else right away that can now replicate that job. So I think this is probably a good wake up call to say, You know what, globalization is a wonderful idea, but you’ve got to remember, sometimes chasing, you know, the cheap route can cost you a lot more in the long run.

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CarValuator Delivers on Custom Appraisals and Instant Purchase Offers for Dealer Sites

Kelly Kleinman — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:33:37 +0000

Tom Murray, co-founder of WebBuy discusses the benefits and advantages of their newly designed, modular valuation tool (CarValuator) that adapts to any franchise or Independent dealer’s site. The success they had early on with digital retailing for Rimrock Auto Group as well as many others, was the incentive to enhance the design of this customizable, modular solution that delivers instant purchase offers and converts at unusually high percentages (I’ve seen the data). Dealers don’t have to engage the entire WebBuy digital retailing solution, rather they can simply implement CarValuator ala carte.

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Julie Douglas with Dealer Pay

Kelly Kleinman — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:20:12 +0000

Dealership-News-DealerPay-The-Full-Interview.mp4 transcript powered by Sonix—the best video to text transcription service

Dealership-News-DealerPay-The-Full-Interview.mp4 was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix

Julie Douglas with Dealer Pay was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best way to convert your video to text in 2019.

Kelly Kleinman:
Hello, this is Kelly Kleinman, and you are listening to the DealershipNews.com podcast, where we spotlight the Who’s happening in the automotive industry. It’s footsoldiers, Visionaries, Salesman, GMs, Owners, Service Managers and Industry Vendors alike. Today’s podcast is brought to you by Marketing Solutions St. Louis. That’s Marketing Solutions STL specializing in YouTube video marketing and very few do that. They’re proven winning formula is designed to generate new leads, increase profit margins and lower acquisition costs by combining digital marketing, video and social media. Common man Betty Naser at 3 1 4 8 7 9 4 0 4 9 tell’em Kelly sent ya, DealershipNews.com. And oh, by the way, today we have one of my favorites Julie Douglas. Julie. She’s our default when it comes to all things regarding payment solutions and the automotive retail sector. And that also includes data security to a large extent since so much money is transacted in dealerships. Julie Douglas of Dealer Pay, welcome back.

Julie Douglas:
Thank you. Thanks for having me, Kelly..

Kelly Kleinman:
Well, it’s great to have you on this Friday. We have the weekend right ahead of us. It’s looming large. Yes. Let’s get into it now. You initiated a campaign this fall to make sure dealers check a few boxes concerning security, compliance, rate fee reviews and security, a solid partner and technology provider.

Kelly Kleinman:
How are dealers that don’t address these topics exposed? Because this is some crucial stuff.

Julie Douglas:
Sure. So the three components that you mentioned, the first obviously being security and compliance. Obviously, we’re transacting a lot of data. A lot of dealers really don’t know their exposure with some of the hardware and or software they’re using and the providers they use probably don’t say, hey, pay attention. This is important.

Julie Douglas:
So I always asked my dealers to just really pay attention to what’s happening in their dealership. Everything from user practices, best practices, but also to provide hardware and software. Obviously, we don’t want these guys storing any payment data, but even more than that, with the holidays coming up and just all the fraud exposure. They just really need to make sure that they have the latest and greatest with respect to PCI compliance.

Julie Douglas:
So with with that first box, you know, that’s that’s what the Dealer Pay does. We really try to keep our dealers on top of that.

Kelly Kleinman:
You know, I was just exposed, so to speak. So this is coming at a really good time, literally yesterday. Somebody tried to get into my Google account, which was problematic. So I had to change all my passwords.

Kelly Kleinman:
It’s all it’s it’s a real danger.

Julie Douglas:
Immense security and data security that kind of in the same space. But there’s a lot more risk with payment data security and, you know, fines and whatnot with a breach or just out of this world. So, you know, if the dealerships are listening, just just make sure that you’ve got, you know, all your your I’s dotted and T’s crossed.

Kelly Kleinman:
I appreciate that advice. Now, why is it important to review rates and fees regularly, specifically at this time?

Julie Douglas:
Sure. So, you know, I mentioned previously we’re going into the holidays, but we’re also in fourth quarter.

Julie Douglas:
So dealers really want to make sure they’re going to finish this year strong, but also start next year. You know, just out of the gate, a lot of processors, even banks. I ran into one yesterday. You know, they they do a lot of things to get the business, lower rates, et cetera. But then they like to hike them up along the way. That’s one of the things that I’ve done for now 20 years is I just don’t do that. I don’t raise rates. But most most I would say very few that don’t raise the rates. And the statements are so difficult to read. And the dealers don’t really pay attention because it’s incurring monthly fees that they just assume is what the rep promised them. It’s not in most cases. I reviewed a dealership about two years ago and they had a really aggressive rate. And she I called her up and she said, you know, you already looked at this. I said, well, do you mind if I look at it again? And her rates were probably one hundred and twenty percent higher from the last time I reviewed it.

Kelly Kleinman:
Looking that cost the dealership over the course of a year or so, just a month.

Julie Douglas:
Well, I reviewed one yesterday. It was a four location using their bank, which they thought was their, you know, trusted provider. And let’s just say over four stores that have pretty aggressive volume, I’m I’m able to save them almost $80,000 a year.

Kelly Kleinman:
That’s unbelievable. You know, it’s kind of like price gouging for water after a natural disaster. I would think the dealerships wouldn’t be too cool with those kinds of practices. I know the consumers get crazy with it, although we’ve been gouged forever. Right.

Julie Douglas:
Right. And that’s that’s why Dealer Pay. We’re an advocate for the dealer. We want to be fair. We want to be transparent. But I have no interest in trying to raise rates to increase my margins. I’d rather just keep the relationship for the long term.

Kelly Kleinman:
Sure, it might make sense, you know, but we we talked about security rates and fees. Why should dealers secure a strong vendor in overall payment solution going into 2020? But beyond that, what are some of the things that dealer needs to be watchful of with their current partners? Aside from what we just discussed, which was the gouging and some other nefarious practices that might be taking place.

Julie Douglas:
Sure. So technology is advancing quite a bit. And, you know, unfortunately, dealers have always kind of been on the low end of those advances, specifically with payments. So a lot of providers out there are trying to enhance certain features and functions and the dealership, but none of those are really quote unquote, dealers specific. So when I say, you know, make sure you’ve got a solid provider, you know, obviously make sure your security is on point. Make sure your rates and fees are where they need to be. But make sure you got someone to call. Make sure you got someone that, you know, looking after your transactions. That’s making sure your users are fully trained and that you’re getting all the necessary reporting. One of the big things we push is streamlining operation. So that they can focus on the customer. We want their customer to have a fabulous payment experience, which is going to increase CSI and customer retention overall. So, you know, if you don’t have a solid provider going into next year, you might be scrambling to get one, you know, in January, February.

Kelly Kleinman:
Let’s talk about 2020. What? What? You know what? Let me, let me backtrack as we’ve had you on before. You provide a great solution. By the way, this is not a sponsored promotional piece of content here. It’s what would you from the competitive field? We’re talking. I mean. Well, I’ll tell you what, I gather out of this and that’s a service. You know, it seems like you’re there 24/7. It seems like you’re well, you’re definitely not gouging. You’re you’re not too greedy. You’re not a big not a big player. And I think that that’s at some point when you get somebody, a smaller vendor that cares and treats all of their their clients with tender loving care, I think that’s a lot more important about what does separate you from I’ll let you blow your own horn.

Julie Douglas:
So I’m not a bank. OK. So I don’t service thousands of industries. I don’t care about, you know, making sure I bill you for every single field that there is.

Julie Douglas:
I’m not a processor, so I don’t have, you know, the quota or, you know, the certain margin requirements that certain salespeople do that work for direct processors. I’m what they call an independent sales organization that has the ability to customize my payment solutions specifically for dealers. And one of the things that I’ve done on my own in the past five years is I’ve built my own dealers specific point of sale system. So we capture things like our own number. We make sure we know who the customer is on every transaction, what user processed it, we assist finance with tools that help them, you know, get that down payment faster before the customers out the door. So when you say how am I different, really the best thing I can say is I’m an advocate for the dealer and I really care about the solutions we provide them and I’m constantly trying to improve them.

Kelly Kleinman:
2020. It’s right around the corner. What do you have in store for us?

Julie Douglas:
Technology. Technology. So, you know, usually about 50% of my dealers get scared when I mentioned that T-word. But the other 50% are excited to see how that will help them. Technology is one thing where, if implemented correctly, can actually help a user’s efficiency when processing these payments. So 2020, we’ve got a lot of things on the deck, like rewards and loyalty programs, communications programs with text and email, the ability to just really step outside the box with concierge’s style payment acceptance. You know, a lot of dealers have comps that they’re trying to, you know, one up on. We’re giving them tools to really streamline and capture payments as fast as possible. Our backend providers are constantly changing because we only work with the best Dealer Pay has, you know, a front end platform that’s strong. But we also have several providers on the back end that have to sort of keep up, if you will, that we’re really ramping up our development and we’re really ramping up some of the fun features can give you example. Yeah. OK. So one of my dealers asked me, he said, you know how sometimes you go to the pet store, the grocery store, and you can kind of round up your transaction amount to the next dollar and they’ll donate that to charity. I say, yeah, yeah. Oh, is it? You know, the next Burbach or whatever. I’m going to actually implement that and my solutions as well as a way for the dealership to capture that extra change and donate to a charity of their choice. So what we’re doing that kind of stuff. I hate the word stuff. We’re doing those things to really show that we want to be different. We want to be, you know, an advocate for the features that they request.

Kelly Kleinman:
Listen, I appreciate you coming out here and giving us lowdown on what’s going on over a Dealer Pay and 2020. Looks like it’s going to be really great for you. Well, I wish you all the luck moving forward. And I’m sure we’ll see a down the road here soon.

Julie Douglas:
Sure. Absolutely. I appreciate it, Kelly.

Kelly Kleinman:
You bet. Have a great weekend, folks. Kelly.. Kleinman over here, DealershipNews.com. That’s our podcast for Friday. Have a great weekend.

Julie Douglas:
Thank you.

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Episode #55: Data Security for Your Dealership with Matt Arana of Identity Maxx

Kelly Kleinman — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 23:59:19 +0000

Matt Arana

Kelly Kleinman of Dealership News interviews Matt Arana of Identity Maxx to explain why having data security and the necessary coverage in place to reduce your dealership’s exposure in case of a data breach ahould be a high-priority. Identity Maxx covers not only the dealership’s risk but offers the same robust coverage for each customer as well. A truly novel approach at incremental upselling to say the least.

Kelly Kleinman:
Hello, everybody. Kelly Kleinman and you are listening to the DealershipNews.com podcast, where we spotlight the who's happening in the automotive industry. It's footsoldiers, visionary, salesman, GMs, owners, service managers and industry vendors alike. Our guest today is the founding force behind a new company that not only protects dealer and customer alike from costly data breaches, but turns the solution into a profit center for the car dealer. Welcome Mat Arana of Identity Maxx. How you doing?

Matt Arana:
Matt Kelly. I'm doing great. Thanks for taking some time today.

Kelly Kleinman:
You bet. Very happy to have you on board. I do want to mention that today's podcast is brought to you by the following preferred vendors Dealer Pay. They offer seamless integrated payment processing solutions, merchant services and credit card processing specifically for car dealers and the automotive industry. See Julie Douglas for any inquiries and Drive Centric. The offer is simple, yet powerful interface that anyone can use is intuitive CRM design makes it simple for salespeople to do their job and that's to sell. Go #LiveWithDrive. Tell Steve Roessler. Dealership News sent you. Matt I'd like to start every interview off with one question. How the heck did you fall into the car industry?

Matt Arana:
Well, I'm sure everybody's got an equally colorful story, but I am actually fairly new to the car industry specifically. But I found my way here after 15 years or so in the finance business. So I was in commercial lending with GE Capital and then Residential Lending for 10 years or so. I'll rewind backwards. And the more exciting part about my backstory, really, for the first 10 years of my adult life and career, I was a rock and roll musician, toured all over the country and played music and kind of put off growing up until I was in my early 30s and kind of fell into the insurance business from a friend. Did specialty risk insurance, worked for GE Capital, doing commercial lending for seven years. I worked for a credit bureau and data company for several years before getting into the mortgage industry. So that's what I did before this. I kind of got into the automotive space through a network of friends and some some of which are dealer principles that I was introduced to. And really just I was kind of I've always been fascinated by the car dealership industry in general because, you know, it's ironic, but there's some for some reason an association between the finance business and the automotive business, probably because car dealers are as much a finance company as they are selling vehicles in a lot of times. So from mutual acquaintances, I was introduced to a product that caught my attention being Identity Maxx specifically for dealerships. But relative to a lot of a lot of what I've experienced in my in my couple of decades of finance business.

Kelly Kleinman:
Matt, it makes sense to to find out to segway from finance into the automobile world, obviously they are somewhat finance companies, but it's not so common to segway from playing gigs to getting into the finance. Who'd you play with? The what instrument you play.

Matt Arana:
It's crazy. I still do play on weekends and I guess I'm still quote unquote professional. Because they pay me to do it. But it's it's more of a part time hobby playing. But I play guitar and sing and I play with a band called a number of different touring groups in my 20s. But I guess most notably a band called Modern Day Zero, which is a modern rock band we tour with like Nickelback and Puddle of Mud and Marilyn Manson and a lot of these, you know, more progressive rock bands and from like the late 90s through 2002 or so. So it was a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of cool people and play some big stages. And, you know, we were we were as a movie, almost famous kind of that that was our story. We were we open for a lot of huge bands, but never quite pierced the veil ourselves. But we had a heck of a good time doing it.

Kelly Kleinman:
We could probably share some stories. In the meantime, let's imagine that you are in an elevator with the president of Ford. What would your 30 sec. You have 30 seconds to do this. What would your elevator pitch sound like to keep him wanting more?

Matt Arana:
This is a tough question because, you know, from a manufacturer standpoint, they might not think that data breach at dealerships or, you know, obviously they understand compliance. But Mr Ford, President, how would you feel or how cool would it be if he knew that every dealership in America that had your name on it was 100 percent protected from any type of Identity theft, data breach. And if every customer that bought a Ford vehicle was offered that same protection for themselves and their families. Sound interesting. And I think he would probably want to hear more.

Kelly Kleinman:
Well, I think he's at least going to take another couple floors. How's that?

Matt Arana:
Good enough.

Kelly Kleinman:
He'll stand up in the elevator. Well, let's. Before we get into how that particular solution is monetized, obviously identity breach is a huge problem and dealerships are far more exposed than I think even many of them realize. So how does Identity Maxx, protect the dealer from the risks and the costs involved and how does that translate to limited exposure for a customer?

Matt Arana:
Right. So Identity Maxx, was created specifically for car dealers. But, you know, most consumers these days are aware of a variety of different identity theft protection programs that are out there, to, if not monitor certainly alert you if you've been breached or help you recover any lost assets that you've been breached. So it's not an unfamiliar concept, but in the automotive space, as with in the finance business, the FTC and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that was passed in '99, I believe it's been a long time, has imposed fines for violations of privacy and non-public information that crosses the desk of every single car dealership in America. So obviously the exposure was there and basically Identity Maxx was developed to cover the dealership in the event of a data breach, cover all of their employees and all of their families in the event of a data breach. And as a product that can be offered to every customer that buys a vehicle from that dealership and the product itself is is much more robust and comprehensive than a lot of the other identity theft protection programs that are out there from a consumer standpoint. But from a dealership standpoint, it it covers Most of what they need to be in compliance with the privacy rule, the safeguards rule, any red flags rule.

Kelly Kleinman:
Well, let's see Matt, that they're not in compliance or that they're lacking compliance in certain areas. What are some of the punitive costs to a dealership that gets breached? I think dealers need to know the costs of taking data breach for granted.

Matt Arana:
Yeah, and it's it's hard to quantify that. I mean, actually give you the exact numbers with respect to if the FTC comes in and they want to place penalties for, you know, violations on their main for basic privacy stuff and they can come in and slap $100,000 fine on the privacy rule, it could be I think it's $41,400 or some change. And then the safeguards laws and other $41,000. So that means if they come in and they say, OK, let's see your data breach protection program, what do you have in place? Do you have a CIO is there someone we can speak with? And you failed to provide what they deem to be sufficient to cover those particular guidelines. And they're slapping fines right and left. And they are, you know, like I say, coming from the finance business, both commercial and residential lending, especially audits are happening. Fines are being put in place and examples are being made across the industry, you know, to to enforce these guidelines. Now that that doesn't take into account Kelly, the cost of having a data breach at the dealership. That's just fines from the FTC, if you have a data breach, you're absolutely exposed to class action lawsuits. And there are plenty of attorneys circling around waiting for these types of things, you know, to grab a big group of people that have been affected. And, you know, with dollar signs and in their eyes like they all do for any any time. There's a mass affected situation like that. Your dealership could be. crippled, if not disabled. 100%. Especially small and mid-sized dealers. You know, the effects of class action lawsuits can be terrible, not to mention, you know, speaking of other damages, the reputation. Sure. If it gets out that you've been breached and it sort of implies that you are negligent or not really putting all that much importance on your customers' private information. I mean, the loss of revenue to be immeasurable.

Kelly Kleinman:
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Matt Arana:
Very costly. And on a lot of levels.

Kelly Kleinman:
Well, it makes sense to engage in a program like this to me. If I was a car dealership. I'd be very, very concerned with it because it's such a common problem. It's so common that it seems that although there's the potential for a reputation, you know, taking a hit, it seems to pass quickly because it's become all so common. But it's expensive from a financial standpoint and a reputation standpoint. Agreed. It is how? So let's go through the process of I am at the desk, I'm doing the deal. How can a dealership profitize off of Identity Maxx? And what does the pitch to the customer sound like?

Matt Arana:
Well, here's the thing. It's, you know, protecting your dealership should be first and foremost, right? I mean, protection vs. profits. Not exclusively, but in the order of things. Because if you're not protected, who cares about profit, you're exposed and you could lose everything. Right. Versus, you know, dollars and cents on a deal. But the way this product is designed is that any dealership partners would offer five years of recovery to every person that buys a dealer or buys a vehicle from that particular dealership. So as a part of XYZ Automotive, we care about our dealerships, privacy, the data that comes through our dealership and we also care about our customers and their families. You protect a lot of other things in your life. You know, you have insurance on everything. But protecting yourselves and your family from financial catastrophe should be very much up there. So we care about our customers. We're going to give 5 years to everybody that buys a vehicle from us and it protects them and every member of their household. Pretty cool. So that's for every vehicle you have to offer it to everyone. Right. As a part of F&I when they're at the desk signing the deal. This is where it not only pays for itself, but becomes profitable as an F&I product. Really? Hey, Mr. Smith. Jones. Whatever the case is, we appreciate your business. You're going to receive five years of recovery from Identity Maxx. Give it to all the folks to buy the vehicles. Plus, they also offer 5 years of monitoring for yourself and everyone in the family, which means if anything suspicious happens on any of your accounts relative to your private information, you'll be notified in the event of any damage, of any breaches or any affecting of this thing. You'll be assigned a personal advocate that will go after all of your losses for you and reimburse you.

Matt Arana:
So it's not in that reimburse you, but go after all of your losses without you having to do it yourself. So that's that's pretty much the pitch it's nine bucks a month. How's that sound to you? OK. Click a box and it becomes an F&I product. So terrific. Yeah. So at roughly 9% penetration and I'm using 100 vehicles a month as a round number and roughly 9-10% penetration on that upsell. The dealership now has no cost in offering to say every every customer. So anything above that becomes profit. Pretty attractive. I mean, obviously, every dealer can run their own numbers and see kind of where they're at and where their break even is. And on that. And that's that's not taking into account Kelly. the value. The why buy here, the marketing potential that it has, there's just a way to say a lot of car dealers are not thinking this forward. They're not all that concerned about it. But we are. If you're going to buy, buy from us.

Kelly Kleinman:
There's a strong perception of value add. I agree. Yeah.

Matt Arana:
So you can't really measure that necessarily. But it's it's pretty compelling. And that's why I was drawn to this product. You know, it made so much sense on so many levels. I couldn't really find a proverbial hole in the product where it wouldn't make sense other than if a dealership is overly confident maybe and thinks because they have I've got cyber insurance or I've got a company that comes in and orders my emails every year I do this or that. It does not cover a full blown data breach and it does also not cover, you know, let's just face it. If an employee writes down a customer's credit card number and customer #2 comes and takes a cell phone photo of the credit card. That's not cybersecurity. That's that's that's a data breach in your dealership that came as a result of something that you're not covered. But if you have this program in place, if it does safeguard against class action lawsuits, it can give you another level of security that you probably don't already have.

Kelly Kleinman:
Well, listen, Matt, I want to thank you so much for coming on board today and breaking it down for us. Dealerships, beware he'll be knocking at your door shortly. And I, again. Thanks for stopping by. Data breach is a huge problem and I think this provides an outstanding solution for it and at a great price to the consumer. Needless to say, Matt, thanks again.

Matt Arana:
I appreciate your time. Thanks.

Kelly Kleinman:
Well, folks, that's about all she wrote. This is Kelly Kleinman. DealershipNews.com. That was my podcast for Thursday afternoon. Have a great day and we'll see you soon.

Kelly Kleinman:
I'm going to do another ending. OK.

Kelly Kleinman:
I want to thank Matt Arana of Identity Maxx, for stopping by and providing us with all that great information. This is Kelly Kleinman. DealershipNews.com. This podcast is over. We'll see you soon. Have a great afternoon.

The post Episode #55: Data Security for Your Dealership with Matt Arana of Identity Maxx appeared first on DealershipNews.com.