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The used car market is shifting again, and if you’re not adapting, you’re already behind. In the latest LotTalk episode, Chris Keene, John Anderson, and Renaldo Leonard tackled the eye-opening trends that every dealer should be watching right now. Shopper counts are down, inventory is climbing, and bad habits like stockpiling “cheap” cars are quietly draining profitability.
Their bottom-line message: you don’t need to panic, but you do need to pivot.
Shopper Counts Are Dropping Fast
Every fall, customer activity naturally slows down. Kids are back in school, families shift focus to holidays, and fewer people are shopping for cars. That part isn’t new. But what Keene, Anderson, and Leonard emphasized is how steep this year’s decline has been .
Back in spring, many buyers rushed into the market, pulling sales forward and leaving a hole in late summer demand. Add to that rising new-car allocations and more trades flowing back into the used market, and you have an imbalance: more cars, fewer shoppers.
The shopper index—the red line the hosts track closely—has been dipping since mid-August. That means fewer active buyers chasing a larger pool of vehicles. In this environment, shoppers aren’t making emotional, rushed decisions. Instead, they’re slowing down, sending out multiple leads, and shopping around with confidence.
For dealers, that means relying on scarcity-driven urgency (“buy before it’s gone!”) won’t work. Instead, you need airtight processes that win shoppers with better follow-up and better presentation.
The Danger of Stockpiling Inventory
One of the most eye-opening parts of the episode was the takedown of the “stockpile for tax season” strategy. Many dealers think buying cars in December or January—when auction prices dip—sets them up to win big in February and March.
The problem? Holding costs.
One dealer the team spoke with was carrying about $115 per day per car in holding costs. If you buy in January and sit on that vehicle for 45 days waiting for tax season, you’re already $5,300 in the hole. Even if you “make” $3,000 on the front end, you’re really losing $2,000 .
As Renaldo Leonard put it: “Time kills profits. And Father Time is undefeated.”
The math doesn’t lie. No matter how good the deal looks on paper, if you’re sitting on aging inventory, your profits are bleeding away day by day. The smarter play is to run lean and turn cars fast, not warehouse them like canned goods.
Why Digital Leads Deserve “Showroom Urgency”
Another critical insight from the episode is how differently many dealers treat their physical lot compared to their digital lot.
If ten customers walked into your showroom right now, you’d have salespeople swarming to greet them, and managers stepping in to close every possible deal. Yet many dealerships have dozens of digital customers “standing” on cars in their CRM—leads that haven’t been called, texted, or emailed in days, sometimes weeks.
That disconnect is costing thousands. The average cost per lead is about $235 nationwide. Letting those leads sit untouched is like walking outside your store, tossing two hundred-dollar bills on the sidewalk, and watching no one pick them up .
Today’s shoppers send out seven or more leads on average. If you’re just sending back the same tired “Yes, it’s available” email as everyone else, you’ve already lost the race.
Winning dealers separate themselves by:
- Personalizing follow-up. Videos, feature highlights, and answers tailored to what the buyer actually cares about.
- Daily or every-other-day outreach. Until a customer tells you to stop, stay in front of them.
- Manager involvement. Just like on the showroom floor, managers need to touch digital deals—not leave them solely to salespeople or the BDC.
The hosts drove this point home: treat your digital dealership with the same urgency as your physical one.
Pricing: Stay Ahead of the Market, Not Behind It
The podcast also featured a real-world example that hits close to home for many managers. A dealer had a Chevy Equinox priced competitively in late August at around 98–99% of the market. But as the market shifted, they failed to adjust. By mid-September, their price-to-market had climbed to 103%—making them more expensive than 16 comparable units within 20 miles .
Shoppers don’t care that you were competitive two weeks ago. They care what your price looks like when they sort listings low-to-high today.
The lesson is simple: the market is moving every day. If you’re not adjusting with it, you’re not standing still—you’re falling behind.
Share the Numbers with Your Team
A final takeaway: managers need to understand how their decisions affect the dealership’s financial health. Too often, sales and used car managers don’t see the financial statement until it’s too late.
Keene shared a story from early in his career when a mentor tore into him during a managers’ meeting for not knowing his WIO (work-in-process) numbers. The outburst turned into one of the most valuable lessons he ever learned: “It doesn’t matter how much gross you run. It matters how much we actually put in the bank.”
Dealers don’t need to open the books entirely. But sharing key data—holding costs, floorplan interest, spiff payouts—helps managers connect the dots between their daily decisions and the store’s profitability. When they understand the true cost of aging cars or the drain of write-offs, they’ll protect those dollars like their own.
Key Takeaways for Dealers
- Don’t panic, but pivot. Shopper counts always dip this time of year, but the sharper decline means you need to adjust now, not later.
- Stop stockpiling. Holding costs erase any “cheap” purchase advantage. Run lean and keep inventory turning.
- Treat digital customers like showroom customers. Respond fast, add value, and involve managers in every deal.
- Price ahead of the market. Staying static guarantees you’ll fall behind competitors.
- Educate your managers. Share financial realities so they make smarter decisions on inventory and process.
Closing Thought
The LotTalk hosts ended on a point every dealer should take to heart: the off-season reveals everything. It’s easy to hide mistakes during the spring and summer rush. But in the slower months, inefficiencies are exposed.
Sharpen your processes now. Train your team. Adjust your pricing daily. Share the numbers that matter. Do that, and when the spring selling season returns, you’ll be ready to thrive instead of scrambling.
Because in this market, it’s not just cars that depreciate—so does wasted time.