As we close out 2025 with just three weeks remaining, used car managers across the country are facing a familiar challenge: aging inventory, declining shopper indexes, and the nagging question of what went wrong. The answer, more often than not, brings us back to a fundamental principle that never goes out of style—bucket management.
On a recent episode of LotTalk, hosts Chris Keene, John Anderson, and Renaldo Leonard tackled why dealers keep circling back to this basic strategy when times get tough, and more importantly, why it should never have been abandoned in the first place.
John Anderson opened with a critical observation about today's automotive retail environment: there's too much static. Dealers are bombarded with conflicting advice—invest everything in AI, focus solely on marketing, forget about buckets entirely. It's like trying to take an order through a broken drive-through speaker.
"I've asked this question at least a thousand times now," Anderson said. "Do you agree that if you sell more inventory out of your zero to 30-day buckets—zero to 15 and 16 to 30—that you'll make more money? I'm a thousand and oh. Never had one person tell me they disagree with that."
If the answer is universally "yes," why is bucket management still such a hard concept to execute? The problem isn't understanding—it's the distraction of shiny objects and the paralysis that comes from information overload.
Renaldo Leonard put it bluntly: bucket management should be carved in stone alongside the Ten Commandments. The principles are that fundamental:
These aren't arbitrary numbers pulled from thin air. They're based on a simple economic reality: vehicles depreciate on your lot just like they depreciate for customers. Every day a unit sits unsold, you're losing money—period.
"If my market does not validate that a vehicle is of interest, what am I doing with it?" Leonard asked. "All I'm doing is killing money, burning money. I have to get back to the basics, which is managing those buckets."
One of the most common distractions dealers face right now is obsessing over acquisition and sourcing while their existing inventory ages. Anderson shared a telling example: a dealer with 125 units in stock, tracking to sell just 60 per month, spending their energy talking about sourcing strategies.
"You're not selling what you're stocking," Anderson pointed out. "You've got your money tied up in inventory that's not moving, but you're distracted talking about sourcing. What message does that send to your team?"
The reality? Unless you have 100% service absorption, your inventory IS everything. It sets the tone for the entire dealership—driving throughput in service, parts, and ultimately determining your bottom line.
When the LotTalk team conducts launch calls with new clients, one of the first things they examine is merchandising. And what do they find almost every single time? Photos and descriptions that aren't aligned with what actually sells vehicles.
Anderson shared a recent example from a demo call: a $76,000 GMC Yukon Denali with all exterior photos, generic bullet points buried in the listing, and interior shots showing a center console full of debris and mud-covered floor mats.
"We're asking $76,000 for this vehicle, and we're showing potential buyers a dirty interior," Anderson said. "Then we wonder why it's not selling."
Leonard emphasized the "Missouri principle"—treat every potential buyer like they're from the Show-Me State. Your descriptions and photos must align. Don't just list features; show them with quality photography. This isn't a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. Review your listings weekly from day one, not when they hit 30 or 45 days old.
Right now, many dealers are sitting on aged high-dollar inventory—$60,000, $70,000, $80,000 units that aren't moving. Anderson posed a critical question: "How many $20,000 vehicles could I have cycled through that slot while that $80,000 vehicle sat there for 52 days?"
The issue often isn't just the vehicle—it's whether your team knows how to communicate with customers at that price point. If your store typically sells $22,000 to $25,000 vehicles, and you're suddenly stocking $70,000 inventory, does your sales team understand how to have conversations with those buyers?
That's a different customer with different expectations, concerns, and buying motivations. They're likely educated, financially sophisticated, and protective of their money. You can't use the same script you'd use for a $20,000 sedan buyer.
With year-end approaching, Leonard offered specific tactical advice for moving aged inventory:
For high-dollar trucks and SUVs: Equip your team with tax strategy talking points. Vehicles over 6,000 pounds can be written off and depreciated. Small business owners and LLC holders looking to reduce their tax burden before year-end are prime targets. Move beyond "she sure is pretty" and into "let me show you how this benefits your bottom line."
For compact cars and SUVs: Even if these are your most-searched categories, declining shopper interest means you need to re-evaluate your approach. Check competitive sets, refresh photos, rewrite descriptions. What worked three months ago may not work today.
The relevancy checklist: Before changing price (your last resort), ensure:
Anderson summed it up perfectly: "Every time things get out of control, whether it's personal or business, going back to the fundamentals is always a successful way to approach what's going on."
In your personal life, that might mean getting back into scripture or reconnecting with core values. In your dealership, it means bucket management—understanding where your inventory sits, how quickly it's moving, and taking action before units become problems.
The market is soft right now. Shopper indexes are down. Wholesale values are declining. But that doesn't change the fundamentals. In fact, it makes them more critical. Dealers who stay disciplined with bucket management, keep inventory fresh and relevant, and focus on turning what they stock will outperform those chasing the latest trend.
Stop chasing your tail with aged inventory. Stop over-stocking to hide process problems. Stop making excuses about why that low-mileage unit deserves to sit at an inflated price. The market doesn't care about your pride or your cost basis—it only cares about value.
Get back to basics. Manage your buckets. Turn your inventory. The gross will follow.