Key Takeaways:
- FTC Pricing Enforcement Is Here: KPA’s Adam Crowell warns dealers to fold doc fees and every non-government fee into advertised prices across their website and digital retailing platforms, because mismatched pricing is now triggering FTC investigations.
- Hire to Protect Your Culture: Roper Kia’s Tustin Ulrich uses an unconventional seven-step hiring process, complete with a vibe check and a book report, to filter for candidates who fit, not just impress on paper.
- Lock In Your AI Strategy Now: Mia’s Scott Traylor urges dealers to move fast on AI, pointing out that top dealer groups have already set their 2027 plans and that sitting on the sidelines means falling behind.
Car Dealership Guy’s Daily Dealer Live hosted by Sam D’Arc, was live on the show floor during Digital Dealer 2026 and featured four standout conversations. Adam Crowell of KPA on FTC pricing enforcement, Tustin Ulrich of Roper Kia on rebuilding hiring standards, Scott Traylor of Mia on why dealers need an AI strategy now, and Sefi Adasi Lucki and Mike Lucki of Lucki Mazda of Woodbridge on building a dealership from the ground up.
Each guest spoke to a distinct challenge facing dealers today: regulatory exposure, hiring quality, AI adoption, and the realities of launching a new store. Together, they offer a snapshot of where the industry stands heading into 2027.
Held at Huntington Place in Detroit on September 22 and 23, Digital Dealer brought dealership leaders together to tackle the pressures reshaping auto retail. The Daily Dealer Live broadcast captured just four of the conversations that made for an impactful event and those are worth revisiting even now after the show floor has closed.
Why is the FTC Targeting Dealership Pricing Practices?
Adam Crowell, chief legal and strategy officer at KPA, joined the show to unpack the FTC’s ongoing pricing and fee transparency push. Crowell noted the FTC has focused on this issue for roughly five years, prosecuting eight of the last nine actions alongside state attorneys general and recovering more than $130 million from dealers.
Six months after warning letters went out to 97 dealers, Crowell said dealers are still asking basic questions the FTC has already answered.
“I don’t know if it’s that people aren’t understanding that that’s what the FTC’s position is,” Crowell said. “I think maybe in some cases they may just not be paying attention that the FTC is about this. And what I think is really important about this is this is not a new thing with the FTC.”
His guidance: doc fees and any non-government fee must appear in the advertised price, and that price needs to match across a dealership’s website and every digital retailing platform. Crowell also confirmed the FTC softened its stance on in-transit vehicle advertising, allowing dealers to list them as long as the vehicle image matches and the listing clearly discloses in-transit status.
What Does a Seven-Step Hiring Process Look Like?
Tustin Ulrich, general manager at Roper Kia, returned to the show to explain why he rebuilt his hiring process from scratch, including a step that ends in a book report. “If you want an unconventional result, you have to take an unconventional approach,” Ulrich said.
His process includes a 10-minute phone “vibe check,” a narrowed interview list, unconventional interview questions such as “What fictional character best describes you and why?, and two personality assessments, including the Six Types of Working Genius. Ulrich looks specifically for tenacity scores when hiring for admin-heavy roles like recon management. The goal, he said, is protecting a culture worth protecting, one hire at a time.
How Fast Is AI Adoption Moving in Dealerships?
Scott Traylor, vice president of sales at Mia, framed AI adoption in stark terms. Facebook took 54 months to reach 100 million users, Instagram took 30 months, TikTok took nine months and ChatGPT took just two.
“If you’re a dealer that says, “I’m going to sit on the sidelines and just kind of see how this AI thing shakes out,” I would encourage that dealer to rethink his position,” Traylor said.
He pointed to data from CallerView and Car Wars showing roughly 30 percent of inbound dealership calls go unanswered on the first attempt, a bandwidth problem AI can solve. Traylor’s recommendation isn’t full automation but a hybrid approach: let AI handle the first and last steps of the sales process, connect customers to humans faster, and follow up when deals stall.
What Does It Take to Build a Dealership From Scratch?
Sefi Adasi Lucki and Mike Lucki, the ownership team behind Lucki Mazda of Woodbridge, discussed launching their store three months earlier with zero turnover. Sefi, a former tech product manager, brings an outsider’s perspective to automotive operations. Combined with Mike’s more traditional automotive background, it creates a unique, forward-thinking management style.
“One thing first about what Sefi said is that with her outside influence in the industry, a lot of times the first answer I think about is, is it possible — the thing that she’s mentioning, could we actually do it?” said Mike Lucki. “And the nice thing about being an instructor at the academy is that I saw thousands of different ways to do the same thing. So yes, it is possible. It’s just a matter of how to do it.”
The pair chose Tekion for their DMS and DriveCentric for their CRM, prioritizing vendor responsiveness above all else. They’ve also automated bank reconciliation and portions of the sales process while deliberately preserving human connection in customer-facing roles. Big decisions, from hiring to vendor selection, get made jointly, and disagreements never happen in front of the team.
The Common Thread Across Every Conversation
Regulatory scrutiny, hiring standards, AI adoption, and day-to-day execution look like four separate topics, but each guest returned to the same idea: dealerships that build strong processes now will be better positioned for 2027 and beyond. Whether the challenge is pricing compliance or a wide-open hiring calendar, the dealers and leaders featured at Digital Dealer 2026 made the case that intentional systems, not shortcuts, drive lasting results.
Watch the full CDG broadcast here!