Executive Profile with Jim Fitzpatrick, Powered by CBT News

Frank Carbone on Holman’s Strategy for the Next 100 Years

• CBT News

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 42:18

Frank Carbone, President of Retail Automotive at Holman, shares how a career that began parking cars and changing oil evolved into leading nearly 60 dealerships across 32 brands. In this episode of Executive Profile, Carbone discusses Holman’s disciplined approach to growth, its unique acquisition strategy, and how the 100-year-old family business is preparing for its next century. He also explores affordability challenges, talent development, AI, and why operational fundamentals and customer focus remain essential as automotive retail continues to evolve.

In this episode, you'll learn:

  • How Carbone went from a lot attendant to leading Holman’s retail automotive business.
  • Why Holman’s hub strategy helped the company double its footprint twice in a decade.
  • How the company uses acquisitions to identify and share best practices.
  • Why talent development remains central to Holman’s long-term growth.
  • How Holman is applying AI and robotics without losing its focus on people.
  • What it takes to build a 100-year-old business for its next century.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Executive Profile with Jim Fitzpatrick.
For more interviews with the leaders shaping retail automotive, visit CBTNews.com and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate, review, and share it with someone in the industry.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00

Hello everyone, I'm Jim Fitzpatrick. Today we're taking you inside one of the nation's largest dealership organizations with Frank Carbone, president of Retail Automotive at Holman. In this exclusive conversation, Frank reflects on his unconventional path into the car business, Holman's approach to leadership and growth, and the company's acquisition strategy, building a strong culture across a growing organization, and his outlook on the future of the retail automotive business. Here now is my conversation with Frank Carbone on this edition of the Executive Profile on CBT News.

SPEAKER_01

This is the Executive Profile exclusively on CBT News.

SPEAKER_00

The Executive Profile is sponsored by the Dave Kent Group. Sure.

Growing Up Working Class In Florida

SPEAKER_00

So let's start in the beginning. Let's start with the Frank Carbone's uh life's story here. Uh take us back to where you were brought up, a little bit about your childhood, where were you in the family, and uh and then we'll get into your education and uh talk to us then about how you got into retail automotive. So let's start in the beginning.

SPEAKER_02

Uh sure. Yeah, so I grew up in uh South Florida, Fort Lauderdale area. And uh my father was a police officer who ran uh also ran a small uh pre-employment screening business on the side to make a little extra money. My mother worked at a local greeting card store. Uh so we didn't get much of what we wanted growing up, but we had everything that we needed, certainly.

SPEAKER_03

Sure.

SPEAKER_02

Uh my parents were both selfless, very hardworking people. Growing up in that environment taught me a great deal, including uh how important it is to treat people with respect and that you had to work hard for what you wanted because it wasn't going to be given to you. Uh so along those lines, I got my first job at 13 as a fast food cook, and uh, I started working at a local Ford store as a lot attendant and quick lube technician as soon as I got my driver's license. So uh those values that I learned early still shape who I am today.

SPEAKER_00

Sure. And was that how you got into retail automotive was through that experience early on?

SPEAKER_02

That was uh that was the first uh you know time that I kind of fell in love with the industry was way back then.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Now Holman, as you know, had a number of big dealerships, uh, Lincoln and and such, and down in Fort Lauderdale. Did you work for them at the time?

SPEAKER_02

You know, it's interesting. I did not work for the Holman uh family at the time when I was this is back when I was in high school and summers in college. Uh the store I did work at though ended up becoming uh through some acquisitions, the uh the Holman's uh Pompano Ford store.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh so I did have roots way back then, but it wasn't a Holman uh store at the time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. That was uh maybe Terry Ford?

SPEAKER_02

It was Terry Ford. There you go.

SPEAKER_00

Pretty good. I'm a South Florida kid myself, so uh knew it well. Knew it well. A small store that cranked out a ton of cars. So it was, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

They went on to the Mentons who owned that store went on to open Sunrise for as as they got uh got rid of the uh the Pompano store. So it's good. They're still running uh running great over there in Sunrise.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, wow, that's that's fantastic. Fantastic. Um are your parents still with us today?

SPEAKER_02

My father's passed. My mother's with with us. Uh she uh she's about to turn 89.

SPEAKER_00

Wow, wow, still going strong.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'm sure they're pretty proud of their son that got into the automotive industry early on, and and now you're the president of uh retail automotive at Holman. That's pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

My mom will talk to you for days about it if we want to spend some time with her.

SPEAKER_00

That's great. That's great. Uh and uh did you uh attend college?

SPEAKER_02

I did attend college. I went to uh Florida State University there in Tallahassee and uh I uh got actually three degrees from Florida State very Proud Seminole. And um uh after that I went to work for uh CSX, it's a a big uh railroad organization, uh publicly traded railroad out of uh Jacksonville, Florida. So it wasn't until my time with the uh that I joined the Holman family uh that I actually lived outside of Florida. Uh I'm up here in New Jersey at our headquarters now.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. So walk

From Railroad Fleet To Holman

SPEAKER_00

me through that, if you would, Frank. How did you go from the rail industry to to auto?

SPEAKER_02

So my uh my connection with the uh with the Holman uh family came through uh through my time at the railroad. Part of my responsibility at it at a time when I was there was the railroad fleet. And uh uh as you know, Holman has a number of businesses uh and the one of the biggest ones is the fleet, the fleet management organization. Uh and the Holman organization ran the fleet for uh for CSX. That's how I got to know the organization. So uh from there, you know, a couple conversations over some uh dinner, and uh and I'm up here in New Jersey now for um over 10 years. I'm in my 11th year.

SPEAKER_00

Wow, that's pretty that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Um what what what drew you into retail automotive specifically? Because it's it's obviously so different, I'm sure, than the rail business, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's actually quite a bit of similarity between the two businesses. Uh, you know, railroading is a is a unique and challenging industry. It as it seems different from automotive retail, there's definitely aspects that kind of transcend both. Um, so I've loved the business from an early age, as we talked about. I love cars. I grew up working on them. Uh I love engaging with our customers, our OEM partners, and uh course all of our people. Uh I really enjoy the complexity of the business and the pace of things. You certainly get immediate feedback in most cases when you've made a bad decision.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and it's just such a fun and challenging business, uh, which changes daily. And representing 32 brands uh in 60 stores in today's market definitely keeps us on our toes. It's a really function.

SPEAKER_00

And Holman has really been on uh a kind of an aggressive expansion plan, right, over the last uh five years uh or so. Talk to us about that. What's what's

The Acquisition Strategy Behind 60 Stores

SPEAKER_00

that strategy all about?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so um the uh the business really has doubled uh twice over the last uh 10 years or so. Uh first with the CUNY acquisition. We went from about 15 stores to about 30. Uh that was about 10 years ago. And then we had the Leith acquisition out of the group out of North Carolina in 2024, uh, which doubled us again to about 60 stores. So um, you know, it's it's an interesting uh it's an interesting situation. Well back in about 2021, we had a uh a strategy session that we ran and we run the business in kind of a in a centralized approach. And what we were looking at was the kind of the cost associated with the centralized approach uh related to the the cost that we put on each one of the stores and the opportunity to scale. And we um uh you know, we we did an exercise that told us that we can add some stores to the mix uh and provide the same services that we provide from a central perspective with very little incremental cost. So we went out to the market looking for three or four or five stores. We ended up with 30. Uh, it's just the way it goes. And uh, you know, and here we are. So we it was definitely a you know a concerted strategy around uh growing in the industry and and we continue to look for those opportunities.

SPEAKER_00

Sure. A little different from uh many of the dealer uh groups that I talk to where they like to acquire stores that are in their close proximity to their headquarters, more of a geographic strategy, but uh you go from New Jersey to North Carolina and others. Um talk to me about that. Is that uh I guess where the where the dealership is located or the dealer group that you acquire isn't as important to you or or is it?

SPEAKER_02

It's very important to us, a big part of that strategy, uh, but not necessarily in proximity to the headquarters. Right. Uh you know, our concept is really focused on on a hub model. We want to have multiple stores in a given geography.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um but it you know, it and obviously we're looking at specific states, specific brands that help us drive our strategy of of where we where we want to expand. Um but you know, there's a there's a lot of benefit to having stores uh closely located together. There's operational efficiencies, absolutely, but uh the biggest thing for us is the opportunities for our people. If you're at a store that's you know kind of way off somewhere by itself, uh you know, if you want to continue to grow in the organization, you have to move uh and and sometimes you know pretty far away. Um so over time we have kind of brought that down and really focused uh on having stores together. People have the opportunity to move and develop, try different brands, try different uh different roles and continue to grow in the organization. It just gives our people a lot more opportunity.

Hub Markets And Career Mobility

SPEAKER_00

Sure. Many of the dealers that I talk to that acquire groups as as you have find it a challenge, you know, to bring the cultures together of the new group and bring them into kind of the Holman way of doing business. Uh talk to us a little bit about that, because that that can be challenging, right?

SPEAKER_02

Uh it certainly can be challenging and and uh it's not uh it's not easy, certainly not easy. But uh what I would say is that we have uh a little bit of a different approach uh than most of the groups that you'll see out there. Um you know, a lot a lot of groups when they acquire a group, they'll go in and you know take the systems out, replace the management and and those kinds of things. And I and I'm certainly not saying there's positives and negatives to all these. There's no perfect uh there's no perfect solution here. But uh we have a you know a strategy where we really want to learn from the group that we're purchasing, right? So when we purchased the Leith Organization for the first year, we really didn't even touch anything, right? I mean, we were in there building relationships, learning their process, learning what they're doing, right? And the whole uh the whole concept was to try and figure out are are they doing something that is really successful that we should be doing in all the rest of the stores to scale across all 60 stores. Yeah, and there were a few of those things that we found out. If we didn't take that approach, we would have missed. Um, you know, but we have we have this you know uh sentiment that we're you know we're certainly not perfect. Uh we really try to work hard and and uh be as good as we can, but we're oh we're certainly never uh above learning. So well uh the first year we really didn't do anything, and then uh over that time we were formulating our plan, and then we started really in earnest in the beginning of 25 with the uh the efforts to um fully integrate the business, and that is uh you know, from a systems perspective, process perspective, and those kinds of things. It's obviously when you're running a business at this scale, it's important that you have that uh consistency. Um but you know, it takes time and and it takes uh and it takes uh a lot of effort. So we're sure just now, and here we are in mid-2026, we're just now getting to the point where I could say the vast majority of that work is done. Yeah, and we are we're getting ready to trans, we're transitioning into more of an optimization phase than an integration phase.

SPEAKER_00

Will we see um any big announcements coming out of Holman for the acquisition of more stores here in the future?

SPEAKER_02

Uh no, not not in the near future. Uh, you know, it's uh it's an interesting when you when you have a uh a uh acquisition like the size of the leaf uh organization and that hits the the press, right? You become very, very popular. And uh and so we get uh so we get quite a quite a few uh opportunities uh to look at uh at uh acquisitions and uh we look through them uh very carefully and they have to align with a lot of things that that uh that we uh that we look for in those things. You know, you have culture, location, brand, all the different things that we talked about. Um but uh at this point there's no no big announcements coming. But we're always we're always looking.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

Integration Without Breaking Culture

SPEAKER_00

You oversee strategy across Holman's dealership portfolio. What are the biggest operational levers that can truly move performance at the store level?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so um in my opinion, it's really all about the the fundamentals, the right people, the right processes, daily routines that really just become you know how you do business. Uh maintaining that process discipline and and making good data-driven decisions are key to uh to running a solid operation. We pull apart every area of the operation and use score cars to drive the right actions and the right behaviors, but really central to all of this is the training and development of our people, which we devote a considerable amount of time to.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Um, how do you balance uh centralized a centralized strategy with empowering uh individual GMs to run their markets effectively?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so that's a great question, and it's certainly a relevant one for us because we run a very centralized operation. Uh our goal and what we really chase on a uh daily basis is to be the best in the industry in every area of the operation. And in my opinion, there is no Superman. There's there's not enough time in the day for any one person to be able to really accomplish that. So we structured our business uh with central teams that focus on the main areas. We have teams for sales, service, and parts, FI, inventory management, and of course our BDC and training teams. And these central teams work day in and day out, laser focused on their particular area, okay, doing all of the hard work, the data analytics trending across all the information we have across all 60 stores. But those teams can't do it alone, which is why I always say internally that we play a team sport. Of course, we have some non-negotiables such as culture and values, compliance, brand standards, uh, and uh customer transparency. Those things have to happen in all of our stores. But uh it is the central teams working hand in hand with those GMs and the store leadership to make the best decisions possible for our business across all the geographies. That's what makes us successful. The local market knowledge is a critical part of that. Uh, but we win as a team. It's a it's a little bit of a different model than somehow.

SPEAKER_00

Sure. Um, not to put you on the spot here with some of your GMs, but from your perspective, what separates high-performing dealerships from average ones right now?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Um for me, especially right now, it's consistency. Uh the best stores execute on the basics every day and have a strong focus on developing talent. They also have the ability to meet the customer where they want to be met related to the buying process, or whether that's online, in-person, or what we usually see, which is a mix of both. Um we've had the we've had the ability to fully transact online for some time now, but we don't really see a lot of customers taking advantage of that. Uh customers still want to come in, kick the tires, drive the vehicle, and everything like that. It is still, you know, probably for most people the second uh biggest investment that they'll make. Um so there, you know, besides that, there must be a sense of pride and professionalism that you can feel when you walk into a store. And you have to have leaders that adhere to this operational rhythm based on the daily huddles, weekly scorecards, coaching, performance management, all those things managing the details of the business. The best stores, in my opinion, are those that are relentless in the pursuit of that operational excellence and the incredible customer service, of course.

SPEAKER_00

Sure, sure. As a young GM myself, uh, I've worked for both styles of dealers that said, you know, we're gonna run a centralized location and support you with FI training, with sales training, we lead with leadership training, with guidance in the area of marketing and uh keeping your budgets in line, what have you. And it really helped out in a very big way. Um but then there's other stores uh that I've run that they said, you're on your own, man. We look at the bottom line every month. We don't really care how you get there as long as you stayed within the guardrails that we set up. You gotta do your own training, you got to set up your own marketing, you got to get your own ad agency, whatever the case might be. Um and I but I learned so much from those centralized uh companies because they had the you know, they had kind of the muscle. Any problem that I would run into, I could just call you know my the the platform president at the time and say, Hey, I need help in this area. And uh, you know, they would they would parachute someone in, so to speak, to go, yeah, we got this. We we've seen this in our other stores, we can help you. Um talk talk to us about that strategy because I think that that centralized location can really help GMs to where they can just worry about running their dealerships and not have to be concerned so concerned with all of those other areas, right, without any help.

SPEAKER_02

You're you're exactly right. And and that gets back to the whole concept of there not being a Superman, right? So again, uh, you know, when you really think about it, you know, we have uh you know, we have teams all over the country. Back to your point, not everybody's within driving distance of of us here in Mount Laurel. And um, so it's really important that our uh leaders in those stores have the ability to actually lead. Um, I don't want them sitting in a in an office for six hours uh you know trying to figure out a marketing campaign when we have a team that can do that. Right. And it allows them for that six hours to engage with their people, engage with the customers, be active in the community uh and uh and just be a leader in the business, right? It's very, very important for us to have that. Um and we've seen you know some great results uh by that that model. So we're we're excited about it. And uh, you know, it's not necessarily for everybody, yeah, but uh but we think that uh we provide some really good support for our teams and and and our GMs are very successful.

SPEAKER_00

It also allows you to bring up uh you know have a sales manager that or a GSM that you make a GM because that GM can take that position on, knowing that they've got that that safety net there and that support there from the headquarters, right? They can get in just so much trouble, but from a training standpoint, you're not bringing that GM and saying, okay, I mean that GSM and saying, now okay, now you're a GM, you're on your own. You know, I hope I hope you make it. You know, they've they've got that support, which is so important to somebody that that is a new GM, uh, right? I mean, that that's it's vital.

SPEAKER_02

It it is vital, and and to to your point, right? That that allows us to really put younger people in their career in significant leadership roles much earlier than you would be able to if you didn't have that that backbone, if you didn't have that support. And uh and that's what we have. We uh we have a great group of GMs, great group of leaders in our stores, and uh and we have a pretty uh pretty exciting career path for them. So sure. Uh it it makes for a it makes for a great model.

SPEAKER_00

I bet, I bet. Hey,

New Flagship Stores And Readiness

SPEAKER_00

recently um uh Holman opened up two noteworthy dealerships, uh Porsche North Miami and Lexus of Vancouver. Can you share a little bit about those two recent openings and how they support your growth overall and what your strategy is there? Those are great brands and great places. So uh the big kudos to you. Those are that's a those are big wins, right?

SPEAKER_02

They're huge wins. We're very excited about both of those doors. And uh, you know, and it gets uh certain back to the strategy, the right brands in the right places, uh, you know, with uh with our investment strategy. It's it just comes together in these kind of in these ways that just are incredible for us. Um we're very excited about the opening of both of these stores. Porsche North Miami really isn't uh just is kind of not a normal dealership, it's really incredible. I encourage you to come visit. Hopefully you'll you'll take me up on that. Uh the store really was built to represent the best of the Porsche brand and Holman.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And and we're really proud of how it came out. Lexus of Vancouver, which we just opened yesterday, by the way. Oh wow, congratulations. That's great. Yeah, we're excited there as well. It's it's uh it's the same story. You're seeing exactly how we think about long-term value creation, investment in the brand, and and our growth strategy uh with the through a long-term lens. U at both locations, though, we focus on what really matters to us, which is in addition to a beautiful building where our customers feel comfortable, uh, is people readiness, operational consistency, and delivering the right customer experience from day one. Our teams trained very hard uh leading up to the opening of both of those stores uh to make sure that that was the case. And as we talked about before, they both follow our hub strategy. Both of the stores are near other homeless stores, which allows for that tele talent development growth and operational effectiveness that we talked about. So we we we're you know having these two kind of open pretty close to each other, we're we're off and running, and we couldn't be more excited.

The Future Of Single Point Dealers

SPEAKER_00

Sure. And you've got the benefit of multiple stores. Um what what's your take on uh the future of the single point where somebody's got a Ford store, they have a a Chevy uh store or something, you know, some other brand um that's serving a community? Uh do you think that the industry uh will be increasingly uh more difficult to operate uh, you know, a a mom and pop, so to speak, uh operation when you've got the Holmans of the world out there and AutoNation and and Lithia and what have you, uh, you know, that that's such a big player out there. Um what are the future of those those one-offs?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, I I think it's uh I think it's uh uh getting more and more difficult. Uh, you know, if you if you look at the consolidation, you can't uh you know deny the consolidation that's taken place over the last number of years. And uh and I think the the the challenge is when you have a single point, and that point is with a brand that's struggling uh in the market, right? That just it just makes it so difficult uh when you think of the investment that you have to maintain uh you know, facility-wise and people and all the different things that it takes to run this business. And as you know, the margins are relatively thin in this business, so there's not a ton of room. Uh and and it just puts a lot of pressure on those those single points. Uh so you know you know, if you're a single Lexus or a single point Lexis owner, I think you're you're doing pretty good.

SPEAKER_00

I think you're doing okay. No no complaints.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so uh so I think it's just a matter of location, brand, sure, uh the relative effectiveness of the brand, and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. Now Holman's been around for m more than a hundred years, right? I mean it's and and it's still run by a Holman today, is it not?

SPEAKER_02

It is. Mindy Holman uh is the is the current uh chair chair of our board and uh and uh third generation of the family. We do have fourth generation uh members of the family that are now working in the business. As a matter of fact, uh one of the generation is our uh regional vice president of sales here in the north. So uh uh we're very excited about their involvement in the business.

SPEAKER_00

Sure. You don't often see that in the automotive industry. There's uh some there are some groups out there, obviously. We've spoken to them here at CBT News, where they've been around 50 years, 70 years, maybe even a few that are 100 years, not a lot that are a hundred years. Because you see so many dealer groups, maybe third generation, second or third generation, that go, okay, I got the number that I needed, and my grandfather was a lot more passionate about the auto industry than I am, and therefore I'm gonna I'm gonna let it go to uh you know to one of the bigger groups, maybe Holman or some of the others. And uh that that's an interesting situation that we find ourselves in in retail automotive. There's a lot of turnover right now. I think last year was a record number of acquisitions that uh that happened. Um talk to us a little bit about that and where the the industry is headed.

SPEAKER_02

Um from a well, from a family uh perspective, uh I think the the Holman family, you know, started this this whole thing, and this obviously again, this is much bigger than just the just the automotive retail portion of our business. There we're in a number of different verticals. Yeah, you are operate in five, six different countries. It's it's you know, it's a it's a it's a big scale uh of a business. And um, you know, and but it all started with one forge store in New Jersey in 1924. Wow. And uh and the passion around the uh the automotive retail part of the business is as strong today as it ever was uh on the part of the family. And uh and so again, we we get we get a lot of support uh and and a lot of interest. We you know we we continue to be very bullish on the industry. You see the size of the of the investments that we're making.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and so I certainly don't expect that to uh I don't expect that to change. Now, are there gonna be different interests and different things that happen? Holman's getting into a lot of very interesting things. It's very fun to be a part of this organization right now. We just started up a robotics business, and there's all kinds of things that are happening here. So it's not to say that we won't continue to expand, uh, but the the uh the retail business is very important to them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And and probably if it's the the the same as as many uh dealers that I talk to where each generation really wants to grow and leave their mark on what they were able to do with the group, right?

SPEAKER_02

Right, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no question.

SPEAKER_02

And I think that's why you're seeing, you know, you're seeing the the uh kind of diversification across a number of different areas and the continued diversification to make sure that we're relevant for another hundred years, right? I mean that's really the focus of our our business right now, is to make sure we're relevant for another hundred years.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. Do you think you'll be with them in a hundred years, Frank?

SPEAKER_02

I I they probably won't want me at that point.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, geez. So

Recruiting Technicians And Keeping Talent

SPEAKER_00

let me ask you, in a tight labor market that we find ourselves in right now, what what is uh Holman's strategy for recruiting and retaining top talent? I mean, whether it be a technician, that is obviously we need so many technicians, NADA says about 75,000 over the course of the next couple of years. But uh but then also other positions within the store, uh, whether it be sales associate or GM or GSM or F and I, well, how do you how do you stock these stores with really good talent?

SPEAKER_02

Well, um, so I I I think we have a great benefit in in the fact that we have been around for a hundred uh plush years. Yeah and uh the Holman reputation in the industry is a pretty solid one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, so we we go after talent, we win talent by offering a career, right? And uh training, coaching, a culture that respects people. Um and people come here because of that reputation, but they say but they stay because they see that career pathway and development, opportunities through leadership rotation programs, competitive conversation, all the things that it takes to provide a great uh a great uh you know uh environment for them to grow. Um a good example of this is on the the technician side, you mentioned technicians uh and we partner with tech schools and build the next generation of service talent, but then we also show them a career path. Once they get going, we have a position that I'm really proud of. It's called a technician development advisor. And uh we have one in every platform that we operate. And um the sole purpose of this of this role is to engage on a daily basis with the technicians, help them through development, uh testing to you know to uh get to generate additional credentials and and those kinds of things and and be there. They they're there on day one when they onboard and they're there all the way through their journey until they become a master level, you know, uh technician. Um and that's something that we thought was really important uh to help us maintain uh you know uh this culture and maintain these opportunities for people to grow within our organization. A lot of times when you bring uh technicians in, they do they're they're out there doing their job, they're doing a great job. And there's not a lot of focus on growth opportunities or opportunities to continue to uh to expand. And that's the uh and that's the focus for us is uh making sure that we create that environment. Um, one of the things that's really interesting and a little bit unique about uh about Holman is that um you know we have a uh a motto uh or a purpose that we live, and that is to uh to create to create a rewarding career and a better life for our people and their families. And that's the that's it, right? There isn't you're just either in there, there's no words on you know, you know, being the best in this and uh you know the most profitable and you know, shareholders and those kinds of things. You don't hear any of that. It's really focused on creating a rewarding career for our people and a better life for them and their families. And uh, you know, we live that every single day. That's not just a a purpose for us, a statement. Uh and people feel that. So our uh our our attrition is relatively uh minimal compared to what you see in in uh in a lot of areas of the industry, and I think that's because we really focus on that and take care of our people.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's that's great. And uh I would imagine you also have got uh not just in the ownership, but you've got multiple generations of employees where their kids are coming into the business in the home.

SPEAKER_02

It's all over home.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So and that's and when you really think about it, that's really the the best, in my opinion, it's one of the best compliments that you can pay to an organization is that you would trust your family to uh to work at the same organization because you know they're gonna get taken care of, you know they're gonna have a great career. And uh and so we we love that and we see it all over the different homeland businesses and quite a bit in the region.

SPEAKER_00

That's great business. Yeah, that speaks volumes as to how you're the culture that you've built for sure.

Mobile Service And Used Car Sourcing

SPEAKER_00

Let's stay on uh fixed ops if we can for just a second. Um many stores uh out there now are getting into mobile service. I know Ford's been a big proponent of this as well, and uh and kind of pushing their uh franchise uh dealers to to get into this. Where do you stand on on mobile service? Are you doing it in the stores? How do you feel about it? Is that an area of growth for you?

SPEAKER_02

Uh so we we are participating in it. Uh I think it's a uh you know, it's a it's an interesting aspect of the business. It's great from a customer service perspective, right? Being able to uh being able to you know meet the customer, get you know small uh repairs done, yeah, those kinds of things. Uh so there is really a benefit in that. Um it's it's difficult to to make it pencil from a profitability perspective. Uh that's part of the challenge that we have. So we're we're constantly working with the OEMs and we're constantly uh you know tweaking that to try and figure out how we get better and better at uh making it uh make sense from a profitability perspective. But we're very happy with it from the uh from the perspective of uh customer service.

SPEAKER_00

Um the we've seen the service drive uh all of a sudden in the last, you know, well, really since COVID when the the need for used cars was was in huge demand as it is today, still um really become not just a service drive, but an acquisition drive. Uh so many vehicles now are being purchased by the dealer, as you know, from customers. Are you doing that as well with your stores? Is that a great uh avenue for used cars?

SPEAKER_02

We are doing it uh across the across the organization, and it absolutely is a great avenue for used cars. Uh, you know, if you think about uh the dynamic of open market acquisition for used cars right now, it's very, very difficult. You have uh you know, you have your carbana's car, you know, all out there uh really bidding these cars up and uh and making it very difficult to to uh to acquire good solid used cars uh that people need. So being able to, it just makes sense, right? Mining your own uh your own customer base and and giving those opportunities to those customers where we see positive equity and those kinds of things, uh, you know, and that that really has helped us uh increase our supply of used cars, and uh, you know, and that's certainly an area that we we are focused on.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Um

AI Tools And Service Lane Robotics

SPEAKER_00

one area that we've seen uh and and we talk a lot about here at uh CBT News, as well as the entire industry is talking about, and that's AI. Um AI is playing such a big role now in uh the deal the operation of the dealership from making phone calls out outbound to incoming phone calls to helping write service orders and what everything in between. Talk to us a little bit about the impact that AI is having in the Holman organization, if any.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so it definitely is. Uh, we're focused really from an AI perspective, we're focused on practical use cases, uh, really using data and automation to free up our teams to be able to improve the customer experience and to help our employees be more effective. As an example, you know, when a customer engages with us, AI is allowing us to have a faster response, better routing of leads to our sales team. On the fixed side, we're using AI tools to help optimize uh appointment scheduling and to help improve the service experience through proactive uh reminders and transparency around the vehicle repair. Uh and we're also using AI to help in decision support uh using integrated data and reporting on the inventory management side of our business. But again, the main focus is improving the customer and employee experience, and we're continually looking for ways uh to make that happen.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, that's that's uh and uh it it seems as though the more dealers are teaching their people and working with their people to use AI as a tool, um the you know that it doesn't threaten the AI doesn't threaten the associate uh you know to the point that they say, okay, my my job's gonna be replaced by AI. It's it's the job will be held for that individual so long as they know how to use AI as an effective tool to do their job better, right?

SPEAKER_02

That's exactly right. And uh we haven't had, you know, we've been we've been really uh focused on uh implementing AI tools where it makes sense, and we we are using a number of them as I as I just mentioned. We haven't had one layoff uh for uh you know, because of uh the implementation of AI. Sure. Uh it's just helped it's it's certainly helped us be more effective. That's that's the the focus that we have on.

SPEAKER_00

When it comes to embracing emerging technologies like AI, I also understand that a number of Holman dealerships are p uh piloting an innovation solution designed to optimize parts movement and increase technician efficiency. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely. So this is one of the fun parts about working for a diversified company like Holman. We've recently started up a new business, as I mentioned earlier, called Holman Robotics. The purpose of this business is to connect different components of the automation journey, managing deployment, performance, and lifecycle of the robot so that the technology actually works at scale, and we've been testing it in a retail environment. As part of our relationship with that team, we've been piloting robotic solutions at several of our stores focused uh on an opportunity around technician efficiency, specifically, as you mentioned, in parts movement and internal logistics. Uh we're using these autonomous robots to move materials through the service area so that our technicians can can stay focused on revenue-producing work and be more productive. Um we're providing that team with good feedback to improve that product and uh, you know, uh with the with the expectation of eventually making it marketable across the industry. So it's really uh a fun part of uh being a part of Holman that we get to kind of dabble in some of this stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, for sure. Uh

Affordability Pressures And EV Reality Check

SPEAKER_00

another topic that's very hot right now that we talk a lot about is affordability. Obviously, with the price of a car being fifty thousand dollars on the new side and used cars that uh uh are growing in uh as well. Uh it it's a real concern for working class families out there. In fact, for everybody out there, you know, with the average payment being over $800 and over 20% of them being over $1,000 a month and car uh car insurance that's more than doubled in the last five or six years. This is a real issue. And now, of course, it's coupled with uh high gas prices, but uh that that may change. Um how do you uh you know, over all of the stores that that you're operating and and realizing that you know the industry's got to do something about this? How do you how do you adapt from a from a standpoint of pricing inventory mix and the messaging to the consumers in your market?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's no doubt that affordability uh is real. There's no doubt. Uh you know, we're adapting in a number of different ways, really focusing on our uh smarter inventory mix, transparency with the customers is really important, and helping them find the right path to ownership. Internally, uh, we're expanding our used car operation to uh provide product for the customer at all price levels. Uh and uh, you know, we are making sure that uh we're ordering the right new vehicles from a trim perspective uh and that we're maintaining the right day supply. Uh transparency in payment conversation is also critical. And our pre-owned promise or our one price uh youth vehicles reduces the friction, sets the payment expectations very early in the buying process, so there's no surprises uh to the customer. So it's important that we take care of our customers through the ownership of the vehicle, not just the initial sale. We want to build that lasting relationship. Uh, but it's definitely a challenge, and and uh we're working hard to try and do everything we can uh to to help our customers out.

SPEAKER_00

Uh obviously, you know, when when we saw the incentives go away uh last year, uh EV sales came way down. Actually, they went way up for a little while there in September because of that. But um, what what's your take on EVs in the industry? Uh you you represent Toyota and and and and uh Lexus, who have have kind of play uh called it right. They said, look, we we really see the EV market. Yes, it's there, but we really believe in hybrids as kind of the bridge to an EV environment one day. Um, and other companies have followed suit in that. Uh I would imagine you're selling a lot of hybrids right now. But what's your take on EVs and where we stand in the country?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so there's no doubt that uh the uh industry experienced a pull forward of demand from consumers trying to get the EVs before the incentives expired last year, is mean making the year-over-year comparisons to volume right now very uh challenging. Um but as those incentives change, as you know, demand normalized and dropped considerably. Yeah. Uh but the customer curiosity hasn't gone away. These geopolitical events that we were talking about uh, you know, is good for the industry right now and the timing of these things coming back, as we said. But what we see now is customers just being more thoughtful. They're weighing the total cost of ownership, charging convenience, and how the vehicle uh fits into their lifestyle, just like they would do with any major purchase. Uh you know, I I I think EVs are here to stay, and obviously uh improvements in in battery technology, improvements in infrastructure uh in the uh in the country will certainly help uh as as things go. Right now it's uh it's challenging because uh because of the lack of infrastructure that range anxiety and those kinds of things. Um but uh you know again there's there's a lot of uh investment going on right now in battery technology. And you know, if you get a battery out there in production that is uh you know uh reasonably priced that can that has an 800 mile range, for example, you you know, that changes the game. It definitely changes the game.

SPEAKER_00

That's right.

SPEAKER_02

Uh so it'll be interesting to see what happens. But the you know, OEMs are still putting a fair amount of money into development of EVs. Obviously, the United States isn't the only country in the world in EVs, uh are popular in many other geographies.

SPEAKER_00

Um last question,

Leading For The Next 100 Years

SPEAKER_00

I appreciate all the time that you've given us. What are the some of the things that keep you up at night? Uh ahead of all of these uh top of all of these dealer groups are dealers that you're in charge of and commissioned to run effectively and profitably. Uh what are the things that keep you up at night?

SPEAKER_02

Either about the industry or uh the the you know the the uh economy as a whole yeah I I mean you know look, uh obviously we are we're going through tough time right now in the industry, the economy, all the challenges that we've talked about. Um I I wouldn't say that any of that really keeps me up at night. Okay. Um you know, the the the uh the responsibility that I have here at Holman is to lead a you know a hundred plus year old business and make sure that we're relevant for the next hundred years as we've discussed. And making sure that that happens. I we we have to run a good solid operation, we have to provide a great uh place to work for our people and and so on and so forth. Uh and um, you know, when you think about the frame of that, and we're not looking over the next five to ten years, we're looking over the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and it's one of the big benefits that we have of being privately held versus public, right? We make investments uh with it with a long-term view, and uh, you know, and everything that we're doing, I think, is the right things. Um, we do have to be able to operate a business under any external condition and still be successful. Uh so um so that's uh you know part of the the areas that we that we focus on quite a bit. Um but um you know I mean look at I I would much rather have a situation where the volumes were a lot higher and uh we didn't have a lot of the challenges that we have, but um, you know, we're very uh focused on maintaining the operation during this time to be able to thrive when things uh when things become better. And there are some positives on uh even this year. And again, we talked about the the um the return of of lease returns uh in the back half of the year, potential rate cut, which would be helpful uh, you know, hopefully in the back half of the year. Um there's positive things I think are coming our way, and uh we'll have to manage through all of them, and and uh I think we're gonna come out on the other side uh you know even stronger than we are today. So

Closing Thoughts And Thanks

SPEAKER_02

it's an exciting place to be, and uh, you know, I'm very thankful for the Holman family. I'm very thankful for our team uh and uh we'll keep going after it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we are very thankful for all the time that you've given us. Frank Carbone, looking forward to the next hundred years. Uh maybe we'll both be here and we'll do this again in a hundred years.

unknown

That would be great. That would be great.

SPEAKER_00

President of Retail Automotive at uh great company. Holman has uh been just an incredible uh brand and company that represents retail automotive in only the finest way. So, Frank Carbone, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Great uh talking to you. Great things.