Michael Brown’s Blueprint for Sustainable Dealership Growth

Strategic acquisitions, operational discipline, and leadership development are key drivers behind the growth of Empire Automotive Group, according to Michael Brown on this episode of Inside Automotive. Brown shares how his organization has expanded across the Northeast while maintaining a strong focus on culture, workforce development, and brand strategy.

Drawing on early experience working alongside his father and later mentorship from industry leaders such as Roger Penske and John Stalupi, Brown explains how disciplined execution and thoughtful expansion have shaped Empire’s growth. He also discusses evolving manufacturer relationships, market trends affecting affordability and leasing, and investments in fixed operations designed to support long-term profitability.

Discussion topics include:

• Scaling a dealership group through strategic acquisitions
• Strengthening OEM partnerships amid direct-sales pressures
• Workforce development and leadership training initiatives
• Expanding fixed operations with a new 55-bay service facility
• Leveraging used inventory sourcing to drive sales opportunities

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Transcript

Michael Brown’s Origin Story

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:07

Welcome to Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick. Hey everyone, Jim Fitzpatrick. Thanks so much for joining me on another edition of Inside Automotive right here at cbtnews.com. Today I'm joined by a leader who truly represents the entrepreneurial spirit of automotive retail. Michael Brown, owner of Empire Automotive Group in New York, has built an impressive career in the car business, one defined by vision, resilience, and steady growth. Michael's journey began on the showroom floor, learning the fundamentals of sales, customer relationships, and dealership operations from the ground up. Over the years, he worked his way through the ranks, gaining experience across multiple facets of the business before taking the leap into ownership through strategic acquisitions, a focus on culture, and a commitment to operational excellence. He's grown Empire Automotive Group into a significant player in the automotive market in New York. So, Michael Brown, thank you so much for making the pilgrimage to our humble studio here. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Great to see you. I see you on TV all the time. It's time to be here in person. That's right. We go way back. Yeah, yeah.

Jim Fitzpatrick 1:12

You were one of our first uh individuals that would stop us at NADA and say, I watch you guys. We're like, you're the guy that watches us. But we appreciate the support. Yeah, it's great. So we're so happy to have you here. That's great. So let's jump in. Uh I touched a little bit on your background here, which is very, very impressive. But you got into the car business early on, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Yeah, you know, I grew up, my dad was a mechanic, you know, he was a tech and took every franchise nobody wanted. And so he ended up with British ended up with a British Lady one, Peugeot, Lotus, Alpha. Right. All the winners. Oh my lot. Like throwing anchors to a drowning man. So I cut my teeth on some tough franchises, worked through high school and college. Okay. And then uh, you know, he sold. Okay. He sold, he got out. So I was working for some other individuals and really just kind of jumped in. That's great. That's great.

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:00

You worked for some big auto groups, too.

Mentors And First Six Stores

SPEAKER_01 2:01

I mean Yeah, I was very fortunate. I had great mentors. I mean, working for what I consider two of the best in Roger Penske and John Stelopi.

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:08

I mean, you're right. What could you ask for? Right, right. Right, no question. And then you you decide, all right, I'm gonna step out, I've learned all of this and put it to work for my own good and build my own company.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

That's right. You know, uh about six years ago I felt that I was of the age that if I was ever gonna try and be in business for myself, yeah, that was the time to jump. Right, right.

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:27

What was your first franchise or franchise?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Uh well I cut a deal with with my boss, and I I left that group with six six stores. Okay, nice. I left with six, so I ended up with a Toyota store. Thankfully, it was great. Yeah, yeah, it's a good store. Got a great got a great Stellantis store, uh, ended up with a Subaru store, an Audi store, Chevy store. All good stores. Yeah, really good stuff. It was really exciting. Yeah, not the stores your dad had. No, no, much different brands, much different brands. Is he still with us today? He is, he is, but he's not in the business. As I said, he sold. He ended up with with Porsche at one point, so things worked out for him as well.

Direct Sales And The Scout Question

Jim Fitzpatrick 3:00

Very good. Yeah, yeah, no, no question about it. So you've seen a you've seen a lot in our industry uh in the in the number of years that you've been in it. There are some things right now going on in the industry, though. You're an Audi dealer, you might as well jump right in. Uh Audi is um obviously owned by Volkswagen, who is now looking to sell directly their their scout product directly to consumers. Yeah does that is that like a kick in the shins right there? Listen, it's it's it's tough for an Audi dealer.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

It's got to be real tough for a VW dealer. Yeah. Um so I know there's been some passionate and animated discussions, certainly at the NADA make meeting. That's right. Um there was, but you know, it's it's a tough situation because retailers, you know, when they look at look at something, look at the business, one is you want a sound product. Right. But Audi delivers that already. Yeah. They deliver a sound product. You want the support that's around it. You need marketing, you need, you know, you need a budget, you need to make sure that everyone's on the same page. And I think it's it's always a cycle, right? You'll see brands up and down, come and go, up and down. And even with the best of the best, you know, they they they have off peaks. You know, there's times where you'll have a great franchise which doesn't have new sheet metal for a year or two and things get long in the tooth and it gets a little tough. So you have to grind. Yeah, it's kind of a good reality check. But Audi as a brand is is a great brand. You know, I love their product, um, and I really like their executive team. I think that they gotta pound out some some you know some some definitions of what who they want to be with the dealers now with what's going on with this scout brand. Right. And that's that's coming.

Jim Fitzpatrick 4:34

Yeah, yeah. Do they consult with you guys at all on that and say, hey, here's what we're thinking? Well, you know, take your temperature, what's the deal?

Audi’s Product Pipeline

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Well, I think that they're they're they're they're good listeners as far as what's going on with Audi. Okay. You know, um, we really didn't get into much with them. I've never gotten into much with them with when it comes to Scout or their investment in Rivian or anything like that or their other stuff. Yeah. You know, I strictly speak to them about Audi. I will say they are good listeners, um, and they are you know coming with some really good launches. The Q3 just came out, you got Q7 later this year, and you got Q9, which is a first for this brand, right? Which always that that third row, you know, nine seat SUV is a really big halo for a brand, and I think that's a that's a good one.

Jim Fitzpatrick 5:16

And it's needed it, right? I mean it got a little sale too. Yeah, it needed it for years. Yeah, really. It's exciting. We saw some of that happen, even with you were mentioning uh other brands, Mercedes-Benz went through a tough. They even right, no one's immune. That's right, that's right, that's right. We all saw Hyundai uh in the 80s and early 90s, it was like nobody wanted a Hyundai store. There's probably nobody that would pass on a Hyundai store right now. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Remember, I remember years ago when I was working for Mr. Staloopy, the when the Sonata, the new Sonata came out, and I it was on the cover of either Forbes or one of these big magazines, and everyone wanted one. You know, it became really hot.

Jim Fitzpatrick 5:51

That's that's awesome. So when you when you think of a company like uh like uh Volkswagen that says we want to sell directly to consumers, why do you think they even want to take something like that on?

Why OEMs Try Direct And Dealer Fears

SPEAKER_01 6:01

You know, it's it's it's a bit mystifying because you would think as a car company, you know, you're gonna look to your dealers and say, that's who we gotta protect. Right. That's who sells our cars. Yeah. I'm sure there's motives and there's reasons why that I'm not privy to, but you know, obviously, if you cut out the middleman, there's more to be made, right? Yeah, and maybe because it's a niche brand, they feel it's something that they can pull off. The fear for me as a dealer, once the doors open, I know, watch the floodgates, right? What's next? It's not so much if Scout goes into business by themselves, what are you gonna, what brand are you gonna hear about next? And then all of a sudden there's a waterfall. That's right. And that's what I think we as dealers got to be really careful of.

Jim Fitzpatrick 6:41

I mean, we saw that even with Tesla, because Tesla came in, sold directly to consumers, and said, okay, we're kind of a tech company, we're not really a car company, which is BS, but um a number of states said, okay, you can sell in our our area. Right. And we said, well, that's just one. Yeah. You know, then all of a sudden you got lucid, and then all of a sudden you got rivet. Right. And all of a sudden you got these other legacy brands now, like uh like we're we're seeing with Scout, which to your point, you know, you give them an inch, they take a mile.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Yeah, the door opens and you get worried.

Jim Fitzpatrick 7:08

Yeah. Um speaking of worried, there's a lot of people out there in the industry that's that are wor that are worried right now about affordability. I mean, obviously you sell some great cars and you've got you kind of run the gamut there from Audi all the way down to uh I don't know what you would say, all the way down to Nissan, or what what would be your least expensive vehicles?

SPEAKER_01 7:25

There's there's quite a few. I mean that with the Asian imports, you know, you have Subaru, you have Toyota, we have we have Mazda, and then we got the domestics with Ford, Chevy, and Stillantis. So we kind of run the gamut.

Jim Fitzpatrick 7:35

Yeah, you got great brands. Having said that, what what what is your take on affordability? Where's all this headed with the average price of a car being over 50 grand and payments 800 bucks plus a month?

Affordability, Rates, And Leasing Outlook

SPEAKER_01 7:46

You know, there's so much going on at once. Yeah. You know, then I say the new administration, it's been some time now. But I think we needed to all take a breath and step back and say, okay, let's let things settle. Okay. And let's see where this goes. And, you know, personally, what I'm seeing now, I'm seeing uh, you know, a year for 2026. I'm bullish. I think you know you're gonna see rates come down. I think you what you're seeing with inflation is really great. And I know this tariff talk was the big bad wolf and very scary.

Jim Fitzpatrick 8:14

We talked about it all the time in the first quarter of last year. Right, very scary.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

And then it kind of dwindled down. I think he had a plan and I think he's executed his plan, right? Right. And um, so I think everything's gonna calm down, and I think we're we're in for a very good year. One thing that, in the especially in the Northeast, that's really big for us, you saw during COVID off lease portfolios really shrink down during COVID. That's right. Not only for the lack of vehicles, but there was a lack of lease programs. That's right. And we're le we lease in the Northeast, right? That's what we do. Yeah, and so now you're seeing the lack of lease portfolios. So that really hurt us, I'd say, the last 18 months. Okay. By the second half of this year, those portfolios start to rise again. Okay. You're gonna get a shot at those customers. Yeah. And that's something that we haven't had for quite a while. Right. So that's really gonna help the year. Yeah, of course.

Jim Fitzpatrick 9:01

So is leasing, you think, coming back strong as well? It is in the northeast. It's it's we're we're getting back to the numbers we were accustomed to. Okay. What how give me an idea like what would be a penetration level and leasing in your in your next one?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Some of the with some of the you know the the mainline uh brands like Toyota, like we're over 60, 65, 70 percent. Yeah. Wow. And then you go to the luxury makes and you're higher than, you know, you could be you could be up to the 75, 85 percent range.

Jim Fitzpatrick 9:25

See, I would think that that because people are driving, you know, a long way uh in the northeast. Worried about the miles.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, yeah, you know, it it's it's amazing. We have a lot of families that will have that extra car. Okay. Uh, and that then so they'll go for that 12,000 mile a year lease, that's their sweet spot, and they'll have that third car from when they're getting itchy. Right. And then, you know, you're still dealing with a lot of people that have remote remote offices. Yeah, you know, that kind of didn't go away with COVID. So a lot of people do get at least some of them. That's true, too. I didn't think that'd be at least some days from home. That's right. That's right.

Jim Fitzpatrick 9:56

Yeah, yeah. It is harder to get people back in. Uh, I know not at dealerships, but other types of businesses like ours. Um Nissan stores. You're you're a Nissan dealer. Um, how are you feeling about Nissan today?

Leasing Penetration In The Northeast

SPEAKER_01 10:09

So, Nissan, we had we had some great years, and then you know, we saw some of these programs come back with the stair step, and you know, that now they're calling it Nissan One. Uh, but I will tell you they have reacted. The brand has reacted, and they've reacted in a really big way. They've they you know they multiplied their incentive by quite a bit. It was it was a you know, a few hundred bucks you could get by hitting the stair step, and now that's over 1250 a car. Wow if you hit your number. So there's they're they're trying. They listen. One thing I'll say about Nissan is you always thought they were a progressive brand as far as their product. Yeah, they always put good sheet metal out there, yeah, right? No question. Styling, everything, quite a bit. Well, they they just kind of lost their way sometimes when it came to what are we doing with the dealer body on programs to try and get the market share we want. Right. It's a very tough thing to kind of balance. You want the market share, but you gotta be careful. Yeah. Because once you start, you know, releasing the hounds on this stair step program, people, it's a race to the bottom. It is, there's no question about it. And then then you see dealer profitability wane, and that's when that's when things really start to have trouble. That's right. So I think right now what you're seeing is they're rebounding from a tough year. Right. And they put some really good programs in place uh in the first quarter of 26. Okay. And I think it's gonna be a kind of wait and see. Let's see how this comes before we evaluate.

Nissan Programs And Stair Steps

Jim Fitzpatrick 11:26

But you're feeling good about things. I am, okay. I am. Yeah, good, good. And um, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about uh your Stillantis stores, new leadership there. The dealers that I talk to around the country are feeling pretty good about Stellantis. Are you one of them? Big change in my feeling on Stellantis.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I mean, I really am bullish on Stillantis. I think that the product that's coming, right? You know, they've made some really major decisions at the top about what product's best for the US, the products that are coming, and the programs that they're gonna have to support it. And that fixed operations side of the business for Stellantis is huge. It's always been huge. Oh, yeah, for sure. So I I really like where the brand is headed right now. They did have a hiccup for I'd say a good 24 months. Yeah. But as we've spoken about, things are a cycle. Right. And uh Stellantis is gonna come back into that sweet spot.

Jim Fitzpatrick 12:11

Yeah, and you mentioned before we got recording about your new fixed ops operation.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Talk to us about that. Yeah, really excited. So this is something that we felt strongly about. Um so we invested uh you know about uh 15 million dollars in a new facility. Wow. Uh it's gonna have 55 bays. Wow. We're coming out of an 18 bay shop. Yeah, so it's we're gonna more than double the size of the facility. And the customers deserve it, they need it, yeah, and it's gonna be great for our profitability, great for customer care, so it's a win-win.

Jim Fitzpatrick 12:39

Where do you get 32 uh technicians?

Stellantis Momentum And Fixed Ops

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Yeah, you gotta grow them. You gotta grow them. So we always have a bullpen. You know, we kind of look at the technician teams as two in every store. Okay. So when I talk to the stores, I'll always talk about the flat rate side and then the apprentice side. And if they can only give me a report on one of the sides, that's a problem. Yeah, yeah. That apprentice side might not be generating a lot of income for you, but boy, that's your future. That's right. So we always need to backfill the bullpen. Right. And that's that's that's a big thing for us.

Jim Fitzpatrick 13:10

Do you guys offer uh mobile service at any of the stores?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

We do, we do. At Ford store or what? We offer it at Ford, LinkedIn, absolutely, and quite a few others. And how are you feeling about that? I think it's great. I think it's great for the customer. You know, I think you know, everyone says, oh, it's you know, the expenses, expenses, expenses. Well, I'm gonna tell you when a customer, they're they're worried about their wallet, but it's time, time, time. Right. You can't get more time. Yeah. So when you can help the customer alleviate their schedule, yeah, very good point. They're okay with paying. Yeah.

Jim Fitzpatrick 13:38

You've got how many employees now got company wide? Just about 1250. Wow, 1250. So 1250 employees in a uh business that we still suffer from a pretty strong turnover rate. How do you build a good solid culture so that you can buy other stores as you're wanting to do and you've already done, and bring those people into the fold, into the empire fold, it's gotta be challenging, right?

Building A 55‑Bay Service Center

SPEAKER_01 14:04

So you're hitting on the most important topic we feel we have. It's human capital, right? That's what makes it happen. Right. It's people and it's process. But if you don't have the people, you can forget about the process. That's right. So you really gotta focus on it. Turnover's huge, uh, it's a very transient business. People want to go with the hot brand. So one of the things you know we look to do is look at every employee and say, okay, what's your career path?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah.

Growing Technicians And Apprentices

SPEAKER_01 14:26

This is where you are today. Yeah. And if this is where you want to be, that's great. Right. And one thing we started doing as opposed to exit interviews, we started doing stay interviews. That's a good idea. So we're we're checking once a quarter, yeah, you know, we have the manager has a sheet that he completes with each employee, and we have a culture liaison on staff in our group, and he's the one that's kind of making sure these are all done, completed, and he's red flagging the ones that need to be red flagged. Ah, and a red flag would be somebody that's kind of wild. We ask for full honesty, and if they give us some feedback, we'd say, wait a second, there's an issue here. What could it be? And it could be they're worried about they're not getting their fair share of leads, uh, they're not happy with the schedule, or they got something going on at home. Whatever we can listen. Right. Number one, when you listen to an employee, you're halfway there. Yeah, they feel good. They're like, wait, they care about how I'm feeling. Sure. It's not just about the paycheck. And so that's one of the things. The other thing we really done is develop to develop our people. Years ago, we came up with something called the Blue Chip Program. Okay. And that program really is finding the next leaders. Because there's performers, but then there's leaders. Yeah. We want people who are going to develop more performers. And to do that, we really need to, first of all, we need to teach them. Right. And so we take about 30 of our top blue chippers in a room, right? And we bring our GMs in, we bring the executive team in, and we will collaborate on a whole list of items. We'll do financial state management, we'll bring in guest speakers. That's great. Um, and we do it once every three months. And it is the best thing we do. Every GM we hire now gets selected from there. The devil you know. Yeah, yeah. Of course. And it's worked out so good for us. The other thing that happens in that room is remember, there's 30 people sitting in the room, they're talking to each other. Yeah. So now when they come up to a situation, they have 29 other people to call, say, wait, that's right, I haven't seen this yet. That's right. Maybe you have.

Jim Fitzpatrick 16:21

It's kind of like a mini 20 group meeting. Yeah.

Mobile Service And Customer Time

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Exactly what it is.

Jim Fitzpatrick 16:25

Exactly what it is. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's really working out. That goes a long way. There's no question. Sometimes, too, the the best manager isn't necessarily your top performer. I mean, you've seen that too, right? It's 100% right. Yeah. And the top performer can sometimes be the worst manager.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Sometimes a salesperson is in the right spot.

Jim Fitzpatrick 16:41

Being a salesperson. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Sometimes.

Jim Fitzpatrick 16:44

Yeah, yeah. But we make that mistake all the time, right? We're just the top guy. Absolutely. Let's make him the sales manager. I say falling through the cracks upwards. Yes. Right? Yeah. It's exactly right. So as we sit here today, you're feeling pretty good about 2026, obviously. Yeah. Any headwinds at all that you see out there? Anything that keeps you up at night?

Culture, Stay Interviews, Blue Chip Program

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Yeah. What keeps me up at night is the self-inflicted wounds always. You know, it's it's what are we coming in focused, ready to do the job, no matter what the playing field looks like. The playing field changes constantly in our business, right? It's never stagnant. Never. That's the exciting thing about our business. It's so true. You know, I was just speaking today to some of the swimmers because I'm here at a swim meet. Yeah. And they they had a rough couple of them had a rough day, and I said, listen, if you don't have a rough day, you're never going to appreciate the good ones. That's right. If everything was perfect all the time, a smile wouldn't be that big a deal. Yeah. So what we need to do is make sure that we're ready for the playing field, no matter what the playing field looks like. Right. And that's really where we focus every day.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Yeah, yeah.

Jim Fitzpatrick 17:41

Um, China is now, I mean, uh Michael uh Dunn, who I have on the show all the time, he's uh kind of the foremost expert on all things China vehicles, and he says we're living on an island in the in the North America. But then that was before uh Canada fell. And now you can buy like 50,000 Chinese vehicles in Canada. But um, so now it's just America that's just sitting there selling one. Okay, what do what what what's gonna what do you think is gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01 18:06

And you know, I if you asked me this 10 years ago, yeah, I would have said it would have happened by now. That's what I would have said. I mean, who but what do I know? Right, right. Uh I certainly thought it would have happened by now. It's great that it hasn't. Yeah. Uh, but you know, I think sooner or later you're gonna see some change. I do too. I do too.

Jim Fitzpatrick 18:25

Would you be a hand raiser for a franchise?

SPEAKER_01 18:27

It all depends on what it was and you know what it what the terms are and what it comes with, but certainly, listen, there's there's gonna be some products that are gonna come that people are gonna want. Yeah, BYDs, looks like they got some really nice stuff. Oh my god.

Jim Fitzpatrick 18:38

So we'll we'll take it as it comes and we'll take a look. Right, right. Very, very good. Um, any any stores on the wish list that you go, man, if I get a call in this particular brand, I don't care what it goes for.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Well, two things. One I'll say is we're looking to expand our footprint. So we're mainly Long Island, New York Metro, boroughs, New Jersey. Okay. We're looking to take that south a little bit. Okay. And if we can expand down the eastern seaboard, that would be great if we find the right thing.

Jim Fitzpatrick 19:05

Still drivability though, or necessarily Florida.

Cycles, Headwinds, And Focus

SPEAKER_01 19:09

We have some people that would love to migrate to Florida who would like to set up down there. Yeah. So there's there's definitely thoughts of moving down the eastern seaboard as we grow. But the other thing is we really do think we can diversify a little more. Uh we don't have a lot of luxury brands. We do have Cadillac, we do have Volvo, we have a couple Audi stores, we have Lincoln, but we don't have the big ones, you know, the Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche. So we're always going to take a look and see if if if the right opportunity comes along.

Jim Fitzpatrick 19:37

Right, right, right. Yeah. That that's um those those stores, as you know, are are always you know at the top of every dealer's wish list, right? But sometimes you can pay too much for them, too. That's right. That's right. You're in such high demand.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

And there's that thing about paying too much, it's all relative. It's really what you see your return on investment can be at what time frame.

China Brands And Future Franchises

Jim Fitzpatrick 19:56

Right, right, exactly. Speaking of that, what's your time frame? I mean, you're you're you're you're I know you're a young guy, but is this do you have kids in the business? Are they coming into it? That's a great question. What does that look like?

Expansion Plans And Luxury Targets

SPEAKER_01 20:05

That's a great question. So uh I appreciate you saying I'm young. Well, I feel young. Uh but uh so I have I have three daughters, okay, um, and I have a very young son. Okay. So my daughters, two of them are in college now, one's finishing up high school, and they have shown interest, okay. Uh, no commitments, yeah, nor do I push. Yeah, but there's one of them I I do see a real opportunity. Okay. Um, she's studying business and she's very, very interested, and she asks a lot of questions, and we talk about business pretty much on a daily side. She's like her dad. Ratchet her up a few more notches, very passionate about everything she does. That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? It would be it would be a dream come true, really. That would be that would be the ultimate dream is to keep it a family business and have a legacy and have her take it on, and you know, who knows, maybe the the young one at some point sprouts up and she teaches him. So it could be a really long family legacy. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. I have I have no intentions of going anywhere. I'm having too much fun, enjoying what I'm doing too much. Uh, and it allows for some really good philanthropy, yeah, which is one of the pillars of our success.

Jim Fitzpatrick 21:11

I was gonna, I was that was one of the things I'm on here, is is that because I know that you're you give back in a very big way to the communities you do business in.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yeah, I I think if you don't, what are you doing? Yeah, like what do you all do it for? Yeah. If you can't stand there and help people that need help, right, and if you have the ability to do it, I don't consider it generous. I consider it a responsibility. Yeah, yeah. And it's something we really take a lot of pride in. It's great. And it's it's awesome. It's great. And uh we love doing it. Yeah, we love doing it, it's the best things we do.

Jim Fitzpatrick 21:37

And I know that you don't do it for this reason, but markets and and uh communities recognize that. Oh, don't they?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Oh, 100%. It's truly appreciated by the community. Right. And you hear it, you hear it all the time. Yeah, by the way. And you're right, that's not why we do it. We do it because we want to help, but that happens to come with it.

Succession, Family, And Legacy

Jim Fitzpatrick 21:55

Yeah, no question about it. The used car market, it's a little crazy right now because of the pressure from New cars. Talk to us about that. Where does that stand?

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Listen, that that I love the pre-owned department because you're never controlled by anybody but yourself. That's right. You know, you make a mistake, it's on you, you're successful, it's on you. That's right. And no stair step on that. There's no stair step, there's no special programs, the car is the car, right? And you know, we're we're pretty we're pretty aggressive when it comes to how to, you know, we we feel the used car business is one on the buy, not so much on the sell. Sure. The sell's kind of academic, right? Right. It's finding those used cars, and you're gonna find them a lot of ways. Yeah. So what we look to do is really try to get as many at the door as we can. Okay. Because that can promote another new car sale. Of course. Uh and it gets us the used inventory we need.

Jim Fitzpatrick 22:39

And the door could be the service drive as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Sure can. Yeah. And that's probably the the bigger door, right? Right? Right. So we will spend time and money uh appraising quite a few cars in that drive that maybe the customer never even thought of getting a new car. But if you don't present it, you're never gonna know. That's right. That's right. Yeah.

Philanthropy As A Core Pillar

Jim Fitzpatrick 22:57

It's it's uh it's so true. I've spoken to a number of dealers that they they just some of these dealers, I don't know if you're one of them, that just gives includes the appraisal with the RO.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

With the RO and say, here you go. Some of them have it on a hang tag, yeah. There's all kinds of different ways to do it. But I think if you if if you're communicating with those customers there in the service drive, you're definitely one step ahead because you're taking a shot at every vehicle that comes in.

Jim Fitzpatrick 23:18

Right, right. No question about it. Michael Brown, owner of incredible company Empire Automotive Group in New York. Thank you so much for joining me. It's such a treat. I appreciate all the time you've given us, and congrats to your daughter for doing well in her swim meet. I'm glad that she had it here in Atlanta so I can see that.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah, yeah, go BC Eagles. Thanks so much, really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Jim Fitzpatrick 23:42

Thanks for watching Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick.