How A Kia Store Cuts The Car-Buying Process To 45 Minutes

Gabriel Polanco, Sales Manager at City Kia of Greater Orlando and a 2024 CBT News 40 Under 40 honoree, joins Inside Automotive to discuss how dealerships can deliver faster, more transparent buying experiences in today’s AI-driven market.

As consumers arrive better informed and expecting a seamless purchase process, Polanco explains why traditional sales tactics are no longer enough. He shares how City Kia has reduced the average showroom experience to about 45 minutes through better preparation, consistent pricing, and stronger coordination before customers arrive. The conversation also explores how AI is changing car-buying behavior, what franchise dealers can learn from disruptors like Tesla and Carvana, and why customer experience—not price alone—is becoming the key differentiator. Dealers looking to improve efficiency, build trust, and earn repeat business will find practical strategies for adapting to a rapidly evolving retail environment.

Key discussion points:

•  How AI is changing the way customers evaluate dealership offers 
•  Why speed and convenience matter more than ever in the sales process 
•  How City Kia reduces transaction times through pre-appointment preparation 
•  Lessons franchise dealers can learn from Tesla and Carvana 
•  The importance of pricing transparency and consistent communication 
•  Why customer experience is the biggest competitive advantage 

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Transcript

Orlando’s Unique Car-Buying Market

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:11

The stores finding success are often the ones willing to rethink how they sell. Joining us now is Gabriel Polanco, who is the sales manager at City Kia of Greater Orlando, and also the 2024 CBT News 40 under 40 honoree. So, Gabriel, thank you so much for joining me on the show today.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Thank you for having me today.

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:29

Sure. So uh let's talk a little bit first about business. How's business there at uh City Kia?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Business is great, especially for us. Uh the Orlando market is just is just amazing.

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Um I've been in this market for the last six years, and and the way this market behaves is completely different than any other market in the nation.

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

So business is great for us.

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:53

What why do you think that is? Why do you think Orlando is a little bit more unique than others?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

I can I can say is because number one, the tourists, uh the mix of people that you have down here is completely different in other parts of the nation. Um and people just love buying cars down here.

Jim Fitzpatrick 1:09

Yeah, that's great. And it's got, I mean, because of Disney World and all of the other amusement parks and and such, uh, it's got just uh such a strong economy, no matter what's happening elsewhere throughout the country or the world, Orlando just keeps plugging along, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Correct. And not only Orlando, I mean the Florida market itself, especially South Florida. I mean, you probably talked to a lot of South Florida dealers, and they're always driving, they're always up there. Um majority of the Florida dealers last month were top five in the whole nation. Were they? And the majority of them were all Florida, yes.

Jim Fitzpatrick 1:45

Yeah, I can see that. Kia has come such a long way, it's just been an incredible franchise, and uh the sales are are just so strong.

Why Outdated Sales Tactics Hurt

Jim Fitzpatrick 1:54

Speaking of sales, let's talk about sales strategies. I know dealerships are still relying on eight outdated sales strategies. Uh do you agree with that? And uh and and what's what's your take on that?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

It's it's it's I believe is is the worst mistake uh uh dealership can make. Uh there's a lot of dealerships out there still stuck in in the 1980s, in the 1990s. Uh people don't want to get updated in the whole AI and Chat GPT world, and and that everything nowadays is is literally in in this right here. Yep. Yep. I mean, we're still relying in the in the pen and paper, we're still relying on the techniques that that people learned 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And mind you, we're we're not here to reinvent the wheel. Right. Um, everything, everything that can be done was already done. Sure. But we need to update ourselves um as a store to to the new world that we're living in. I mean, right now people can just ask Chat GPT a question and it'll tell them everything. That's right. The other day, um, I was actually working a car deal for myself. All I had to do was put a picture of the quote in Chat GPT. It gave me the rate, it gave me if it was a good deal or a bad deal, it gave me the amount of down payment, the terms. It was it was crazy. Sure. And and and if dealerships don't get updated on that, unfortunately, there will they will stay behind. And the ones that don't stay behind are gonna be the ones that actually update themselves and help their salespeople uh work with that and find techniques to to help their customers get a better car deal, even using those AI tools.

How AI Changes Deal Negotiations

Jim Fitzpatrick 3:35

Sure. Yeah. The um, you know, one thing I think there's a lot of takeaways and a lot that uh dealers can get from companies like Carvana. Um, that, you know, the only the only thing that Carvana's got over uh franchise dealers as it relates to selling pre-owned vehicles is just the sales process and the methods in which they deliver that vehicle to the consumer. That's it. I mean, when you think about it, uh every franchise dealer has the same or probably better used cars on the reconditioning side and also being able to provide uh CPO vehicles and such. And then of course the service after the vehicle because Carvana doesn't service any vehicles. So when you think about it, that's the only thing, that's the only uh competitive advantage, maybe that that uh Carvana has. The pricing isn't necessarily better on the cars, it's just about the sales process, which means it's really about the customer. And I think all too often we we forget that in retail automotive, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 4:31

We do, we do. And and going along with what you just said, sometimes you can find a vehicle in a normal used car lot or new car lot, uh, three, four thousand dollars cheaper than you do in Carvana. Yeah, and Carvana will probably sell that car three times before that dealership sells there. That's right. And the reason for that is it shows you people are not caring much about the price itself. Yeah, they're caring about the whole experience behind it.

Jim Fitzpatrick 4:57

That's right. That's right. Yes. No question about it. When you held up your cell phone, as I often do, to make the point here, um, that's that's what it's all about now. I mean, you can look at Tesla, same, a very similar situation. Right. And uh Tesla can be purchased right from your phone. It takes probably about 30 minutes to complete the transaction, and uh, they give you a call or text test text message you and say, hey, your vehicle is now ready and waiting for you to pick it up, uh, or we can deliver it to you. But uh, but there's a lot of things that we can learn, I think, from some of these disruptors that have entered retail automotive, but it seems like it always boils down to you know how how we're treating the customer and how we're taking good care uh or how we should be taking good care of the customers that we're dealing with.

Carvana And Tesla Lessons For Dealers

SPEAKER_00 5:43

It's all about the VIP experience. Yeah. I always say it, I say it to my salespeople, I say it to my managers, it's all about the VIP experience. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, like we just talked about, Carvana doesn't have the the least expensive vehicles out there. Right. I mean, Tesla. Tesla doesn't even let you negotiate. Same thing with Carvana. That's right. There's no such thing as, hey, I'll give you $3,000 on the invoice and we can do this right now. And they still sell cars. I mean, Tesla was probably one of the top retailers last year on most new cars. Yeah. And again, there's no negotiation. You speak to a call center. That's right. There's no salesperson. Um so now that you have the salesperson experience that that you actually have the inventory, a lot of dealers are also making the mistake saying, you know what, we should just get rid of all salespeople. We need to get rid of all the managers in the store and just make put a little booth in the showroom and people come in and do it. No, that's not gonna work either.

Jim Fitzpatrick 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

If you're able to offer the same experience as people are offering out there and actually instructing and training your salespeople every day to give customer the VIP experience, they rather go with you instead of buying this car online, and it'll expedite the process, and it'll be happy, and you'll have a service customer and a customer that will come back.

Jim Fitzpatrick 7:02

That's right. That's

Designing A True VIP Guest Experience

Jim Fitzpatrick 7:03

right. Um, it seems as though one of the major complaints consumers have about going into a dealership is the time it takes. You know, the fact that it takes four or five hours to buy a car turns everybody off. You know, they want to get in, people are busy today, you have double incomes, people are working, they don't have a lot of free time. When they get in, they've made a decision. In many cases, they've already made the decision at home because of their shopping online. They've got all the information at their fingertips at home. So when they come in, as you know, everybody's you know now shopping maybe only one one and a half dealerships. They don't go to seven or eight anymore. They're coming in to buy the car, they want to get out in a timely manner. Um, what's what's City Kia doing to help customers that want to get in and get out? Have you streamlined the processes there?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

So we starve ourselves in saying that we have the best guest experience. And the moment you walk into our showroom, they greet you as hey, welcome to City Kia, home of the best guest experience. The reason for that is because not only we have a BDC department that sets you up the moment that you click, the moment that you actually call, they set up everything for you. By the time you get to my showroom, you already have your numbers. Yeah. Your salesperson, which we call them, your VIP salesperson, your salesperson already communicated with this person, so they're not disconnected. Your car's pulled up, your car is washed. Everything that you talked about with my rep, it's already in a folder. So your process should take tops 45 minutes. That's great. Now when you show up, Mr. Customer, here's your car, your paperwork's ready. By that time, if the customer allows us, it's already approved as well. Um, you have everything said and done. So you're not going there wasting time. Like it happens. Again, going back to the first uh phrase that users are stuck in the past. We're not going on the fact that, hey, I just talked three days with this lady on the phone. Now I show up and I gotta explain this guy everything again that that I just talked about for the last three days, and people get frustrated. That's why it takes four to five four to five hours.

Jim Fitzpatrick 9:07

That's right. That's right. They'll fill out all the forms that a dealership wants and they'll give all the information, and then they get to the showroom and they'll say, Well, who are you here to see, or who what's your name? Okay, well, come on over and let me get some information. Customer's like, I already did all of this. Why why did I do it at home? If in the event you're gonna ask me all these things all over again, right? Very frustrating. And for sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

And that's what that's where frustration shows up. Unfortunately, that's where frustration shows up. That's where actually your your revenue in cars drop. Um, because you you have a a little clock. When when people show up, you have I always say it actually in my trainings, I tell my guys, you have five to eight seconds, not only for this big people to like you, yeah, but for you to know exactly what you're gonna say and make their experience either the best experience in the world or the worst experience

Speed, Trust, And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 9:56

possible.

Jim Fitzpatrick 9:56

Gabriel Polanco, who's the sales manager at City Kia of Greater Orlando, doing right by his customers, taking good care of his employees. And of course, he was uh on the 40 under 40 for uh for 20 uh 2023, I believe it was, wasn't it? For uh or 2024, rather, right? For CBT News. So thank you so much, Gabriel. Appreciate it. Love catching up with you guys, and uh best of luck to you as you you know go into the second half of 2026.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Yes, sir. Thank you so much. All right, thanks.

Jim Fitzpatrick 10:26

Thanks for watching Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick.