Dealers are always looking for ways to find inventory, but finding quality inventory where you can actually get it for a fair price and where you can also win a customer is really hard to do. We'll buy your car. Dealers struggle to find quality used inventory at scale, and while many have tried to solve this problem, this man might transform the entire industry. Today, I'm speaking with Nate Mahalovich, CEO of the Lasso, an online marketplace that connects consumers selling their cars to dealers. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.
But before we dive into the show, this episode is brought to you by CDK Global. CDK Global has been empowering nearly 15,000 dealers with the tools and technology they need to build deeper relationships with customers. Their team is keenly aware of the state of dealership technology, and while many vendors promise seamless experiences between your CRM, DMS, digital retail, and fixed ops, most of these bolt-on solutions tend to break workflows and cause more harm than good. That is why CDK has launched a new dealership experience platform. This new integrated software consists of everything you need to operate a dealership officially while delivering an unparalleled experience to your customers. Basically, everything working together, not separate, one system to run your dealership as opposed to 10.
CDK developed it with an outside-in approach listening to dealers every step of the way. You can learn more about CDK's dealership experience platform by visiting CDKglobal.com slash DXP or clicking the link in the show notes below. This episode is also brought to you by AutoHaulerExchange. AutoHaulerExchange is changing how vehicle shippers and carriers can connect and work together. Now, if you need to ship a car, you can work with carriers all over the country directly.
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Lastly, this episode is brought to you by the Lasso. I wanna thank the Lasso for coming on as a guest and also supporting this podcast. And eat my halibut on the CDG podcast, Nate, welcome. Hey, thanks so much for having me, excited to be here. It's great to have you on, man. I mean, I remember the first time we connected, it was maybe like a year and a half ago, you had a different name, not you personally, your company. So I'm excited to dig into that. I think before we get started on your business, I'd love to understand, you know, how does a lifelong tech guy find themselves venturing into the car business? What drove you to this industry? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, look, I've always loved cars. It's, that's always been something that I've been really excited and passionate about.
So I think that's kind of a common thread for a lot of people in the space. But for me, you know, my background is a little bit, you know, it's very tech focused, but it's really been marketplace focused. And so I actually was a really early employee at this company called Building Connected. We built a marketplace for construction. So it's actually a bidding marketplace. There's a lot of similarities between that business and this business, which is kind of interesting. And we can get into that and I can tell you all about that.
But what's so cool is that we built this huge business. I started there. There were five people at the company. We grew to 250 people in four and a half years. We were facilitating over $100 billion with the construction projects every month. And, you know, we ended up, the company ended up getting acquired, which was a really great outcome and a super cool experience to go through. And I was sort of thinking about like what was next and we had always wanted to find a way to actually like truly facilitate those transactions. And we were never able to actually get there. We were just really helping with the auction bidding process.
And in 2018, my wife and I had bought a car and sort of had this like really negative experience, but then actually turned super positive. So we actually had sort of a classic, like you went to the dealership. There was a jerk who was working there. There was the GM and they had a couple hidden fees and we sort of were like, okay, we're not gonna do this. Called this other dealership up and said, we'll work with you, but you need to deliver the car. We wanna sign all the paperwork at home. And like, you know, you're gonna do all the heavy lifting. And they totally did. It was just like amazing experience. And I had this light bulb moment where it was like, okay, you can actually create really amazing experiences for people and it can be this magic that can happen. And that is possible. You have to find the right people and the right players who wanna do that, but it can create a much better experience.
And that was the spark that really started me out on the journey and spent the, you know, basically the entirety of 2020, researching the space, meeting different dealerships, learning about the challenges that they have and then helping build a solution. That's really where we ended up being today. So a lot of the same investors from the last company, are investors in this company, which is, you know, really great.
So let's talk about that. You said you started in 2020, very crazy time to be in the car business. Very different from today as well when it comes to just inventory. What was your vision? Like what did you set out to build? And like how has that changed with the times? Cause again, 2020 we had inventory. By the end of 2020, we did not have inventory. By mid 2021, we really did not have inventory. And then 22, 23 things slowly rebounded, right? What goes through your head?
So the vision has actually been largely the same throughout, just sort of where we started from and how we got to where we are as changed. And so I've always wanted to basically build a place for people to manage everything related to their car. Buy a car, sell a car, repair a vehicle, get insurance, warranty, whatever it might be. And we actually started the business at the end of 2020, really focused on the service and repairs. And what we found through 2021, was that people really wanted, but like that's, it's actually really hard to help people because it's such an acute time. Like they have to either fix their car, cause they have to service it. And that's something that happens in a really specific timeframe, or they get an accident. And then that's also, you know, very, very specific.
It's really hard. But a lot of those people that we were helping wanted better ways to actually sell a vehicle, go through that process. And, you know, and that's really kind of where we ended up changing the business model a little bit at the end of 2021. And then in 2022, as the market was really coming up, we were helping people find better ways to actually sell their cars and get a better price to do that. So that's really like how we ended up where we are today. And, and I think that for people who are listening to this, like what's so important, I think in any type of business, is just listening to your customers. Like we started doing something different than we actually are doing today. And that's really just through customer discovery and talking to them and being not only with the end customers, people who own vehicles, but also with the dealerships and trying to understand how we can help both those sides.
So, you know, building products becomes a lot easier when you actually have people who sort of like tell you what they want and then you actually go and do that. And that ends up being a good win. Yeah, I mean, you're right. I think it's true for every business. Definitely true for my business, right? I mean media content, it's like, it's the pinnacle of like, what the hell do you want to consume? Just to clarify, what was your business model four years ago? What is your business model today? And like what are the differences?
So we were really building a software solution for really for like service advisors to communicate with their customers. And so it's very different than what we're doing. Wait, can I stop you for one second? Yeah. It's crazier to say, I just posted about this like 24 hours ago. Oh really? Yeah, well not about service advisors necessarily, but just like an experience with servicing at a specific dealership that was just, it's tough to get in contact with. And so anyways, pretty like funny timing that you mentioned is because I think that communication, we talk about a lot of process, it's just never been more important at a time where, competition is hotter than ever. And people are looking left and right. But anyways, I digress, but it's just funny you mentioned that specific topic, because I did just speak about it.
All right, anyways. All right, so that was your business model. What is your business model today? And by the way, I can comment on that. You can use this if you want to. And I mean, the problem with that really was that you can build the greatest software in the world. But if people at the dealership don't use it properly, it doesn't matter. And that was like kind of the problem was that you built this great communication software, dealers can communicate with their customers and they just didn't do it. Right? You have a bunch of service advisors who just weren't communicating properly.
And how we actually got to where we are today is you said, well, if we own the customer relationship and we go and find the customers, do you dealers want to participate in a system where we'll actually bring you customers? We're going to communicate with them and hold their hand through the process. But then they'll become your customers. It's like, obviously, yes, they would say yes to that. And so that's really how we got to where we are, which is that we were able to take and go and find customers and then bring them to the dealership when they were ready to actually transact.
And so the business that we have today is that we have a marketplace for consumers to, in essence, auction their cars directly to a network of cardioships. And so they do that in a 24-hour period. We run these Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. And they basically come to us. They want to get multiple offers for their vehicle. And we help them do that. Take us a level deeper, right? First of all, what's the value proposition here for the dealer and the consumer? Let's just start there, actually.
I have like 50 questions running through my head right now. Like, what's the value property for the dealer? Why do dealers use a product like this? Why do consumers sell this way? Okay, so there's a lot here. Let's start with the dealer side. Maybe the dealer side seems obvious and dealers might be glazing over. But let me just hopefully sort of cut through the noise a little bit. Dealers are always looking for ways to find inventory. That's just a truth that exists in the industry. But finding quality inventory where you can actually get it for a fair price and where you can also win a customer is really hard to do.
And so the only solutions that really exist for dealers are basically lead gen. So you're basically just like, if you're a dealer, you only have so many options. You can either go to the auction, you can use something like KBB, you can use something like a car gurus or something. But these are all just lead gen. So then you have to hand all these leads over to your guys and they have to spin their wheels, call people a zillion times and waste a ton of their time and energy and money, really, because time is money, to go and try to track people down and get them into the dealership.
So it's just the same familiar process. So that's one end of the spectrum. Then the other end of the spectrum is that you go to the auction and then you get a car that's, that has three different owners that could be in kind of rough shape. And you hope for the best when you recon the vehicle, and then you go ahead and you sell it. And so we sort of sit a little bit in the middle.
And I think an interesting data point is that, Cox tracks the different sources of where dealers get their cars from. Well, in 2018, they didn't even track the category of consumer direct purchases. And now that is pacing actually at about, so it last year was like 14% versus, versus like 18% for auctions. So it's actually pacing at to overtake auctions. So dealers are getting their cars off the street because they're going to face with marketplace, they're going to Craigslist, they're trying to find every single way to sort of scratch and claw at getting new customers.
The problem is that if you're a dealer in Sacramento, how are you supposed to find a consumer who has the car that you want in Los Angeles or in Las Vegas? And that's what auctions can help facilitate, ACV, Vanheim, et cetera. But there's nothing that exists in that realm for consumer to dealer. And that's the void that we're filling is we're getting a really high quality vehicle, we'll also get a customer and we can help dealers source inventory from all over the country at prices that they control that are really advantageous to them.
So it's pretty, I think clear cut, why it's advantageous for dealers? Why is it advantageous for consumers? Well, most consumers actually only get like two or three offers for their car. So when consumers go and shop for, to sell their car where they do, they go to KBB, that's the first thing that everybody does, like 95% of people. And then they go to Carmax or Carvana and they get an offer.
And I think people, because they have been fed the marketing machines of Carmax, Carvana and some of the other big guys, they just think that that's the best price that they can get. And actually we have a lot of data and I know, we talk about that, but we have a lot of data that shows that those guys don't actually pay top dollar for a lot of vehicles.
And when you look at the data for consumers, if you only go to those three places, you can leave truly thousands of dollars in that table. And the thing that I think a lot of consumers forget is that the vast majority of dealers will beat those offers time and time again, very rarely will we actually see a consumer has a Carmax offer in hand.
And then our dealer network can't actually beat that. So for consumers, what you wanna do is, if you're trying to sell your vehicle, you wanna get as many offers as possible. But how are you supposed to do that? If you call a dealership up, they'll tell you to come in and bring the car in. We wanna look at the vehicle. And then you have to do that with what? You're gonna do that 10 different dealerships.
I mean, if you have, we have a key a dealer who buys everything under the sun. If you have an Audi, why would you ever call a key a dealer to sell the vehicle? It just wouldn't cross your mind. So I think for a lot of consumers, we are opening their eyes to see that, hey, this is a tool that can be really great for you to get a bunch of different offers. It's free for them. And dealers pay us a fee, which is no more than they would pay at an auction.
So it's like you get a better quality vehicle than you would in an auction. You win a customer. So if you wanna go and sell them another car, whatever, great, I'd love for that to happen. And so it just ends up being this really big win on both sides.
You know, it's funny, I hear you speak. And like the first thing that comes to my mind is the, you know, we call it the best end user philosophy that I would give credit to Bob Holland's head, you know, considered like the godfather of auto wholesaling and the use car business. But he coined his term, which is true.
I mean, it's pretty much what you're alluding to, which is that Carvana and CarMax, or anyone for that matter, any dealer, any specific retailer is not always the best end user for every single vehicle. And so you're betting on the fact that you can make the market more efficient by connecting consumers with dealers and deliver them a real deal or a real vehicle where they can actually pay more for that vehicle because they are the best end user for that vehicle. Am I right? 100%, 100%.
And so like, and this is the fun of kind of and the exciting thing of why I'm so thrilled to be on the podcast is that when you look at the auction experience that dealers have and you kind of break it down, it can be a hard experience for a lot of different reasons. Obviously it can be good for a lot of different reasons, but it can be really tough.
And so like, let's just talk about one other piece that's really hard for them. Let's talk about arbitration. Everybody hates arbitration, right? So like, what's the problem? The problem is that you get a vehicle that's not as described even despite the condition report. So we're actually working to solve that problem as well. So every offer that dealers put in is a non-binding offer.
When the car gets to the dealership, the dealer has the right to inspect that vehicle and they basically say like, we're good. So you're not giving a hard binding number. And that's what makes this whole thing work is that consumers have to be able to provide enough information so that dealers can make a well-informed bid.
And then the car gets there, either gets transported there or the consumer will drop it off if they're close. And then basically the dealer gets to inspect the vehicle. So why is this important? Well, it's important because everybody hates arbitration as I just said, but it's also important because it gives the dealer the comfort to be more aggressive, to put more numbers on vehicles, and to know that when the car gets here, if something's wrong, I can either talk about that with the consumer and we can renegotiate, or if I really don't want the car, then we, so we'll actually pay to send it back.
And so what's cool about this is that, and I think most interesting is that, wait, so you send it back to the consumer? Yeah. So I think that what's most interesting about this is that dealers, when they put numbers on cars, are actually really, really good at putting numbers on cars. And they get a bad rap because tools like KBB actually generate the value for the dealer. And so the dealer kind of inherits this price that they didn't put on the car. And it's just that it really unfortunate sort of situation for them, where they didn't price the vehicle themselves, and so they have to find ways to kind of cut it down.
Instead of that, if you let the dealer put the number on the car, they're actually really, really good at sticking to that price. So we very rarely have a situation where the car isn't totally as described, and then they need to change it. But with that, obviously, it does come up. And in that case, then they can renegotiate with the seller, and that transaction usually almost always goes through. And then there are very, we've only had a handful of cases where we've had to send the car back. That just really doesn't happen. So that's shocking. That's shocking to me. Wait, so how many deals have you done? Like what's been your total volume? And you say you've had a handful of cases of sending back. So what's your total volume?
We've helped people list over 25,000 cars. So we've seen offers come through for thousands and thousands, not every car gets an offer. So in terms of like total volume of vehicles, I mean, that's a lot of cars. The cars, like it's really only been a little bit recently where we've really started to like help ship vehicles. But we're still doing hundreds of these transactions. Now you have to be kind of smart about this. If somebody has a car that is 12 years old and 140,000 miles, then we will talk with the dealer and we'll oftentimes get that car inspected before it gets onto the shippers sort of rig.
Because you know that like there could be some damage under the hood. But this is kind of where I think it's interesting is like if somebody sells a 2022 Tacoma with 20,000 miles, what's the point of doing an inspection really? Like I know maybe that's an unpopular opinion, but like I really like the risk on that is so low. Right? So this brought you by my very own car dealership guy, industry job board, CDG jobs.com, my industry job board connecting the best talent and automotive with the best companies will remain absolutely free for CDG listeners to post and fill available roles at their companies.
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Yeah, I mean, there's always, you know, cohorts of cars that, you know, you feel more comfortable that you could buy at site on scene does not mean that it's not going to have issues or that the customer is not, you know, trying to deceive you or something, just a lower likelihood. I get that. And what you were referring to that, like type of, you know, I view it as an insurance policy for the dealer. You know, the industry has a term for that or at least man-high model auction, it's called deal shield.
At least that's their version of it, which is a value added product that, you know, you have to add just, it almost like insurance costs every single vehicle and then you can buy it, return it. That's kind of the, you know, the mechanism. So you're saying that you're pretty much embedding that into every single purchase anyway. And so that I as a dealer can now get this car delivered to me, but if, or you're betting that I will like most of the cars I buy and I'm going to want to keep most of them so that net net, you will make a profit at the end of the day.
So how do customers feel when you do have a situation where you have to send that vehicle back to them after a dealer maybe hasn't acquired it? How's that process gone for you? Cause I just try to put myself in the shoes of a consumer. It's like, I guess when that vehicle leaves my house, it's not actually sold. Yeah, that's right. I mean, so, so again, I think that, like, and I'm trying to sort of take this from the perspective of, you know, trying to synthesize a lot of the things that we've seen when dealers get, when they get really involved and engaged and aggressive, they just win so dramatically.
And so it is a little bit different than what they're used to, but like our number one dealer, they just, they crush it and they buy so much inventory from us that it just has become a huge, huge channel for them. And what's cool is that you can see how invested they become in it and that when they get used to a little bit of a different process, it just works so, so tremendously for them and the margins that they have on these vehicles are really, really high. So that's great. When, like, you know, hiccups always happen, right? And I think that consumers, what I would say is that consumers usually know that something's wrong with their car. I don't think that people, I mean, there are, of course, times when people don't know, but for the most part, they kind of know, right? So when you have a situation where a consumer knows that something's wrong with their car, we really kind of end up just like talking it through with them.
We really have, you know, I'm not going to tell you, sit here and tell you that we're perfect. Like there have, of course, been times when something goes wrong on our side or their side with the dealer and, you know, you have to do right by the customer and you have to take care of them, right? Like we try to find a better home for their vehicle if something's really wrong. And if, you know, we had a car the other month that like went to the wrong location of the dealership, then it got sent to the other one. They had to reprice the car because something was wrong with it.
And we ended up basically sending the car back to the customer. And, you know, we give them a really generous gift card kind of work to get the car into the right place, right? For them to go sell the vehicle. I think that customers, the number one thing that customers really worry about is if their car gets picked up and they still own the car, is like getting paid for the car. And so we actually have our dealership license and I'll explain how we use this.
So let's say that a customer really wants to get a check for their car. A lot of dealers won't write the check for the vehicle same day or they will send you the paperwork and then you have to wet signature send it back. And so what we'll actually do because we have our dealership license is that we can actually basically write the check to the customer, do all the paperwork with them. And then when the car gets to the dealership, the customer can go and check, cash that check. And the dealership, like we'll have seen the car, they will have inspected it.
And so we'll basically handle the paperwork and then we'll sell the car to the dealer, dealer to dealer transaction. So it becomes this like, it can become really, really easy for the customer because they could do everything digitally. It's also really easy for the dealer because we do a dealer to dealer transaction. So we've sort of dabbled with that as well where you're basically doing the titling heavy lifting for the dealer and that's like yet another perk for them. So yeah.
Alright, so now things are getting interesting because I didn't know that. So you are, this is interesting. You know, cause I was gonna, you know, the next question I was gonna ask you is bluntly, why have so many like consumer to dealer marketplaces failed? Right? I'm sure you've did your homework. I'm sure you know some of these names and there've been lots of failures. I think a couple of the interesting elements that you've kind of thrown in here, which I didn't expect are the fact, are the way you handle arbitration, which is creative, especially with kind of giving the consumer the vehicle back.
And you have sort of proven, basically what you just said that you can get a consumer to pony up their vehicle for transportation before it's actually sold. And you're right. Having a check in hand does, does definitely give me that motivation. The second thing is you're not just a transaction layer. You actually have like you said, a dealership license, which allows you to get more creative in the process.
And so being able to, you know, provide a check in real time to the consumer, that holds a lot of weight. And I can imagine is a big reason why they're also comfortable. They're letting that vehicle go for, you know, to the dealer, even though it's not officially sold. It took a long, it took a long time to get here, right? Like I think that there's, there's a lot of different layers to the whole thing. So yeah, I mean, to answer your question, I think that a lot of these consumer to dealer businesses have failed because I sort of said this at the beginning, they're not actually changing the workflow for dealers.
They're not making anything dramatically better. They're simply saying, here's another customer that you can potentially win. And the dealership has to do the same work that they're doing today. So it's not anything new or different. It's lead generation in a lot of different aspects. So how do we make things better necessarily is that we can deliver a vehicle to them. We can basically do all the transaction components for them if they really want to. And that might be the direction that we need to take things. And the deal is basically done when they get the car. What tell me about, and please feel free to name drop, I don't know, like the relationship here with your dealers, but I'd love to know dealers that aren't using you already and kind of, you know, their experiences. But I also want to know, what are dealers telling you? Again, I think the vehicle acquisition is always a hot topic.
Use vehicle acquisition, the hottest of topics, right? Because there's no used vehicle factory. And always thinking about like, you know, where am I finding that next great trade-in or that next great car I can retail? And so with your conversations with dealers, right, what are they telling you? How is something like this making an impact on their business? Just tell us a little bit about your conversations with dealers. Sure.
So, I mean, look, we're working with some of the biggest dealerships in the country. And I feel really fortunate that we get to do that, working with Echo Park, which is a son of subsidiary across the country. Fitzgerald, Johnson Automotive, Coons, Pahanka. And then we've really expanded into the West Coast too. So we're working with some big groups out here, Price Sims, Norm Reeves. So, you know, look, there's some really, really great.
And then we're getting started with some of the Publix as well. And so, I mean, look, like, there's some really, really great dealers. I mean, like it just depends, every dealership is different in a lot of ways. We're getting, we're really getting started with, I think that we're sort of getting started with and just sort of at the tip of the iceberg in terms of doing these like white paper analysis for dealers and every deal can be different. But to summarize, like a lot of the benefits that the dealers will see, when they really invest in the vehicles, I mean, we do reviews with them and then we'll look at the deals and you start to really see like how much revenue they can actually generate on these deals when they're getting a really great vehicle.
And, you know, a lot of them will get customers who will sell them their car than they buy another car, or they go back to the dealership directly and sell them another vehicle. And I love that, like, I love that those stories. So dealers just have to be invested in finding new and different ways to engage with customers. And I think that like, look, you might hear from some dealers while, you know, I don't necessarily wanna compete with Carvana and I don't wanna, you know, why would I wanna go and do that? And there's really no good reason, I think for people to say no to this, but the reality is like dealers, you are all competing with Carvana and Carmax anyway.
Like, I think that you just have to accept that. Like, there will of course be, you know, the, you know, some, you know, older generation who doesn't go and do that, but you're always competing with them. And so I think that the sooner that dealers really recognize that consumers are shoppers in the same way that they are for buying a car, they are to sell a car, the better. And if I was to give any like advice, it's really that when dealers like lean in super hard to meeting customers where they are, they end up winning and winning really, really big.
And the biggest, I think, challenge that we see from dealers is that they just have so, it can be so distracting the different places that they can get a car. And when they don't, if they don't buy in enough, then, you know, they can't really win in the same way that we would want to see them.
Tell us a little bit about what are you currently seeing in the market? More like market insight. I'm curious to know like, how are your volumes, right? Are you seeing any trends, right? Negative equity. I'd have to imagine lots of people trying to offload cars, probably to dealers through your platform that are, you know, under water, anything specific you're seeing on your end. So from the consumer side, I mean, I think that the biggest thing that I would say is that when the market starts to really slip, which it had at the end of last year, there's this really big dislocation for consumers and it just takes them like two weeks to catch up.
But what's interesting is that they really do. So we actually get a lot of people who will come back. They will like repeat, list a car for sale. And I think that's probably something that dealers, like in a lot of essence, no, but you just have to be on top of and stay in front of these consumers because it might take them two to four weeks to actually really come around. So most of the people, most people start their journey and thinking about selling their car like 30 to 60 days before they actually will go and do that. It's very rarely this immediate need. I have to dump the car. And so consumers are, I think from like a market perspective, I think have become a lot more realistic about where they're able to sell their cars at. But we're starting to see the market really normalized. Like there was this just really big dislocation, especially last year where interest rates were too high for some people, they felt like they couldn't buy a new car. And we definitely are seeing people who are underwater. I mean, we definitely will see cars that, because we get loan payoff information. And I mean, it's tough. It's tough to see people who have a $30,000 loan and that car is retailing for like 28. So that's very common.
What do you see being close to this from your perspective, what do you see as the future here for auctions, traditional auctions, right? To your point, like they've lost some market share to cars off the street. I don't think anyone here is oblivious to that, right? We've all looked for inventory. Many of us have tried advertising, we'll buy our car. And even if you haven't, the way car max and carvana have over the last five years has been just ridiculous. I mean, you see their ads everywhere, we'll buy our car, probably toned down a little bit now, but still it's everywhere. What do you think is kind of the evolution here with auctions, right? Because you're giving like this like a white glove service, which if you can find the right car and you put the right number, it sounds like almost too good to be true, right? You're aligning incentives with me. I'm taking almost no inventory risk. I mean, actually, I'm actually taking no inventory risk whatsoever because I get to confirm my number before I actually make that final acquisition. So in one hand, it almost sounds too good to be true, which I think can mean two things. It can mean either it's something that's too good to be true or it can mean that if this business model works at scale, you've hit a goldmine and you could build a really, really big freaking business.
So how are auctions evolving from here in your mind? Is it gonna be more of like a managed marketplace like this where you're providing this white glove service? Is that where the industry is headed or is this more of like a niche product? How do you view it? That's a really hard question to answer. And I think that if I, I'll tell you like what I would like to see, like my vision for the future, which I hope can become a reality. Look, I believe there's a really, really big business to be built here, really big. Because I actually do believe that. You should do a community round. You should do a community round for a different. Great, I'd love to do a community round. I think that's what we're dealing with. I'm not sure what you're in for. Let's start with you. You put my money where my mouth is. All right, we have to disclaim. This is not an inducement for investment. Contact your financial advisor. This is not financial advice. Alright, go ahead. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
So anyway, you'll, you'll leave that round. But look, I, I believe this will be a really, really big business because like most of the vehicles start with consumers.
And there's actually a really good parallel to this, this business in the UK. It's called Motorway. And I'm sure that some people have heard about it. But when you build a destination, which they have, and you build Expedia or Kayak or, you know, some of these other places, like that, those are huge, huge businesses. And when you manage those marketplaces, they become even bigger. Right. And when you actually facilitate the transactions and you're talking about places like an Airbnb, whatever it might be. Right.
So let's go back to Motorway. Motorway is absolutely crushing it in the UK. And the UK, which is a fifth or sixth of the size of the US. Some of the latest stats that are public stats from motorway is that they sold like $2 billion worth of cars in 2022. And so that's a, a while. Right. Like, I mean, that is an enormous amount of cars. And the possibility to expand that and do that in the US is huge. And all of these vehicles really start with consumers. Of course, there's fleets and there's, there's fleets and there's other stuff like that. But, um, but it really starts with consumers.
And so I believe that as consumers become more aware of their options and as it become more aware of how this business really works and we can create more liquidity for vehicles than having a marketplace and a managed marketplace like this makes a lot of sense.
The key is to what we had talked about is that you can use the marketplace to talk about is that you have to really manage the marketplace. You can't just be another lead gen tool. You have to actually facilitate the transaction. And I think that there's some really, really cool stuff that we can do there to help consumers so that they have not just like a better experience, but an incredible experience that can't be replicated by dealerships.
And, and so you really are trying to like think about why Carvana and CarMax are successful. They create this magical experience for consumers. And it's certainly in Carvana's case, they've digitized that experience. The 99.9%, the other, all the other remaining dealers that exist, the 20 or 30,000 other dealers that exist. A lot of them don't do that. Even the big publics haven't figured out how to do that. So if we can actually do that and be that layer for dealers, that is like, that is just incredible for them. That's magic. And that's what we're trying to create here.
I love it. Where you really surprised me was when you told me that you actually have a dealer's license. I think this is where your business gets interesting because you're not, you're getting your hands dirty. And I love that. And what I mean by getting your hands dirty is titles. Titles are not my cup of tea. And I'm sure those people here listening to this conversation that are experts at titles, it wasn't really my department, not my favorite.
And it can get pretty hairy when you have that title. It's been lingering for x amount of days and everyone's trying to figure out what's going on and what is that and call the auction. And everyone, everyone listening here is right now thinking about that one title that they have at the dealership. They're like, I got to fix that title right now. So it gets it gets tricky. Yeah.
And I look, I totally agree. Like I just, when you think about the businesses that have been built, and this is where maybe to touch on like the earliest part, like I'm an outsider. Okay. I'm not a 30 year car guy who came from the space and there's totally value to that. But I think that being somewhat of an outsider gives me at least some perspective to have some fresh eyes on the thing. And I mean, there's a lot of things that I'm like kind of shocked by, but it's like, why are, why do dealers have to just own all the title and stuff? Like that sucks. I don't know.
To me, that just seems, it's like, it's like web 1.0 companies when they all built their own payment processing. And now there's like 10 different places that you can do that, right? Like, why would you, why do you want to do that? So I would love to do that because I think that we can create a product and create a process for that. I don't want that to be the core business, but I do think that there's a world where, and, and I'm trying to really like think about this and figure this out. Like that, I think that the piece that if I can like build in public for a minute, and if anybody wants to email me their, their answers to this, then please go ahead.
It's just Nate at the lasso.com. So what I'm really trying to figure out is how we can not only create our marketplace here, but also we can have a tool that dealers would actually want to just use with their own customers that they would white label. Like, let's just take the titling thing as an example. If that was something that dealers really wanted, I would love to like know if they want to offload that. But most people have a title clerk that is doing other things too, other than just acquisitions. So anyway, look, I think, you know, I think this conversation has been first of all super interesting.
You've sort of made me feel like I'm a dinosaur suddenly. And the reason I say that is because, well, the reason I say that is because I never even considered, you see, this is what happens when you're in like one industry for so long, right? I try to think outside the box. I mean, there's no limits to my brain. I mean, I go to crazy places, but I never even thought about that idea of, you know, kind of vehicle auction or whatever, call it anything you want to call it, like form of auction marketplace between a consumer and a dealer actually facilitating the title. I just haven't even thought about that. Like, I haven't considered that.
And I think you made a lot of really good points why that actually makes the, why that makes a system work, right? Because suddenly that customer can get that check on the spot, whether or not it's deposited right away, but you can actually truly do the transaction. And as a dealer, listen, I can tell you that the average dealer that is just looking to, you know, buy off the street, a lot of dealers don't want to put up with it.
And there's, there's some phenomenal tools out there in the market that have made putting a valuation on a vehicle a lot better. I'm a huge fan of Accutrade because it's a real strong valuation. And there's, and there's other great tools, but the transaction layer has not been solved. And I can bet you, and I'm going to put out also to everyone listening to this, right? If you're a dealer, listening to this right now, and you are not buying a lot of cars from the public or off the street because it's a cumbersome process, right? Just right in the comments right below because I guarantee you, people are going to mention this.
I spoke with the dealer at, you know, the NADA conference, right? A couple, a couple months back, which, and huge dealer, it looks 600 cars a month or something from one store. And he's like, yeah, like we don't really buy off the street because it's just a too cumbersome of a process and stuff like that.
So I would not sleep on this transaction layer. It's, it's, it's just as important to make the actual facilitation easy for the dealer because you're talking, you know, you have that guy, the person that needs to put the valuation and you have to transfer that to the title. There's a lot of process that's involved and no one wants to deal with that.
If you can make the economics work, if you can make the economics work for you and the dealer and of course the consumer, I mean, it's a home run. Yeah. I mean, like, look, I think that there's, uh, there's a lot of different ways that you can take it. We have a dealer license. You can actually get an auction license at some point if you really want to facilitate that.
Um, what's nice is that when you digitize the process, then you really have to become the dealer of record for that vehicle. Um, but you can, you can digitize the whole process. And I think that, um, a lot of like dealers just sometimes can't get out of their own way, right? They just have policies that like we need a wet signature on everything. It's like, you don't really have to.
Um, like we get all of our documents digitally signed, notarized. You don't, you don't have to get a wet signature on things, but there are just some corporate policies, right? And we can help get around that stuff because we'll actually sell these cars dealer to dealer to them.
So, um, the only, the only thing that we like that, that can be a little bit hard that we're figuring out is that you basically float the cash for X number of days to the customer. And that can become expensive when you're going and dealing at volume. But again, I think that we'll find ways to make it. You know, putting my, putting my very raw, the trivial investor cap on, I think the real test here is can you make these economics work at scale, right? With what you just said, like, like, you know, um, for example, I just had a dealer on the podcast and she mentioned her Rita Rita case, huge dealership or case auto group in Florida and then Georgia.
And she mentioned, she's like, yeah, we actually give our clients a 20 or warranty on their vehicles. We double it all over warranties. We double them, the manufacturer warranties. And so I said, wow, I said, that's, um, that's, that, that's a big deal. She's like, it is, but if you think about it, it's that perceived value for the consumer. But in reality, she's like, who really keeps their car more than 10 years? Think about that. And so, you know what I mean? So it's a similar thing, right? If you can de-risk the process for the customer and the dealer and along the way, if that, you know, that percentage that actually have to, you know, take advantage of this insurance is low enough, you know, you now, you now end up actually keeping or you, you end up, it ends up being a net positive for you. And as a marketing expense and the dealer benefits to consumer benefits. So I love it. Yeah. It's a lot of fun.
And I think that, um, hopefully this, this podcast will open people's eyes and you know, obviously consumers, but also the dealers, like that's really, I think that it's just, it's so fun working in the space. We, I love our clients and that, you know, it's really just a great sort of salt to the earth type person that we, that we get to deal with. And so I'm, I'm excited for hopefully some of the conversations to come from this because there are just so many progressive folks who really get it. And I just like love having those kinds of conversations and folk, you know, with those kinds of people.
And, um, a lot of people who have been on your podcast, I've spoken to you before. And, uh, so it's, it's really, really a fun time to be in the industry. And, and I do think that, um, as the market has kind of leveled out, we're going to see how these businesses really work in more of a normalized state. And, um, you know, I think, like, my hope is that this actually performs even better in a normalized state. When you have things that are too imbalanced, it can become really odd. Sort of the relationship, whether it's like, you know, to consumer heavy. Uh, or to dealer heavy, like those things aren't really work. You want some balance.
I mean, I wouldn't hold your breath with, uh, you know, the leasing cliff here and dealership leases, dealership lease returns about to decline here in the next month. It'll be interesting to see how that impacts prices for specific segments of vehicles. Not all, uh, but definitely for that three to four, three or three to four year old segments. So it'll be, it'll be an interesting ride for the next 12 months for sure. It's going to be a lot to cover. Well, we are, we, we work mostly with people who own their vehicles, right? Like leases and lease returns. Like I would, we actually can.
Like we can totally help those people, but I think that a lot of folks just kind of in their mind, they're like, well, I don't actually own the car. So can I do anything with it? That's like one of the biggest. I think for consumers, that's like the biggest miss is that they really don't realize that they can actually do something with their car. At the end of the lease. They just think that they have to go turn the keys in. It's like nuts. Yeah, I think it depends on the manufacturer and, you know, the specific vehicle. Yeah, totally does. It does vary, but I will tell you that.
Speaking about consumers, I think one of the, one of the most interesting, uh, call it like growth hacks or whatever that I've seen in our industry in the last couple of years. A carvana went in a big way, but it's not just carana. I mean, it's other marketplaces. It's dealers, but it's actually just building a relationship with a vehicle owners by telling them, hey, we will tell you how much your vehicle is worth daily. Right. And then you get all these customers in your funnel, right? Like millions, thousands, whatever. And then it's like, oh, by the way, now that you know how much your vehicle is worth, do you want to sell it? And so that's been like the thing, right? That's what we're at today. It's just like, let us educate you on your vehicle's value. And then when you're ready to sell, you're going to use us because it's going to, we've already built trust. It's easy. You're on our platform. Uh, that's kind of the thing nowadays. I've noticed.
So it would be interesting to see like, you know, maybe at some point that could even be a growth hack for you where you leverage that, you know, like stuff like that with consumers. I've thought about that. I've, we've definitely thought about that. We have plans to create price tracking because we do have a lot of data. I think that what's kind of the only thing that's like tough for me with that is that. Generally speaking, the best day to sell your cars today. Like generally speaking, right?
So it's kind of like, if people want to see the price over time. Um, and I think that people consumers hold out hope a lot of times that like the number will go up. And in very rare circumstances, it can. But a lot of times it doesn't. Right. Most times it doesn't. So that's sort of the thing is that I don't know. Maybe we just need to build it and consumers just want to see like the price over time and then they decide, okay, I'm ready to sell my car now and maybe it'll be a super, you know, like a really great home run for us, but we'll see. Love it. Name a halovich.
Any parting thoughts for us before we let you go. I think I've sort of said as much as I could say, but I look, I really would welcome any feedback or thoughts, especially from the dealership community. Please do send me an email. I respond to every single one of them. Nate at the lasso.com. We'd love to hear from you guys. And I really appreciate you having me on. Love it. Nate. Thanks for coming on, brothers. Great.
All right. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating. Consider subscribing to the show and check the show notes for links to what we talked about. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next time. Bye.