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Hey everyone,
Crazy week.
We’re currently at 700+ sign-ups for CDG Dealer Chat Groups in just a few days since launch.
It’s never been clearer: dealers want community.
— CDG
First time reading the CDG Newsletter?
Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
Auto lenders hit by coordinated fraud attacks amid rise in identity theft — report
Identity theft in auto lending is rising again, averaging 3.3% in the first half of 2025 after briefly spiking to 5.5% in May, according to new data from SentiLink.
The details: The surge came from coordinated attacks exploiting lender underwriting gaps and dealer channels.
These cases typically include mismatched phone or email data, risky carriers, and suspicious domains.
Meanwhile, synthetic identity fraud has cooled to 0.8%, but still disproportionately affects the auto lending industry.
Looking ahead: Fraudsters are getting faster and smarter, even using AI deepfakes and “digital warming” schemes to slip through verification systems.
How Rohrman Auto’s Jeremy Nowling is solving major data quality problems
After cleaning 2.5 million customer records, Rohrman Auto discovered that 48% were outdated, incomplete, or entirely unusable.
The details: The initial clean up revealed that the majority of problems were concentrated in email addresses.
"[email protected]" and "knowmeknow.com" filled Rohrman’s databases as placeholders that customers used to dodge marketing.
On top of that, 30% of physical customer addresses were outdated and basically useless.
To fix it, Rohrman’s Jeremy Nowling built a unified data system in Snowflake that cleans records monthly and syncs updates across every platform.
A word from our partner:
Capital One Auto President Sanjiv Yajnik joins us to unpack what's slowing dealers down–and how to help fix it.
They discuss how disconnected tools can hurt efficiency and what the next wave of dealer tech should solve for.
Sanjiv also shares his take on EV adoption and how small gains in lead conversion can drive big results.
Governor Newsom signs California’s CARS Act into law
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act, a sweeping new law that will reshape how dealers sell and advertise cars across the state.
Key provisions: The legislation bans misleading sales and financing practices, requires clear display of total vehicle prices, and prohibits charging for add-ons that don’t benefit buyers.
Dealers must also disclose that extras like GAP or service contracts are optional, and buyers now get 10 days to pay for them.
And the Act introduces a three-day return policy for used cars under $50K.
Bottom line: Dealers have roughly a year to prepare, including upgrading systems to handle documentation, compliance tracking, and refund management.
The 10-day onboarding program behind Principle Auto’s culture-first growth
At Principle Auto Group, Director of Learning and Development Fabiola Mathis is proving that culture can scale just like rooftops.
Key initiatives: Every new hire takes a culture index test that reveals communication and work styles, displayed on name tags as colored dots, helping teams understand each other faster.
Mathis also built a 10-day onboarding program that maps each day hour-by-hour, ensuring new advisors get hands-on with real customers by week two.
And she meets weekly with store leaders to review onboarding checklists and uphold training consistency across the group.
At the end of the day, Mathis is focused on people, building structure, communication, and development systems that keep Principle’s culture growing as fast as its footprint.
Toyota, Mazda allegedly join forces to co-develop new hybrid sports car
Toyota and Mazda are reportedly teaming up to co-develop a new sports car—potentially a four-seat, hybrid spin on the MX-5 Miata.
Key details: Japanese outlet Best Car reports the project would replace both the GR86 and MX-5, sharing a common platform and possibly Toyota’s hybrid system already used in Mazda’s CX-50. However, neither automaker has confirmed the collaboration yet.
However, the rumored 2+2 design (should it materialize) would blend performance and practicality, helping both brands share development costs while targeting younger, enthusiast buyers.
Missed yesterday’s episode of Daily Dealer Live?
Presented by:
Outside the box—expert F&I roundtable
Featured guests:
Jonathan Blain, F&I Manager at Goldy Auto
Trevor Caulfield, F&I Manager at Pine Belt Chevrolet
Dennis Gingrich, Sales and Finance Director at the Niello Company
Wade Higgins, Regional Sales Director at GSFS Group
Amazon Autos offers new financing options from Chase, Santander, Wells Fargo
