Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast Recap newsletter—the key lessons from top operators, founders, and execs shaping the future of auto retail.
Today’s guest is Ryan Downing, Dealer/CEO of Ross Downing Auto Group.
We break down his plan to scale to 20 dealerships by 2040, how he’s achieved 100% absorption at every store, and more.
Legacy thinking can create mental barriers to growth.
Ryan grew up hearing his grandfather's mantra that shaped decades of operations, but it also created a ceiling he had to break through.
"My grandpa was under the impression where his saying was, ‘You're better to run one store right than run multiple stores wrong.’"
That deeply embedded belief became a mental block Ryan had to completely reprogram before operational growth was even possible.
COVID exposed operational gaps that demanded immediate leadership consolidation.
At the end of 2020, Ryan walked into his father's office with a plan to unify the organization after each store had drifted in different directions.
"I go to him and say, 'Hey dad, look, COVID happened. We got all this stuff going on. Every store's kind of going their own different direction. We need somebody to pull everything together, kind of get some synergies back in place, get everything kind of aligned, have a common message.'"
His dad's response was instant and clear—Ryan was going to be the one to do it, and it became a defining test of his leadership capability.
Scaling successfully comes down to mastering three core fundamentals.
Ryan distilled the entire growth strategy for Ross Downing into people, inventory, and marketing—nothing more, nothing less.
"Through those three things, if we have those things dialed in at Ross Downing, we're probably going to have a really good shot of being successful."
Once he validated these pillars were repeatable across locations, he knew the model could scale to 20 stores by 2040.
New cars should fuel every other department, not drive profit.
Ryan takes a long-term view on new vehicle sales, treating them as the foundation for sustainable fixed operations growth.
"New cars are the gas of the fire, man…I really could care less about the new car growth. I need new cars in operation, units in operation, to fuel the other departments."
By betting the house on transparent pricing and high volume, Ryan pushes all his chips on the table and trusts his service and used car departments to deliver results.
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Total absorption above 100% requires disciplined staffing and throughput maximization.
Ross Downing consistently runs all three GM stores between 108% and 115% total absorption annually by refusing to skimp on staffing.
"Our Chrysler store that we just bought in last June, you know, they get a bad rep, but I think it's better than what people are leading to believe. That store's the lowest in our group on total absorption at 94%. And that number is not satisfactory."
The strategy is simple: Fill every technician stall, match sales staff to inventory levels, and ensure advisors can handle the workload without bottlenecks.
Constant recruiting eliminates the excuse of not being able to find talent.
Ryan got tired of hearing his team say they couldn't find people, so he mandated two interviews per week for every open position.
"I told all my direct reports, 'All right, that's fine. We're going to do two interviews a week, every position that you need somebody for set two interviews a week.' Ads running at all times."
The first skeptic came back with three interviews that same week, and suddenly, the entire leadership team started networking and filling their pipelines.
Parts department optimization unlocks major fixed operations gains.
While most dealers focus on flashy used car metrics, Ryan invested heavily in getting the parts department dialed in with consultant Dave Pikish.
"You get that parts department, you get the first time fill rate up, you start doing all those things, those technicians are happier, you get the shop filled with technicians, get the advisors set right, do all those things. All of a sudden, now you're really turning some hours."
It's not flashy, but when parts runs efficiently, technician productivity soars and the entire service operation transforms.
Building for scale means rejecting ideas that don't work at double the size.
Ryan implemented a simple rule across the organization: if it doesn't work at double the stores, don't do it now.
"If we can't do it with double the stores, don't do it now. So when we were at three stores, I would always tell everybody, if we can't do it with six stores, don't do it."
This forces every decision (from software to staffing) to be evaluated through a scalability lens, eliminating one-off programs that create operational debt.
Accounting bottlenecks will slow growth faster than any other department.
After getting burned by turnover and poor processes in the accounting office, Ryan now staffs it for future scale.
"The one place that slowed me up the most from production and revenue generating activities was when we went through hard times in the accounting office."
With 19 people in accounting for four stores, including a corporate controller and three store controllers, Ryan is building redundancy to ensure the back office never becomes a growth constraint again.
Next-generation dealers need mentors who have traveled the path before.
Ryan credits his growth to a few key people who shared knowledge and built his confidence to take bigger swings.
"There's a lot of people that have traveled the road that I am. They aspired to grow, wanted to grow, didn't necessarily know how to do it, but they figured it out and they did it…so, anybody that's willing to mentor others, whether it's myself, or anybody in my generation, if they've done it before, I would just encourage them to do that."
For him, it's not about the name or the money. It's about creating career opportunities for his people and changing the communities they serve.
