Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast Recap—a rundown of key lessons from top operators, founders, and execs shaping the future of auto retail.
Today’s guests are Damian Arras, General Sales Manager at Credit Union Auto Sales, and Barton Harris, Chief Revenue Officer of Titan Secure.
The two discuss a South African-inspired prevention model that stops vehicle theft before a car ever crosses the curb.
If a vehicle leaves your lot before you can respond, GPS tracking alone isn't solving your theft problem.
In high-theft markets, opportunistic theft is the norm, resulting in a vehicle being gone, used, and ditched before most dealers can act on an alert. Damian found that GPS was useful for locating a vehicle after the fact, but in his market, recovered vehicles often came back damaged beyond the value of the payout.
"Getting a notification at 2:00 a.m. that you know, one of my cars is driving off the lot doesn't do much." — Damian
For dealers in similar markets, the more useful question is whether or not the system you have can stop it from moving in the first place.
When law enforcement can't reliably hold offenders, prevention has to happen on the dealer's side.
In markets where repeat offenders cycle through quickly, dealers can't count on the court system or police response as a backstop for theft losses. Damian's experience, aka filing a police report and seeing a third-time offender face minimal consequences, pointed him toward solutions that don't depend on that chain of events working.
"This is her third time stealing a car and you're praising her for being able to log in on her computer." — Damian
The practical takeaway for dealers is to evaluate their theft strategy independently of how responsive local law enforcement is, since that variable is largely outside their control.
If theft claims keep piling up, dealers in high-risk markets can lose coverage or price themselves out of filing altogether.
The cost of filing claims can eventually outweigh the payout. Damian reached a point where absorbing a loss directly was less damaging than the risk of premium increases or losing coverage altogether.
"The last vehicle that we had stolen, we just ate the loss just because it was one of the things that we couldn't afford for the insurance to keep going up and keep having claims and potentially get dropped." — Damian
The prospect of uninsurable inventory becomes a real business risk if the theft pattern continues unchecked.
A theft prevention product built from real operational need is worth understanding differently than one built to sell.
Titan's parent company, the VIA Group, operates 22 verticals in South Africa, a market Barton described as the most volatile auto-theft environment in the world, where jamming equipment is widely used, and vehicles can be stripped to the frame in a matter of hours.
"Titan was not born in a think tank. So not a bunch of people sit around going, 'Hey, what can we do to go sell another product to car dealers who get hit up five to ten times a week minimum for the next latest and greatest.'" — Barton
The system, he says, was built to address VIA Group's own losses and expanded into a commercial product after others saw it working.
Presented by:
1. Titan Secure - Titan Secure is a multi-layered vehicle theft prevention system built specifically for automotive retailers. Dealers protect their inventory, gain real-time inventory intelligence, and implement a reinsurance-friendly profit center that goes far beyond traditional GPS recovery solutions. Learn more here.
Looking at how other markets handle theft can give dealers a more useful benchmark than U.S. norms alone.
In South Africa, where Titan's parent company operates, a single GPS unit isn't enough to qualify for vehicle financing or insurance, given that two independently installed units are required before delivery. Barton shared this not as a comparison but as context for how the product was engineered from the start.
"In South Africa, you have to have two GPSs on your car to qualify for finance or insurance before you take delivery." — Barton
That context informed how Titan approached product development and their decision to build for prevention from the start rather than layering onto existing recovery-based systems.
Automating lot lockdown at closing removes a daily operational task and eliminates the risk of human error after hours.
At Credit Union Auto Sales, the geofence arms automatically at 8 p.m. and disarms at 7 a.m. Every vehicle locks itself. No manager needs to walk the lot, no switch needs to be flipped. When techs arrive in the morning, the cars are already unlocked and ready.
"The vehicles automatically lock. So they lock themselves. We don't have to worry about it. I don't have to lock them every night myself. It's automated." — Damian
Beyond theft prevention, it gives the dealer visibility into vehicle location and driving behavior across the full fleet without adding manual steps to the daily routine.
A consignment install model means dealers carry no upfront cost and only pay when a unit actually sells.
The business model is deliberately structured to eliminate dealer risk on unsold inventory. W-2 fitment engineers from Titan install every unit, manage batteries on-site daily, and remove the system at no cost if a vehicle is dealer-traded or doesn't sell.
"We do this on consignment. So this is a pay-go model." — Barton
At a 95% customer close rate and roughly $340 dealer reserve per unit, the program generates F&I revenue while the consignment structure ensures a dead cost never drives off the lot.
Dealers reinsuring on a 12-month earnout move reserves into their account significantly faster than standard etch programs allow.
Damian's prior etch program reserved around $125 per unit with a five-year earnout period. Titan's program, built with Synergy Warranty Services, puts a $25,000 theft benefit on a hard-add, non-cancelable product that earns out in 12 months.
"Your obligation to this is 12 months. So if you're reinsuring with a GPS provider and you're selling three, five, six-year terms, that is your earnout period." — Barton
Barton added that, for independent dealers without a blend of new-car volume, the shorter earnout timeline changes the reinsurance math entirely.
Partnering with local law enforcement and equipping them with the right tools is one way dealers can extend their impact beyond the lot.
Working with Sheriff John Allen's auto theft task force in Bernalillo County, Titan donated a 2016 Hyundai Sonata, installed their system, and built a dedicated law enforcement app that allows deputies to remotely immobilize the vehicle once they get behind it, removing the need for a high-speed chase.
"We've had over 45, 46 arrests including a homicide offender, and we now work directly with the United States Marshal Service because they require anti-theft, not recovery." — Barton
For dealers looking to build goodwill in their market while addressing a shared problem, engaging local law enforcement with tangible tools is a more productive starting point than waiting on the system to respond.
Understanding how auto theft connects to broader criminal activity can sharpen how dealers frame the case for prevention investment.
Drawing on his ride-along with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's auto theft task force, he outlined what law enforcement told him about how vehicle theft functions within the wider crime picture.
"The saddest thing about auto theft is it's the funding mechanism for all of the other ancillary crimes that affect all of us directly." — Barton
He also noted that younger offenders who enter the system over a stolen vehicle often don't find their way out of it, something Sheriff Allen's task force flagged as part of the longer-term cost of the problem going unaddressed.
