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- Industry Spotlight: How a Superbowl champion helped Cable Dahmer crack the code on interstate vehicle shipping
Industry Spotlight: How a Superbowl champion helped Cable Dahmer crack the code on interstate vehicle shipping
Featuring, Tom Bear and Stephan Morris, Cable Dahmer Automotive Group, and Frank Zombo, Auto Hauler Exchange
Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Industry Spotlight Podcast Recap newsletter.
In this episode, host Sam D’Arc speaks with Tom Bear, Platform Used Car Director at Cable Dahmer Automotive Group, Stephan Morris, the group’s Used Vehicle Acquisition Manager, and Frank Zombo, Vice President of Sales at Auto Hauler Exchange. Together, they share how Cable Dahmer is growing used volume, improving turn time, and boosting efficiency.
1. Used car demand is surging—but speed matters more than ever
The surge in demand for used vehicles has been building. Dealers are seeing it not just in closing rates, but upstream—in the volume of bids on trades and wholesale units.
“As a group, we had a record month last month. We delivered…almost 1,600 new and used combined. And it’s gonna end up being our largest used car volume month.” — Tom
Market dynamics are moving fast. Between unpredictable interest rate signals and volatility in wholesale pricing, used car managers are having to adjust strategies weekly—sometimes daily.
2. Trades and lease returns remain your best acquisition channel
Even in uncertain markets, disciplined operators are still finding opportunities.
“We were all terrified in 2020. Nobody knew what was gonna happen and you know, lo and behold, we ended up in the greatest. Time in the car business and history.” — Stephan
“Number one, it starts your acquisition with your trade-ins. I doubt that everybody's look-to-book is where everybody wants it to be. So this is a great time to re-look at that process.” — Tom
Take the time now to appraise your trades, put the right money in them, and assess who the best end-user is for each vehicle.
“The second one would be—know, your service drive or your current lease portfolio.” — Tom
3. Auction lanes are heating up—especially for trucks
Even experienced buyers are finding themselves surprised by how much heat is in the lanes.
“During Covid, the one thing you would see is the auctioneer would open up the price, the opening bid for the vehicle…In a normal market, he's got to come down…a couple of thousand dollars before people hook in and start bidding. This last week, specifically on trucks…, (the auctioneer) would open the bid and then, then just go up from there.” — Tom
Dealers who typically wait to bid are now getting boxed out early, forcing teams to rethink how they approach auction lanes in real time.
4. National sourcing only works with reliable transport
Cable Dahmer’s acquisition strategy depends on buying from across the country—not just locally. That means shipping has to be reliable and fast.
“One of the toughest markets to buy in is the market that we currently are in, which is Kansas City. It's very aggressive. We buy out of California, Florida, (and) Texas. We literally will go buy something anywhere if it makes sense.” — Tom
Margin often comes from buying in markets where pricing pressure is lower—then turning inventory quickly. That only works if the logistics hold up.
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5. Shipping volumes are rising as dealer activity ramps up
After a quiet February, March brought a significant spike in movement.
“Like Tom said, he saw something change over the last three weeks. And it was the biggest month we've ever had from the transportation side of things.” — Frank
The result? Larger volume, more frequent loads, and tighter coordination between acquisition, transport, and recon departments.
6. April is already pacing ahead of March
Momentum didn’t end in March—early April trends look just as strong, if not stronger.
“It doesn't seem to have slowed down at all…We're pacing a bigger month in volume in used cars than we did last month. — Tom
“We set a record for (the) number of units purchased last month—between Tom and I, and our goal is to break that this month.” — Stephan
This kind of pace requires precision. More volume means more chances to lose margin through shipping delays, missed recon windows, or slow merchandising. Execution at scale becomes the differentiator.
7. Cut aging inventory before the market shifts
Market strength is not a reason to get complacent. If anything, it's a chance to clean up inventory.
“If it is totally like the wrong thing…high miles or just something's kind of off with it that doesn't work retail-wise for your group, get it on an auction site and get off of it now.” — Tom
Aging cars can kill turn time, tie up recon resources, and muddy your metrics. Cable Dahmer is leaning hard into rebalancing inventory weekly to avoid getting stuck when the market turns.
8. Turn time is the new margin lever
Missing arbitration windows, sitting on frozen capital, and slowing your time-to-frontline can erode profit on every deal.
“Everything I can sell into this first 30-day bucket, I got to make it happen, regardless if I'm trading for it or if I'm buying it…off one of the coasts. Got to get it and move it.” — Tom
“If you buy a truckload of vehicles and say two or three of them have issues that would be eligible for arbitration, I. But it takes you two weeks to get your car. You're out.” — Stephan
9. Shipping tech is helping reduce friction and risk
Cable Dahmer leaned into logistics tech to reduce friction, eliminate back-and-forth, and tighten coordination between buyer and carrier.
“Instead of giving it to a broker and allowing him to just go post it on some load board, we've built a technology where…we've given Stefan the ability to post this opportunity directly to a carrier with all the same benefits of a broker.”— Frank
It’s a transparent fee, “let's get you your vehicles quick,” no haggling process.
“The transparency of their system of auto haul exchange system has been one of the greatest assets to getting these cars moved faster.”— Stephan
10. Cost and speed gains are showing up in the numbers
Faster shipping means fewer days in transit, lower aging losses, tighter turn cycles, and better recon scheduling. And Cable Dahmer has seen measurable cost and time improvements from these changes.
“It makes a big, big difference.”— Tom
“The amount that I post the vehicles for is on average about 25% less than previous. And the speed that they show up to the lot…I get calls from our recon team like, ‘Hey man, is there any way you can slow these things down?’ You just bought this load three days ago.” —Stephan
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