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 guest is Andrew Habberstad, CEO at Habberstad Auto Group.
Andrew breaks down generational continuity, smart expansion, and why listening to peers can quietly reshape a dealer’s entire future.
Habberstad’s grandfather started with a dune buggy dealership and paint shop.
Before BMW, Andrew's grandfather ran a Meyers Manx dune buggy dealership in the back of his office with a paint shop up front.
"My grandfather, Howard Habberstad, started the business. He used to own a Meyers Manx dune buggy dealership in the back of his office and then in the front was a paint shop."
The entrepreneurial foundation matters more than the initial scale when building toward something bigger.
A best friend returning from Vietnam recommended the BMW opportunity.
Andrew's grandfather served in Vietnam with Joe Buzetta, who became a Porsche race car driver and acquired a BMW franchise after the war, then pushed his friend to do the same.
"He ended up going to war with a gentleman named Joe…and so when he got back, Joe…was getting into the car dealership space and he acquired a BMW franchise. And he said, given how my grandfather was his best friend, said, ‘Hey, there's a small company from Germany. It's called BMW. I think you ‘ought to look at it, see if you could pick up a franchise.’"
The best deals still come from people who know you, trust you, and want to see you win.
Negotiating the franchise price down from $10,000 to $7,000 launched the empire.
Andrew's grandfather found the opportunity in the classifieds and worked the price down by 30% before committing.
"One day he was reading the local newspaper and on the side in the advertisement section, they said, BMW dealership for sale, $10,000. So he called up the broker and like any car salesman would do, he negotiated and he haggled and he was able to get the price down to around $7,000."
Compare that to today's blue sky multiples, and it's clear how much the game has changed for anyone trying to break in.
Running the business through EOS eliminates silos and creates unified language.
Andrew implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System across all stores to create consistent management frameworks as they scale.
"We subscribe to the EOS, which is the entrepreneurial operating system…and so it's kind of helped us to eliminate friction, eliminate silos, and it really gets everybody to speak the same language."
Having a consistent operating framework becomes critical when scaling beyond one or two stores and bringing new acquisitions into the fold.
Holding weekly L10 meetings keeps the team focused on data and action items.
Every Tuesday from 10 to 11:30, the executive team meets for structured 90-minute sessions that emphasize solving issues rather than just discussing them.
"An L10 meeting follows the specific structure... It's meant to maximize the efficiency and it's meant to get to the heart of issues and make the meeting more goal-oriented and solution-oriented."
Without structured meetings backed by data, you're just having conversations, not driving outcomes.
Killing unprofitable initiatives quickly preserves focus on what actually works.
Despite generating $30-50K in additional monthly sales, the group axed their online parts position after discovering it lost $4-5K monthly.
"We started an Internet Parts position and we thought it was great...And then we broke it down into the net profit after commissions and after expenses each month, it turned out that position was actually losing four to five grand per month…and we quickly said, ‘Okay, let's go back to the vision. That isn't getting us one step closer towards buying another store.’"
Return on hassle matters as much as return on investment, and some revenue just isn't worth the squeeze.
Retaining top performers drives more value than fixing bottom ones.
With industry turnover hitting 40-50% annually, Andrew focuses on keeping top performers rather than fixing bottom performers.
"We see anywhere between 40 to 50 percent employee turnover per year. And I think often, operators managers, we spend so much time investing time into the bottom 10 to 20 percent of people that we hope to turn around. Whereas we actually end up ignoring, you know, the top 10 to 20 percent of people who are our strong performers."
Paid birthdays, leadership coaching access, and four-day work weeks are all on the table when retention becomes the priority.
Hiring from brands like the Ritz-Carlton elevates hospitality standards across stores.
Andrew poached three employees from the Ritz-Carlton to set the tone for customer experience, including one who still works both jobs.
"The last couple of years, we've actually hired three people directly out of the Ritz-Carlton... And when you check in your car for service at our BMW of Huntington store, the first person you'll meet in the service lane, the greeter, still works at the Ritz-Carlton after he's done here. And he's been with them for about 10 years."
Recruiting from companies with world-class training programs (sometimes) accelerates culture building faster than developing it from scratch.
Promoting from within builds loyalty that external hires can't match.
Ten out of 11 finance managers came from internal promotions, often starting as lot porters or receptionists before reaching six-figure roles.
"We have 11 finance managers throughout our group. Ten out of the 11 were promoted from within. And I'm not talking about, they were in the sales seat for a year and now they're a finance manager. I'm talking about they were a lot porter. They were an assistant in accounting. They were a receptionist."
As his store sees it, loyalty beats experience when you're building for the long term.
Working every department before taking leadership builds credibility across the org.
Andrew's father made him experience every role, from taking out trash to running cars at Mannheim, before earning his position at 28.
"My father always told me, ‘Okay, you can be involved in the business, but you have to see and do everything. Because nobody respects the next generation owner if they just go right to the top seat. You need to work in every single department.’"
And that’s because they believe respect is earned by understanding every job well enough that no one can question whether you've done the work.
