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 guests include Autumn Ross, Chief Financial Officer at Ewing Auto Group, and Britney Newcomer, VP Automotive for Corpay.
Together, they discuss how dealerships can eliminate manual accounts payable processes, reduce fraud risks, and transform expense management from a cost center into a profit driver through strategic digitization.
Traditional accounts payable workflows drain resources and create unnecessary labor expenses across dealership operations.
"You have three to four employees, that is just accounting, now spending 4 to 5 hours extra a week at a time and a half labor hour plus, you're fully burdened." — Ross
Overtime costs compound quickly when staff spend hours chasing receipts and processing paper approvals instead of strategic financial work.
Five credit cards across four stores create operational bottlenecks.
Limited card availability forces managers to share resources for basic purchases, creating delays and inefficiencies.
"For our previous credit card program, we only had five credit cards." — Ross
When one card is in use, emergency purchases become impossible, creating a cascade of operational problems across locations.
Food purchases expose the biggest documentation gaps.
Restaurant expenses present unique challenges for expense tracking and tax compliance due to poor documentation practices.
"Food was difficult to manage based on the quantity of cards that we had. We have multiple departments that are needing Saturday lunch." — Ross
Shared cards make it nearly impossible to track which department made purchases, creating compliance headaches and accountability issues.
Paper receipt systems waste management time.
Chasing down physical receipts pulls general managers away from customer-facing activities and revenue-generating work.
"When AP reaches out and says ‘You bought pizza last Saturday,’ it’s ‘Okay, where did I put that receipt?’ Now, you have not only the AP department, but now you have a general manager that is pulling away from his time." — Ross
The time cost extends beyond accounting staff to include high-value personnel who should focus on operations and growth.
Presented by:
1. Corpay - Corpay is transforming how dealerships handle payments. We help you save time, score big rebates, and ditch manual headaches — all while syncing directly with your DMS. Trusted by dealerships coast to coast, Corpay is here to rev up your efficiency and profitability. Don’t settle for “good enough” in your AP. Visit @ corpay.com and see what Corpay can do for your bottom line.
Mobile receipt capture eliminates paper trails immediately.
Simple smartphone photography transforms expense documentation from a burden into an instant process.
"They buy pizza. They grab their receipt. They pull out their phone. They take a picture of it. And that's it." — Newcomer
Modern solutions allow managers to capture, code, and submit expenses in real time without additional administrative overhead.
Spending restrictions prevent problems before they occur.
Card controls and category limits create automatic guardrails that reduce fraud risk and policy violations.
“I can recall one month where $13,000 was declined and that was mainly because of an internal process." — Ross
Proactive restrictions surface process gaps and prevent unauthorized spending, while maintaining operational flexibility through manager overrides.
DMS integration streamlines approval workflows.
Direct connections between payment systems and dealer management systems eliminate manual data entry and approval delays.
"Most of the dealers are getting an invoice in through EIV or AP invoice. Those are automatically going to flow over to what's called AP Assist." — Newcomer
Integrated systems allow approvals to happen within existing workflows without requiring staff to learn new platforms or processes.
Category spending analysis reveals unexpected insights.
Detailed spending breakdowns by merchant category help identify policy violations and process improvements.
"I look at what the card spend is by category…and even though we have the restriction ability, that doesn't mean that everyone is going to get that limited restriction." — Ross
Regular category reviews surface spending patterns that require investigation or policy adjustments.
Implementation speed depends on clear user accountability.
Rapid deployment success comes from establishing explicit consequences and expectations before rollout begins.
"Under this card agreement, the card user understands and acknowledges that if there are transactions that come through that they were unauthorized to make, they are acknowledging, at that point in time, that that spend will be reduced from their next payroll cycle." — Ross
Clear accountability frameworks eliminate confusion and ensure immediate compliance with new systems and policies.
FBO accounts shield dealerships from payment fraud.
For-benefit-of account structures protect dealer bank accounts from exposure during the payment process.
"When we pull the funds from our dealers, we actually put it into a FBO account, which is amazing for the dealer." — Newcomer
This structure limits fraud exposure by keeping dealer banking information separate from vendor payment processing.
