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Ronnie Lowenfield contributed to last week’s newsletter about what it takes to run a dealership.
Naturally, hiring and retaining employees came up when we talked.
It stuck with me, so I dug into what’s affecting hiring in dealerships right now, and how to retain people once they’re hired.
Here's what I found…
There's a 90-day danger zone involving retention and hiring.
According to data from the 2026 HR4 Workforce Study, more than a quarter of turnovers happen within an employee's first 90 days (as seen below).
Zac Kinch is director of operations overseeing Toyota, Lexus, and Hyundai stores in Indiana for Rohrman Automotive Group. (Yes, that’s Mr. $50 Oil Change Zac).
“Most of the time in automotive, you learned what to do by an individual that was not doing something correctly,” Kinch said. “It may not be the fact that they aren't good at their job, they may just not know differently.”
Zac Kinch
Rohrman Auto Group
Kinch's fix for catching a struggling employee early is what the group calls GWC: Does the person get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it?
If any one of the three is missing, he acts fast.
"If they're avoiding one of the three things, you move them," Kinch said, calling it an immediate decision, not a 30-, 60-, or 90-day process.
Dimitrius Naylor, founder of SOS Performance Group, spent 17 years in dealership operations before shifting to coaching and recruiting this year.
He also hosts a daily “Cars and Coffee” show on Clubhouse, an interactive podcast app.
Naylor warns against dealers searching for a “savior.” Meaning, someone to plug in that will instantly turn around a struggling store.
"If I can just find that right one guy... I'm gonna win at a high level," Naylor said, is the trap he sees dealers fall into. He prefers the advice: "Hire happy people, and they'll make happy people."
Dimitrius Naylor
SOS Performance Group
Social skills: Naylor usually leans on his social following and referral network, rather than job boards, when connecting dealers and job candidates.
It’s based on his theory that trust travels faster through real connections, not resumes and such.
His job shares draw interest.
Just last week, he posted about a confidential GM opportunity and woke up to a full inbox and 225 follow requests.
The takeaway: Dealers have about three months to properly establish new hires before they become a flight risk.
And remember, the in-real-life approach to finding people/jobs still works. (Naylor also cautions that AI-assisted resumes may over-polish skillsets.)
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Crystal clear onboarding standards are outlasting market swings and turnover issues.
Kinch said their group builds onboarding around a model where new hires watch first, then do, then explain what they learned, before advancing.
"It's actually them getting in the weeds to see it done, and [we can] evaluate as they're learning, what that person [can] do for us," Kinch said.
They created a learning management system, The Rohrman Academy, that is consistently updated with more than 30 courses, taught by Rohrman's leaders.
Kinch says the program helps cement the “why” of everything in digital video form, and that it’s essentially a coach-on-demand system.
Why it works: Dealerships with onboarding completion above 90% saw meaningfully lower turnover than those below 70% completion, according to the HR4 data.
Speaking of training, Naylor suggests resisting the urge to make every manager a jack-of-all-trades.
Instead, assign no more than four core tasks, then hold them to an obsessive standard on just those.
For example, a used car manager should focus solely on acquisition, merchandising, and inventory; a new car manager on turn and the right inventory mix; etc.
His company's slogan, "Standards Over Shortcuts," reflects his belief that written, repeatable processes will outlast market swings.
He also thinks dealers often stop training too soon.
“We hire middle managers… And we don't train them anymore,” Naylor said, adding that it’s another source for all the job movement happening.
Trust and patience are emerging as the new hiring priorities.
After improved hiring practices and better onboarding, it really comes down to having trust and patience, according to Naylor.
He said dealers often decide to replace someone too quickly.
"There's almost this knee-jerk mentality out in the industry that's been around for years—the dealer is just gonna up and replace them,” Naylor said.
A fear of losing their job can affect a new hire's performance and confidence.
He suggests:
Clearly defining and documenting what a good, great, and outstanding job looks like before interviewing a candidate, so expectations are explicit on both sides from day one.
Asking interview questions unique to the business, not just generic screening questions, for the dealer and the candidate.
Creating an alignment plan, including what happens next if results dip, to avoid reacting emotionally in the moment.
As we said, Ronnie Lowenfield, CEO of Casa Auto Group, shared an idea last week that stayed with us (hence the encore).
Their group identifies the best way to motivate employees based on each employee, not a one-size-fits-all plan.
That even includes using personality tests.
“I don't know of a lot of dealerships that are doing this,” Lowenfield said. “I think there's a lot of people that kind of intuitively will do this... but I don't know of a whole lot that are doing it formally.”
Ronnie Lowenfield
Casa Auto Group
Casa uses a workplace adaptation of the five love languages concept, such as using words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, and gifts, to help create ideal motivation plans.
Managers learn first, then pass it down.
They’ve experimented with tests such as the famous one by Myers-Briggs, and are working to include such acts in regular onboarding.
The signal: Unclear expectations can't be met. A prospect/hire can only understand a dealership’s processes, needs, and culture if it is explained and enforced.
The bottom line: Times have changed, so hiring/retention processes need to reflect that.
The “be grateful you have a job” era has faded, along with blanket approaches.
Working with people on clearly defined, individual paths, goals, and processes will help keep dealerships and their teams steady.
