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ICYMI, CDG Founder Yossi Levi shared the untold story of how the $48M startup failure led to the creation of CDG in this week’s podcast with Matthew Haiken.
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Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
Hertz to close all Hertz Car Sales locations amid online retail push
Hertz on Monday (Nov. 9) confirmed it will close all its physical retail stores, also known as Hertz Car Sales locations, as it deepens its focus on its broader retail car sales strategy.
"Over the past year, Hertz has evolved its retail car sales strategy to meet customers where and how they want to shop. We have expanded online buying on HertzCarSales.com, deepened our relationships with retail partners, and grown TestDrive+ to more than 300 participating Hertz rental locations,” a spokesperson with the company told CDG News via email. “As we advance our strategy, we are focusing on these channels and leveraging our extensive nationwide rental network rather than dedicated Hertz Car Sales locations.”
What else to know: This news comes a little over a year after Hertz followed in Hyundai’s steps by joining Amazon Autos, making it the first fleet dealer to join Jeff Bezos’ digital retailing platform.
Dealer panel points out increasing role of AI in used vehicle acquisition
With new vehicle margins compressed between $1,200 and $1,400 for non-luxury stores, dealers are looking for additional opportunities in the used car market.
That effort starts with acquiring quality inventory.
Driving the news: During Daily Dealer Live, Rob Ruth, president and owner of Bob Ruth Ford, Brooke English Guy, general manager at Coastal Chevrolet Cadillac Nissan, Charlie Spradlin, general manager at Art Moehn Auto Group, and Frank Knox, chief operating officer at AutoAcquire AI, joined host Sam D’Arc to discuss their strategy for acquiring vehicles in today’s market.
The roundtable, featuring dealerships of different sizes, explained how they are looking outside the auction for vehicles, including their service drive and customer database.
“It’s not a passive behavior when it comes to acquiring a car,” Knox said. “It has to be proactive.”
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5 must-have rules for trade-in appraisals in 2026
Marc Steiner, founder and CEO of Turn Automotive, recently joined Daily Dealer Live to share his takes on why trade-in appraisals go wrong based on what he’s seen in his 30 years in the industry, but also what dealers can fix without buying new software.
Among his top pieces of advice is giving your best number first and sticking to it, and explaining that their trade is being shopped to hundreds of dealers.
BMW dealer’s AI tool ranks all 349 U.S. BMW stores on AI visibility
Mike Yates wanted to sniff out how his dealership ranked in AI visibility. So, he built a tool for it.
Yates, general manager of BMW of Bridgewater in New Jersey, first created the tool, AEO Whisperer, in late 2025 as a best-ideas pitch for his NADA 20 group.
Shift Digital reps who work with BMW stores started using it on dealer visits. Then, inspired by an ask from the company’s western region, Yates began crafting regional and national dashboards in June.
Another FTC warning-letter recipient settles, still with no fine
A second dealership group has reached a compliance agreement with the FTC, the agency announced on Monday (Nov. 9).
Driving the news: Stream Auto Outlet, one of the 97 dealer groups to receive a March warning letter from the FTC, will not pay a monetary fine, nor did it admit to any wrongdoing, according to court filings.
The Long Island, New York, group owns three dealerships in the cities of Amityville, Valley Stream, and Islip, according to the FTC’s complaint.
