Circles Weekly · Jan 16 - Jan 22, 2026

Vibe Coding & AI Tool Development: An "Intro to AI & Vibe Coding" session is scheduled for January 27th at 1pm ET to build and open-source solutions. Users are submitting ideas for tools, including one to suggest lenders to maximize reserve based on AMF, credit, and rate (dependent on yearly Black Book API).

Customer Interaction AI: Autoengage for service AI led to poor customer experience (CX) due to scheduling issues, with appointments overlapping and customers traveling 75-100 miles for non-existent appointments. Numa AI is being used successfully on the service side and is being explored for sales.

Shipping & Logistics: Recommended tools include Auto Sled (praised for vetting drivers), AutoHauler Exchange (described as a "fantastic partner"), and Riteway Transport (offers live tracking).

Phone Systems & Call Analytics: GoTo/Carwars is used, with GoTo offering ease of use and Carwars for call analytics. The GoTo automotive CX package is being set up for Vin integration. CallRevu is being evaluated for its integration with Tekion and impressive features, potentially replacing a multi-provider setup (local telecom + Marchex + Phone Ninjas). Justcall was noted as a strong option for built-in CRM call logging before proprietary solutions were built.

Cybersecurity: Arctic Wolf is highly recommended for full SOC, costing around $40k/year for 180 devices, including a $400/month rapid incident response team. Sophos, offered through Comply Auto, provides core EDR/XDR, MDR, email security, and device encryption management for $6.50 per endpoint (Essentials) or $9.50 per endpoint (Complete), with the latter including unlimited incident response, forensics, a dedicated SOC lead, and a $1M breach warranty. Comply Auto's vulnerability scanner was noted as lacking.

Reporting & Inventory Analysis: Dealer Ops is preferred over Axcessa for store and group reporting. VinCue is praised for its capabilities against vAuto. A custom report using vAuto and Vinsolutions data exists for CRM integration. ChatGPT was used to analyze vAuto data, showing that approximately 35% of 1800 used vehicles were generating about 90% of leads in a snapshot. VizAuto is being considered for reporting, but its annual agreement requirement is a sticking point.

DMS Systems: Tekion is being explored for its functionality, especially for smaller stores. GM incentives can waive much of the setup cost. Initial quotes for two rural CDJR stores were $51,000 for setup and $12,000 for main DMS functions and payroll, though "heavily reduced" fees were secured for 12 rooftops. Autosoft is criticized for being unintuitive and causing repetitive accounting tasks.

Recall Management: Bizzycar is working well for VW and has shown positive ROI for Nissan (at $700/month CAD), reactivating "lost souls" and reaching out to other stores for recall appointments. It's being considered for Stellantis points.

Service Advisor Training: Ryan Kohler is highly recommended, credited with a "meaningful improvement in CX." The Ethos Group also offers in-person service advisor training in Dallas.

Pre-Diagnosis Questionnaires: Dealers are seeking a tool compatible with xtime that sends customers a pre-diagnosis questionnaire upon appointment scheduling.

DMS Downtime: CDK experienced downtime for some users.

Out-of-State Titling: DLR50 (dlrdmv.com) is favored by several dealers, with positive feedback regarding finalizing deals. ATC is described as "good, not great."

Parts Inventory Services: ProCount charges 0.9% of counted inventory. Another dealer reported paying 1.45% of inventory for a third-party service. Some prefer doing it in-house due to cost. Pay Plans & Sales Structure: Splitting Internet and non-Internet sales teams is debated, with concerns about creating silos, lower front-end gross, accountability issues, and complex pay plans. A unified sales team with a strong BDC is suggested as a better alternative. Katelyn Gilmore uses a split structure where pay plans are similar, but the internet team focuses solely on leads.

Controller Compensation: A controller for two rural CDJR stores, handling titling, accounting, payroll, and warranty claims, is negotiating a $180,000 salary, which was deemed "2X too much" by one observer.

Finance Chargebacks: GAP plans often auto-cancel and refund if a loan is paid off early. Service contracts are canceled if a car is traded in or not used. Dealers are seeking "no chargeback Gap" policies.

Credit Bureau Tracking: A personal log for lender credit bureaus (Equifax vs Transunion), LTV values, and debt service ratios is being used to optimize approval chances.

AI Search Optimization: Experts caution against "magical search AI solutions" like 'GEO', emphasizing that online reviews and good content remain critical for SEO. Schema markup (in HTML), sitemap.xml, robots.txt, and the emerging llms.txt standard are important for web crawlers and AI ingestion.

AI Overview Tools: SEM Rush provides an AI overview tool that shows how a business is viewed in AI search for various queries and offers content suggestions.

DAS Usage: Alex's DAS is currently in use by some dealers.