Macken Advisory

One number. Net profit per car retailed.

I came up through the stores, from the floor to General Manager and Partner. Then I spent 17 years at vAuto, Cox Automotive, and LotLinx working with dealers every day.

Now I work for the dealer. I find where the money leaks between the gross you should make and the net you keep, fix it, and show you what it was worth.

fmacken@mac.com

Deal recapPer car

  1. +How you buy the car
  2. +How you price it
  3. +Whether your sales process protects the gap
  4. +How fast you turn it
Gross
  1. −Marketing spend
  2. −The cost of running the sales process
NetThe number

What I look at

Most stores work on these one at a time, with a different vendor telling them each one is the problem. I look at all of it together and decide what changes first.

Acquisition

Where your cars come from, what you pay, and which sources actually make money.

Pricing and turn

Pricing discipline, aging, and knowing when to move a car before it costs you.

Online merchandising

Whether shoppers see the car the way you'd show it on the lot, and why some units never get looked at.

Marketing spend

Which dollars sold cars and which didn't.

Sales process

Lead handling and the desk, and where gross gets given away.

Vendor stack

What you pay for, what you actually use, and what to renegotiate or cut.

Both sides of the desk

I've run the store, and I've sat across from thousands of them as the vendor. I know what the tools promise, what they actually do, and how dealers really use them.

  • 1995–2009Dealership operationsPartner, General Manager, General Sales Manager, and used car buyer. Ran the P&L, inventory, advertising, F&I, and fixed ops.
  • 2009–2017vAutoPerformance Manager to Senior Director, Risk & Retention. Helped build the Performance Management organization.
  • 2017–2023Cox AutomotiveAssociate Vice President, Performance Management. Led a 300-person team supporting about 14,000 dealerships.
  • 2023–2026LotLinxSVP and Chief Customer Officer.

Published in Automotive News, Digital Dealer, and AutoSuccess on inventory decisions, at-risk vehicles, and reaching active buyers.

Start with a conversation

Tell me what's bugging you about your numbers. If I can help, I'll tell you how. If I can't, I'll tell you that too.

fmacken@mac.com  |  linkedin.com/in/fabianmacken