In this episode of the CDG Podcast, host Yossi Levi sits down with Andrew Spitzer (COO of Spitzer Autoworld) to discuss how a 120-year-old family legacy survives—and thrives—in the age of AI.
The challenge is timeless: maintaining a culture of high-touch service across 26 locations while sales profits tighten. The old solution was to demand more from an overstretched staff. The new reality? Use technology to protect and enable your people, so they can focus on delivering the best experience for customers.
Andrew Spitzer explains how Spitzer Autoworld is scaling effectively by leveraging Impel AI as a silent workforce. It’s not about replacing the human touch; it’s about automating the noise so the human touch actually matters.
3 Operational Insights You Can’t Ignore
1. The Fishing Efficiency Model If your BDC is wasting time chasing nibbles, you’re burning payroll.
- The Old Way: BDC agents manually grinding through hundreds of cold leads, hoping for a bite
- The New Way: Sales AI throws the lines, handles the nibbles, and sets the hook. It only taps the BDC on the shoulder when the fish is in the boat and ready to be grabbed
- The Result: Your best people spend 100% of their time on high-value closings, not 80% of their time on digital fishing
2. The Service Drive is the Heartbeat The showroom sells the first car; the service drive sells the next ten.
- The Old Way: Relying on overwhelmed advisors to make proactive outbound calls that they are often too busy—or too hesitant—to make
- The New Way: Service AI identifies maintenance milestones, lapsed customers, and missed intervals, engaging customers with VIN-specific outreach and automated scheduling based on driving behavior to fill the bays
- The Result: A proactive retention engine that drives revenue even when the showroom floor is quiet
3. AI as a Muti-Agent Workforce, Not a Replacement The biggest barrier to AI adoption isn’t technology. It’s shifting the internal culture.
- The Old Way: Staff viewing AI as a threat to their job security, leading to friction and poor adoption
- The New Way: Positioning AI as the crew you didn’t have to hire to handle the tedious, redundant, and thankless work at scale
- The Result: BDC and service teams that feel empowered, not replaced, allowing them to deliver the “radical hospitality” the Spitzer brand is built on
From the Conversation
On the Last Bastion of Meritocracy: Andrew describes the car lot as one of the few remaining places where you get out exactly what you put in. In his view, Impel AI is the ultimate meritocracy tool—it rewards the dealers who are willing to out-work and out-innovate the competition by maximizing every single lead.
On the “Dad Test” of Innovation: While the Spitzer legacy is built on old school standards like opening every door for a guest, Andrew argues that his father’s generation would appreciate the efficiency of Service AI. It’s about taking care of the customer and the business simultaneously, no matter what the market is doing.
WATCH IT
Video Chapters
00:39 What is modern showroom etiquette and technology?
03:12 What is the history of Spitzer Auto World?
06:40 What are Spitzer Auto World’s core marketing and branding strategies?
08:21 How does Spitzer Auto World engage via social media?
13:23 What drives Spitzer Auto World’s acquisition and growth strategy?
19:46 How do cultural touches enhance customer experience?
27:32 How does a centralized BDC and meritocracy work?
30:07 How is AI used in sales and service?
36:26 What is Spitzer Auto World’s service retention and VIP program?
Or you can listen to the full episode on:
About the Guests
Andrew Spitzer is COO and a fourth-generation leader at Spitzer AutoWorld, where he oversees 26 locations by blending a 120-year family legacy of high-touch service with cutting-edge technology.
Yossi Levi (host) is the founder and CEO of Car Dealership Guy, a leading platform for dealers to learn, grow, and connect.