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Most dealers think the problem is the price. It's not.

Rolf Westgeest is the founder of EuroStocks.com and one of Europe's most experienced voices in automotive digital retail. He has spent 20 years inside the European automotive marketplace, building platforms, advising hundreds of dealerships, and watching millions of euros get quietly wasted on price cuts that never needed to happen.

His conclusion? The car was never the problem. The listing was.

In this episode, Rolf breaks down why dealers are losing deals before a single buyer ever sees their inventory, how classified portals actually rank and distribute vehicles, and what separates the dealerships quietly outperforming the market from those constantly chasing their tail on pricing.

He also gets into:

• Why 20% of EV listings are essentially invisible to buyers right now
• The cross-border trade opportunity most dealers are leaving on the table
• What AI is actually changing in automotive retail and what it isn't
• Why the first hour after a lead comes in decides everything
• How a €50 decision can outperform a €1,500 price cut

Rolf is also releasing a book on exactly this, and the ideas inside it are ones the industry hasn't put into a single place before.

If you work in automotive, manage inventory, run a dealership, or just want to understand how online car marketplaces actually work under the hood, this one will change how you think.

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What if the biggest problem in your dealership isn't your tools, your leads, or even your team but the conversations you're not having?

That's the thread running through my chat with Stefanie van Dijk, and it might just be the most honest conversation we've had on this podcast in a while.

Stefanie has spent over a decade in automotive, starting on the dealership floor, then spending eight years at DCDW helping dealers across the Netherlands and Europe get better at converting online interest into actual showroom visits. She knows the gap between what dealers think is holding them back and what's actually holding them back. Spoiler: it's usually not the tech.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why giving a trade-in estimate upfront can quietly cost you the deal, and what to do instead
• The real reason customers drive past four Mercedes dealers to buy from a fifth one an hour and a half away
• How to sell the appointment, not the car, and what that actually sounds like on a call
• Why so many digital initiatives in dealerships die on the floor
• Stefanie's Power Women in Automotive podcast and what she's learned after two and a half years of conversations
• Drive Together, her new movement pushing for real cultural change in automotive, not just diversity as a buzzword, but diversity as a business strategy
• The tension between AI and the human connection, and where she believes the line should be drawn

This one goes beyond the usual sales tactics. Stefanie is someone who's spent years in the rooms where dealers make decisions, and she's watched enough good ideas fail because of people problems disguised as process problems. She's direct, thoughtful, and genuinely trying to move the needle on something bigger than lead conversion.

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What if the real problem in automotive retail isn’t too little technology, but too little purpose?

In this episode of The Car Dealership Podcast, I sit down with Bart Pellis, a marketing strategist, advisor, and keynote speaker working with dealerships and national sales companies across Europe. Born and raised in the south of the Netherlands, he now lives and works along the Mediterranean coast. With a background rooted in creativity and automotive retail, Bart helps dealer groups shape marketing strategies, build strong teams, and rethink how people and AI can work together in the future of the automotive industry.

This conversation goes way beyond marketing tactics or the latest AI tool. We talk about people, profit, purpose, and why so many dealerships are busy doing more while earning less.

What we get into in this episode

• Why “more leads” has become a dangerous default strategy
• How profit is leaking out of dealerships even when volumes look healthy
• Bart’s simple but powerful way of rethinking sales teams, inspired by football
• The growing gap between central marketing departments and the showroom floor
• Why purpose matters more than perks when it comes to retaining talent
• The real role of AI in dealerships, not as a gimmick, but as a teammate
• Which tasks should clearly be automated, and which must stay human
• Why dealerships that over-automate the experience risk becoming replaceable
• A few surprising, very human moments from real AI conversations with customers

Bart also shares stories that stick with you. From living in a mountain village with snow on one side and the Mediterranean on the other, to customers bringing chocolates for an AI they thought was human, this episode balances big ideas with very real-world examples.

If you’re running a dealership, advising dealer groups, or simply trying to make sense of where automotive retail is heading, this episode will challenge some comfortable assumptions. It’s honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and ultimately hopeful.

Hit play if you want to think differently about growth, technology, and what really makes a dealership sustainable in the years ahead.