If your dealership feels slower this June, you’re not alone—and it’s not just a seasonal dip.
Over the last 90 days, we saw a pull-forward in demand. Consumers who were sitting on the fence jumped early, driven by the fear of looming price hikes from potential tariffs. That fear pushed many people to make a move—whether it was buying out a lease, trading up, or grabbing a used car before prices climbed again. Combine that with aggressive OEM incentives and some strong Q1 marketing pushes, and the spring got busier than usual for a lot of rooftops.
But now, the phone isn’t ringing quite as much. Floor traffic has dipped. Internet leads are slower to respond. It feels like someone hit the brakes.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t a mystery. It’s just the back end of a demand bubble that burst a little early. Customers who were going to buy in June or July already did in March or April. And now we’re in the hangover period.
So the question isn’t why it’s slow—that’s easy to explain. The question is: What are you going to do about it?
Here’s what smart operators are focused on right now:
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1. Get Aggressive on Private-Party Acquisition
The auction lanes are dry and overpriced. Inventory is tight. Now is the time to double down on sourcing cars from consumers.
• Mine your CRM for equity customers, orphan customers, and even service no-sales.
• Get proactive in the service lane. Have a trained team member ready to make soft offers to customers getting oil changes and brake jobs.
• Launch or revive your buy center campaign. If you’ve got a domain like [YourCity]BuysCars.com, now is the time to drive traffic to it with Google ads, Facebook, and OTT.
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2. Tighten Up Reconditioning Timelines
You can’t afford to have cars aging in service or stuck in recon purgatory.
• Run your internal ROs daily. Anything over 48 hours needs attention.
• Meet with your service manager. Get buy-in to prioritize used cars that can be retail-ready in under 5 days.
• Track time-to-line like your job depends on it. Because it kind of does.
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3. Improve Your Merchandising Game
With fewer buyers in the market, your cars need to stand out faster.
• Refresh photos and descriptions. Avoid template text. Make the VDPs compelling.
• Price competitively. Let go of the hope strategy. Use market data daily, not weekly.
• Lean on video. A walkaround from your top salesperson is more persuasive than a stale photo gallery.
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4. Train, Don’t Coast
Now is the time to coach your team—not wait for the phones to magically ring.
• Mystery shop your store. Listen to how leads and calls are being handled.
• Roleplay daily. Even five minutes a day builds muscle memory.
• Teach your team to create opportunity, not just wait for it. Outreach matters.
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5. Sharpen the Pencil on Marketing Spend
Stop doing “what we’ve always done.” Start doing what actually works.
• Cut what’s not producing leads. Even if you “like” the vendor.
• Push more into inventory acquisition marketing. Buying cars gives you more chances to sell them.
• Test creative messaging. “We’ll outbid Carvana” hits harder than “Huge Selection.”
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Final Thought:
June might feel slow, but that doesn’t mean it’s lost. Use this time to retool, refocus, and retrain. The stores that stay aggressive and creative during these lulls are the ones that win when the market picks back up.
And it will.
