Top 5 moments from NIADA BHPH Dealer Forum 2025.

Buy-here, pay-here dealers from across the nation converged on Nashville, Tennessee, to collaborate and exchange ideas at the NIADA BHPH Dealer Forum.

The conversations on best practices and tips to improve dealership operations never stopped, spilling out into the halls of the Loews Vanderbilt after breakout sessions and the dealer roundtables.

“This is a great show. You get the chance to drill down on specific topics in BHPH and that really resonates with us,” said Mike Clark, Jr., of Appearance Plus Auto in Pinellas Park, Florida. “I love the dealer interaction. [On the roundtable] every dealer contributed.”

Here are five highlights from this year’s Dealer Forum.

1. Dealer-led roundtables

Matched with dealers of similar size and business model, dealers spent three hours on Monday addressing a variety of issues, including employee management, inventory management, reconditioning, underwriting, insurance, collections, compliance, capital and customer retention. The dealers even came up with their own hot topics.

“It was a great group. We could’ve stayed in there another nine hours,” said Nathan Smith of Parker Auto Sales in Knoxville, Tennessee, who was one of the dealer moderators.

2. Best ideas

The NIADA BHPH Dealer Forum ended with the Best Ideas Contest in the Closing General Session Tuesday at the Loews Nashville.

Michele Somich of The Car Store in Piney Flats, Tennessee, won a free registration and hotel stay for the NIADA Convention and Expo from AutoZone for presenting the top idea. Somich shared with dealers how they increased sales and profits by offering liability insurance at the time of sale with micropayments.

“It’s been great for us. It’s helped us close more sales because the customer doesn’t have to leave the lot to get liability insurance,” Somich said.

Other finalists presenting were Jenne Madrueno of BHFC Financial Services, Thomas Rainey of Rainey Used Cars, Jason Holmes of True Value Auto Sales, Ben Brum of Carsmark, Maria Pericaz of Express Auto Financial and Keely Dishman of iGo.

3. Impactful education sessions

Nine education breakout sessions provided dealers with the latest information on collections, underwriting and compliance from other dealers and industry experts. Dealer panels shared solutions for the service departments, how to utilize AI and the best ideas from 20 Groups.

Click here to see the 2025 Education Sessions

4. Deep-dive workshops

Dealers dove headfirst into three-hour work sessions Sunday.

Luke Godwin of Godwin Motors guided dealers through “Building Versatility Into Your Business Model,” including a deep dive into dealerships’ numbers. Doug Turner of America’s Car-Mart led dealers through “The Heart of the Matter – Inventory Management”, tackling how to build a successful strategy for acquiring vehicles. NIADA 20 Group Moderator John Dismukes presented “All the Moving Parts to Moving More Metal,” discussing sales, marketing and lead generation strategies.

5. Adapting to change

The opening session of the NIADA BHPH Dealer Forum presented dealers with solutions to the changing market.

Shawn Payne of Goatforreal Media and Terry MacCaley of Big Time Advertising showed dealers how to use social media to move from customers scrolling on their phone to picking up a vehicle at the dealership. Darrell Steed of SmartWolf Consulting guided dealers through vehicle acquisition and buying from individuals. Phil O’Sullivan of ID Privacy explained how AI can be utilized at the dealership to handle several tasks.

To close the Dealer Forum, Andrew Street of Dealer OMG gave dealers the script to develop quick, easy and engaging videos for social media to attract customers.