NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 25, 2025 — Paul J. Daly and Kyle Mountsier of Automotive State of the Union (ASOTU) operate off a seemingly simple premise — America’s auto dealers “love people more than cars.” 

Daly and Mountsier are focused on pushing back on negative narratives around the retail auto industry. “We want to break the stigma and tell the truth about car dealers,” Mountsier said during a Live Stage presentation on Saturday at NADA Show 2025. 

Dealers are community leaders, job creators and compassionate individuals who put people before profits, the duo explained. “We’re showing there’s more going in the industry than trying to make money or sell cars. [Dealerships are] the fabric of our community,” Daly said.

Luckily for Daly and Mountsier, there are a lot of great dealer stories to tell. Not only does ASOTU have a daily email newsletter (The Daily Pushback), several podcasts, webinars and a yearly event (ASOTU CON), it also has a video docuseries: “More Than Cars.” The first season of “More Than Cars” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi, with a second season coming soon. 

Daly and Mountsier partnered with NADA Show this year to conduct live interviews with exhibitors, including AutmotiveMastermind, Gubagoo, Reynolds & Reynolds, TrueCar and TVI MarketPro 3. The interviews were streamed throughout the Show and online, giving attendees and viewers at home the chance to meet the exhibitors. 

“We have all of these amazing industry partners serving all of these amazing dealers across all of these amazing communities across the country,” Daly said. 

For the second season of “More Than Cars,” Daly and Mountsier spent time at Bozard Ford in Jacksonville, Fla. Bozard Ford COO Ed Roberts joined Daly and Mountsier on the Live Stage to talk about his own career journey, dealership and staff. 

“When I started in this business, I was homeless,” Roberts said. “I was told no. I was judged by the cover, and the cover looked like a hoodlum. Then I found someone who gave me an opportunity, and it happened to be in the car industry. And now that’s my mission: to help others.” 

Roberts personal experience led him to create an Emergency Employee Assistance Fund, a staff-funded initiative providing donations to fellow employees who may be experiencing challenging situations. “For someone, that can be life-transforming,” he said.

Time and again, Daly said, when a dealership takes care of its people and community, those people and that community fight for their dealership and their fellow employees. 

This helps lower turnover among employees. Roberts noted that the average career span for service advisors is five to six years, but Bozard advisors have been with the dealership 30 years. In an industry where the average employee turnover is 45%, Bozard turnover is less than 5%. 

“Being a part of a dealership, being a part of the industry can really change lives,” Mountsier said. “In the automotive industry, there really is no ceiling. But there’s also no floor. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, who your family is, the automotive industry is for everyone.” 

Check out season one of “More Than Cars” on Amazon Prime Video or Tubi and on YouTube.