Every time I speak at a dealership, someone eventually asks me about packs.

“Tommy, are you against them?”

No.

I’m not against packs.

If they’re helping your dealership make more money, keep using them.

The question isn’t whether you have a pack.

The question is whether your pack is helping you compete—or making it harder.

Here’s why.

In today’s used car business, your greatest competitive advantage isn’t negotiation. It isn’t advertising. It isn’t even inventory.

It’s your cost basis.

The lower your investment in every vehicle, the more options you have. Haven’t we always said, you make money when you buy a car?

You can price more aggressively.

You can turn inventory faster.

You can age fewer cars.

You can make more money over the course of a year.

Every dollar you add to a vehicle after you own it—whether it’s reconditioning, internal markups, or packs—raises the hurdle that vehicle has to overcome before it becomes profitable.

Years ago, packs made more sense.

Sales managers controlled gross profit. Deals were worked from cost up. Customers expected long negotiations, and skilled desk managers could often recover those added costs during the negotiation process.

That world has changed.

Today’s customer has already shopped your competitors online before they ever arrive.

Pricing is more transparent than ever.

Many dealerships—even if they don’t advertise themselves as one-price stores—are negotiating less, pricing more competitively, and saying “no” to unreasonable discounts.

When that’s your strategy, every unnecessary dollar added to a vehicle becomes harder to recover.

Here’s something else to think about.

Packs don’t just affect the numbers.

They affect people.

Salespeople become frustrated when they sell a vehicle and discover there’s less gross than they expected.

Managers spend time trying to explain why the deal “doesn’t pay.”

Instead of everyone pulling in the same direction, the pack can unintentionally create friction between ownership, management, and the sales team.

Now, am I saying every dealership should eliminate packs?

Absolutely not.

I’m saying every dealer should ask these simple questions:

Do packs create a psychological disadvantage when your managers appraise or buy a car?

Do the CarMax and Carvana buyers worry about such adds-ons?

Could you win more buys, capture more trades if your managers weren’t worried about the added cost of packs?

Only you know the answer to those questions. That’s all I’m gonna say

— Tommy Gibbs