With over 30+ years of automobile experience from a green sales person to a dealership owner, David Lampel knows all facets of a dealership inside and out. Since founding Dealerwing in 2015 in Orlando, David has pivoted to providing dealership marketing & retention solutions initially focused on service, and has since grown the company into a full-service AI-based data & marketing platform for over 1,000 dealers nationwide. As a fellow “Car Guy”, David has earned his dealer’s trust and loyalty through a passionate pursuit of consistent and never-ending innovation, as well as providing real-time communication and transparent reporting.

Learn more about David, the company’s history, and his current views on the service marketing space in the below Q&A:

What problems did you set out to solve for automotive dealerships when you started Dealerwing?

I set out to give the dealers an alternative to the marketing that’s available in the market or through the OEMs. OEM marketing can be limited in its scope and flexibility, and its focus on the individual dealer. Dealerwing aims to change that.

What’s the biggest misconception dealerships have about marketing their service departments?

With so much focus on new vehicle sales, the service department tends to take a back seat. Sales is called variable for a reason… because sales can fluctuate wildly based on many different market conditions. The service department or fixed operations are much more stable and can provide a significant resource for covering all dealership expenses, which is why there is a measurement of Fixed Absorption. If you are actively marketing to your service customers, you can ensure that you will have the foundation for a profitable store, in good times and bad, as well as helping to grow your customer retention rates, which inevitably end up as an increase in sales.

What’s your best memory at Dealerwing?

My best memory at Dealerwing has to be when we hit the 50 store mark, as it symbolized to me that we had a viable business and could now focus on growth and innovation. At our first small corporate gathering, I remember being overcome with emotion and gratitude that this vision was coming to fruition and had become a reality.

Outside of work, what’s something that might surprise people about you?

As serious as I am at my work, I am actually an emotional goofball. My passions outside of work include skiing in Utah & Colorado with my family, and traveling to cities and beaches as often as possible. Go Yankees!

What advice would you give to a service manager who wants to get more support for marketing their department?

If you are looking to build your service department, at first you need to have the available techs and staff to handle additional business. With that in place, a good marketing partner will help to not only drive additional traffic, but also to transparently measure growth both month over month and year over year. That marketing partner should use multiple channels and also be able to identify and validate all available data to ensure an efficient, cost-effective spend, and provide you with all the backup needed to keep everything transparent. That company also needs to be able to customize your marketing and grow and adapt to market changes or any dealership changes, to make sure the dealership’s current needs are being met. Dealerwing provides all that for each and every dealer.

Ready to Take Your Dealership’s Marketing to the Next Level?
Dealerwing specializes in AI-driven marketing solutions designed to increase service retention, optimize ad spend, and drive measurable results. Let’s build a smarter, more profitable marketing strategy for your dealership today.