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What’s Really Breaking Trust Between OEMs and Dealers From Someone Who's Lived Both Sides with Igor Skinder
Manage episode 520358463 series 3373437
Igor Skinder has seen every side of the car business—and he still believes people matter more than the metal.
Today’s guest is Igor “Iggy” Skinder, a self-proclaimed car guy who somehow manages to be both physically imposing and one of the sweetest, most grounded humans in the room. Born in former Yugoslavia, Igor grew up three hours from a VW plant, fell in love with the legendary Golf GTI, survived a brutal civil war, and arrived in small-town New Holland, Pennsylvania as a teenage refugee who didn’t speak English. Fast-forward a few years and he’s roaming local lots, hustling his way into a part-time gig at a tiny VW/Audi store, turning internet leads into a thing, and eventually becoming the CPO guy in his region.
From there, Igor moves into the franchise world and ultimately to Volkswagen of America, where he serves as National Operations & Strategy Manager for U.S. car operations and CPO. Paul digs into what that job actually looks like—residual values, incentive timing, production planning, red tape—and why incentives dropped mid-month can destroy trust at the retail level. They unpack the dealer–OEM tension, why most of us are definitely not in the same boat (just the same ocean), and Igor’s take on EVs, Scout, service capacity, and agency models. And in true Auto Collabs fashion, you’ll also hear how Igor once turned down “life-changing money” to buy a store because he refused to sacrifice time with his young daughters—proof that for him, this business isn’t just about units and margins, it’s about the humans in the middle of it all.
Takeaways
0:00 – “I Was Low-Key Afraid of Him”: First Impressions of a Giant Softie
1:45 – Why His Friends Call Him “Iggy” (and the 90s Euro Pop Star Behind It)
4:40 – Loving Cars vs. Loving People: The Line His Daughter Holds Him To
6:40 – Growing Up in a War Zone: How Yugoslavia’s Collapse Shaped His View of Conflict
8:13 – $20, One Suitcase, and a Horse & Buggy: Landing in Small-Town Pennsylvania
11:23 – The First VW Job: Washing His Own Car Turned Into a Career in Used Cars
13:53 – Becoming “The CPO Guy”: How a York, PA Store Beat Downtown LA
15:55 – Inside VW of America: What Running U.S. CPO Strategy Really Looks Like
20:38 – “We’re Not in the Same Boat”: The Real Gap Between OEMs and Dealers
25:04 – Why Mid-Month Incentives Destroy Customer Trust (and Dealership Morale)
29:27 – Igor’s Take on Scout, EV Anxiety, and the Risky Bet Dealers Are Being Asked to Make
34:37 – Fixed Ops, Tech Shortages & Absorption: The Bloodline No One Wants to Talk About
38:05 – Turning Down Life-Changing Money: Choosing His Daughters Over Owning a Store
Connect with Igor Skinder at https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorskinder/
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