AutoNation Inc (AN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Harry, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the AutoNation Incorporated 3Q '24 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

早安.我叫哈利，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加 AutoNation Incorporated 24 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Derek Fiebig, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁德里克·菲比格 (Derek Fiebig)。你可以開始了。

Thanks, Harry, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to AutoNation's third-quarter 2024 conference call. Leading our call today will be Mike Manley, our Chief Executive Officer; and Tom Szlosek, our Chief Financial Officer. Following their remarks, we will open up the call for questions.

謝謝，哈利，大家早安。歡迎參加 AutoNation 2024 年第三季電話會議。今天的電話會議將由我們的執行長 Mike Manley 主持。以及我們的財務長 Tom Szlosek。在他們發表講話後，我們將開始提問。

Before beginning, I'd like to remind you that certain statements and information on this call, including any statements regarding our anticipated financial results and objectives, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities and Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that may cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Additional discussions of factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are contained in our press release issued today and in our filings with the SEC.

在開始之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議中的某些陳述和信息，包括有關我們預期財務業績和目標的任何陳述，構成 1995 年聯邦私人證券和訴訟改革法案含義內的前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險，可能導致我們的實際結果或績效與此類前瞻性陳述有重大差異。關於可能導致我們的實際結果出現重大差異的因素的更多討論包含在我們今天發布的新聞稿和我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。

Certain non-GAAP financial measures, as defined under SEC rules, will be discussed on this call. Reconciliations are provided in our materials and our website located at investors.autonation.com.

本次電話會議將討論根據 SEC 規則定義的某些非 GAAP 財務措施。我們的資料和網站 Investors.autonation.com 中提供了對帳資訊。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mike.

這樣，我會將電話轉給麥克。

Thanks, Derek, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I'm on the third slide.

謝謝德里克，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。我在第三張投影片。

I think the third quarter once again showed the resolve of the AutoNation team in what was a challenging environment. And notwithstanding the well-known headwinds in the quarter, I'm very pleased to report a number of highlights across our business.

我認為第三季再次展現了 AutoNation 團隊在充滿挑戰的環境中的決心。儘管本季度存在眾所周知的不利因素，但我很高興地報告我們業務中的一些亮點。

In new vehicle sales, we increased our market share, unlocking all the flow-through benefits generated by our new vehicle sale and delivering a welcome reversal of the share performance we experienced at the end of June as a result of our systems outage. In new vehicle sales, as we discussed on our last call, we came into the quarter disadvantaged by the impact of the CDK incident on our used vehicle inventory and resulting sales run rate. However, month over month, we consistently built our inventory back to acceptable levels, maintained our focus on turn rates, and delivered strong margins.

在新車銷售方面，我們增加了市場份額，釋放了新車銷售產生的所有流通效益，並與 6 月底因係統停機而經歷的股票表現出現了可喜的逆轉。在新車銷售方面，正如我們在上次電話會議中討論的那樣，由於 CDK 事件對我們的二手車庫存和由此產生的銷售運行率的影響，我們在本季度處於不利地位。然而，月復一月，我們不斷地將庫存恢復到可接受的水平，保持對週轉率的關注，並實現了強勁的利潤率。

The after-sales team continued to deliver great growth and achieved an all-time record gross profit. I'd like to say congratulations to the team, and thank you for the work that you put in on a daily basis.

售後團隊持續強勁成長，毛利創歷史新高。我想向團隊表示祝賀，並感謝你們每天所做的工作。

Now, on the cost side, the organization demonstrated continued discipline, all while navigating multiple operational challenges, with July being the most impacted. Now, talking about operational challenges, the CDK outage was not fully resolved until well into July, impacting our performance by approximately $0.21 per share in the quarter.

現在，在成本方面，該組織表現出持續的紀律，同時應對多種營運挑戰，其中 7 月受到的影響最大。現在，談到營運挑戰，CDK 中斷直到 7 月才完全解決，影響了我們本季每股業績約 0.21 美元。

As we all know, the country was hit by significant devastating weather events which, in turn, forced the temporary closure of approximately 50 stores, and additionally, we had to navigate an unusually high number of OEM stop sales, which were concentrated in our premium luxury brands. Now, despite all of this, during, the third quarter, our new unit sales outpaced the overall industry, with same-store units increasing 2%, reflecting growth in all three segments -- premium luxury, import, and domestic.

眾所周知，該國遭受了嚴重的破壞性天氣事件的襲擊，這反過來又迫使大約50 家商店暫時關閉，此外，我們還必須應對異常多的OEM 停止銷售，這些銷售主要集中在我們的高端產品上。現在，儘管如此，在第三季度，我們的新單位銷量超過了整個行業，同店單位增長了 2%，反映了所有三個細分市場的成長——高端奢侈品、進口和國內。

We also believe that new car margins, while continuing to moderate, are stabilizing. The sequential decline during the third quarter in new PVR was largely in line with our experience in the second quarter. Our sales of used units decreased from a very strong third quarter last year, but increased on a sequential basis.

我們也認為，新車利潤率雖然持續放緩，但正在趨於穩定。第三季新 PVR 的連續下降與我們第二季的經驗基本一致。我們的二手設備銷售量較去年第三季的強勁表現有所下降，但環比有所增長。

As I mentioned earlier, this is where the CDK outage hit us hard, which left us with a limited used unit vehicle inventory to start the quarter. Used vehicle demand remained stable, and through the efforts of our commercial teams, we were able to maintain relatively strong used PVRs at around $1,600 per vehicle. We're encouraged to see affordability improving, with a notable shift to used vehicles priced under $20,000 per unit.

正如我之前提到的，這就是 CDK 中斷對我們造成沉重打擊的地方，這使得我們在本季開始時的二手車輛庫存有限。二手車需求保持穩定，透過我們商業團隊的努力，我們能夠將二手 PVR 維持在每輛車約 1,600 美元的相對強勁水平。我們很高興地看到人們的負擔能力得到改善，每輛價格低於 20,000 美元的二手車明顯轉向。

Now, switching to customer financial services, which is comprised two-thirds of vehicle protection products and one-third financial products, the quarter was another case of sequential improvement. By the end of September, our product attachment rates and CFS PVRs were ahead of May's record setting levels.

現在，轉向客戶金融服務，其中包括三分之二的車輛保護產品和三分之一的金融產品，該季度是另一個連續改善的案例。到 9 月底，我們的產品附著率和 CFS PVR 均領先 5 月的創紀錄水準。

In addition, we continue to grow our AN Finance business, and year to date, we have now originated over $700 million of new loans. As you know, ANF is now exclusively focused on our automation customers and currently funds over 10% of our finance transactions.

此外，我們繼續發展 AN Finance 業務，今年迄今為止，我們已發放了超過 7 億美元的新貸款。如您所知，ANF 現在完全專注於我們的自動化客戶，目前為我們超過 10% 的金融交易提供資金。

Now, for our shareholders, this means a shift to a model that, on a lifetime basis, is 2.5 to 3 times more profitable than that of the traditional third-party finance offering. While this focus can have a near-term impact on CFS PVRs and cash flow, it greatly enhances long-term value creation and engenders more regular contact with our customers.

現在，對我們的股東來說，這意味著轉向一種模式，這種模式在整個生命週期內的利潤是傳統第三方融資產品的 2.5 到 3 倍。雖然這種關注可能會對 CFS PVR 和現金流產生短期影響，但它極大地增強了長期價值創造，並促使我們與客戶建立更頻繁的聯繫。

From an after-sales perspective, we continue to grow, expand margins and enhance our customer satisfaction, and I'm encouraged by our ability to hire, retain, and develop technicians. This more recurring revenue portion of our business is a key part of our customer retention efforts.

從售後的角度來看，我們不斷發展、擴大利潤並提高客戶滿意度，我對我們僱用、留住和培養技術人員的能力感到鼓舞。我們業務的經常性收入部分是我們保留客戶努力的關鍵部分。

But I mentioned earlier that the after-sales team delivered a record performance in the quarter. And just to put that into perspective, our annual gross profit from after-sales has grown by more than $0.5 billion since 2019. And if I just look at the last two years, same-store after-sales growth has grown by over 15%, and that growth has been delivered during a time when the service part of our dealerships has been reducing.

但我之前提到，售後團隊在本季取得了創紀錄的業績。從這個角度來看，自 2019 年以來，我們的年度售後毛利已成長超過 5 億美元。如果我只看過去兩年，同店售後成長超過 15%，而且這種成長是在我們經銷商的服務部分不斷減少的情況下實現的。

With that level of strong growth, it is no surprise that the comps get harder, but it does underline the significant progress we have and continue to make. After-sales growth now represents nearly half of our total gross profit.

有瞭如此強勁的成長水平，競爭變得更加困難也就不足為奇了，但這確實突顯了我們已經取得並將繼續取得的重大進展。售後成長現在占我們總毛利的近一半。

Finally, as you saw in today's release, we divested seven domestic stores and one import store from the portfolio during the quarter, generating more than $150 million of proceeds, unlocking value and providing us with capital reallocation opportunities. Underlying these pruning decisions was the opportunity to defragment portions of our portfolio.

最後，正如您在今天的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們在本季度從投資組合中剝離了7 家國內商店和1 家進口商店，產生了超過1.5 億美元的收益，釋放了價值，並為我們提供了資本重新分配的機會。這些修剪決策的基礎是對我們投資組合的部分進行碎片整理的機會。

We also recognized that the window for elevated asset pricing was closing rapidly, and we moved to take advantage of the attractive valuations that were still available in the market. Tom will take you through more details of the transaction so you can clearly see the benefits to our shareholders.

我們也意識到，資產定價上漲的窗口正在迅速關閉，我們開始利用市場上仍然存在的有吸引力的估值。湯姆將帶您了解交易的更多細節，以便您可以清楚地看到我們股東的利益。

Looking forward, we see moderation in seller expectations for franchise store valuation and look forward to putting more capital to work on acquisitions that give us the opportunity to generate high returns on the capital we deploy. Of course, we'll weigh these opportunities against other capital allocation opportunities, including share repurchases, which remains a cornerstone of our approach, to generating very attractive returns for our shareholders.

展望未來，我們看到賣方對特許經營店估值的預期有所放緩，並期待投入更多資金進行收購，這使我們有機會從我們部署的資本中獲得高回報。當然，我們將權衡這些機會與其他資本配置機會，包括股票回購，這仍然是我們為股東創造非常有吸引力的回報的方法的基石。

With that, Tom, I'm going to hand it all over to you to take us through the results.

湯姆，接下來，我將把一切都交給你來帶領我們了解結果。

Okay. Thanks, Mike. I'm turning to slide 4 to discuss our third-quarter P&L.

好的。謝謝，麥克。我將翻到投影片 4 來討論我們的第三季損益表。

Our total revenue for the quarter was $6.6 billion, a decrease of 4% from a year ago. Now, this was expected as our used vehicle unit sales declined and selling prices on both new and used vehicles moderated since last year.

我們本季的總營收為 66 億美元，比去年同期下降 4%。現在，這是預料之中的，因為我們的二手車銷量下降，並且自去年以來新車和二手車的銷售價格都有所放緩。

Gross profit of $1.2 billion increased 2% on a sequential basis, led by CFS and after-sales growth, but was down from 2023, primarily relating to normalization of new vehicle PVRs. The gross profit margin of 18% of revenue was unchanged from the second quarter.

在 CFS 和售後成長的帶動下，毛利為 12 億美元，較上季成長 2%，但較 2023 年有所下降，主要與新車 PVR 的標準化有關。毛利率為營收的18%，與第二季持平。

Adjusted SG&A reflected a consistent sequential run rate and decreased 3% from a year ago, reflecting our disciplined cost control efforts and lower revenue-based commissions. Adjusted SG&A was 67.4% of gross profit, a bit higher than our ongoing expectations as we battled the inefficiencies related to the CDK outage.

調整後的銷售及管理費用反映了連續運行率的穩定，比一年前下降了 3%，反映出我們嚴格的成本控制努力和較低的基於收入的佣金。調整後的 SG&A 佔毛利的 67.4%，略高於我們目前的預期，因為我們正在與 CDK 中斷相關的低效率問題作鬥爭。

Adjusted operating income was stable from the second quarter at just under 5% of revenue.

調整後營業收入自第二季起穩定在略低於營收的 5%。

Below the operating line, our third-quarter results were impacted by higher interest expense, mainly from floor plan debt, and we benefited from lower income tax expense. The third-quarter floor plan interest expense of $61 million was up $22 million from a year ago, as expected, a reflection of higher inventory levels. As a reminder, we reflect floor plan assistance received from OEMs in gross margin. This assistance totaled $38 million, up $7 million from a year ago.

在營業線以下，我們第三季的業績受到利息費用增加的影響，主要來自平面圖債務，我們受益於所得稅費用的降低。正如預期的那樣，第三季平面圖利息支出為 6,100 萬美元，比一年前增加了 2,200 萬美元，反映出庫存水準較高。提醒一下，我們在毛利率中反映了從 OEM 獲得的平面圖援助。這筆援助總額為 3,800 萬美元，比一年前增加了 700 萬美元。

So net of these OEM instead of net new vehicle floor plan expense totaled $20 million, up nearly $17 million from a year ago. Going forward, we expect that the 50-basis-point reduction in the federal funding rate announced in the second half of September will improve our net floor plan expense.

因此，扣除這些 OEM 費用（而不是淨新車平面圖費用）總計 2000 萬美元，比一年前增加了近 1700 萬美元。展望未來，我們預計 9 月下半月宣布的聯邦融資利率下調 50 個基點將改善我們的淨平面圖支出。

The gain from our eight franchise store divestitures, offset by other items which are detailed in our financial tables, improved our reported net income by $24 million for the quarter. Our adjusted net income excludes the impact of this net gain.

我們剝離 8 家特許經營店所獲得的收益，被財務表格中詳細列出的其他項目所抵消，使我們報告的本季度淨利潤增加了 2400 萬美元。我們調整後的淨利不包括該淨收益的影響。

And just to add what Mike mentioned on the franchise store divestitures, this was a case of optimizing shareholder value. These stores were consistently not achieving the returns on capital that we require for franchise stores, often because they're geographically apart from our markets. Our scale benefits were not being realized.

補充一下麥克在特許經營店剝離中提到的內容，這是一個優化股東價值的案例。這些商店始終無法實現我們對特許經營店所需的資本回報，通常是因為它們在地理位置上遠離我們的市場。我們的規模效益沒有實現。

Additionally, we realized an aggregate multiple on these divestitures that was significantly higher than the AutoNation trading multiple, allowing us to redeploy capital to more attractive opportunities. All in, this resulted in adjusted net income of $162 million, compared to $244 million a year ago.

此外，我們實現了這些資產剝離的總倍數明顯高於 AutoNation 的交易倍數，使我們能夠將資本重新部署到更具吸引力的機會。總而言之，調整後淨利潤為 1.62 億美元，而一年前為 2.44 億美元。

Total shares repurchased over the past 12 months decreased our average shares outstanding by 8% to 40.3 million shares in the third quarter of 2024. This was a benefit for our adjusted EPS, which was $4.02 for the quarter. These third-quarter results were not adjusted for the approximate $0.21 EPS impact from the lost revenue and margins during the quarter caused by the CDK outage.

過去 12 個月回購的股份總數使我們在 2024 年第三季的平均流通股減少了 8%，達到 4,030 萬股。這對我們調整後的每股收益（本季為 4.02 美元）來說是一個好處。這些第三季的業績並未針對 CDK 中斷造成的本季營收和利潤損失對每股收益約 0.21 美元的影響進行調整。

So I step back from the details, I view the $4.02 as quite strong. When you consider the $0.21 impact from the CDK outage, as well as the stop sale effect, which we estimated $0.08 to $0.09, plus the transitory and growth impacts of growing our AutoNation Finance portfolio which, itself, created a year-over-year negative EPS impact of about $0.25, you can appreciate the real performance we delivered in the quarter.

所以我從細節上退一步，我認為 4.02 美元相當強勁。當您考慮到CDK 中斷帶來的0.21 美元影響以及停止銷售效應（我們估計為0.08 至0.09 美元），再加上AutoNation Finance 投資組合成長帶來的暫時性和成長影響時，這本身就造成了同比負面影響EPS 影響約為 0.25 美元，您可以欣賞我們在本季交付的實際業績。

Let me move to slide 5 for some more color on new vehicle performance for the quarter. New vehicle unit volumes were a strong point for the quarter, recovering well from the CDK impact and increasing both on a year-over-year and sequential basis, reflecting strong supply, better incentives, and good performance by our commercial teams.

讓我轉到投影片 5，以了解有關本季新車性能的更多資訊。新車銷售是本季度的亮點，從 CDK 的影響中恢復良好，同比和環比均有所增長，反映出強勁的供應、更好的激勵措施以及我們商業團隊的良好表現。

On a same-store basis, unit sales increased 2%, with all segments improving, including our domestic segment, which overcame large declines by a number of brands within the portfolio. We are encouraged by the relative stabilization of our new vehicle gross profit PVRs, which were $2,800 for the quarter. On average, new vehicle unit revenue decreased 2% in the quarter, while new vehicle unit costs increased around 1%, resulting in the moderation of new vehicle gross profit PVR. We expect the fourth-quarter PVR moderation to be lower, reflecting the normal seasonal shift to premium luxury brands.

以同店計算，單位銷售額成長了 2%，所有細分市場均有所改善，包括我們的國內細分市場，該細分市場克服了投資組合中多個品牌的大幅下滑。我們對新車毛利 PVR 的相對穩定感到鼓舞，本季為 2,800 美元。平均而言，本季新車單位收入下降 2%，而新車單位成本增加約 1%，導致新車毛利 PVR 放緩。我們預計第四季的 PVR 放緩程度將會較低，反映出向高端奢侈品牌的正常季節性轉變。

The new vehicle supply dynamics have significantly improved. New vehicle inventory levels were at 46,000 units at the end of September, down slightly from the end of June. This represents 52 days sales, also roughly in line with the days sales at the end of June, after adjusting out the adverse CDK impact, and up from 44 days' supply at the end of March.

新車供應動態顯著改善。9月底新車庫存水準為4.6萬輛，較6月底略有下降。這代表 52 天的銷售量，在調整了 CDK 的不利影響後，也與 6 月底的銷售天數大致一致，並且高於 3 月底的 44 天供應量。

Looking ahead, the fourth-quarter new vehicle unit sales and overall PVRs will benefit from the seasonal strength of the premium luxury brands, helping offset the impacts from the ongoing PVR normalization. We are off to an encouraging start to October and expect total unit sales will be up in the month.

展望未來，第四季新車銷售和整體 PVR 將受益於高端豪華品牌的季節性強勢，有助於抵消正在進行的 PVR 正常化的影響。我們十月份的開局令人鼓舞，預計本月總銷量將會上升。

Turning to slide 6, in used vehicles, we had modest sequential unit growth from the second quarter, but tracked lower from Q3 2023, reflecting a difficult performance comparison and CDK-related inventory constraints. Unit sales were down nearly 8% from the prior year.

轉向幻燈片 6，在二手車方面，我們從第二季度開始實現了適度的環比增長，但從 2023 年第三季度開始有所下降，反映出業績比較困難和 CDK 相關的庫存限制。單位銷售量較上年下降近 8%。

Demand for lower-priced vehicles remains resilient. Total unit sales of vehicles priced under $20,000 increased by nearly 4% from a year ago. Unit sales of mid-priced vehicles and of vehicles priced over $40,000 were down double digits year over year, some of which was attributable to OEMs taking actions to improve the affordability of new vehicles.

對低價汽車的需求仍然強勁。價格在 20,000 美元以下的車輛總銷量年增近 4%。中價位汽車和價格超過 40,000 美元的汽車銷量同比下降兩位數，其中部分原因是原始設備製造商採取行動提高新車的承受能力。

Supply availability has also continued to be a challenge, particularly for the mid- and higher-priced tiers, consistent with the past few quarters, driven by lower new vehicle production during COVID. These trends created a composite 6% adverse selling price mix shift for used vehicles year over year.

與過去幾季一樣，由於新冠肺炎疫情期間新車產量下降，供應供應也仍然是一個挑戰，特別是對於中價位和高價位車。這些趨勢導致二手車銷售價格組合較去年同期出現 6% 的不利變化。

The mixed impact was also felt in used vehicle PVR, which was down approximately 9% year over year, but is holding in sequentially. Looking ahead with ample inventory, interest rate reductions, and improved affordability, we expect used unit sales will perform well in the fourth quarter and increase slightly from a year ago.

二手車 PVR 也受到了不同程度的影響，年減約 9%，但持續穩定。展望未來，由於庫存充裕、利率降低和負擔能力提高，我們預計第四季度二手房銷售將表現良好，並較去年同期略有增長。

I'm now on slide 7, customer financial services. In August and September, our CFS operations recovered well from the CDK outage, as our commercial associates were able to present product menus to customers in a normal fashion and get back to attaching two products to each vehicle sold. This enabled the 10% sequential CFS PVR growth from June to September that Mike mentioned.

我現在正在看第 7 張投影片：客戶金融服務。8 月和 9 月，我們的 CFS 營運從 CDK 中斷中恢復良好，因為我們的商業夥伴能夠以正常方式向客戶展示產品選單，並重新為每輛售出的車輛附加兩種產品。這使得麥克提到的 6 月至 9 月 CFS PVR 環比增長 10%。

Our captive finance company, AN Finance, has originated $700 million of loans year to date, meeting our full-year expectations in nine months and becoming AutoNation's largest lender. We expect approximately $1 billion of originations for the full year.

我們的自保金融公司 AN Finance 年初至今已發放了 7 億美元的貸款，在九個月內達到了我們的全年預期，並成為 AutoNation 最大的貸方。我們預計全年的發起額約為 10 億美元。

As a reminder, AN Finance has tightened underwriting requirements, focused on building a prime portfolio, and has eliminated third-party originations. In the third quarter, the average FICO score was over 680.

需要提醒的是，AN Finance 已收緊承保要求，專注於建立優質投資組合，並消除了第三方發起。第三季度，FICO平均分數超過680分。

The AN Finance P&L performance continues to improve, and the delinquency rates on the business underwritten since the acquisition have continued to meet our expectations. We're also finding that AN Finance is deepening the relationship we have with our customers.

AN Finance 損益表表現持續改善，自收購以來承保業務的拖欠率持續符合我們的預期。我們也發現 AN Finance 正在加深我們與客戶的關係。

Going forward, we expect continued strong performance in CFS and continued growth of AN Finance. Also, as the AN Finance portfolio continues to grow in season, we expect to shift its funding from a combination of warehouse lending plus AutoNation equity, which today is roughly a 75%-25% split, to funding that is based primarily on becoming an ABS prime issuer.

展望未來，我們預期 CFS 的業績將持續強勁，AN Finance 的業績將持續成長。此外，隨著 AN Finance 投資組合繼續按季節增長，我們預計將其融資從倉庫貸款加 AutoNation 股權（目前比例約為 75%-25%）的組合轉向主要基於成為ABS 主要發行人。

The AN Finance portfolio is rapidly approaching $1 billion, up from $400 million at the start of the year. While currently generating losses approaching $0.20 per share per year for year to date, principally relating to the upfront life-of-loan credit provisioning, which is a non-cash charge, this growth is generating significant scale, and efficiency will lead to profitability by the end of 2025.

AN Finance 投資組合正迅速接近 10 億美元，高於年初的 4 億美元。雖然今年迄今每年每股虧損接近 0.20 美元，主要與預付貸款期限信貸撥備（非現金費用）有關，但這種增長正在產生巨大的規模，效率將帶來盈利能力2025年底。

Moving to slide 8, after sales, representing over one-half of our gross profits, it continued its revenue and margin momentum, growing gross profit by more than 3% for the year over year, led by warranty and customer pay, and overcoming the headwinds from the CDK outage. Our tech efficiency and productivity were both higher than a year ago and on a sequential basis, as we're now fully recovered from the CDK outage. We continue to develop and promote our technician workforce, which has led to year-to-date increases in our master and certified technician headcount.

轉到幻燈片 8，售後，占我們毛利的一半以上，它繼續保持收入和利潤增長勢頭，在保修和客戶付款的帶動下，毛利同比增長超過 3%，並克服了CDK 中斷帶來的不利影響。我們的技術效率和生產力都高於一年前，並且環比提高，因為我們現在已從 CDK 中斷中完全恢復。我們繼續發展和提升我們的技術人員隊伍，這導致我們的大師和認證技術人員人數今年迄今有所增加。

Our total store gross margin rate once again increased, reaching 47.7%, up 50 basis points from a year ago, reflecting improved parts and labor rates, tech efficiency, technology innovations, productivity, and higher value orders. And looking ahead, we expect our after-sales business will grow roughly mid-single digits each year.

我們的門市總毛利率再次上升，達到47.7%，比一年前成長50個基點，反映出零件和人工率、技術效率、技術創新、生產力和更高價值訂單的改善。展望未來，我們預計我們的售後業務將每年實現約中個位數的成長。

Now, to slide 9, we continue to see consistent cash flow conversion. Adjusted free cash flow year to date through September was $467 million, compared to $850 million a year ago, with the change in line with the change in earnings, along with an approximate $75 million impact from the CDK outage. While the quantum of free cash flow is normalizing in line with new vehicle PVRs and profits, the efficiency of our cash generation, as measured by the conversion of net income into free cash flow, has been consistently greater than 90%.

現在，到幻燈片 9，我們繼續看到持續的現金流量轉換。截至 9 月份，今年迄今調整後的自由現金流為 4.67 億美元，而一年前為 8.5 億美元，這一變化與收益變化一致，加上 CDK 中斷造成的約 7500 萬美元的影響。雖然自由現金流的數量正在隨著新車 PVR 和利潤的增長而正常化，但我們的現金產生效率（以淨利潤轉化為自由現金流來衡量）一直高於 90%。

Capital investments were slightly below 2023 levels, with an expectation of approximately $300 million in CapEx for the full year and comparable annual amounts going forward. Consistent with the expansion of AN Finance, our auto loans receivable related to the loans originated at our own stores increased by $588 million in the first nine months of the year. We expect continued growth in this portfolio.

資本投資略低於 2023 年的水平，預計全年資本支出約為 3 億美元，未來可比年度金額約為 3 億美元。與 AN Finance 的擴張相一致，今年前 9 個月，我們與自有門市貸款相關的應收汽車貸款增加了 5.88 億美元。我們預計該投資組合將持續成長。

Moving on to slide 10 on capital allocation, we consider capital allocation an opportunity to either reinvest in the business, and this is in the form of CapEx, funding the AN Finance portfolio or M&A, or return the capital to our shareholders via share repurchases. CapEx is mostly maintenance related, compulsory spending, typically around $300 million a year, and fairly linear over the course of the year.

接下來是關於資本配置的幻燈片10，我們認為資本配置是對業務進行再投資的機會，這以資本支出的形式為AN Finance 投資組合或併購提供資金，或者透過股票回購將資本返還給我們的股東。資本支出主要是與維護相關的強制性支出，通常每年約 3 億美元，並且在一年中相當線性。

The AN Finance portfolio currently requires 25% to 30% equity funding which, for 2024, will require approximately $100 million of capital allocation. As the portfolio seasons and we're able to establish a regular ABS funding cadence, this required equity funding should come down to 10% or less. We expect to implement an ABS program sometime in the first half of 2025.

AN Finance 投資組合目前需要 25% 至 30% 的股權融資，到 2024 年，將需要約 1 億美元的資本配置。隨著投資組合的季節變化以及我們能夠建立定期的 ABS 融資節奏，所需的股權融資應降至 10% 或更少。我們預計在 2025 年上半年實施 ABS 計畫。

We continue to actively explore M&A opportunities, many on the franchise store side. We're competitive buyers, where we're confident in achieving a year three return greater than our weighted average cost of capital for core franchise opportunities. That hurdle is a bit higher for non-franchise opportunities.

我們繼續積極探索併購機會，其中許多是在特許經營店方面。我們是有競爭力的買家，我們有信心在第三年實現高於我們核心特許經營機會的加權平均資本成本的回報。對於非特許經營機會來說，這個障礙要高一些。

It's difficult to predict the timing of M&A, of course, and so far, we've not identified opportunities in 2024 that meet these return requirements. But as Mike notes, the landscape seems to be improving, and we're starting to see a more regular flow of opportunities.

當然，很難預測併購的時間，到目前為止，我們還沒有在 2024 年找到滿足這些回報要求的機會。但正如麥克指出的那樣，情況似乎正在改善，我們開始看到更規律的機會流動。

Share repurchases have been and will continue to be an important part of our playbook. The third quarter alone, repurchase spend looks light, but it's simply a reflection of higher-than-normal second-quarter free cash flow and lower-than-normal third-quarter free cash flow caused by the shift of outgoing payments from the second quarter to the third quarter as a result of the CDK outage.

股票回購已經並將繼續成為我們策略的重要組成部分。僅第三季度，回購支出看起來就很少，但這只是第二季度自由現金流高於正常水平以及由於第二季度支出轉移導致第三季度自由現金流低於正常水平的反映由於CDK 中斷，到了第三季。

Looking at the year-to-date figures tells the full story that repurchase spend relative to adjusted free cash flow, so we compare repurchase spend to adjusted free cash flow, you get about a 76% ratio this year. Last year, it was 85%, so fairly consistent, a little less due to the higher AutoNation Finance portfolio equity funding that I talked about.

從今年迄今的數據可以看出，回購支出相對於調整後自由現金流的比例是完整的，因此我們將回購支出與調整後自由現金流進行比較，今年的比率約為 76%。去年，該比例為 85%，相當穩定，但由於我談到的 AutoNation Finance 投資組合股權融資較高，因此比例有所下降。

For our capital allocation decisioning, we continually consider our investment grade balance sheet and the associated leverage levels. At quarter-end, our leverage was 2.5 times EBITDA, in line with our 2 to 3 times EBITDA long-term target.

對於我們的資本配置決策，我們不斷考慮我們的投資等級資產負債表和相關的槓桿水準。截至季末，我們的槓桿率為 EBITDA 的 2.5 倍，符合我們 2 至 3 倍 EBITDA 的長期目標。

Now, let me turn the call back to Mike before we address your questions.

現在，在我們回答您的問題之前，讓我將電話轉回給麥克。

Thank you, Tom.

謝謝你，湯姆。

As you can imagine, we're pleased about the various events that we have faced over the past two quarters behind us. And despite them, our diverse portfolio of brands and geographic footprint enabled strong new unit growth in the quarter, which outpaced the overall market. We delivered steady use vehicle margin, as I discussed earlier, which was and what is continuing to be a very competitive environment, and we delivered after-sales growth that hit a new record for our company.

正如您可以想像的那樣，我們對過去兩個季度遇到的各種事件感到高興。儘管如此，我們多樣化的品牌組合和地理足跡仍使本季的新單位成長強勁，超過了整體市場。正如我之前討論的那樣，我們實現了穩定的二手車利潤率，這曾經是並且仍然是一個競爭非常激烈的環境，並且我們實現了售後增長，創下了我們公司的新紀錄。

As I look forward, I'm encouraged by a number of trends. Obviously, reduction in interest rates helped to improve affordability, and improving affordability will progressively lift demand for both new and used vehicles. We're also seeing actions by a number of our OEM partners to balance demand and production, either through actions to make vehicles more affordable, increase expenses, for example, or adjusting inventory levels by moderating production, and these actions are well received. Internally, we continue to develop our self-sourcing capabilities for used vehicles, which ultimately helps to maintain and improve our margin performance.

展望未來，我對許多趨勢感到鼓舞。顯然，利率的降低有助於提高負擔能力，而提高負擔能力將逐步提高對新車和二手車的需求。我們也看到一些原始設備製造商合作夥伴採取行動來平衡需求和生產，例如透過使車輛更便宜、增加費用等措施，或透過減少生產來調整庫存水平，這些行動受到了好評。在內部，我們繼續發展二手車的自採購能力，這最終有助於維持和提高我們的利潤率表現。

Now, with that, I'm going to open the lines to take your questions. Thank you.

現在，我要開始回答你們的問題了。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) John Murphy, Bank of America.

（操作員指示）John Murphy，美國銀行。

Good morning, guys. Just a first question, Mike, on the parts and service side. You made a comment that comps get tougher, but then Tom mentioned that you guys are still looking for mid-single-digit same-store sales growth. But I'm just thinking, as you think about that business, there's a tremendous amount of warranty work that seems to be popping up from stop sales. It ranges across automakers.

早安，夥計們。麥克，第一個問題是關於零件和服務方面的。您評論說競爭變得更加艱難，但隨後湯姆提到你們仍在尋求中個位數的同店銷售成長。但我只是在想，當你想到這項業務時，大量的保固工作似乎是從停止銷售中突然出現的。它涉及各個汽車製造商。

Doesn't that present a potential opportunity here in the near term and maybe even over the next couple of years to maybe outstrip that? And on the other side, on the customer pay, how are you measuring retention levels so that some of those comps that might get tougher on the customer pay side might be eased by holding on to the consumers for a few years longer?

這是否在短期內甚至在未來幾年內提​​供了一個潛在的機會，甚至可能超越這個機會？另一方面，在客戶付費方面，您如何衡量保留水平，以便透過將消費者保留幾年來緩解一些在客戶付費方面可能變得更加困難的競爭？

Thanks, John. So let me just focus on the customer pay piece to begin with, and we've talked about this before, so we look very closely at our penetration of the vehicle park in each of the areas we represent, zero to three years, three to seven years and seven years above.

謝謝，約翰。因此，讓我先專注於客戶付費部分，我們之前已經討論過這一點，因此我們非常仔細地研究我們所代表的每個領域的停車場滲透率，零到三年，三到三年七年，七年以上。

We sit, depending on the franchise, higher for premium luxury, a little bit lower for domestics, between 50% and 55% penetration of zero to three years. That's obviously influenced by the number of vehicles that are sold outside of the immediate vehicle park, but it shows you that there is opportunity on the customer pay side to grow and improve penetration there.

根據特許經營權的不同，我們對高端豪華車的滲透率較高，對國內車的滲透率稍低，零到三年的滲透率在 50% 至 55% 之間。這顯然受到在直接停車場之外銷售的車輛數量的影響，但它表明客戶付費方面有機會增長和提高那裡的滲透率。

We have a lower penetration, but in line with industry on three to seven years, I think that's a huge opportunity for us. And frankly, most of our OEM partners are now laser focused on that as well, and they're very much looking at the content required to win some of those customers back to the franchise network. We're involved with many of those developing plans there, so I think we can grow that.

我們的滲透率較低，但與三到七年的行業情況一致，我認為這對我們來說是一個巨大的機會。坦白說，我們的大多數 OEM 合作夥伴現在也非常關注這一點，他們非常關注贏得一些客戶重新回到特許經營網絡所需的內容。我們參與了那裡的許多開發計劃，所以我認為我們可以發展它。

And I also believe we're entering a period now where we're going to start to see some growth in the vehicle park that has typically been addressed by franchise dealerships. After two to three years now of reduction in the three- and the seven-year vehicle park, we're going to begin to see the three-year park grow as we get into next year, and that'll be followed by the seven-year park. So I think there are a number of positives available for us to continue to grow that business, and we're very, very focused on it.

我還相信，我們現在正在進入一個時期，我們將開始看到停車場的一些增長，而這通常是由特許經銷商解決的。經過兩到三年三年期和七年期停車場的減少，進入明年，我們將開始看到三年期停車場的增長，隨後將是七年期停車場。因此，我認為我們有很多積極因素可以繼續發展這項業務，而且我們非常非常關注它。

As I think about Tom's comments, I agree with what he said. But clearly, what he's doing, he takes a more cautionary approach in terms of what is available in the business, and the discussions that I have with my team are very different focus. But Tom, I think, does a phenomenal job at being realistic.

當我思考湯姆的評論時，我同意他的說法。但顯然，他正在做的事情，他對業務中可用的內容採取了更加謹慎的態度，而我與我的團隊的討論的重點卻截然不同。但我認為，湯姆在現實方面做得非常好。

I do, I think, a different job at setting targets that I think are very ambitious. So somewhere in between, we'll probably end up, and what happens with stop sales, hopefully they get progressively reduced with improved quality, as we've seen over many years, because that can't be our strategy for growth.

我認為，我在製定我認為非常雄心勃勃的目標方面做了另一項工作。因此，在兩者之間的某個地方，我們可能最終會發生停止銷售的情況，希望它們隨著品質的提高而逐漸減少，正如我們多年來所看到的那樣，因為這不可能是我們的成長策略。

Got it. Helpful. And then just a real quick second question, Tom, you talked about doing your first ABS deal sometime next year. What does that mean for the relative cost of funding for AutoNation Finance? And what is the opportunity that are lower than the cost of funding significantly? And at 10% sounds a little bit high even on the equity side. I mean, could that be closer to the 5% of what you might need to put into deals ultimately over time?

知道了。有幫助。然後是一個快速的第二個問題，湯姆，你談到了明年某個時候進行你的第一筆 ABS 交易。這對於 AutoNation Finance 的相對融資成本意味著什麼？以及哪些機會大大低於融資成本？即使在股權方面，10% 聽起來也有點高。我的意思是，隨著時間的推移，這是否會更接近您最終可能需要投入交易的 5%？

I mean, Mike said I'm conservative, so maybe you're right on the equity funding. But I think we have to first get a portfolio that's seasonal enough to get some ABS activity going, and then, hopefully we can drive some good interest and get good funding levels.

我的意思是，麥克說我很保守，所以也許你對股權融資的看法是對的。但我認為我們必須先獲得一個足夠季節性的投資組合，以便進行一些 ABS 活動，然後，希望我們能夠帶動一些良好的興趣並獲得良好的融資水平。

I do think it'll be a benefit to the overall cost of the portfolio compared to our warehouse lines. Not entirely sure what number I'd put on it until we get a little bit closer to those events, but it should be positive relative to the funding cost of the portfolio.

我確實認為，與我們的倉庫線相比，這將有利於投資組合的整體成本。在我們離這些事件更近一些之前，我不完全確定我會給出什麼數字，但相對於投資組合的融資成本來說，它應該是正面的。

Tom, maybe just a follow-up on that. I mean, when do we hit run rate on AutoNation Finance about, like, when we get beyond sort of the stress or the sort of the weight of the seasonal reserves and get into sort of normal funding? Is that more '26, '27? I mean, maybe, I mean, just kind of directionally, where do we get to steady state on this business, maybe cost of funding, and then get beyond the seasonal reserve headwinds?

湯姆，也許只是後續行動。我的意思是，我們什麼時候才能達到 AutoNation Finance 的運行率，例如，什麼時候我們超越某種壓力或季節性儲備的重量並進入某種正常的融資？那更像是'26、'27嗎？我的意思是，也許，我的意思是，只是某種方向性的，我們如何在這項業務上達到穩定狀態，也許是資金成本，然後超越季節性儲備逆風？

Yeah, I mean -- yeah, it's a good question, John. As we said, we're funding about 10% of the overall finance business comes through the captive. We'd like that to be higher, and we're trying to drive that higher, so I think we'll continue to see really good origination growth in the next year, 18 months. But like I said, I do expect us to get to a run rate profitability by the end of 2025 on the portfolio, even with that continued growth.

是的，我的意思是——是的，這是一個很好的問題，約翰。正如我們所說，我們透過自保公司為整個金融業務提供約 10% 的資金。我們希望這個數字更高，並且我們正在努力推動這個數字更高，所以我認為我們將在明年 18 個月內繼續看到真正良好的原創成長。但正如我所說，我確實預計我們的投資組合將在 2025 年底之前實現盈利，即使持續成長。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Rajat Gupta, JPMorgan.

拉賈古普塔，摩根大通。

Great. Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to follow up on the capital allocation commentary.

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。我只是想跟進資本配置評論。

I think, Tom, you mentioned 70% to 75% of free cash flow. Is that an indication of what the rule of thumb we should be applying going forward in terms of what you're thinking for buyback? And I'm just curious, Mike also mentioned a lot about the deal environment, and I'm curious like if this could also mean that we could start to see a pivot to more allocation towards M&A versus buyback, given where the leverage is, just given where valuations are. And then I have quick follow up. Thanks.

我想，湯姆，你提到了 70% 到 75% 的自由現金流。這是否顯示我們在考慮回購時應該應用什麼經驗法則？我只是很好奇，麥克還提到了很多有關交易環境的內容，我很好奇這是否也意味著我們可以開始看到更多的配置轉向併購而不是回購，考慮到槓桿在哪裡，剛剛給出估值。然後我會快速跟進。謝謝。

Yeah. I'll give you my thoughts. I know Mike has some thoughts on it as well.

是的。我會給你我的想法。我知道麥克對此也有一些想法。

When you look at the overall capital allocation for 2024 year to date compared to 2023, I think we're at comparable relative levels of share repurchase, as I said. It does comprise a fairly high percent of our adjusted free cash flow in both years. And that's a continuation of our pattern.

當你將 2024 年迄今的整體資本配置與 2023 年相比時，我認為正如我所說，我們的股票回購相對水準相當。它確實占我們這兩年調整後自由現金流的相當高的比例。這是我們模式的延續。

As we look at the reasons for that, certainly, we look at the intrinsic value of our shares and see opportunity there to put capital and create shareholder value. But that's also been in the backdrop of an M&A environment that has been a bit challenging in the last two or three years. You have a lot of the potential targets that we look at that are working off of P&Ls that were inflated by the environment that they were operating in with COVID.

當我們審視原因時，當然，我們會審視我們股票的內在價值，並看到其中投入資本和創造股東價值的機會。但這也是在過去兩、三年併購環境充滿挑戰的背景下發生的。我們看到許多潛在目標的損益表都因為他們在新冠疫情期間運作的環境而誇大了。

We try and look through those, and we try and normalize those as a result. We had a hard time finding ways to create value for our shareholders at the purchase prices that would have been required. I do think we're seeing a bit of thawing in that. I'm happy to say that we took advantage of that environment in some of the store sales that we talked about.

我們嘗試審視這些，並嘗試將其標準化。我們很難找到以所需的收購價格為股東創造價值的方法。我確實認為我們看到了一些解凍。我很高興地說，我們在我們談到的一些商店銷售中利用了這種環境。

But I think as we move forward, I do think we'll have more opportunity. And so I wouldn't bank on the exact ratios that we've talked about on a go-forward basis. We're always going to make our decisions based on where we think we can create the best shareholder value.

但我認為，隨著我們向前邁進，我確實認為我們將會有更多的機會。因此，我不會指望我們在未來討論過的確切比率。我們始終會根據我們認為可以創造最佳股東價值的方面做出決定。

I think it's a good answer, Tom. I mean, I think fundamentally, the business demonstrates and continues to demonstrate good cash generation, which brings a lot of opportunity for us. I think specifically, Tom commented on the share repurchase, and that's obviously very important to us and our shareholders. But in terms of M&A, I think two things really have changed over the last few years.

我認為這是一個很好的答案，湯姆。我的意思是，我認為從根本上來說，該業務展示並繼續展示良好的現金生成能力，這為我們帶來了許多機會。我特別認為，湯姆對股票回購發表了評論，這顯然對我們和我們的股東非常重要。但就併購而言，我認為過去幾年有兩件事確實發生了變化。

Firstly, as we've looked very closely at our market presence and understand, I think, very, very clearly what acquisitions fit into our operating model, but equally what acquisitions fit into our density model where other businesses that we have, and we've been developing, add additional synergies over and above the synergies we bring to the actual operation of the dealership. So that means that we can create value above what would be a normal acquisition of a franchise business, so long as it is in markets we've identified and in a cluster that we've identified.

首先，由於我們非常仔細地研究了我們的市場存在並了解，我認為非常非常清楚哪些收購適合我們的運營模式，但同樣，哪些收購適合我們擁有的其他業務和我們的密度模型我們一直在開發，除了我們為經銷商的實際營運帶來的協同效應之外，還增加了額外的協同效應。因此，這意味著我們可以創造高於正常收購特許經營業務的價值，只要它位於我們已確定的市場和我們已確定的集群中。

And then secondly, we are already beginning to see prices drop, not necessarily because multiples have changed dramatically, because they haven't, but obviously trailing 12 months, profitability has changed. A combination of those things, I think, meaning we're in a very good position to assess what I think will be a good set of opportunities as we come through the balance of this year and into next year.

其次，我們已經開始看到價格下跌，不一定是因為市盈率發生了巨大變化，因為它們並沒有發生巨大變化，但顯然過去 12 個月以來，盈利能力發生了變化。我認為，這些因素的結合，意味著我們處於非常有利的位置，可以評估我認為今年和明年的剩餘時間將出現的一系列良好機會。

Understood. That's very clear. Just one follow-up on the used car business. I know July was impacted by CDK pretty significantly. Could you give us a sense of how things have trended through August, September, maybe October in that business as well? I think, Tom, you mentioned total units were up in October. I'm not sure how new or used were within that, but just any more color on the recovery of the used would be helpful. Thanks.

明白了。這非常清楚。這只是二手車業務的後續行動。我知道 7 月受到 CDK 的影響相當大。您能否讓我們了解一下該產業 8 月、9 月甚至 10 月的發展趨勢？湯姆，我想你提到十月的總單位數有增加。我不確定其中有多少新的或舊的，但只要在舊的恢復上有更多的顏色就會有幫助。謝謝。

Yeah. The way that I would ask you to kind of think about this and give you my view, if you just look back over the quarterly performance in terms of some of the things that we've been focused on, we've been focused on growing and developing our used car margin. We had a lot of discussion earlier this year, but we're also focused on the inventory term that we achieve in our used vehicles so that we can get that momentum of working capital flowing through that part of the business.

是的。我會要求你思考這個問題並告訴你我的觀點，如果你回顧一下我們一直關注的一些事情的季度業績，我們一直專注於成長並發展我們的二手車利潤。今年早些時候，我們進行了很多討論，但我們也關注我們在二手車中實現的庫存期限，以便我們能夠獲得營運資金流經該業務部分的動力。

With the focus on that, you can see the direct link of inventory levels and our pricing position in the marketplace to our performance. And therefore, my view on our used car numbers in the quarter are heavily skewed on the fact that we came into it with much lower retail inventory than I would like. I think the team has done a good job building that through the quarter, and we've come into Q4 in a different position.

透過關注這一點，您可以看到庫存水準和我們在市場上的定價地位與我們的業績之間的直接聯繫。因此，我對本季二手車數量的看法嚴重傾斜，因為我們的零售庫存比我希望的要低得多。我認為團隊在整個季度的建設方面做得很好，我們進入第四季度時處於不同的位置。

And as a result of that, we are seeing improvements in terms of our used car run rate. And I think if we continue to do a good job in sourcing, and I mentioned that as part of my earlier comments, then if the market is available, we'll be well positioned to get our share of it. And really, that's been the focus.

因此，我們看到二手車運行率有所提高。我認為，如果我們繼續做好採購工作，我在之前的評論中提到過，那麼如果市場可用，我們將處於有利地位，能夠獲得我們的份額。事實上，這才是焦點。

We've talked before about the different channels to rapidly build used car inventory. We have a very, very disciplined approach to some of those channels because you'll feel good for a couple of days because you've significantly added inventory to your portfolio. But trust me, after 45 to 60 days, you're going to feel a little bit less good as you see those types of vehicles age and the margin dip into negative territory.

我們之前討論過快速建立二手車庫存的不同管道。我們對其中一些管道採取了非常非常嚴格的方法，因為您會在幾天內感覺良好，因為您已經在您的投資組合中顯著增加了庫存。但請相信我，45 到 60 天后，當您看到這些類型的車輛老化並且利潤跌至負值時，您會感覺有點不太好。

So we're very disciplined about how and where we look to build our used car inventory, and that's why it isn't something that's a non-off switch. For us, it's more progressive as our process is kicking in place. The summary to your question is, progressively, our used car performance improved throughout the quarter, and we came into Q4 in a better position than we came into Q3.

因此，我們對如何以及在何處建立二手車庫存非常嚴格，這就是為什麼它不是一個不間斷的開關。對我們來說，隨著流程的落實，它會更加進步。您的問題的總結是，我們的二手車性能在整個季度中逐漸有所改善，並且我們進入第四季度的情況比進入第三季度時的情況更好。

Got it. Great. Thanks for all the color, and good luck.

知道了。偉大的。感謝所有的顏色，祝你好運。

Michael Ward, Freedom Capital.

邁克爾·沃德，自由資本。

Thank you. Good morning. Mike, I think you mentioned that you had 50 stores that were affected by the storms. Maybe I'm not reading this right, but it doesn't sound like there was severe damage to the storms. And even if some sales were postponed, the service side is probably affected more. Is that correct? And can you quantify that at all?

謝謝。早安.麥克，我想你提到過你有 50 家商店受到了風暴的影響。也許我沒理解錯，但聽起來風暴並未造成嚴重破壞。而且即使部分銷售被推遲，服務方面可能受到的影響更大。這是正確的嗎？你能量化這一點嗎？

Yeah. Mike, you're quite right. As we know, the sales side of the business recovers and usually recovers strongly because, unfortunately, all of the damage that's been done to vehicles -- the service side is where you see lingering effects of it. It did impact us in the quarter on the service side, and obviously, there was some carryover into Q4.

是的。麥克，你說得很對。正如我們所知，業務的銷售方面會復甦，而且通常會強勁復甦，因為不幸的是，對車輛造成的所有損害 - 服務方面都是您可以看到其揮之不去的影響的地方。它確實在本季度的服務方面影響了我們，顯然，有一些結轉到第四季度。

The good news is that we asked our after-sales teams to add additional hours into the businesses where they're affected. But even the adding of additional hours means that you can't fully recover everything because there's a large amount of vehicles that would have come into your business that are totaled.

好消息是，我們要求售後團隊在受影響的業務中增加額外的工作時間。但即使增加額外的時間也意味著您無法完全恢復所有內容，因為有大量車輛會進入您的業務。

I don't have -- I'm sure Tom may well have a specific breakout of the residual impact. It's difficult to call, of course, because how do you actually attribute a new vehicle or used vehicle sale specifically to a storm and not just a normal purchase because you can't use traditional market share and territory numbers to do that. But if I look specifically at the run rate on used vehicles, obviously, we had down days.

我沒有——我確信湯姆很可能對殘餘影響有具體的突破。當然，這很難判斷，因為你如何真正將新車或二手車的銷售歸因於風暴，而不僅僅是正常的購買，因為你不能使用傳統的市場份額和地區數字來做到這一點。但如果我具體觀察二手車的運行率，很明顯，我們經歷了低迷的日子。

We were fortunate, very fortunate, firstly, that our people, notwithstanding the fact they had some personal issues in terms of their property, but fortunate that they came through physically okay, and we're pleased about that. That was our number one concern.

我們很幸運，非常幸運，首先，我們的員工儘管在財產方面存在一些個人問題，但幸運的是他們身體狀況良好，我們對此感到高興。這是我們最關心的問題。

And then secondly, the damage that we had was largely cosmetic. A couple of the businesses had more heavy damage, but we were able to open them as power recovery came back on. So the downtime for our after-sales business was in the order of, I would say, ranging from two days to a maximum of four to five days, and the team have been working hard to catch that up.

其次，我們所遭受的損害主要是表面上的。一些企業遭受了更嚴重的損壞，但隨著電力恢復恢復，我們得以重新開放它們。因此，我們的售後業務的停機時間大約是兩天到最多四到五天，團隊一直在努力趕上這個時間。

On the sales side, I think everything that was lost would eventually be recovered over a period.

在銷售方面，我認為失去的一切最終都會在一段時間內恢復。

I was just going to say it's tough to exactly, as Mike said, parse out the impact, particularly on vehicle sales. We are confident that our shares in the markets we were serving were not impacted, in fact, marginally probably improved a little bit. But overall, as Mike said, it was a short-term duration event for us in each of the cases.

我只是想說，正如麥克所說，很難準確地分析出影響，特別是對汽車銷售的影響。我們相信，我們在所服務的市場中的份額沒有受到影響，事實上，可能略有改善。但總的來說，正如麥克所說，在每種情況下，這對我們來說都是一個短期事件。

So if we look at the parts and services, if you had 2.6% same-store growth, if you exclude, like, the storm affected, my guess is it's 200 to 300 basis points higher and it's probably that mid-single digits that you're referring to. Is that safe to say?

因此，如果我們看看零件和服務，如果同店成長 2.6%，如果排除風暴影響等因素，我的猜測是成長了 200 到 300 個基點，而且可能是中個位數。這樣說可以嗎？

Yeah. I don't think I'd put that much on it, to be honest with you, Mike. It's, like I said, a tough number to put your finger on. But it's probably 100, 200 basis points impact on growth in the periods we're talking about.

是的。老實說，麥克，我不認為我會對此投入太多。正如我所說，這是一個很難確定的數字。但在我們談論的時期，這可能對成長產生 100、200 個基點的影響。

Mike, this is Derek. In addition to that, we did have the CDK call-outs that we mentioned, this $0.21 a share. So part of that is after sales, so you'd want to have that in your number. You're looking at it on a same-store basis.

麥克，這是德里克。除此之外，我們確實有我們提到的 CDK 調用，每股 0.21 美元。其中一部分是售後服務，因此您希望將其包含在您的號碼中。您正在以同店為基礎來查看它。

I'm guessing a third of that was after sales.

我猜其中三分之一是售後。

Exactly. Yes, right.

確切地。是的，沒錯。

It was a third, and that's a good point.

這是第三次，這是一個很好的點。

No, I was just going to point out, it seems like the after-sales strength was much more than it appears on just the numbers that were printed.

不，我只是想指出，售後實力似乎比印刷數字上顯示的要強大得多。

That, from my point of view, is a correct statement. That's why I referenced that -- for me, you need to look at a combination of where we've come from over the last two years, plus some of the impacts in the marketplace.

從我的角度來看，這是一個正確的說法。這就是為什麼我提到這一點——對我來說，你需要結合過去兩年我們的情況，以及對市場的一些影響。

Frankly, as we discussed with the earlier questions, there's more opportunity available for us. We added technicians in the quarter, but we didn't add them at the rate that I wanted to be able to add them into the business place. And our growth in technicians, although it's been good over the last two years, in the quarter, we probably grew that by 1%, maybe 3%. And I think that there's more that we need to do in that area. So notwithstanding the actual number itself, you can take into account the things that we've talked about.

坦白說，正如我們在前面的問題中所討論的那樣，我們有更多的機會。我們在本季度增加了技術人員，但我們沒有按照我希望能夠將他們添加到業務場所的速度添加他們。我們的技術人員成長雖然在過去兩年中表現良好，但在本季度，我們可能成長了 1%，也許是 3%。我認為我們在該領域還需要做更多的事情。因此，無論實際數字本身如何，您都可以考慮我們已經討論過的事情。

I think the fact is that as our teams continue to add technicians, we continue to work on attrition rates, increase the resource that we've got, that there's further opportunity for us. So yeah, we did grow in the quarter. We did hit a record for us. It's now 50% of our gross profit. As we've said, it's a good momentum, but there's more that we can unlock. It just takes time to do it.

我認為事實是，隨著我們的團隊不斷增加技術人員，我們繼續致力於降低人員流失率，增加我們擁有的資源，我們還有更多的機會。是的，我們在本季確實有所成長。我們確實創下了我們的記錄。現在它占我們毛利的 50%。正如我們所說，這是一個良好的勢頭，但我們還可以釋放更多東西。只是需要時間來做到這一點。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

Jeff Lick, Stephens Inc.

傑夫·利克，史蒂芬斯公司

Thanks for taking my question. Mike, I was hoping to tap into your OEM experience and background. So if you can hear me here, I have a bit of a deeper dive, long-winded question. Just thinking about the path of new GPUs, as well as vehicle affordability and the potential implications this has on the used vehicle business, it seems if we stay on this path of high 15 million to 16 million SAR, this has big implications for the economics and the dynamics of the used vehicle business and also new affordability.

感謝您提出我的問題。麥克，我希望能了解您的 OEM 經驗和背景。如果你們能在這裡聽到我的發言，我有一個更深入、冗長的問題。只要考慮一下新 GPU 的發展路徑，以及車輛的可負擔性以及這對二手車業務的潛在影響，似乎如果我們繼續走在 1500 萬至 1600 萬 SAR 的這條道路上，這將對經濟產生重大影響以及二手車業務的動態以及新的負擔能力。

So when you look at 3Q inventory levels that just ended here for the major OEMs, on a day supply basis, they've come all the way back relative to 2019 with the exception of Toyota and Honda, which are really more than half or around half or more less. So it is interesting that Toyota and Honda are the two biggest market share losers in 3Q. So a series of related questions here.

因此，當你看看主要 OEM 廠商剛結束的第三季庫存水準時，按日供應量計算，它們相對於 2019 年已經一路回升，但豐田和本田除外，它們實際上超過了一半或左右。或更多更少。因此有趣的是，豐田和本田是第三季市佔率損失最大的兩家。所以這裡有一系列相關的問題。

First, do you think Toyota and Honda are willing to sacrifice market share long term in favor of unit profitability? And then second, how do you think about industry dynamics between new and used, total and unit profitability and new and used in the two distinct paths? One being the 16 million SAR environment where it kind of ends and then where it's more focused on unit profitability versus market share; and then the other would be a more market share focused higher SAR, more consumer friendly in an affordable environment. I'm just curious how you think about that, and then it'd be great if which -- based on your knowledge, how would you handicap which one of those two outcomes going forward is more likely?

首先，您認為豐田和本田願意長期犧牲市場份額以換取單位獲利能力嗎？其次，您如何看待兩條不同路徑中新產品和二手產品、總獲利能力和單位獲利能力以及新產品和二手產品之間的產業動態？其中之一是 1,600 萬個 SAR 的環境，在這種環境下，它會結束，然後更加關注單位盈利能力而不是市場份額；另一個是更注重市場份額、更高的SAR、在負擔得起的環境中對消費者更友善。我只是很好奇你對此有何看法，然後如果根據你的知識，你將如何限制這兩種結果中哪一種更有可能發生，那就太好了？

Well, firstly, I don't think Toyota and Honda are in a position where they have to make a sacrifice in terms of their profit to increase their volume. I think that their current supply and demand equation is still very much in their favor. And even if they're able to increase global supply, I think they can bring more inventory to this marketplace and still maintain good margins. And I think that the dealerships in their partnerships, us being a big partner with them, will continue to benefit from that as you get into 2025 and beyond. And I think they're working very hard to increase production.

嗯，首先，我不認為豐田和本田必須犧牲利潤來增加銷售量。我認為他們目前的供需方程式仍然非常有利於他們。即使他們能夠增加全球供應，我認為他們也可以為這個市場帶來更多庫存，並且仍然保持良好的利潤率。我認為，隨著我們進入 2025 年及以後，經銷商的合作夥伴關係（我們作為他們的重要合作夥伴）將繼續從中受益。我認為他們正在非常努力地提高產量。

In terms of the dynamics, I'll talk a little bit about my view on it and then you can redirect and ask me some more questions. But you talk about the total SAR. If you look back and actually strip out the retail SAR, going all the way back to 2022, it's been bouncing around 12 million to 13 million, but really some very minor growth throughout that period of time. And that, I think, is driven by a number of things.

就動態而言，我會談談我對此的看法，然後你可以重定向並問我更多問題。但你談論的是總SAR。如果你回顧一下，實際上剔除零售特區，一直追溯到 2022 年，你會發現它一直在 1200 萬到 1300 萬左右反彈，但在那段時間裡確實有一些非常小的增長。我認為，這是由許多因素所驅動的。

Obviously, we've seen average MSRPs continue to increase. We have seen significant increases in interest rates, and we still see very suppressed incentives and still releasing channel low. But those dynamics are changing because we've begun to see now the moderation of average MSRPs in the marketplace. They are falling quarter over quarter, and I think that they will continue to moderate down.

顯然，我們看到平均建議零售價持續成長。我們已經看到利率大幅上升，但激勵措施仍然受到非常抑制，並且仍在釋放通道低點。但這些動態正在發生變化，因為我們現在開始看到市場上平均建議零售價的放緩。它們逐季下降，我認為它們將繼續放緩。

We are seeing the beginning of interest rates dropping. That's already seen if you're a new car buyer, it will seep through slower if you're a used car buyer. But that environment is improving, but it's still very elevated compared to where we were in '22.

我們看到利率開始下降。如果您是新車購買者，這一點已經反映出來；如果您是二手車購買者，這一點滲透的速度會更慢。但這種環境正在改善，但與 22 年相比仍然非常高。

So in terms of the retail SAR, you've seen retail SAR, slow progressive increases, notwithstanding the fact of sustained high MSRPs and significant increase in interest rates. That's been partially offset by MS manufacturing incentives, I think, going from about $1,000 to $2,500, $2,800. But I think you're going to see the return to $3,000-plus incentives in Q4. And you haven't seen that since Q1 2021 from memory. And I think that will progressively also add to the demand equation. So my view is that because of that, you're going to see the retail SAR continue to improve back into this year and into next year, which will feed in more favorably into used cars.

因此，就零售特區而言，儘管建議零售價持續居高不下且利率大幅上升，但零售特區的成長緩慢。我認為，這已被 MS 製造激勵措施所部分抵消，從大約 1,000 美元到 2,500 美元、2,800 美元。但我認為您將在第四季度看到 3,000 美元以上的激勵措施回歸。從記憶中看，自 2021 年第一季以來，您還沒有看到這種情況。我認為這也將逐漸增加需求方程式。所以我的觀點是，正因為如此，你會看到今年和明年的零售特區繼續改善，這將更有利於二手車。

Under the pressure in used cars, and apologies for talking so much, but there was a lot of questions packed into what you said. But one of the pressures in used vehicles, or one of the year-over-year comps in used vehicles that stood out is those people that were buying $40,000 plus used vehicles that were traditionally new car buyers that I think will continue to return to the new car environment. But I do think that as that new car sales continues to improve, it's going to have benefits in the used car market.

在二手車的壓力下，抱歉說了這麼多，但你所說的裡麵包含了很多問題。但二手車面臨的壓力之一，或者二手車的同比競爭中脫穎而出的一個因素是那些購買價值40,000 美元以上二手車的人，他們傳統上是新車購買者，我認為他們將繼續回到二手車市場。但我確實認為，隨著新車銷售的持續改善，二手車市場將會受益。

I don't think it will necessarily have a dramatic effect on used car margins because of the way used cars are bought and sold. They always float within a band and have done that. And you can see that level of consistency, and that will continue. So I view that as being as being positive into the future.

由於二手車的買賣方式，我認為這不一定會對二手車利潤產生巨大影響。他們總是在一個樂隊中漂浮並且已經做到了這一點。你可以看到這種程度的一致性，而且這種情況將會持續下去。所以我認為這對未來是正面的。

One of the things that remains as a point that has had some discussion, but it's impacted margin and has also impacted growth, has been the relative imbalance between supply and demand of the various powertrain options. Today, the industry still sits with inventory levels of battery electric vehicles that are higher than the demand. And I think you'll see OEMs work very hard in the next two quarters to clear those out. That will impact pricing. And you're also seeing the inverse on HEVs, where the market seems to be gravitating towards that and the OEMs are beginning to build more of those.

仍然存在一些討論的問題之一是各種動力總成選項的供需之間的相對不平衡，它影響了利潤率，也影響了成長。如今，該行業的純電動車庫存水準仍然高於需求。我認為你會看到原始設備製造商在接下來的兩個季度中非常努力地清除這些問題。這將影響定價。您還看到混合動力汽車的情況正好相反，市場似乎傾向於混合動力汽車，而原始設備製造商開始生產更多混合動力汽車。

So those impacts, I think, have implications for some continued moderation of margin on the new car side, partially offset by, I think, continued increases in new vehicle industry, which will ultimately help used vehicles and supply these vehicles, particularly for franchise dealers.

因此，我認為，這些影響對新車的利潤率持續放緩產生了影響，我認為，部分被新車行業的持續增長所抵消，這最終將有助於二手車並供應這些車輛，特別是對於特許經銷商而言。

And if I missed any of your questions --

如果我錯過了你的任何問題--

No. A quick theoretical follow up as it relates to -- could you see a scenario where the late model used cars are just in shorter supply and that drives up the value of those relative to new and higher residuals where for a short period of time, we just -- we see a real push even greater than usual into leasing?

不。一個快速的理論跟進——你能看到這樣一種情況嗎？我們看到租賃業的真正動力比平常更大？

Well, I mean, leasing still sat at just over 20%, where historically it's been 30%. So I think you're going to see an increase in leasing anyway. I think it's just a natural progression, and that's what will also fuel increase in OEM incentives.

嗯，我的意思是，租賃率仍略高於 20%，而歷史上比例為 30%。所以我認為無論如何你都會看到租賃的增加。我認為這只是一個自然的進展，這也將推動 OEM 激勵措施的增加。

I think we're at the peak of leasing percentages on battery electric vehicles. I also think the 6%, 7% market share is where it's going to be for a period of time. So any increase in leasing is going to come through other powertrains, which I think has great benefits for us and franchise dealerships.

我認為我們正處於純電動汽車租賃百分比的頂峰。我也認為6%、7%的市佔率是一段時間內的情況。因此，租賃的任何增加都將透過其他動力系統來實現，我認為這對我們和特許經銷商來說有很大的好處。

I don't think that it will result necessarily in a strong increase in late use residual values, because I think what's going to happen as a result of that, those leases will be 12, 24 months, they're progressively going to be released in the marketplace. So I think, and we overuse this term, but I think normal levels of depreciation, depreciation movements are more likely in the future rather than change as to what's been a historical pattern.

我認為這不一定會導致後期使用殘值大幅增加，因為我認為結果會發生什麼，這些租約將是 12、24 個月，它們將逐步釋放在市場上。所以我認為，我們過度使用這個術語，但我認為未來更有可能出現正常的貶值水平，貶值變動，而不是改變歷史模式。

Great. I appreciate you giving me your insights there.

偉大的。我很感謝你給我你的見解。

Colin Langan, Wells Fargo.

柯林‧蘭根，富國銀行。

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Just want to clarify, on the $0.21 CDK impact, is that just an impact on what you think are the loss sales? I think in the past, you took like compensation items as special charges. And I thought last quarter, there was some hope that there would actually be maybe some catch-up. I guess that catch-up was more than offset by continued pressure in the quarter.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。只是想澄清一下，對於 0.21 美元的 CDK 影響，這是否只是對您認為的銷售損失的影響？我想過去你們把類似的補償項目當作特殊收費。我認為上個季度，有一些希望實際上可能會有所趕上。我認為本季持續的壓力足以抵消追趕的影響。

Yeah. Thanks, Colin. So you're recalling the second-quarter charge that was comprised of two things. One was the one-time payments that we had incurred, or one-time costs we incurred, mostly payments to our associates. And secondly was the impact of the loss sales across new-use CFS impact, as well as on the aftermarket.

是的。謝謝，科林。所以你回想起第二季的費用由兩個部分組成。一是我們發生的一次性付款，或是我們發生的一次性成本，主要是支付給我們的同事的款項。其次是新用途 CFS 銷售損失以及對售後市場的影響。

In the third quarter, the impact is really just limited to the loss business, and it's split evenly between used after-sales, and CFS. And on the used side, as Mike talked about, we came into the quarter with significantly lower inventory levels than we're normally working with. And as a consequence, the July used car business and the CFS that's impacted along with those sales was probably two-thirds of that impact. And the rest was just on the service side.

第三季度，影響實際上僅限於虧損業務，二手售後和 CFS 各佔一半。在二手方面，正如麥克所說，我們進入本季的庫存水準明顯低於我們通常的庫存水準。因此，7 月的二手車業務和與這些銷售一起受到影響的 CFS 可能佔該影響的三分之二。其餘的只是在服務方面。

The CDK capability for the various service disciplines and processes was really not fully restored until probably 2.5, 3 weeks into the month of July. So that impacted our ability on the service side as well. So probably an even split between the three -- used, CFS, and service.

各種服務學科和流程的 CDK 功能實際上直到 7 月的 2.5、3 週才真正完全恢復。這也影響了我們服務方面的能力。因此，三者之間可能是平分的——二手、CFS 和服務。

Got it. Good clarification. And just a follow up, I guess, it sort of relates to pricing, but any update on where you think new GPUs eventually stabilize at? I mean, do we get back to historic percent margins, historic dollar, new GPUs? And looking at the data, it actually looks like, at least for your overall domestic, kind of back to where things were pre-COVID. So have we seen some brands already kind of hit their historic levels on new GPU?

知道了。很好的澄清。我想，這只是一個後續行動，這與定價有關，但是您認為新 GPU 最終穩定在哪裡有任何更新嗎？我的意思是，我們會回到歷史性的利潤率、歷史性的美元、新的 GPU 嗎？從數據來看，至少對於整個國內來說，實際上看起來有點回到了新冠疫情之前的情況。那麼我們是否看到一些品牌在新 GPU 上已經達到了歷史水平？

Yeah. I think a lot of people have tried to speculate and comment where margins are going to go. I think, as we've said, that the reduction in margins is moderating. We will see a reduction in Q4.

是的。我認為很多人都試圖猜測和評論利潤率將走向何方。我認為，正如我們所說，利潤率的下降正在放緩。我們將看到第四季的減少。

Some of what we've seen, as I alluded to, has been driven by a mixed impact between powertrains and the relative margin there. That may not on the surface seem to be material, but when 7% to 10% of your volume was battery electric vehicles, the relative margin of a vehicle for the OEM and the retailer compared to an ICE engine or a hybrid engine is very, very significantly different. I think that that element gets now removed from the marketplace because, I think, broadly the mix and the margin effect we're seeing there has been washed out of the system.

正如我所提到的，我們所看到的一些情況是由動力系統和相對利潤之間的混合影響所推動的。表面上看這似乎並不重要，但當你的銷量中 7% 到 10% 是電池電動車時，與內燃機或混合動力引擎相比，原始設備製造商和零售商的車輛相對利潤非常高，非常顯著的不同。我認為這個元素現在已經從市場上消失了，因為我認為，我們看到的整體混合和利潤效應已經從系統中消失了。

There are a number of OEMs that are all the way back to 2019, there's no doubt, and some of them are struggling and I think it's been widely reported in the press. But there are still a lot of OEMs that I think are continuing on what I consider to be a sustainable course of improved margins for them and for us. So I don't see a complete return to 2019 margins per se across the business.

毫無疑問，有許多原始設備製造商已經回到了 2019 年，其中一些正在苦苦掙扎，我認為媒體已經廣泛報導了這一點。但我認為仍然有許多原始設備製造商正在繼續我認為可持續的路線，以提高他們和我們的利潤率。因此，我認為整個業務的利潤率本身不會完全恢復到 2019 年。

But as I mentioned, as we came into this year, my expectation was that as we exit this year, our margins are going to look largely like 2019, and we've had discussions about that. It's not that I am planning for that to happen per se or that it will happen. I think they'll probably be elevated to that as we've seen them develop through the year.

但正如我所提到的，當我們進入今年時，我的預期是，當我們今年退出時，我們的利潤率基本上將與 2019 年相似，我們已經對此進行了討論。這並不是說我計劃讓這種情況發生，也不是說它一定會發生。我認為他們可能會提升到這個水平，因為我們看到他們這一年的發展。

But my view is that, and we're beginning to see it, inventory levels are returning back rapidly and in some instances higher than 2019 and will have an effect on margins, but some OEMs have removed production, some OEMs are looking to reduce their inventory levels in Q4. I think those elements will mean, as we come into 2025, that there will be more stability, but I think you'll see some downward pressure in this quarter.

但我的觀點是，我們開始看到這一點，庫存水準正在迅速回升，在某些情況下高於2019 年，這將對利潤率產生影響，但一些原始設備製造商已經取消了生產，一些原始設備製造商正在尋求減少其庫存水準。我認為這些因素意味著，當我們進入 2025 年時，將會更加穩定，但我認為本季您會看到一些下行壓力。

Got it. Perfect. Thanks for taking my questions.

知道了。完美的。感謝您回答我的問題。

Douglas Dutton, Evercore ISI.

道格拉斯·達頓，Evercore ISI。

Hey. Hi, team. Thanks for taking my question here. My first question is just going to be on Hurricane Milton. It sounds like there's some store closures there for however temporary that was. Do you maybe have some early estimates on the effect of both on operations and perhaps any incremental CapEx that's going to be needed to refresh these rooftops after the hurricane? From what we've read on store closures, it seems like even Q4 might not be clean, so just curious on the bogey there.

嘿。大家好。感謝您在這裡提出我的問題。我的第一個問題是關於颶風米爾頓。聽起來那裡有一些商店關門了，不管那是暫時的。您是否可能對這兩者對營運的影響以及颶風過後更新這些屋頂所需的任何增量資本支出有一些初步估計？從我們讀到的關於商店關閉的情況來看，似乎第四季也可能不乾淨，所以只是對那裡的柏忌感到好奇。

Yeah. We're, as you can imagine, I mean, for Milton, fairly fresh off of it. I, myself, have been amazed at the resilience of our operations and both the preparation for what was coming, as well as the ability of the team to get back online fairly quickly.

是的。正如你可以想像的那樣，我的意思是，對於米爾頓來說，我們只是擺脫困境。我自己對我們的營運彈性、對即將發生的事情的準備以及團隊快速恢復在線的能力感到驚訝。

There'll probably be a modest impact when you look at our insurance deductibles for store damage, mostly like facade-type stuff, but the vehicle damage was fairly limited. So we're really fortunate, both on that part as well as the safety of our employees. And there'll probably be a modest call out in the fourth quarter once we finalize the impact, but I wouldn't say it's -- I wouldn't call anything close to devastating on the operation.

當您查看我們的商店損壞保險免賠額時，可能會產生適度的影響，主要是像門面類型的東西，但車輛損壞相當有限。所以我們真的很幸運，無論是在這方面還是員工的安全。一旦我們確定了影響，第四季可能會出現適度的呼籲，但我不會說這是——我不會稱任何對行動造成破壞性的事情。

And from a CapEx perspective, I don't see significant incremental CapEx as a result of this.

從資本支出的角度來看，我認為這不會導致資本支出大幅增加。

Okay, great. Thanks, Tom. And then I'll just ask one more here. I'm curious on GPUs, sequentially into Q4, as I think there was some trading of profitability or margin for volume in Q3 in the wake of CDK in early July. Again, just trying to think about what a clean quarter looks like given that CDK has been mentioned in all the walks in the presentation. But is there a world where GPUs are flat to up before continuing sort of the downward normalization trend in early '25 on Q4?

好的，太好了。謝謝，湯姆。然後我就在這裡再問一個。我對 GPU 感到好奇，連續進入第四季度，因為我認為在 7 月初的 CDK 之後，第三季度出現了一些盈利能力或銷量利潤的交易。再次，考慮到 CDK 在演示文稿中的所有演示中都被提及，我們只是想一下乾淨的季度是什麼樣子。但是，在 25 年初第 4 季繼續呈下降正常化趨勢之前，是否存在 GPU 持平到上升的情況？

Not in my opinion. I mean, I think you're going to see -- you are going to see the normal seasonal lift in Q4 in terms of our premium luxury brand. I think that is going to happen. I think the environment that I talked about is going to be more positive. You're going to see increased incentives in the marketplace. I think OEMs are thinking about -- many of the OEMs I've talked about are thinking about Q4 as an opportunity to get themselves in a great shape for 2025, and I view that positively.

我認為不是。我的意思是，我認為你會看到 - 你會看到我們的高端奢侈品牌在第四季度出現正常的季節性增長。我認為這將會發生。我認為我談到的環境將會更加積極。您將看到市場上的激勵措施不斷增加。我認為原始設備製造商正在考慮——我談到的許多原始設備製造商都在考慮將第四季度視為一個機會，讓自己在 2025 年保持良好狀態，我對此持積極態度。

But as we have said, I think you will see lower, but some downward impact on margins in the quarter, partially offset by the mix change that we normally see. But I am thinking positively, even in that context, about the new vehicle industry as we finish the year off. But I do think you're going to see, as we've said, and many of our competitors have said, you are going to see a lower but reduced overall new GPU.

但正如我們所說，我認為您會看到本季利潤率下降，但有些下降的影響，部分被我們通常看到的組合變化所抵消。但即使在這種情況下，我對年底的新車產業也持積極的態度。但我確實認為您將會看到，正如我們所說的以及我們的許多競爭對手所說的那樣，您將看到更低但總體上有所減少的新 GPU。

Yeah. I would add to that, Doug, that when you look at the way we've quantified and articulated the CDK impact, you'll notice I didn't mention new vehicles. We were transacting out of the gate. And while the business was not perfectly back to normal, I don't think there were significant impacts on profitability caused by CDK on unit profitability on new. So I don't think there's a snapback as a result in Q4.

是的。道格，我想補充一點，當您查看我們量化和闡明 CDK 影響的方式時，您會注意到我沒有提到新車。我們正在大門外進行交易。儘管業務尚未完全恢復正常，但我認為 CDK 對新產品的單位獲利能力不會產生重大影響。所以我認為第四季不會出現反彈。

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the detailed answer, guys.

好的。這很有意義。謝謝你們的詳細回答，夥伴們。

Thank you. This will conclude the Q&A session for today's call. And I would now like to hand the call back over to Mike Manley for some closing remarks.

謝謝。今天電話會議的問答環節到此結束。現在我想將電話轉回給麥克曼利（Mike Manley），讓他發表一些結束語。

Well, firstly, thank you for joining us on the call today. I think we covered a load of topics, and I appreciate your questions and I hope you got the answers that you were looking for.

首先，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。我認為我們涵蓋了很多主題，感謝您提出的問題，並希望您得到您正在尋找的答案。

As we've gone through the quarter, we've talked about the various impacts, and I stand back, I am pleased with the results that we delivered. You can see them stand out in terms of our cost performance, our new vehicle, new unit growth, and our record after-sales gross profit. And again, thanks to the teams for that.

在我們度過這個季度的過程中，我們討論了各種影響，我退後一步，我對我們交付的結果感到滿意。你可以看到他們在我們的性價比、新車、新銷售成長以及創紀錄的售後毛利方面脫穎而出。再次感謝團隊。

And looking ahead, as I've talked about and we've had the discussions on, I think there are many things in the environment, whether it's moderating interest rates, OEM actions that will drive improved affordability on the new vehicles that, in my mind, will lead to a continuation of that slow but progressive increase in the retail size. So I think that's a positive outlook.

展望未來，正如我已經談到和我們已經討論過的那樣，我認為環境中有很多因素，無論是適度的利率、原始設備製造商的行動將推動新車的可承受性提高，在我看來，頭腦，將導致零售規模持續緩慢但漸進的成長。所以我認為這是一個積極的前景。

And I think all of the things that we have talked about have had their impact on the business. And apart from some minor things that Tom mentioned, we're into what I'm hoping is going to be a much cleaner quarter from that perspective. So again, thank you all, and look forward to talking to you in the near future.

我認為我們討論的所有事情都對業務產生了影響。除了湯姆提到的一些小事之外，我希望從這個角度來看，我們將進入一個更乾淨的季度。再次感謝大家，並期待在不久的將來與你們交談。

This will conclude the AutoNation Incorporated 3Q '24 earnings call. Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today. You may now disconnect your lines.

AutoNation Incorporated 24 年第三季財報電話會議到此結束。感謝今天能夠加入我們的所有人。現在您可以斷開線路。