Documentary series seeks to highlight people behind auto sales and service

Two men in matching flat-brim baseball hats pull up to a Kia store in Frisco, Texas. But they're not there to shop. The two — Kyle Mountsier and Paul Daly — are the creative minds behind "More Than Cars," a documentary series following the pair as they visit car dealerships around the country.

"More Than Cars" aims to highlight what Daly and Mountsier feel is an overlooked side of car sales and service: the humans behind it.

"Over the last couple of years, what Paul and I have desired to do is craft a better narrative internally in the industry but also externally to the consumer," Mountsier told Automotive News. "The people that work inside these dealerships are real people with real families and real jobs with real community impact."

The pilot episode premiered last month online. In it, Daly and Mountsier visit three Texas dealerships around the Dallas-Fort Worth area — Kia of Frisco, Audi Grapevine and Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine — and interview the staff about their experiences in the industry.

Daly and Mountsier both grew to love the industry while working in it — Daly on the service side; Mountsier in retail. Now they want to teach other people to love it, too.

The duo, who run the auto retail content creation company Automotive State of the Union, hope to make seven more episodes. They will film the second episode in Atlanta this month.

The pilot was sponsored by TrueCar, an online vehicle marketplace. To fund the remainder of the season, Daly and Mountsier aim to raise $500,000 through the crowdfunding website Indiegogo. The campaign launched the first week of June.

Daly and Mountsier are looking to build bridges within dealerships by highlighting the stories of both salespeople and service advisers.

Daly said there are often misconceptions about what the service department does and advisers' role in creating a positive customer experience. In the pilot, Daly and Mountsier intentionally included stories from both sides, including that of a service team that rescued a family's vacation with speedy service on their broken-down RV.

"We knew that we had to go into the fixed operations part and give them the credit that is due," Daly said. "Truthfully, some of the best stories are coming from the fixed ops department." Daly and Mountsier hope this is just the beginning.

"The real goal is to get distribution for the show through a major distribution channel," Daly said. "The heart of the show is to get it outside of the industry."