Karolína Topolová (AAA Auto): Hands-on management is about daily dialogue with the team, not washing cars

In this episode of the CEO na ostří nože podcast, we talk to Karolína Topolová, CEO of AAA Auto. She joined the company in 1998, when she started by building its call centre, and has led it for twelve years. AAA Auto practises hands-on management, which means every division director and the CEO should be in daily contact with operations. That doesn’t mean directors wash cars. It means they know what their people do, spend time where the work happens and, above all, talk to people beyond their direct reports. Every month, Karolína meets the managers of individual car centres. She calls these meetings “the biggest mirror”, because they also bring her what customers are saying.

The company’s values come from its founder, who arrived from Australia and wanted to prove that the used-car business could be run honestly. The customer comes first, followed by employee satisfaction. In practice, the relationship with a customer doesn’t end with the purchase. That’s where it starts. In a market where turning back odometers was common in the 1990s, the company had to learn to handle complaints case by case and stand behind its warranties.

Karolína also talks openly about what she deliberately chose not to take from the founder. He was a great salesman and a visionary, but he approached people with a lot of suspicion. She gives people a chance first and assumes they are acting in good faith. Anyone who breaks that trust, however, rarely gets another chance. For her, family-business culture means being approachable and keeping the door open, not turning a blind eye. Many managers, including the current co-CEO, started in the call centre, and there is no politics between divisions. When something doesn’t work, the question is how to fix it, not who is to blame.

That openness comes with a clear performance framework. AAA Auto calls itself “KPI freaks”. Part of every salary depends on performance, for salespeople and back office alike. Car buyers are evaluated only once the car they bought has been sold: how quickly it sold, how accurately it was priced and how well its condition was described. Fraud, lying and any dishonest behaviour are not tolerated. The company combines prevention and training with mystery shopping, shadowing, handover protocols and cameras in purchasing areas. The cameras also protect employees, since it is usually customers who offer bribes.

For the same reason, AAA Auto prefers to hire car buyers from other fields, such as analysts or mechanics, and trains them itself. They don’t bring habits that would clash with the company’s values. Technology plays a big role too. Pricing, which used to rely on one person’s judgement, is now supported by data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

What else will you learn in the podcast?

• What hands-on management means in practice for the CEO of a large company

• Why regular meetings with car-centre managers work as a mirror of the company

• What Karolína deliberately chose not to take from the company’s founder

• Why AAA Auto hires people from outside the car trade

• How car buyers’ performance is measured and how the company detects dishonest behaviour

• How data and AI have changed the way used cars are priced

Family-business culture doesn’t have to mean leniency. At AAA Auto, it rests on leaders staying close to their people, on trust given from day one and on clear limits for what won’t be tolerated. That mix of openness and firm rules is what helps build customer trust in a segment that went without it for a long time.