Madison Gross, who is director of customer insights at CarGurus, describes a recent purchase of a puzzle. The sales associate texted her photos of the puzzles that were in stock. Gross paid for the puzzle over the phone, and the sales associate left the puzzle in a bag for her outside the store. Many of us […] [Read More]

Car sales have seen a big slowdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is especially true for the Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle. From February to March, that model has experienced a drop of almost 25 percentage points for its inventory selling within 30 days of being listed. That is according to iSeeCars’ […] [Read More]

Perhaps now more than ever, a vehicle purchase can’t be completed without financing. After launching the series in April, Cherokee Media Group has released Part III of a whitepaper series on “A New Age of Digital Buying & Selling” to share trends and best practices for a used-car industry that’s increasingly digital — and even […] [Read More]

The magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic has left businesses across the country — and world — in uncharted waters. As we all try to process how quickly the world has changed over the last several weeks, one question at the top of my mind is: What can we do today to position ourselves for the […] [Read More]

After two weeks of improving numbers, the decline in used-vehicle sales at franchised dealerships compared to pre-virus projections got a bit steeper last week, according to J.D. Power. But in total, used-car retail numbers in total are getting better when compared to year-ago figures, according to Cox Automotive. Here’s a look into those respective data […] [Read More]

There are, quite literally, many moving pieces to J.D. Power Valuation Services’ used-car supply forecast. But bottom line, don’t fear the “glut.” Used supply will be likely be lower than pre-virus forecasts in May, higher than pre-virus forecasts in June, then back to pre-pandemic levels in August, the company projects. Here’s how that shakes out, […] [Read More]

The idea, as the good ones often do, came up in a casual office conversation with Cherokee Media Group president Bill Zadeits. It was mid-March 2017, and I was headed to Illinois to cover the grand opening of ADESA Chicago. While in the Windy City, Bill suggested I pay a visit to this relatively new […] [Read More]

Before the coronavirus pandemic, a significant portion of dealership training happened in a classroom or face-to-face setting. While the crisis put a halt on that particular education delivery, Dave Worrall certainly does not want improvement of store personnel to become stagnant — especially in the valuable F&I department. The senior director of global training and […] [Read More]

It has been another tough month for used-vehicle sales, though some positive signs are emerging. First, the full-month forecast. TrueCar’s ALG business unit is forecasting a 71% year-over-year decline in used-car sales in April, projecting a monthly tally of 1,086,494 used sales. That would also represent a 60% month-over-month decline. Franchised dealers, specifically, sold a […] [Read More]

Saying that it “heard what truly mattered to our customers,” floorplan provider NextGear Capital is continuing to defer curtailment and extension payments for eligible floorplan advances. The company is taking that action through May 31 for all NextGear Capital dealers in good standing. Within the first 30 days of NextGear Capital’s original relief package, the […] [Read More]