Kelley Blue Book announced Wednesday both brand and category winners of its 5-Year Cost to Own Awards, which recognize Hyundai as the top brand to offer new vehicles with the lowest projected ownership costs. This is the second year that Hyundai has received KBB’s 5-Year Cost to Own brand award. KBB said that the Hyundai […] [Read More]

U.S. News & World Report announced Tuesday that Honda earned more Best Cars for the Money awards than any other automaker this year. The awards recognize vehicles that provide consumers with the best combination of quality and value in 14 different automotive categories. Honda models earned awards in four categories, including the CR-V for best […] [Read More]

As part of continued moves to strengthen its editorial team, Cherokee Media Group has added former Manheim and Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb as a guest contributor to its automotive and auto finance publications. Webb retired in summer 2017 after nearly two decades with Manheim/Cox Automtoive. Before he joined Manheim/Cox Automotive in 2000, Webb […] [Read More]

As veteran used-car managers and wholesale price watchers understand, oftentimes luxury units take quite a price tumble during the time the vehicle leaves the factory to when it might end up in a store’s used inventory. It all stems from that critical first year of depreciation. The team at iSeeCars.com generated some fresh data to […] [Read More]

With the first full month of the year in the books, Autotrader on Wednesday named the 10 must-shop certified pre-owned mass market and luxury vehicles for 2018. To make the list, vehicles needed to fit a budget not surpassing $40,000 for the non-luxury cars and $65,000 for luxury models. “This list of ‘good as new’ models […] [Read More]

For this episode, we get back to basics — as in the fundamentals of auto-finance underwriting that include credit, character, capacity and collateral. In light of a changing market impacted by sales trends and technology, Brett Collett, who is strategic automotive consultant for Equifax, shared a conversation with Nick about how these four basics remain vital […] [Read More]

The proliferation of smartphones and potential buyers seeking financing at places nowhere near dealerships are combining to drive more investment into mobile platforms. The latest development came on Wednesday as Santander Consumer USA announced that it will invest and work with AutoFi with the intention to streamline and simplify the vehicle-buying process for consumers, while […] [Read More]

It would seem automotive financing and retail activity is not immune to unscrupulous behavior, especially activity that originates online. Experian discovered six out of every 10 businesses are experiencing the same or more fraudulent losses online compared with a year ago. According to Experian’s "Global Fraud and Identity Report," analysts found that fraud trends and patterns […] [Read More]

Add another foreign OEM’s captive to the list of finance companies now available through AutoGravity. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. (NMAC) announced on Tuesday it is joining AutoGravity to help consumers looking to acquire Nissan with personalized retail and lease preapproval offers through digital credit shopping on their smartphones. Through this collaboration, OEM officials indicated consumers […] [Read More]

A pair of top-level executive changes unfolded at the Blue Oval this past week. Ford Motor Credit named Brian Schaaf as chief financial officer and treasurer. Currently, Schaaf is controller of Ford Motor Com. Global Purchasing. According to a news release, Schaaf will be responsible for Ford Credit financial planning, analysis, accounting and capital strategy. […] [Read More]