In March, Volkswagen wrapped up its best-ever first-quarter performance in the certified pre-owned market with its strongest month of all-time. Hyundai also celebrated its best month ever, moving 6,715 CPO units. UPDATE: Mazda achieved its best CPO month ever, as well, moving 3,390 units for close to a 56-percent year-over-year improvement. This pushed year-to-date sales […] [Read More]

Topping the next-closest model by 3,350 online visits, the most-researched used vehicle on KBB.com for March was the Honda Civic. It generated 53,848 visits and was followed by the Honda Accord, which received 50,498 visits. Third on the most-researched used list was the Toyota Camry (47,450 visits), while the Toyota Corolla was fourth (34,452 visits), […] [Read More]

Judging by data analysis released today by Marchex, Inc.,  each time an employee at a dealership or service center answers the phone, he or she may have a good opportunity to turn that conversation into a sale. Marchex, a mobile performance advertising company, found that consumers now place millions of calls to the auto industry […] [Read More]

A strong start to 2013 left the February data reported in the latest RDN Monthly Analytics Update falling lower against January but slightly higher versus a year ago. Officials said February recovery volumes dropped 13 percentage points versus the January level. However, the February reading came in 4 percentage points higher than the year-earlier mark. […] [Read More]

The average age of vehicles on the road continued to rise during the last quarter of 2012, according to data from Experian Automotive. During a webinar last week, the company reported that the average age of vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2012 was 10.4 years, up from 10.2 in the same period of 2011. […] [Read More]

A federal class-action lawsuit was filed against Ford Motor Co. in West Virginia late last week for what plaintiffs’ attorneys have said are alleged defects causing unintended acceleration. The suit includes plaintiffs from 14 states and was filed by Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. — as well as other firms — in the U.S. District Court […] [Read More]

Honoring the best in service quality, Volkswagen of America is sending national champions from four different dealerships across the U.S. to compete in the automaker’s Retail Qualification World Championship next month in Wolfsburg, Germany. The four champions from the U.S. taking part in the international competition are: — Service Consultant National Champion: Virko Tammaru from […] [Read More]

Auto dealerships face plenty of uncertainty regarding their business every day. How competitive is your pricing? How effective is your marketing? Do you have sufficiently trained staff? Do you have enough inventory? It would be great if you had one less worry: wondering if you’ve selected the right vehicle carrier. There are plenty of ways […] [Read More]

In response to the recent guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on indirect automotive finance — which could have a signfincant impact on dealerships — Dealertrack Technologies will be holding a free webinar this week. The event is the latest in a series of compliance webinars from Dealertrack and is scheduled for Thursday  at […] [Read More]

As dealers highlight models to fulfill buyer demand for gas-sipping, high-performance vehicles, a new J.D. Power study showed satisfaction is declining among customers whose vehicles are equipped with a feature automakers are using to improve fuel efficiency. Specifically, customer happiness with run-flat or low-rolling resistance tires is softening, according to the J.D. Power and Associates […] [Read More]