In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a Pennsylvania dealership group has gone pink, splashing vast pink ribbons across all eight of their buildings.   Smail Auto Group says the pink ribbons are making more than a visual statement: The auto group is also donating $100 for every new and used vehicle sold at Smail dealerships […] [Read More]

Automakers have pulled back significantly on new-vehicle incentives in the last three years, and this has subsequently led to a nice lift in prices on the used-car side, says NADA Used Car Guide senior analyst Jonathan Banks in the latest entry to his Used Car & Truck Blog. Citing numbers from Autodata Corp., Banks noted […] [Read More]

Both Chase and Wells Fargo enjoyed positive developments in connection with their third-quarter auto loan origination volume performances. Starting with Chase, the company indicated its Q3 originations totaled $6.3 billion, a figure 7-percent higher year-over-year and 9-percent higher quarter-over-quarter. The growth left Chase's average auto loan amount as of the third quarter at $48.4 billion, […] [Read More]

Due in part to continuing low demand, especially in Europe — one of its biggest markets — Volvo is halting production for a week this month, the OEM revealed Monday. The company said in a statement it will halt production from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 at its Torslanda plant in western Sweden, reducing output […] [Read More]

Organizers of Used Car Week have announced that the $200 early registration discount for the week-long series of conferences has been extended through the end of the day on Wednesday. The previous deadline for the early-bird rate at Used Car Week — which consists of three conferences and is set for Nov. 12–16 at The […] [Read More]

The American Bankers Association cautioned that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting small businesses such as dealerships, to transfer funds from accounts and steal private information, a fraud referred to as "corporate account takeover." The association contends that criminals can use spoofed emails, malicious software and online social networks to obtain login credentials to businesses' accounts, which […] [Read More]

A used-vehicle manager at a Midwest Honda dealership shared the following message in an email with vAuto consultant Tommy Gibbs and asked for help to address a problem with reconditioning. The manager wrote, “It kills me that all other facets of our business have evolved, especially with the integration of vAuto into our used-car operations. […] [Read More]

Due to higher-than-expected registration numbers for the Used Car Week conferences, and projected record-breaking attendance, The Phoenician resort has sold out of rooms for the entire week of the conferences. However, conference organizers have established an alternate hotel option nearby for those who still need to make room reservations, and have negotiated an even lower […] [Read More]

One of the primary findings from a case study based on data collaboration between Autobytel and Polk indicated that dealers and automakers should place even more emphasis on their certified pre-owned and used programs when following up on online consumer leads. Why? Autobytel and Polk found that nearly 46 percent of consumers who planned to […] [Read More]

Transportation coatings company PPG Industries this week released its annual automotive color popularity and trend data and found a repeat winner. Still ranking as globe’s most popular color choice for cars is white. That being said, based on 2012 automotive build data PPG forecasts that the overall use of color is on the rise. According […] [Read More]