Say a shopper interested in buying a certified pre-owned vehicle walks onto a dealer’s lot and his or her credit isn’t mature yet, or perhaps it has taken some lumps. That’s one area where Scott Penza has found the F&I element of CPO has come in handy for his dealers. [Read More]

Several dealers have asked about the value of using a dealership’s website analytics for managing used-vehicle inventories. [Read More]

As the auto industry hit the half-way mark for the year, Edmunds.com took a look back at the past few months to see who “scored” big and which OEMs and vehicles notched the most sales. And with June car sales performing better than expected, 2012 pushed ahead by double digits from the first-half of last […] [Read More]

May the Force be with you. The Star Wars-themed Course of the Force charity relay on Thursday completed its five-day journey to San Diego, with Hyundai in the lead. The official vehicle of the relay, Hyundai joined Lucasfilm Ltd., Nerdist Industries and Octagon to complete an Olympic-style light saber relay from Santa Monica, Calif.,  to […] [Read More]

For the first time ever, Vincentric this week announced its Vincentric Best Fleet Value in Canada awards, analyzing cost of ownership. Topping the chart with seven vehicles named to the list is Ford. Other brands noted by Vincentric as having a cost-efficient fleet lineup include Chrysler, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, each winning five awards. […] [Read More]

img.imagefield.imagefield-field_image {float:right;} The winners of the accolades highlighting business excellence in Canada — the Consumer Choice Awards  — were recently revealed. And after conducting third-party market research of both the consumer and business community, the 2012 Top Service Providers in the transportation sector for the greater Toronto area — including local dealers — were chosen.  […] [Read More]

How best to deliver marketing messages to potential customers is almost always on the minds of dealers and brand managers alike. Questions including, “Which demographics should I try to reach?” and “What context should my commercial include?” are bound to come up in the office on a daily basis. With that in mind, brand strategy […] [Read More]

In what may spur some extra lot traffic for its dealers, Chrysler Group has launched its “No Payments for 90 Days” promotion as part of its annual Summer Clearance Event, which runs through the end of August. The 90-day payment deferment is good on the retail purchase of any new 2012 Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram […] [Read More]

Group 1 Automotive — which ranked No. 6 on Auto Remarketing’s list of The Top 125 Used-Car Dealer Groups —  announced Wednesday that its board of directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $50.0 million of the company’s common stock. The company emphasized purchases may be made from time to time, based on market […] [Read More]

While some general sales managers might cheer stair-step incentives as compensation for moving new metal, Manheim’s Tom Webb cautioned about the predicament used-car managers might face later when it comes to the incentives’ ramifications on residual values. Webb brought up the topic because stair-step incentives have been a water-cooler topic at franchised dealerships nationwide. For […] [Read More]