Avis Budget Group revealed late last week that its Avis Budget Rental Car Funding subsidiary completed an offering of $650 million of asset-backed bonds with a weighted average interest rate of 3.5 percent. Officials said the proceeds of the offering are expected to be used to refinance ABS debt maturing in 2012. The debt has […] [Read More]

A week after announcing plans for the Atlanta leg of its baseball-themed community outreach, AutoTrader.com revealed that it is taking its hunger eradication efforts to Chicago, where it will work with dealers in the region as well some of the city’s baseball stars. [Read More]

In choosing the color for their car, Canadian consumers tend to stick to so-called “traditional” hues, according to a study commissioned by Ford of Canada. In fact, the overwhelmingly most popular vehicle color in the country is silver/gray, which was the chosen color for 22.3 percent of respondents in the study, which was conducted by […] [Read More]

In light of the provincial election coming up in Ontario, the Toronto Automobile Dealers Association is taking action to halt what it believes has been a “war on cars” and is imploring the political parties to put the traffic issue at the forefront of the election. [Read More]

While the projections for August car sales differ from analyst to analyst, a common theme is brewing in their forecasts: the new-vehicle market — though still climbing — can’t seem to reach its full potential as downward economic and industry factors are limiting the auto recovery. Whether the main culprit is the topsy-turvy stock market, […] [Read More]

Dealer.com revealed Thursday that venture capital and growth equity firm Accel Partners — which invested early in the game in Facebook, Groupon and Rovio/Angry — has now invested in the Vermont-based online auto marketing provider. Accel now has a minority ownership stake in Dealer.com, and partner Todd MacLean is set to come aboard Dealer.com’s board […] [Read More]

Subaru of America is seeking out its Facebook fans to help the company determine which charity will be added to the list of beneficiaries in the annual “Share the Love” event, during which a $250 donation is made for each new Subaru purchase or lease. In this year’s event — which lasts from Nov. 19 […] [Read More]

For the first time in 10 years, Urban Science discovered the number of U.S. franchised dealerships is higher — by exactly 66 stores. And how these rooftops are faring is brighter, too. Urban Science’s mid-year 2011 Franchise Activity Report also showed an increase in throughput and sales, indicating dealers are in financially stronger positions than […] [Read More]

Two of Edmunds.com’s top experts think market conditions may play out in favor of fleet managers during the second half of this year — both to buy and sell vehicles. Chief economist Lacey Plache and senior analyst Jessica Caldwell made this declaration during a recent presentation to the National Association of Fleet Administrators. “Declining consumer […] [Read More]

As part of a broad range of new services launched at the beginning of last month, Ritchie Bros. Financial Services tapped its financing provider for operations in the United States — going with Direct Capital. RBFS commenced operations on July 1 and is partnering with leading equipment finance providers in an attempt to bring fast, […] [Read More]