Jasen Rice, founder of Lotpop, says there is potential for the certified pre-owned market to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic as the "winner." But there's a catch. In this podcast, which follows up on a story from Auto Remarketing correspondent Jim Leman, Rice explains what it will take from automakers (and dealers) to make such […] [Read More]

All of CarMax’s more than 215 stores nationwide are now open in some capacity. The company announced that all stores are serving customers in need of vehicle service or repair work. In addition, more than 80% of CarMax’s stores across the country are serving customers needing to buy or sell a vehicle. CarMax said it […] [Read More]

A downloadable dealership performance directive from DealerMax discusses six “essential online sales processes” that it says are a requirement for the new online sales retail environment. Dealership support company DealerMax said its team of digital retail experts wrote the guide, titled, “Dealership 2020 Guide: Re-engineering Automotive Retail.” The team wrote the guide to give dealers […] [Read More]

Jay Maxwell, general manager of strategic operations of the Costco Auto Program, joins the show to discuss how the program and its partner dealers have adapted to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, keeping customer, vendor and employee communication lines open and more. Plus, Maxwell shares some automotive success stories. To listen to this episode, click on the […] [Read More]

To support its dealer partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, TrueCar announced an extension for May invoices of the previously announced 50% automatic reduction to the April invoices of dealer partners in states where its pay-per-sale or performance-based billing arrangements are not currently available.  In a letter to dealers that are on TrueCar’s subscription billing model, […] [Read More]

And now we turn to digital retail.  After launching the series earlier this month, Cherokee Media Group has released Part II of a whitepaper series on "A New Age of Digital Buying & Selling" to share trends and best practices for a used-car industry that’s increasingly digital — and even more so in recent weeks. Part II […] [Read More]

The second top-level executive move involving AutoNation this month happened on Wednesday morning as the dealer group said executive vice president and chief operating officer Jim Bender has been appointed as president and chief operating officer. The action arrived 10 days after the AutoNation’s board of directors granted the request of Cheryl Miller, chief executive […] [Read More]

Predictive analytics and marketing automation company automotiveMastermind has partnered with a video communication company to implement a video feature that Mastermind says will help dealership sales teams personalize their communications with consumers. automotiveMastermind, part of IHS Markit, has partnered with Covideo to create a new product feature that helps dealerships connect with customers during coronavirus […] [Read More]

Jasen Rice, founder and chief executive officer for the used-car marketing and inventory analysis company Lotpop, is taking a contrarian position about certified pre-owned sales as the auto industry comes out of its COVID-19 mandated slumber. "CPO is going to be the winner out of this," he said. If, that is, the OEMs sufficiently incentivize […] [Read More]

With Flick Fusion’s new live-streaming video communications application, dealership personnel can connect with vehicle shoppers and current customers, regardless of which operating platform the callers are on. The application is called StreaMe, and Flick Fusion is offering auto dealerships a free, no-obligation 60-day trial for a limited time. The company said it is offering the application […] [Read More]