Lithia’s leadership has been long touting a goal to average 75 used-vehicle sales per store per month. At the end of the first quarter this year, the group was sitting at roughly 57 units per store. By the end of September, Lithia’s monthly average has seen a solid gain. “On a 12-month rolling average, we […] [Read More]

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission recently approved a final consent order against BMW of North America, whose Mini division allegedly violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act by telling consumers that the automaker would void their warranty unless they used Mini parts and Mini dealers to perform maintenance and repair work. In March, […] [Read More]

Twenty-six hundred stores. As Auto Remarketing reported earlier this year, that is the number of dealerships nationwide that Lithia Motors' president and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer maintains his company has on his radar as potential acquisitions. With three third-quarter acquisitions under its belt, one of which includes the only Acura store in Honolulu, DeBoer said the […] [Read More]

There was a phrase to describe the status of Q auto — used by an investment analyst during Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call — that Asbury Automotive Group chief executive Craig Monaghan seemed to like. In the Q&A portion of the call, Rick Nelson of Stephens Inc. asked whether Asbury’s plan was to “nurture these three […] [Read More]

Toyota announced this week a recall for issues with the driver’s side power window master switch in certain models, impacting 2 million vehicles in the U.S. And the safety recall affects  6.5 million Toyota vehicles worldwide. In impacted vehicles, the power window master switch may have been manufactured with insufficient lubricant grease. “If sufficient grease […] [Read More]

When you have to recondition a vehicle for your certified pre-owned inventory, what are your best practices? How many cars should you certify in the first place? What do you expect to get out of CPO, and what is your commitment to the program? Some dealers struggle with getting store-wide buy-in to CPO; what strategies […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group sold more than 21,000 used cars last quarter and it has generated more than $1.3 billion in used retail revenues this year. But what about its same-store results? Gross profits? Gross margins? We’ve got a rundown below that gives a better glimpse of how the public retailer performed in the third quarter […] [Read More]

Lithia reported its best-ever third-quarter earnings in company history this week. Leading the way? Used-vehicle sales. Looking at its third-quarter operating highlights, Lithia’s used-vehicle retail sales on a same-store level increased by 13 percent compared to Q3 2014, representing the biggest jump of the four different metrics that experienced double-digit growth quarter-over-quarter. Lithia’s president and chief […] [Read More]

Auto Remarketing has revealed its 2015 CPO Dealer of the Year, presented by NCM Associates, and taking home the award, now in its sixth year, is Bill Luke Chrysler Jeep Dodge & Ram. The Phoenix dealership was the automaker’s top certified pre-owned seller in both 2013 and 2014, and it holds the No. 1 spot […] [Read More]

The Prime Motor Group announced Friday its extensive expansion plans in Westwood and Rockland, Mass., with groundbreaking ceremonies having taken place in early October to make way for four new dealerships in the Boston area. Three of those four dealerships broke ground side by side on Oct. 1 in Westwood, making way for over 120,000 square […] [Read More]