One figure appeared four different times when Lithia Motors reported the highest first-quarter adjusted net income in company history on Wednesday. Lithia enjoyed 11-percent increases in four major performance categories, including: — Used-vehicle retail same-store sales — New-vehicle same-store sales —Total same-store sales —Service, body and parts same-store sales The Q1 performance of those four […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive hosted its quarterly conference call Tuesday morning for the first quarter of 2015, outlining a company record first quarter from the angle of several metrics, including record first quarter pre-owned units sold (28,135) from continuing operations as well as a record first quarter pre-owned gross profit of $40.8 million. The first quarter of […] [Read More]

Among a series of executive moves, NCM Associates went into Canada to find its new director of retail solutions, training and development. Taking on this role is Trevor Robinson of Vancouver, British Columbia, who is being asked to lead and expand the NCM 20 Group and retail consulting programs to better support the company’s growing […] [Read More]

Certified pre-owned sales have never been higher than they were in the first quarter of this year, according to Autodata Corp., which said Q1 represented the best quarter ever for CPO sales. But that’s not to say there aren’t challenges. As part of our annual “Best CPO Dealers in the United States” special edition this […] [Read More]

Certified pre-owned customers are unique — and have different needs and wants for their next vehicle than new or non-certified used customers. These potential buyers might have more financial resources than someone looking for a car on your budget lot, but they might not want to spend close to MSRP for a vehicle fresh from the factory. […] [Read More]

NCM Associates announced recently that it has allied with Autotrader to provide NCM 20 Group clients with a free performance report aimed at helping them maximize sales of new and used vehicles. Via the alliance, Autotrader will automatically feed actual data and metrics on dealership performance into a composite set to provide NCM dealer clients […] [Read More]

TrueCar shared three statistics, in particular, that may offer some perspective on just how much momentum is building in the certified pre-owned business. First, the 2.6 million CPO sales the firm forecasts for 2015 is larger than its projection for new pickup truck sales (2.3 million) and new premium/exotic vehicles (2.1 million). Second, the supply of certified vehicles was at […] [Read More]

As the sun sets on this year's Masters Tournament and a new champion dons the green jacket, there remains four certified pre-owned vehicles on Autotrader's list of the top 10 vehicles for golf lovers that can be enjoyed for many seasons to come.  Every year, shortly before the tournament begins, the company releases a list, based […] [Read More]

The Clean Auto Alliance announced last week the first recipients ever of the Environment & Safety Elite Award. The new award is designed to recognize automotive truck and equipment dealerships, and service companies that meet or exceed best practice benchmarks in key environmental, health and safety categories. The non-profit bestowed the inaugural honors to more […] [Read More]

Coincidentally, the same week that unusual thunderstorms raced across much of the country, Dent Wizard promoted two new hail business development managers. Grant Allen and Scott Whitney will take on the two newly created positions designed to help the company continue to improve its hail response services across North America. Allen and Whitney previously worked […] [Read More]