Larry H. Miller Toyota Murray, the flagship store for the dealer group of the same name, sold the group's 1.5 millionth vehicle recently. The store, open since May 1, 1979, sold the landmark car — a 2013 Toyota Corolla — to customers Bob and Betty Griffin, who purchased the vehicle for their daughter, Priscilla. “Our family […] [Read More]

With one import notching its seventh straight best-ever month, European and Asian-brand certified pre-owned programs both increased total CPO sales by double-digit percentages in September. According to Autodata Corp., there were 88,033 CPO vehicles sold by Asian brands last month, a 12.8-percent increase from September 2013.  Their year-to-date sales stand at 823,789, a 4.4-percent gain. […] [Read More]

Along with instructing dealers to halt deliveries of the automaker’s new midsize pickup trucks, General Motors made three more recall announcements on Thursday and Friday, raising its campaign total for the year to 71 and including more than 29.9 million units worldwide. On Friday, the two recalls to come from the automaker covered 379,401 cars and […] [Read More]

In my previous post I discussed why pre-owned profit margins are under pressure. The factors driving this trend include transparency from the Internet, market-based pricing, and rising overhead costs from new dealership buildings. And that’s not the bad news — the bad news is that the problem is only going to get worse over the […] [Read More]

Domestics continued what has been a strong year for certified pre-owned operations for the Big 3, increasing their combined September CPO sales by more than 25 percent year-over-year, according to Autodata Corp. More specifically, their dealers moved 67,526 certified vehicles during the month for a 25.1 percent hike, pushing the year-to-date sum to 612,560 CPO […] [Read More]

If one needs proof of the value that auto dealerships can potentially bring to the business community at large, just look at the announcement coming out of Berkshire Hathaway on Thursday — and the reaction it got from one of the top leaders of the remarketing business. Berkshire Hathaway — headed by one of the […] [Read More]

Certified pre-owned vehicle sales climbed nearly 20 percent year-over-year in September, capping the best quarter ever for the CPO market, according to Autodata Corp. And one brand, Kia, had its strongest month of all time for certified sales. Overall, there were 188,341 CPO sales last month, marking a 19.7-percent year-over-year gain. This figure pushed year-to-date sales […] [Read More]

Fueled by significant turn increases for vehicles 5 years old and newer as well as financing to subprime borrowers, the used-vehicle industry closed the last month of the third quarter with 4.3 percent sales gain. CNW Research determined September contained more than 3.8 million used-vehicle sales among turns at franchised and independent dealers and private-party […] [Read More]

Following a campaign with the OEM from 2013 that generated more than 21,000 sales, the Costco Auto Program announced it has rolled out another offer with General Motors that will provide deals on 17 of the most-requested models from Costco customers. Through the 2014 Holiday Sales Event — which began Wednesday and runs through Jan. […] [Read More]

General Motors rolled out an ambitious strategic plan on Wednesday, insisting that in 2015, about 27 percent of GM’s global sales volume is expected to come from products new or refreshed within 18 months. Does it mean when that new metal becomes used — or more specifically, certified pre-owned — the growth prospects still will […] [Read More]