One of the greatest challenges facing dealerships right now is that profit margins are increasingly under pressure. Several factors are at play, but it’s clear that the Internet is making it increasingly difficult to earn strong retail gross profits per vehicle. NADA reports that the average retail gross profit for used cars in 2013 was […] [Read More]

After TrueCar announced it has grown its dealer council earlier this week,  the company and U.S. News & World Report revealed today that they have extended their U.S. News car buying program another two years. The program, which has been powered by TrueCar since 2011, offers a negotiation-free car buying and selling platform and is available via […] [Read More]

As Toyota informed the agency it’s recalling approximately 690,000 pickups, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an official investigation of about 4.9 million Chrysler SUVs, trucks and vans stemming from a petition sent by the Center for Auto Safety (CAS). NHTSA indicated in a notice posted on its website on Monday that the defect […] [Read More]

Ford announced on Friday that the automaker is recalling 850,050 vehicles in the U.S., Canada and Mexico because of potential issues with the restraints control module that could prevent the airbags from functioning correctly. Blue Oval officials indicated this campaign covers Ford C-MAX, Fusion, Escape and Lincoln MKZ vehicles in North America from the 2013 […] [Read More]

Dealer and consumer satisfaction with the Costco Auto Program certified pre-owned offering is on the rise, according to CNW Research. The firm said in its latest Retail Automotive Summary that the majority of Costco CPO users — dealers and consumers —  found it to be either a “good” (31.3 percent) or “excellent” (21.8 percent) experience. Those […] [Read More]

As new-vehicle sales continue to grow, an ever-increasing number of off-lease and trade-in vehicles are returning to dealers. According to data provided by AutoTrader, certified pre-owned vehicle inventory has increased by 6 percent since March, 80 percent of which are non-luxury vehicles, totaling to 380,758 vehicles. What will buyers be looking for? Here are a […] [Read More]

It was announced today that ShipCarsNow — a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad — is the recipient of the 2014 SmartWay Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The shipper and logistics excellence award winners were recognized at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Annual Global Conference on Tuesday in San Antonio. This annual […] [Read More]

The American International Automobile Dealers Association is asking for nominations for the David. F. Mungenast Sr. Lifetime Achievement Award, an honor that’s presented at AIADA's Annual Meeting and Luncheon to honor the legacy of Dave Mungenast and recognize some of the industry’s outstanding leaders. AIADA president Cody Lusk acknowledged that some dealers may remember Mungenast […] [Read More]

CarMax reported a record second quarter this week, reflecting an increase of 6 percent in total used-vehicle sales. An interesting statistic helping to drive those sales, according to the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer Tom Reedy, continues to be the financing options available to CarMax customers through its variety of lenders. “They’re […] [Read More]

As summer was coming to a close, AutoTrader.com’s vehicle scarcity data experienced “significant shakeups” in August, the site reported to Auto Remarketing. Interestingly, the shifts were primarily due to renewed interest in models new to the list, rather than a decline in interest in the models that dropped off, according to the site’s analysis. Riding […] [Read More]