After reading this headline, you may be saying to yourself, "What is a 'phablet?'"  Or holding back a chuckle at the silly sound of the word.  While either of those might be an appropriate response, a "phablet" — a smartphone with a screen size of 5.5 inches or larger, nearing the size of a tablet — is the source […] [Read More]

There’s a new product called LotMonkey that launched in September and provides an application where dealers can create on-the-lot marketing materials more effectively. That includes things like license plate inserts, window stickers, windshield graphics and more. In the news release announcing the new company was an interesting thought on increased digitalization, stated as follows: “As […] [Read More]

You really can’t get away from smartphones. Go ahead. Try. You’ll see them everywhere: on the subway, at the park, in the classroom, sometimes at the dinner table. They’re also really prevalent in the car-shopping environment, including the used-car marketplace, where some two-thirds of shoppers are browsing used cars on a mobile product, according to […] [Read More]

Kelley Blue Book customers can now access mass vehicle valuations in real time through a self-service portal. The company said in a news release today that customers can get KBB Values and configuration data “on their own time” simply by putting the batch VIN info through a Web-based interface now available in the company's business-to-business […] [Read More]

When it comes to digital marketing and the changes it has undergone over the years, Jared Rowe boils it down to three phases. The first, he said — at least from the vantage point of the Cox Automotive Media Division he heads up — was the “inventory discovery” phase, where dealers began putting their vehicles […] [Read More]

This week, customer relationship management solution OneCommand finalized the certified integration of its HigherGear CRM with Guest Concept’s 1st Pencil, a dealership sales presentation software provider. Executives explained that 1st Pencil and HigherGear CRM have historically been used autonomously by dealers across the country. They indicated this new integration is designed to provide enrolled dealers […] [Read More]

SmartAuction has sold its 5 millionth vehicle. Ally Financial announced today that its online auction platform held a special auction for the milestone vehicle, which was purchased by Classic Chevrolet of Grapevine, Texas. The winning bid was approximately $180,000, and Ally will divide that sum and donate it to 10 charities in the Dallas area […] [Read More]

DealersLink released the newest iteration of its live online auction platform, AuctionLink 1.4, on Tuesday, highlighting the solution’s features that culminate in what the company claims is the one of the “most convenient, efficient and easy to use” online auction platforms. As listed by the company, the key features of AuctionLink include: Access to upstream […] [Read More]

Now that the acquisition of Dealertrack Technologies is complete, Cox Automotive shifted a top executive who served as co-president of the newest piece of the company portfolio into a new role. On Tuesday, Cox Automotive appointed Raj Sundaram to be chief client success officer, reporting directly to Cox Automotive president Sandy Schwartz. In this key […] [Read More]

There is a lot of buzz out there that many companies, including the auction giants with their subsidiaries, are looking at ways to “go around” auctions and lower prices to almost ludicrous value levels. The true buzz should not be discussing “going around” today’s technologically enhanced auctions, but rather seeing them as the core around […] [Read More]