It seems a few factors on the new-car side of things may impact used-car supply in the coming months, Black Book’s Ricky Beggs contends. With new-car sales coming in strong through November, with 1.14 million total sales recorded, this past month's new-car sales activity along with Hurricane Sandy-driven inventory replacements will lead to some varying […] [Read More]

Prices are strengthening in the lanes, as it seems dealers are paying more for vehicles with higher mileage this year, according to Manheim’s Tom Webb. The Manheim chief economist explained in a post to his blog on Monday that “an increase in average mileage for vehicles within a given tier means that prices are strengthening […] [Read More]

During his latest video analysis, Black Book managing editor Ricky Beggs gave broad assessments of wholesale market behavior, since Thanksgiving prompted auctions to move sale days and dealers had to adjust their weekly rituals. In his latest edition of “Beggs on the Used Car Market,” the veteran analyst said, “It’s amazing how many attending dealers […] [Read More]

Along with an announcement late last week of another common stock offering, KAR Auction Services’ board of directors approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend on the company’s common stock. The first dividend paid to stockholders in the company’s history entails the initial quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share to be paid on Dec. […] [Read More]

Though dealers in his region of the country reported slow retail sales for both new and used vehicles during the Thanksgiving weekend, one auction executive said the holiday did not impact the auction lanes. In the post-sale report from Tuesday’s action at Brasher’s Sacramento Auto Auction, John Brasher said the holiday, combined with warm, get-outdoors […] [Read More]

With lease returns opening up again after recession lows, dealers are focusing on retaining these lease-return customers and getting them into a new car. In response, DealerSocket revealed this week a tool designed to help dealers manage lease portfolios with marketing campaigns. Specifically, MarketPlace Lease works with “automated, multi-channel marketing campaigns” from directly within DealerSocket. [Read More]

Copart chief executive officer Jay Adair spent much of Wednesday’s quarterly conference call not talking about the first stanza of the 2013 fiscal year, but instead concentrating on how the company is handling salvage volume stemming from Superstorm Sandy. The company is deploying resources to New York and New Jersey from as far away as […] [Read More]

It appears change is afoot in the Ohio salvage vehicle industry. On Tuesday, the state legislature's House Insurance Committee adopted an amendment to SB273, a series of changes which propose to revise a bevy of sections of the Revised Code that deals with consumer protection laws in the salvage industry. And one organization is voicing […] [Read More]

It seems dealers, buyers, and auction owners alikemight be seeing higher values and volumes in the lanes as 2013 gets under way. This week, National Auto Auction Association president-elect Jack Neshe and NAAA president Paul Lips joined Black Book’s Ricky Beggs during his “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report. After years of low […] [Read More]

Still-strong wholesale vehicle values resulted in yet another decline for U.S. auto ABS losses, according to the latest index results from Fitch Ratings. Analysts said October auto ABS losses also remained stable as the new model season kicked into gear for vehicle sales. Fitch pointed out the Manheim Used Value Index gained 1 percent, increasing […] [Read More]