If recent predictions from Edmunds.com come to fruition, the number of lease terms coming to an end next year will eclipse 2.5 million units, which would be an increase of 484,000 units from 2012. In other words, look for a big jump in the amount of lease returns flowing into the used-car market next year. [Read More]

Westlake Financial Services honored four auctions on Tuesday, announcing the third quarter’s top regional performers and the company’s Top Service Auction.  Earning recognition from Westlake were: •    Eastern Region: Rawl’s Auto Auction (South Carolina) •    Central Region: Kansas City Independent (Missouri) •    Western Region: Brasher’s Sacramento (California) [Read More]

The 2012 CPO Dealer Forum kicks off Used Car Week in just 13 days, and this year’s event — presented by AutoTrader.com — is on track to be the biggest yet. CPO Forum attendees will have the opportunity to gain invaluable insight in key sessions from leading executives, including the Tuesday morning keynote on Nov. […] [Read More]

Matt Marks, the executive director of the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance, has passed away. Marks died Sunday morning, ServNet chief executive officer Pierre Pons said in a message to ServNet’s membership on Monday. “Matt was the original director of IARA, overseeing not only the organization’s expansion, but establishing it as a credible and critical voice […] [Read More]

Donlen chief executive officer Gary Rappeport will retire at the end of the year, and stepping into the leadership spot at Donlen on Jan. 1 will be Tom Callahan, who is the currently the company's president and chief operating officer. The news was announced this morning by the Hertz Corp., which acquired Donlen last year. […] [Read More]

Dominion Dealer Solutions has released a new equity alert tool that’s meant to further empower dealers to pull in-service customers into the buying market.   The company explained DealActivator can mine the store’s database for highly-qualified equity customers from sales and service, delivering data to the dealer daily.  Dealers can locate quality inventory at better prices, […] [Read More]

The third quarter was strong for Lithia Motors in its used-car operations, but the dealer group has its sights set higher — and management says there’s some work left to do. The retailer has raised its monthly used-vehicle sales goal by 25 percent, and during Wednesday’s quarterly conference call, president and chief executive officer Bryan […] [Read More]

Less than seven days after announcing it was selling insurance business interests in Mexico, Ally Financial on Tuesday reached an agreement to sell its Canadian auto finance operation, Ally Credit Canada, and ResMor Trust to Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank by assets and market capitalization. Ally said it will receive an approximately […] [Read More]

As luxury units remain scarce this fall season, one new dealer-to-dealer sales website aims to “ease the burden” of finding quality, highline vehicles for franchised dealers. Highlinesale.com, a site dedicated to wholesale luxury vehicles, touts 10,000 pre-screened luxury vehicles and is “expanding daily,” Cliff Varn, vice president of sales told Auto Remarketing.  And of those […] [Read More]

During Tuesday’s quarterly earnings conference call, an analyst asked Asbury Automotive Group management about what led to such a strong uptick in the gross profit for the reconditioning/preparation part of the company’s parts and service business, given the more modest increase in used retail sales. In answering, Asbury’s Michael Kearney turned to the 121 Program, […] [Read More]