A new survey from TransUnion again emphasized the value of accurate information available to collectors as a pathway to improve skip-tracing success.
Officials found that more than nine in 10 collectors — 95.2 percent to be exact — have improved their right party contact rate since using online databases and sophisticated technology.
TransUnion also determined nearly three in 10 respondents (27.4 percent) have more than doubled their right party contact rate by using online databases to uncover information.
Right party contact information — such as phone numbers, addresses and place of employment — can help collectors reach the right person on the first attempt. More than eight in 10 (85.5 percent) collectors surveyed by TransUnion said online databases greatly improve the accuracy of customer information.
The survey also found that despite the benefits derived from using online databases, only 57.6 percent of respondents said they always use them. Approximately 40 percent said they “sometimes” use the databases.
“As right party contact rates become increasingly important, the collections industry needs to invest in databases with search technologies to identify the best contact information. Our survey findings clearly demonstrate the value of using an online database with up-to-date, accurate and actionable data,” TransUnion vice president Peter Ghiselli.
“We have shown the value of using online databases and it would be in the best interests of collectors to embrace this technology to help improve their process and aid them with their compliance efforts,” Ghiselli added.
TransUnion conducted the survey in January and included 635 respondents from debt buying organizations, first-party collection agencies, third-party collection agencies and collection law firms. Respondents collected a variety of types of debt, including auto, bankcard, commercial, consumer loans, government and municipal, medical, mortgage, private label, student loans, telco and utility.
TransUnion explained conducted the survey to better understand what solutions work best for the collections industry and their continued right party contact efforts.
One other note from the survey. According to respondents, having one best phone number for an individual is the most important aspect of right party contact information. Nearly seven in 10 respondents (67.9 percent) ranked having an accurate phone number as the most important tool, while 63.9 percent ranked address as one of the most important pieces of information.
“One best phone number, available through TransUnion’s TLOxp solution, allows business to achieve better results while investing fewer resources,” Ghiselli said.
“At TransUnion, we combine credit and alternative data with sophisticated analytics through a variety of products and services to offer collectors the latest available information to improve right party contact rates,” he went on to say.
TransUnion Collections Solutions combine its almost 50 years of experience with deep data and analytics to provide customers with better insights to improve skip-tracing, contact the right party and prioritize accounts. TransUnion’s tools and strategies can allow organizations to streamline processes so they can work more accounts and achieve better results.
Respondents’ Rankings of Most Important
Right Party Contact Information Types
Type of Right Party
Contact Information |
Percentage of Respondents
Who Ranked in Top Two |
| One best phone number |
67.9% |
| Address |
63.9% |
| Place of employment |
49.5% |
| Top three phone numbers |
28.8% |
Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems (CARS) is hosting a free, one-hour webinar aimed at answering common questions about the purpose and importance of service level agreements (SLA).
Garrett Cline, CARS’ director of sales for the Eastern U.S., will lead the session that’s scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 16. Cline intends to cover:
— What is an SLA?
— What are the types of SLAs?
— What should SLAs cover in the repossession and remarketing industries?
— Do they work?
Cline plans to close the webinar by allowing attendees to ask questions.
Registration for the free webinar can be complete here.
Franchised dealers have increased their used-car sales for six straight years, according to data from NADA cited in Manheim’s 2016 Used Car Market Report.
But one caveat shouldn’t come as a surprise: Used margins are slimmer.
In fact, the 25 straight quarters (through Q3) of increasing same-store used unit sales for the public dealership groups is paralleled by a period of sliding gross margins that was “almost as long,” Manheim’s report said.
However, franchised dealers’ used-car businesses still churned out record profits, the report noted, citing fast turns, cuts in sales expenses and a healthy dose of F&I income as the fuel.
Additionally, slimmer used margins can be considered “a sign of a competitive industry passing on some of its efficiency gains to consumers.”
The report does note that dealers who haven’t made adjustments could find these margin cuts problematic. So, we asked Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb about those dealers who have yet to adopt to narrowing margins; what will they have to do?
For one, dealers will have to move towards a quicker turn of inventory, he said in an interview last week.
“Related to that, you can’t afford to make buying mistakes at auction,” said Webb. “You’re not going to get those big gross deals, because there’s not only been a narrowing, but the bell curve distribution of those grosses, if you would, has actually narrowed quite a bit. Therefore, it’s extremely important not to make mistakes.”
On the sales volume side, the report — citing NADA data — pinpoints used-car sales from franchised dealers on the north side of the 14 million to 15 million range. That follows two years of used sales closer to the 14 million side of that bracket.
“It is, historically, a very stable industry in terms of unit volumes. The margin compression that we had last year on the used-vehicle retail side has become somewhat of a problem,” Webb said. “And it’s one of the reasons for some of the easing in wholesale pricing.
“But again, and in reality, the dealers are relatively agnostic in terms of pricing. It’s the volatility in pricing which can hurt them if it’s extremely severe,” he added. “But since basically they are trading vehicles in a 30- to 40-day trade cycle, it’s really not an issue as it is for our commercial consignors.”
An example of what Webb is referring to can be seen at Asbury Automotive Group. During the retailer’s conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter and full-year results/earnings, management was asked about their outlook on used margins. For full-year 2015, same-store retail used-car gross margins fell from 8.5 percent to 8.0 percent.
“We’re essentially traders. We’re trying to only hold those vehicles for 30 to 35 days. And if we can turn them quickly, where the broader market goes with respect to pricing is not that big of a concern to us,” said Asbury chief executive officer Craig Monaghan.
“The game for us is to get the car, get it reconditioned, get it back on the front line and move it quickly. In some cases, it means getting it to the right store,” Monaghan added. “But if the entire market is moving up and down reasonably slowly or on its normal seasonal trends, where those prices go are less important to us than it is our ability to turn it quickly.”
Takata Corp. said on Tuesday the company received the findings of an independent review by its Quality Assurance Panel chaired by former Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner.
Takata plans to act on all of the panel’s 15 recommendations to improve the design and manufacturing procedures of its airbags used in millions of vehicles. The report outlines specific recommendations for Takata in four distinct areas, as listed below:
— Addressing quality concerns
— Ensuring quality in Takata’s design and manufacturing process
— Promoting quality through improved management practices
— Creating processes to ensure implementation of the recommendations
Takata indicated it will provide a report to the panel one year from now summarizing the company’s progress in implementing the panel’s recommendations.
The 49-page report released on Monday and available at www.takatapanel.com highlighted a long series of process improvements, including:
— Refine the approach to monitoring in-fleet product performance.
— Ensure quality and safety concerns can stop product development.
— Ensure that data from quality performance testing is recorded and reported accurately.
— Develop a Takata standard for product safety specifications.
— Adopt a standard practice for seeking and utilizing third-party review.
— Increase and standardize automation operations across facilities.
— Reduce the incidence of conditional approvals in the design review process.
— Involve manufacturing earlier in the product design process.
— Ensure the design review process is outcome driven.
— Establish lifetime ownership over Takata product programs.
— Increase consistency in monitoring and documenting critical specifications and processes.
— Cultivate a quality culture at Takata.
— Increase leadership support for and involvement in quality initiatives.
— Link quality performance and compensation at the individual level.
— Guarantee sufficient resources are available in quality critical areas.
“We greatly appreciate the important work done by Secretary Skinner and the other distinguished members of the panel,” Takata chairman and chief executive officer Shigehisa Takada said. “As the report notes, Takata has longstanding quality strengths and continues to take steps to further improve quality, design and manufacturing procedures and practices.
“The Quality Assurance Panel’s report provides an additional set of clear, actionable steps to ensure that we support a best-in-class quality program,” Takada said. “We have thoroughly reviewed the panel’s recommendations, and we intend to act on them.
“Takata’s products play a critical role in protecting the driving public, and we understand that the quality of our operations needs to be beyond question,” Takada went on to say. “We are committed to earning back the trust of automakers and the driving public. We will do everything we can to achieve this.”
The company also mentioned the publication of the report fulfills Takata’s promise made a year ago to convene an independent panel of experts to review its current quality practices and to make the panel’s findings public.
As noted in the panel’s report, “Since its inception, the panel has had Takata’s full cooperation and support. Takata has answered every panel request, and has — in the panel’s view — strived for transparency. Several of the quality gaps discovered were identified by Takata and are currently being addressed.”
Along with Skinner, Takata Quality Assurance Panel members include:
• Marion Blakey, president and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America
• Nelda Connors, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Pine Grove Holdings, which invests in and operates small, mid-cap industrial companies
• John Landgraf, former executive vice president at Abbott, a global pharmaceutical company
• Julio Ottino, dean of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University
• Dr. Jeffrey Runge, served as administrator of NHTSA from 2001 to 2005 and assistant secretary for health affairs and chief medical officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• John Snow, chairman of Cerberus Capital Management who served as Treasury Secretary from 2003 to 2006
Recent actions Takata has taken to enhance quality, in addition to the creation of the panel, include the following:
— Adding more than 100 additional staff in key positions at the plant and regional levels of the Takata North American quality organization.
—Making capital investments of more than $160 million in its Inflator Group and North American Safety organization, including implementing state of the art automation in its manufacturing processes and additional equipment.
—Strengthening Takata’s culture around quality issues by forming and implementing a dedicated Product Safety Group and Takata Quality Drive Initiative, and committing to further build on its associate-driven Quality Circles program.
—Retaining an independent monitor as part of the consent agreement with NHTSA announced on Nov. 3.
—Strengthening the company’s compliance processes, including an improved whistle blower hotline program.
—Implementing a data vault for critical inflator testing at U.S. facilities to ensure that all testing results and testing reports are reliable and accurate, and expanding the vault approach into new testing areas.
In addition, Takata emphasized that it continues to address the current airbag inflator issue by reaching out to affected vehicle owners, extensive product testing, replacement kit production and phasing out of certain inflators.
Officials said approximately 750,000 visitors have gone to the airbagrecall.com website, which provides information on the recalls, and more than 155,000 outbound clicks have gone to Safercar.gov or automaker VIN lookup websites.
Three other response initiatives included:
— Phase out of Non-Desiccated PSAN Inflators: Takata has agreed to implement a series of actions in connection with the NHTSA consent order in November, including phasing out of the manufacture and sale of non-desiccated Phase Stabilized Ammonium Nitrate (PSAN) Takata inflators by the end of 2018. Takata has taken swift action to comply with the phase out of these inflators and is well ahead of schedule. Currently, less than 2 percent of driver inflators manufactured for U.S. vehicles contain non-desiccated PSAN.
— Replacement Kit Production: Takata continues to take steps to increase the production of airbag replacement kits in support of automotive recalls and safety campaigns. To date, the company has produced over 12 million kits. Currently more than 66 percent of replacements kits include non-ammonium nitrate inflators manufactured by other suppliers. Takata has increased production capacity to 1.5 million replacement kits per month, up from 350,000 per month in December 2014.
— Airbag Inflator Testing: To date, Takata has tested more than 180,000 returned inflators. This extensive testing work, and the research by the Fraunhofer Institute, one of the world’s leading applied research organizations, continues to show that exposure over a period of many years to a climate of persistent heat and high absolute humidity are the primary factors in the small number of inflators that have malfunctioned.
NADA University rescheduled a webinar titled, “Increase Profit Through Smarter Advertising,” a session aimed to help dealers attract high quality, profitable sales leads.
The free webinar with presenter Adam Armbruster, senior partner at ESA & Company, is now set for Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. ET. Armbruster will show examples of successful dealerships and how attendees can create a customized growth plan for their business.
“Learn how to attract high quality, profitable sales leads,” NADA University officials said. “Explore real case studies of successful dealerships and create a customized growth plan for your business.
“Armbruster will discuss how the ‘TierZero’ strategy increases net income and ways to improve your media marketing plan,” they added about the 30-minute training session.
Dealers can complete registration for the free webinar here.
Total Dealer Compliance launched its platform on Tuesday with four offerings billed as a comprehensive solution that can help dealerships mitigate risk faced from proactive regulators and create a compliance culture that can reduce exposure.
The solution includes on-site compliance audits and an E-Learning platform offering more than 20 online courses. Dealership staff completing courses and passing required tests receive TDC certification.
By working with TDC, president Max Zanan said, dealers can be fully compliant with federal regulations across sales, BDC, F&I, fixed ops, HR and IT departments.
TDC's advisory board includes seasoned professional auditors, attorneys, and automotive industry veterans whose sole mission is to protect car dealers' interest and improve operations. TDC works closely with its board to help dealerships of all sizes by providing a variety of packages including:
— Best in Class: TDC's most comprehensive offering and guaranteed to make a positive impact on a dealership with quarterly audits, unlimited access to the company's E-Learning platform, testing and certification, policies and procedures and best practices.
— Stand Alone Audit: Uncovers problems, reduces risk, improves internal controls with on-site audits, schedules interviews with department heads, and creates action plans for success.
— Individual Online Courses: Dealership employees can choose from a range of topics pertaining to their day-to-day job responsibilities.
— Online Course Bundles: Dealerships looking for additional savings can package together online courses by departments.
“Compliance is essential in today's car dealership environment,” Zanan said. “TDC offers a unique and simple comprehensive approach that generates fast results and stands above competitive offerings.
“Federal regulators see car dealers as low hanging fruit, and every dealership is having internal meetings about regulations across all departments," he continued. "TDC will improve the industry, benefit both dealerships and consumers, and weed out all the bad apples.”
For more details, visit www.totaldealercompliance.com or call (888) 243-5204.
Ford Motor Co. announced Tuesday that all Ford Rangers from model years 2004 to 2006 are now recalled for potentially faulty driver-side airbag inflators. This follows news of an estimated 5-million-vehicle expansion of the series of Takata airbag inflator recalls revealed Friday
Ford's action affects a total of 391,394 Rangers, 361,692 of which are in the United States and its territories while 29,334 are in Canada.
A release from Ford says that the company is aware of one report of a death related to a Takata airbag deployment.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discussed the expanded Takata recall in a conference call with the media on Friday, pointing to the fatality of a South Carolina man whose death was linked to an airbag rupture during a wreck involving his 2006 Ranger in S.C. in late December.
According to Gordon Trowbridge, NHTSA's communications director, the recall expansion is due to both this fatality, which he classified as a "field rupture" involving a Takata SDI model inflator, as well as test data showing ruptures in Takata PSDI-5 model inflators.
“That makes that crash the ninth Takata-related fatality in the United States and the 10th globally,” Trowbridge said. “All of these deaths are tragic. There is nothing that we at NHTSA can say or do that will lessen the pain for the affected families. And this latest news is a sad reminder of the immense scope of this problem and why we need to take unprecedented steps to resolve it.”
The model year 2004-2006 Rangers were already under recall for defects in their Takata-sourced passenger-side airbag inflators.
In email correspondence with Auto Remarketing, Trowbridge said that NHTSA believes that Takata's recent filing involving its PSDI-5 model inflators will affect Honda, Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Saab and Volkswagen. The filing involving its SDI model infaltors are expected to affect Audi, Daimler Trucks, Ford, Mazda and Volkswagen.
Intellaegis president John Lewis cautioned the repossession industry about a new law that went into effect at the beginning of the year in California regarding the use of data collected by using license plate recognition technology.
Lewis explained the new law in the Golden State — one that could be coming elsewhere — requires any agency that accesses LPR data to keep detailed logs and usage for each piece of data.
And failure to abide by this requirement is steep. Lewis pegged it at a minimum fine of $2,500 plus punitive and other damages — per occurrence.
“The eventual ramifications of this level of scrutiny creates significant exposure for those companies with their heads in the sand, or for those unwilling to look for opportunities to embrace these laws and seek out solutions to protect themselves from the attorneys and regulators coming their way,” Lewis said in a recent company blog post.
Lewis went on to explain that the new California law also requires companies that use LPR data to have a written policy of how the information and system will be monitored to ensure security. Furthermore, he pointed out agencies need a compliance policy to ensure all applicable privacy laws are being followed with accompanying documentation for periodic system audits.
“If your head isn’t spinning already, they also want a policy to show how and why you share, transfer or sell this data, and what are the restrictions around this,” Lewis said.
“Additionally, they want a policy describing the process the end user will use to validate and authenticate the data you gathered is the correct data, and if not, how will the errors be corrected,” he continued.
“Consider yourself warned as ‘ignorance is not a defense,’” Lewis went on to say.
One more word of caution. Lewis also mentioned the American Civil Liberties Union is galvanizing an effort in 16 states and the District of Columbia to push through legislation regulating LPR use similar to what’s now on the books in California. The states in the effort include:
— Alabama
— Alaska
— Connecticut
— Hawaii
— Illinois
— Massachusetts
— Michigan
— Minnesota
— Missouri
— Nebraska
— New Hampshire
— New Mexico
— New York
— North Carolina
— Virginia
— West Virginia
“A bipartisan consensus on privacy rights is emerging, and now the states are taking collective action where Congress has been largely asleep at the switch,” ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said.
“This movement is about seizing control over our lives,” Romero said. “Everyone should be empowered to decide who has access to their personal information.”
To help dealers better meet the expectations of their customers and of their workforce, Reynolds and Reynolds executives authored a number of whitepapers last year that offer strategies and practical steps dealers can take to deliver a more rewarding experience to their customers and to their employees.
On Wednesday, Reynolds recapped five offerings that might be most useful as dealers sharpen their strategies while the new year gains steam.
"In the ‘new normal’ of automotive retailing, the most successful dealerships will be those that most effectively adapt to the increased demands of customers and employees for a better dealership experience,” said Kasi Edwards, vice president of marketing at Reynolds.
“At Reynolds, we’re focused on providing dealers with the tools that help them deliver a more rewarding dealership experience in every part of their business,” Edwards continued. “These whitepapers are one more example of Reynolds' focus to help dealers meet these challenges head on."
Here are brief descriptions of what Reynolds insights could help your store:
"As Time Goes By": What a Classic Movie and Famous Song Can Teach Dealers About the Customer Experience
In this whitepaper, Reynolds president Ron Lamb looks at wait times in the dealership and the difference between rewarding and engaged time and unrewarding and unengaged time — and what to do about both.
Tick-Tock. As Time (Still) Goes by Slowly for Consumers in a Dealership
The challenge for dealers is to eliminate the unnecessary steps and waiting where possible, as well as to manage the time and the waiting more effectively when they cannot be reduced or eliminated. In this whitepaper, Lamb offers strategies dealers can use to help make the customer's time spent in a dealership more efficient, informative, and engaging.
Delivering a Rewarding Customer Experience: One Click, Swipe — and Wave of Your Smartphone — at a Time
In this whitepaper, product planning senior director Scott Worthington looks at what dealers need to know — and do — to add secure, electronic payment options to their businesses to meet the growing expectation among consumers for convenient payment options for any retail transaction, including the dealership experience.
Service Department: The New, Old Frontier at the Intersection of Technology and the Consumer Experience
In this whitepaper, product planning director Jason Sideris explores trends that are changing customer expectations for every retail experience, including dealership service. By adopting specific technologies and processes, dealerships can influence the consumer experience in the service department, ultimately improving operating results.
From Trophy Kids to Prized Employees: How the Right Mix of People, Process, and Technology Can Help Dealers Attract and Retain Millennial Employees
Millennials are now the largest generation in the U.S., and many dealers have been quick to recognize the need to market and sell to this group. But, with millennials also poised to soon make up the majority of the workforce, are dealerships spending enough time and energy to attract and retain Millennials to work in their stores? Whitepaper author Carl Bennett, who oversees Reynolds Consulting Services, looks at millennials' changing expectations for the workplace, the business impacts of turnover at dealerships, and how those trends intersect.
To download the material, go to this website.
With a retail workforce topping 1 million employees and the industry poised for sales growth, the National Automobile Dealers Association believes its members now more than ever need to focus on hiring and keeping talented employees.
To help franchised dealerships stay competitive, officials are asking for participation in the NADA Dealership Workforce Study. The project is designed to provide the industry's only authoritative analysis of employee compensation, retention and turnover, employee benefits, work schedules and demographics.
NADA explained that dealerships that complete a questionnaire and submit their payroll data will receive two complimentary reports — including comparisons of their dealerships to their peers nationally, regionally and by state as well as by brand.
The participation period is open now through April 29. The study will close promptly so that NADA can provide dealers the information they need to adjust pay plans and benefit packages.
To begin the process, visit www.nadaworkforcestudy.com.
If dealers have any questions, they can send an email to [email protected] or call (800) 557-6232.
