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.
DealerRater revealed the winners this week of its second annual Consumer Satisfaction Awards, which recognize U.S. and Canadian dealerships that have received high marks for outstanding customer service on DealerRater.com and DealerRater.ca.
The Consumer Satisfaction Awards — an extension of DealerRater’s Dealer of the Year program — are given annually to the top 10 percent of U.S. franchised dealers based on their PowerScore, as well as all U.S. independent dealers and Canadian (new and used) dealers that meet the Dealer of the Year criteria.
Officials explained a dealership’s PowerScore is calculated using an algorithm that considers the dealership’s average DealerRater star-rating as well as the total number of reviews written about the dealership during the calendar year.
Consumer Satisfaction Award winners will receive a digital badge on their DealerRater Dealer Page so the site’s visitors can instantly identify providers of high-quality customer service.
The 2016 Dealer of the Year Award winners will be selected from the Consumer Satisfaction Award recipients and announced at the CBT Automotive Conference and Expo on Feb. 10.
“Many dealers have embraced online reputation management as a standard part of their day-to-day operations because consumers are increasingly using online reviews as part of their car shopping experience. The words a consumer writes about a dealer or specific employee can make the difference between whether or not someone chooses to visit a particular showroom,” DealerRater chief executive officer Gary Tucker said.
Tucker added, “2015 was a record year for U.S. car sales and the automotive sales environment is fiercely competitive. Those recognized should be proud of being at the top of their class in terms of customer satisfaction.”
For full details on the DealerRater Consumer Satisfaction Award, visit the DealerRater honoree website 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.
The man behind Sonic Automotive and Speedway Motorsports, O. Bruton Smith, was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Saturday, recognized for his decades of dedication to the motorsports world.
Smith is currently the executive chairman and director at Sonic Automotive, based in Charlotte, N.C. He founded Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) in 1994, which became the first motorsports company to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange a year later.
“Being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame is truly an honor,” Smith said. “For nearly 60 years, my life’s work has been to build first-rate facilities and host world-class events for fans around the country. Along with thousands of my employees, I have worked hard for the fans in hopes of providing each of them a truly unforgettable experience every time they walk through the gates. When I say, ‘we work for the fans,’ I really take it to heart. I look forward to seeing Speedway Motorsports continue to lead the way in innovation and fan fun for many years to come.”
Those more familiar with his motorsport proclivities will know Smith as the chairman, chief executive officer, director and controlling stockholder of SMI, the latter which owns Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway.
A North Carolina native born in Oakboro, Smith began construction of what is now known as the “home track” of NASCAR, Charlotte Motor Speedway, in 1959. The next year, it was home to NASCAR’s first 600-mile race, the World 600.
SMI’s eight raceways are also home to Smith’s Speedway Children’s Charities, which was founded in 1982 to care for children in financial, educational, social and medical need in order to help them lead productive lives. The Speedway Children’s Charities has donated more than $46 million to other charities nationwide since its founding.
Other inductees from Saturday include the legendary drivers Jerry Cook, Bobby Isaac, Terry Labonte and Curtis Turner.
Just before the huge blizzard hit New York City and other major areas along the East Coast this past weekend, the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association coordinated an effort to deliver more than 6,000 winter coats as part of the New York Cares Winter Coat Drive.
This past Thursday prior to when close to two feet of snow blanketed the area, the coats were delivered to New York Cares distribution center at West 31 St. in Manhattan.
New York Cares executive director Gary Bagley was on hand to receive the coats from Mark Schienberg, president of GNYADA, whose organization coordinated the collection through the association’s dealer network.
“New-car dealers have always had a strong sense of community and our relationship with New York Cares is no exception,” Schienberg said.
“Thanks to this spirit of helping others, GNYADA was able to present New York Cares with 6,000 coats that will be given to those in need,” he continued.
“The coats were collected by 100 dealers and thanks to their generosity, and that of their customers and staff, the total number of coats collected by the association over the past four years now tops 25,000,” Schienberg added.
“That says an enormous amount about auto dealers in greater New York, and I am very proud of them all,” he went on to say.
The charity organization pointed out thousands of New Yorkers will be forced to make a choice this winter between buying a warm coat and putting food on the table, heating their homes, or meeting other basic survival needs. That’s why for the last 27 years, New York Cares has collected and distributed winter coats to thousands of men, women and children who would otherwise go cold.
For more details about the organization, go to www.newyorkcares.org.
MyDealerOnline announced Wednesday that it bolstered its funding by receiving $1 million right before the start of the new year.
Having now received a total of $3.25 million in funding, the digital solution that allows dealers to broker wholesale inventory straight from their own websites says the additional funds will help it focus on increasing its subscriber base, encourage growth among its partnerships, and expand international efforts.
“MyDealerOnline helps dealers engage with more retail customers by offering greater inventory selection to a wider audience,” said Scott Stephens, the company’s vice president of business development.
According to MyDealerOnline, the B2B service provides dealers with access to greater inventory selection without increasing their working capital requirements or overhead availability. The service secures inventory from local auctions around Philadelphia, nationally and from auctions abroad.
To learn more, check out its site here.
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.
The Zeigler Automotive Group announced Tuesday the opening of two new stores — one Nissan and one Infiniti dealership — in Orland Park, Ill.
Side-by-side and named Orland Park Nissan and Orland Park Infiniti, the two stores opened on Jan. 7.
Zeigler AG cited the strength and growth of the two brands as the reasoning behind the purchase of the two franchises.
"Nissan and Infiniti are great brands and Orland Park is a great city," said Aaron Zeigler, president of Zeigler Automotive Group. "We've had outstanding success with BMW of Orland Park and wanted to expand our presence in the area; we are thrilled to add the new dealerships to our growing family of stores. Orland Park is a wonderful place to live and work, and we couldn't be happier to be an integral part of the community's continued development."
The two stores combined now offer over 400 new and 220 used vehicles. The group plans to add 20 new staff to the new dealerships.
BMW of Orland Park’s general manager Bill O’Hara now also serves as the general manager for both of the new locations.
Some of the amenities at the dealerships include spacious, modern showrooms and service areas, flat screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, complimentary beverages, retail areas, a playroom and an indoor car shop with air conditioned service bays.
