As the coronavirus crisis continues, the J.D. Power 2020 Customer Service Index Study released Thursday marks the fifth consecutive year of increasing satisfaction with dealer service. However, Chris Sutton says it is unknown how widespread or long-lasting the ripple effect of the coronavirus will be for the automotive industry. “It inevitably will have a financial […] [Read More]

Spiffy, which provides on-demand, mobile car care as well as Fleet Management as a Service (FMaaS), has landed a strategic investment from the venture capital arm of Shell. The investment from Shell Ventures, announced Wednesday, continues a line of growth for Spiffy in 2020 that started with an expansion into the tire care business in […] [Read More]

As concern around the COVID-19 coronavirus mount in the auto industry and beyond, the organizers of the Conference of Automotive Remarketing have postponed the 2020 CAR Conference, originally scheduled for later this month in Las Vegas.  “As the organizer of The CAR Conference, we have been in close communication with our key partners including NAAA, […] [Read More]

Advanced Business Computers of America (ABCoA) made a move this week to help independent and buy-here, pay-here dealers collect payments from their customers accurately and safely. ABCoA Deal Pack announced it is fully integrated with QuotePro Kiosk. Dealers utilizing ABCoA’s Deal Pack DMS now can employ a QuotePro Kiosk as an on-site payment channel. “We […] [Read More]

A pair of North Carolina independent dealers received a six-figure penalty from the state’s attorney general. This week, North Carolina attorney general Josh Stein announced that his office won a consent judgment against Nathaniel Thomas Brown and Samuel Ross Ketner and their dealerships — Auto House of Mooresville and Auto House of Salisbury — over […] [Read More]

Black Book has added Susan Moritz to its sales leadership team, in the position of vice president of data licensing. Moritz has held leadership positions at KAR Global and Cox Automotive, among other companies. Moritz began her automotive career almost 30 years ago and has held management positions in various automotive verticals. Those include posts at […] [Read More]

Press releases arrive in the inboxes of us here at Cherokee Media Group throughout each business day. Most times, comments from executives contained in these releases focus on flowery language about the company’s newest product or executive. However, the opening quote from the top executive at Portfolio Holding stopped me instantly this week. The 13 […] [Read More]

NextGear Capital has announced two executive leadership promotions that it says will enhance support for independent dealers. Lisa Mackie is now vice president of portfolio management, and Thad Sykes is now associate vice president of sales for NextGear Capital, which is a floor plan provider for independent dealers. Mackie, now with 25 years of leadership […] [Read More]

In his new role as vice president of data science and analytics for KAR Global, Chris Simokat will lead all DRIVIN-powered data science functions for the company. He will also oversee data analytics that are fueling KAR’s suite of data as a service (DaaS) platform capabilities delivering actionable intelligence to customers. Simokat’s experience includes more […] [Read More]

Black Book has integrated its vehicle valuation data with TradeVelocity, and the companies are describing the integration as an “online trade widget for lead capture combining with a closing tool on the showroom floor.” TradeVelocity describes itself as a “trade widget” that allows consumers to see how time affects the value of their trade. The […] [Read More]