One subprime auto finance company is absorbing much of the portfolio of another provider. On Thursday, Nicholas Financial announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Platinum Auto Finance to acquire approximately $19 million of Platinum’s active and performing portfolio.  According to a news release, this deal is the third bulk portfolio purchase […] [Read More]

CDK Global pivoted its operations this week by selling a segment to Ansira Partners, an independent global marketing services and solutions company. On Thursday, the company announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell all assets of the company’s digital marketing business — including all advertising solutions and website services — to Ansira Partners. […] [Read More]

Lithia Motors generated double-digit gains in same-store used-vehicle retail sales during both the fourth quarter and all of 2019 at 17% and 14%, respectively. Dealer group management is eyeing even more growth this year and not just through what top Lithia executives called the “easy entrance point” of the used-vehicle space. Bottom line: Lithia wants […] [Read More]

You have likely heard of the acronym “ACES” or “CASE” to describe four areas in which technology and innovation are rapidly changing automotive. Those four areas being, in whichever order put them, autonomy, connectivity, electrification and shared mobility. Over at Autotech Ventures, they actually use the past tense of one of these acronyms: adding a […] [Read More]

Digital Motors, which provides dealers a digital retail and fintech platform to enable online transactions, now has Autotech Ventures as a lead investor, as the comapny announced its first external funding round.  Autotech Ventures, based in Silicon Valley, is one of the more well-known investors in the space and focuses on ground transportation. Its portfolio […] [Read More]

During Penske Automotive Group’s fourth quarter earnings call that took place on Feb. 5, chairman Roger Penske wanted to comment early on about the company’s 2019 achievements. He noted that the company retailed more than 500,000 new and used units and increased its used-to-new ratio from 1.20 to 1.28. The company also opened two greenfield […] [Read More]

A couple of years after hosting college basketball personality Dick Vitale as the keynote speaker for its annual convention, the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association is venturing into another part of the sports world for a headliner at this year’s event. NIADA announced this week that Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Dallas Cowboys […] [Read More]

According to an online post by the California Department of Business Oversight, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2020-21 state budget includes a component that would modify the state regulatory structure to “cement California’s consumer protection leadership amidst a retreat on that front by federal agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” Should the changes happen, the […] [Read More]

This week, Resolvion announced the launch of its new client success team.  The skip-trace and repossession management firm explained the objective of this new initiative is to provide a more holistic and seamless approach to ensuring that client specific requirements are being properly coordinated and met as well as to generally make it easier to […] [Read More]

There is a new chairman at the American International Automobile Dealers Association. At AIADA’s 50th Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Monday in Las Vegas during NADA Show 2020, Washington state dealer Jason Courter officially stepped into this role for the association. Courter is the chief executive of Honda Auto Center of Bellevue and Honda of […] [Read More]