When Toyota first launched the world’s first mass-produced hybrid — the Prius — in 2000, it promoted the vehicle’s 41 miles per gallon combined city/highway. Nineteen years later, the Prius Eco’s lighter lithium ion battery improves by 15 miles per gallon at 56 MPG combined. That is one reason why Toyota performed well in the […] [Read More]

With dealership competition as fierce as ever and consumers further recognizing the value of used vehicles, vAuto wants to be sure its tools are as sharp as possible. On Wednesday, the company expanded its proprietary suite of market data to all Stockwave users. The expansion included the introduction of vAuto’s Live Market View and Autotrader’s […] [Read More]

An executive who previously was with a member of the Cox Automotive family of companies now has a leading role with a division within KAR Auction Services. According to a news release distributed on Wednesday, Preferred Warranties (PWI) announced the addition of Allison Marley as the company’s new vice president of sales. In this role, […] [Read More]

Brian Skutta’s professional automotive resume includes five companies — TrueCar, AutoAlert, VinSolutions, AutoTrader.com and now Spireon. Spireon announced on Wednesday the unification of its auto finance as well as franchised and buy-here, pay-here dealer product offerings into a combined automotive portfolio along with the appointment of Skutta as its president. Under Skutta’s leadership, Spireon said […] [Read More]

In today’s world where it might seem the only auto-finance element lengthening in time involves terms of consumers’ retail installment sales contracts, Digital Recognition Network (DRN) and American Recovery Service (ARS) are reaching a significant milestone — their 10th anniversary of doing business together in the repossession and recovery spaces. DRN executive vice president and general manager […] [Read More]

Apparently, federal lawmakers heard the concerns from banks, credit unions and finance companies about the challenges of preparing for significant accounting changes in connection with reserving for losses. A day short of three weeks after a proposal surfaced from six members of the Senate, 10 House representatives crafted potential legislation to delay this major accounting […] [Read More]

Launcher is looking to help not only well-established subprime auto finance companies, but also shops looking to get a toehold in the space while they stretch their limited resources. The technology provider specializing in loan originations, recently announced the release of its new product offering, appTRAKER launchPAD, which is a loan origination system packaged with […] [Read More]

Dealers don’t need to be reminded that the world of dealer data is changing. The volume of information generated and stored has exploded, and that information is more sensitive and more valuable than ever. It’s no longer just the dealer generating this information; “big data” companies and data brokers hold vast amounts of data, and […] [Read More]

Loaner fleets are one of the most important sources of profitability at dealerships today, says the owner of a vehicle telematics firm. Now, because of a new partnership between that company — Guidepoint Systems — and modern fleet management platform, Dealerware, dealerships will be able to track vehicles with real-time GPS and track and recoup costs […] [Read More]

Phone call monitoring company CallRevu has partnered with customer relationship management system provider VinSolutions to produce a platform that the companies say will help automotive dealers more efficiently connect with potential customers, and log sales calls in a centralized location. The companies say the new platform, called VinSolutions Connect CRM, will help dealers “maximize each […] [Read More]