No doubt about it: New-car sales have remained strong this month, albeit down a bit from year-ago figures. But there are headwinds picking up speed, including some originating from the used-car market. First, the new-car metrics expected this month: According to Cox Automotive, the 1.36 million new-vehicle sales (including fleet) expected for November would be close […] [Read More]

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in abusive debt collection practices. To be liable under the Act, however, the defendant must be a debt collector. And there are two ways that a defendant can qualify as a debt collector under the act — the defendant’s “principal (business) purpose” is debt […] [Read More]

SHIFTMobility is looking to leverage blockchain technology to bring together everything that’s happened to a vehicle into a single solution. With that goal in mind, the provider of blockchain powered connected shop solutions recently released a tool called Vehicle Passport. The company explained Vehicle Passport can create a digital identity for any vehicle that can […] [Read More]

It’s like the federal government gave Spireon a holiday present. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Spireon a patent for its technology approach to managing an automotive dealership’s vehicle inventory by pairing a tracking device to a vehicle. Patent No. 10,089,598, “Methods and Apparatus for Monitoring and Control of Electronic Devices,” covers the […] [Read More]

For the second time this month, KAR Auction Services has announced plans for a major purchase. And this time, it’s an international move that gives KAR an “anchor” in Continental Europe’s wholesale market and beyond. KAR said Wednesday morning it has reached a definitive agreement to buy CarsOnTheWeb, a digital wholesale auction platform out of Belgium, […] [Read More]

Black Friday and Cyber Monday might have already passed, but GWC Warranty contends that dealerships still can leverage consumers’ enthusiasm for spending to rake in some retail revenue via their finance departments. “There are two ways to look at the holiday season,” the company said in a post on its blog, "Accelerate". “You can chalk it […] [Read More]

Two dealers have traded in well-worn trade-in practices for a new model. The new one is based on appraisal-to-delivery ratios that sell more cars and creates more downstream F&I and service revenues. They call this strategy appraisal effectiveness. “I want to appraise every car, whether a trade, a private sale, cars in the service lane […] [Read More]

During the development of Privacy4Cars, which is an app designed to help rid modern vehicles of personally identifiable information, Andrea Amico discovered the existence of a vehicle hack that can exploit infotainment systems through the Bluetooth protocol. The company said Amico, its founder, reported the hack known as CarsBlues to the Automotive Information Sharing and […] [Read More]

Consumers might have been elbowing each other for bargains this past week, but it appears dealers were not behaving similarly as auctions held their sales around Thanksgiving. As a result, Black Book’s newest Market Insights Report showed that prices for both cars and trucks didn’t soften as much last week as they had during the […] [Read More]

Dealerships using AutoManager now can check Carfax reports to learn when a vehicle that’s new to their shop last had its oil changed, brakes serviced or sparkplugs changed. According to an announcement distributed on Tuesday, AutoManager has enhanced its DeskManager dealer management system (DMS) so that shop technicians have integrated access to Carfax information. Dealerships […] [Read More]