Sonic Automotive retailed a best-ever 119,174 used vehicles last year, including record fourth-quarter used-car unit sales of 29,621, the retailer said in results released Tuesday. And prospects for its EchoPark used-car standalone stores are pretty rosy, too. Some of the original Colorado stores were cash-flow positive in Q4, with the initial Thornton, Colo., store profitable […] [Read More]

This year’s Manheim Used Car Market Report projects that repossessions will total 1.7 to 1.8 million units in 2017, representing an increase “in the neighborhood of 100,000 units,” according to Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb. Webb elaborated about the expected figures and what factors could impact whether repo agents, forwarding companies and auctions will […] [Read More]

Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb acknowledged the past few years probably constituted the most difficult span ever encountered by buy-here, pay-here dealers. Finance companies specializing in the subprime space took on contracts deeper down the credit spectrum, leaving operators wondering where their customers went. But Webb thinks this year could be much better for […] [Read More]

TRADER Corp. and Dealertrack Canada said Tuesday they have teamed up to launch a transaction communication platform for Canadian car dealers, as part of a partnership to “bridge the gap between the online and in-store consumer experience while enabling the transformation of auto retailing through connected car buying technologies.” The companies will launch these digital retail […] [Read More]

Dominion Dealer Solutions announced that it has improved its new-car incentives application and newly partnered with AIS Rebates, a part of Cox Automotive, to deliver incentive data instantly to dealers nationwide. “Managing the application of pertinent incentives to new car inventory has been a longstanding pain-point for dealers across the country,” Dominion general manager of […] [Read More]

Honda Canada president and chief executive officer Jerry Chenkin announced his intent to retire on Tuesday. Fellow Honda Canada veteran, Dave Gardner will take on leading the company after Chenkin officially ends his tenure on March 31. Chenkin’s career at Honda spans more than four decades.  In 1975, he began his career in Honda's accounting […] [Read More]

Veteran automotive and technology executive Doug Betts has been named senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power, the latter announced Tuesday. Most recently, Betts had a role at Apple, where helped lead the introduction of Apple's latest product innovations. At J.D. Power, Betts has been tasked with leading the strategy and operations […] [Read More]

TPC Management Co. announced this week that Penny Wanna has been promoted to president of Auction Academy, the continuing education program the company developed to benefit the wholesale industry. Wanna has been involved with the Auction Academy program since its inception in early 2012 and most recently served as vice president of administration. “From the beginning […] [Read More]

With dealers noticing tax-refund money slowly starting to impact their retail business, Black Book’s latest Market Insights report showed truck segments retaining their value much better than car segments compared with previous weeks. Editors noticed two vehicle segments within the truck segment — subcompact crossovers and compact vans — maintained their values from the previous […] [Read More]

While analysts looked to sooth concerns about the bank card default rate reaching a 42-month high, S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian pointed out that auto finance defaults in January remained at a level typically seen during the opening month of a calendar year. According to the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices released on Tuesday, […] [Read More]