Today’s car-buying marketplace demands nothing less than a connected, personalized customer experience. Consumers want dealerships to know who they are and what their interests are, and to anticipate the types of cars and services they need. They want to reach their salesperson whenever it’s convenient for them, whether by voice, e-mail, video or text. These […] [Read More]

Auction Management Solutions (AMS) finalized partnerships with two more independent operations for business development consulting on Wednesday. AMS, which was started in early July by industry veterans Tom Stewart and Richard Curtis, now has relationships with Rochester Syracuse Auto Auction in Waterloo, N.Y., and Greater Quad City Auto Auction in Milan, Ill. Adding these two […] [Read More]

In a moved cheered by a wide array of organizations including the Consumer Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee passed what Republican lawmakers are touting as an alternative to the Dodd-Frank Act. The Financial CHOICE Act moved forward by a partisan vote of 30-26 on Tuesday, […] [Read More]

RouteOne and Toyota Financial Services (TFS) on Wednesday announced that they are bringing Toyota dealers the ability to automatically book TFS electronic contracts with no human interaction. This technology, called Straight-Through Processing, is designed to offer dealers faster funding by alleviating the need for manual review of contracts. Officials explained Straight-Through Processing is available for […] [Read More]

Mercedes-Benz Canada and the Zanchin Automotive Group announced that Neal Bodack has been hired as general manager and partner of the Mercedes-Benz Durham dealership, which was acquired by Zanchin in late 2015. Bodack will also become a key member of the senior leadership team at the Zanchin Automotive Group. Bodack joined Mercedes-Benz Canada in 1988, […] [Read More]

Another online used-car marketplace has joined the peer-to-peer car sales space. Blinker, led by John Elway Dealers and Summit Automotive Partners founder Rod Buscher, launched Tuesday in Colorado. Through the Blinker app, consumers in Colorado can buy, sell and finance used cars. It is free for both buyers and sellers and includes a free Carfax report. […] [Read More]

If you’re unfamiliar, Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. You can join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and road info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute. In this post we’ll show you how to create a Waze ad for your dealership and dive […] [Read More]

This week, Flick Fusion introduced what it’s calling FlickWidget, which is being touted as a responsive video display tool proven to increase the number of video views on dealers' websites. In a pilot trial conducted with website and digital marketing vendor Dealer E-Process, the company highlighted FlickWidget was installed on the home page of seven […] [Read More]

Advanced Lending & Portfolio Services (ALPS), a division of Westlake Financial Services, announced the acquisition of a $5.9 million bulk auto-loan portfolio from a financial institution in Tyler, Texas. Officials highlighted the portfolio consists of more than 750 contracts from two buy-here, pay-here dealerships located in Houston. The average balance per contract computed to be […] [Read More]

NextGear Capital UK has opened NextGear House, a new and significantly larger office located next to the company’s former headquarters in Chester. The move comes as a result of rapid business growth since the company opened its UK headquarters in 2014. The UK business has a customer base of nearly 1,000 used vehicle dealers, which […] [Read More]