It’s not just the supply boost that slowed wholesale vehicle values in May.   Some of the decline, says ADESA chief economist Tom Kontos, was driven by flat used-car retail sales and a dip in certified pre-owned sales (albeit year-to-date CPO sales are still up and at a record pace). “This limited the demand side support for wholesale values, which […] [Read More]

Of the more than 150 independent dealerships included in Equifax’s latest edition of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association Business Confidence Survey, a total of 34 percent indicated an anticipation of adding personnel within the next year, even though the expectations for sales growth during the third quarter and beyond softened. How independent and buy-here, […] [Read More]

It was a clean sweep for Lexus in the NADA Dealer Attitude Survey. In the winter version of the semiannual survey that gauges franchised dealer sentiment of franchise value, Lexus earned the No. 1 spot in all three categories:   Overall ranking Consideration of dealer input on product, product quality concerns and advertising Dealer response to […] [Read More]

The National Automobile Dealers Association has launched a new educational and training program geared toward dealership leadership and management personnel. Students in the NADA Academy Plus program will receive six weeks of instruction over a 12-month period, with each week focusing on a different aspect of a dealership’s business. Those include financial management, parts, service, pre-owned […] [Read More]

On Tuesday, SouthWest Dealer Services — an independent full-service provider of F&I products and services to dealers — announced that SWDS Holdings’ board of directors appointed Vernon Leake as chief executive officer. Leake succeeds Eric Hamann, who will now serve as president of SouthWest Dealer Services. “Vernon and I have worked together for several years. […] [Read More]

White Clarke Group acknowledged that it seemed like just a few months ago that experts thought auto finance companies would inevitably lose their businesses to technology-savvy new players entering the market as disruptors. The company predicted these new entrants would focus hard on customer needs, understand where the weaknesses are in existing sales models, and […] [Read More]

In addition to announcing that dealers can now register for its sales online, CarMax Auctions recently shared plans to add five locations in fiscal-year 2017, including one this summer that will be its first in the San Francisco Bay area.   The five new locations include: Pleasanton, Calif.  (Set to begin this summer) El Paso, […] [Read More]

Search Optics is expanding its reach worldwide, hiring five new executives to help secure a foothold in the international automotive industry. The company announced the hiring of five new senior executives in the US, EMEA and APAC regions. The executives are: Guy Barron, senior vice president, global human resources Amanda Frank, vice president, brand marketing Xavier […] [Read More]

Auto dealer review website DealerRater just put itself to the test to see how effective its product can be for new car buyers. A new study from Oracle Data Cloud, announced Tuesday by DealerRater, showed that visitors of DealerRater’s profile pages are 3.5 times more likely to buy a vehicle than other consumers. Of those visitors […] [Read More]

J.D. Byrider recently expanded its buy-here, pay-here dealership footprint in Colorado by bringing a new franchisee in the process. The newest J.D. Byrider dealership is in Denver. It's the second store in Colorado but the first one for franchisee Rick Steenbock. “My team and I are very excited to expand the J.D. Byrider brand to Denver,” […] [Read More]