Car buyers are getting more satisfaction, it seems, according to new data from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Consumer satisfaction with automobiles is up 3.8 percent to 82 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. And while luxury cars have dominated the driver satisfaction rankings for years, the top tier is now evenly split between mass market […] [Read More]

In the second quarter, the average monthly payment on a lease was $431, up from $419 a year ago, according to Edmunds.com. That also marked the highest Q2 average since 2011, when payments averaged $434 a month. “Leasing has been a major force in elevating new-car sales for the past three years,” Edmunds said in […] [Read More]

With Enterprise Holdings sending resources as well, National Automobile Dealers Association president Peter Welch and National Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation chairman Annette Sykora arrived in the flood-ravaged areas of Louisiana’s capital city and announced they would seek to raise $2 million for franchised dealership families displaced by devastating flooding. Welch and Sykora are meeting with […] [Read More]

Element Financial Corp. announced that Michael Dolan has been named chief information security officer of its fleet management business. Dolan joined Element in 2015 when it acquired GE Capital Fleet Services, bringing more than 16 years of legal and information security experience. He began at GE Capital Fleet Services in 2008 as vice president, counsel […] [Read More]

Recall Masters, a provider of automotive recall news, data, training and communications, finalized an integration on Tuesday with Auto Rental Systems (ARS), a cloud-based loaner vehicle management system, in an effort to help dealers manage their loaner and rental fleets. The companies explained the ARS Recall module can perform a nightly scan of all fleet […] [Read More]

It was status quo for car deprecation last week, while truck values fell at a slower pace than the week prior, according to Black Book’s weekly Market Insights report.   Volume weighted, overall car segment values (models years 2008-2014) decreased by 0.78 percent last week, on par with the previous week’s 0.77 percent, while truck […] [Read More]

Jumpstart Automotive Group has unveiled a new logo and announced it is changing its name back to Jumpstart Automotive Media. The changes come on the heels of Jumpstart’s becoming part of the the newly formed Hearst Autos, joining such consumer brands as Car and Driver and Road & Track. “The formation of the Hearst Autos […] [Read More]

When buying a vehicle, people basically have three options: new, non-certified used or certified used. While everyone knows what a new vehicle is, many people are unsure of the differences between a certified and non-certified used vehicle, and the pros and cons of each. Savvy buyers look for the certified pre-owned (CPO) label, and dealers […] [Read More]

Certified pre-owned sales continue to climb and hit records. And used-car inventories are getting younger at franchised dealerships, with 58 percent of their used-car inventory in the second quarter at 3 years old or newer, according to Edmunds.com. In its Q2 2016 Used Vehicle Market Report, Edmunds said 22.6 percent of franchised dealers’ used-car sales in the second quarter […] [Read More]

The Blue Sky Report from Kerrigan Advisors released on Monday highlighted that the number of large, multi-dealership transactions rose by 52 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2016. Along with seven other key findings from its analysis of the first six months of the year, Kerrigan Advisors found there was a decline in overall […] [Read More]