The Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals (AFIP) highlighted this week that Gulf States Financial Services Group’s entire dealer-support team completed the AFIP Certified F&I Professional program. AFIP executive director David Robertson conducted a review and proctored the certification exam in the final round of testing at the firm’s Houston home office in December. According […] [Read More]

Elio Motors — a new auto manufacturer entering the market — announced the launch of its first national television advertising campaign this week. Elio Motors has been on the radar of many watching the ongoing direct-to-consumer sales debate spurred primarily by Tesla Motors’ sales model because of Elio’s similar direct distribution plans. Elio Motors, whose […] [Read More]

For Beepi president Owen Savir, working with some of the more traditional players in the automotive industry can be a mutually beneficial strategy. And in the online car-buying startup’s young history, it has already made moves in that direction. Ally Financial announced last month that it would be offering consumer auto financing products for vehicles […] [Read More]

Quotepro, a provider of sales and payment technology for buy-here, pay-here dealers across the country, unveiled a payment kiosk that can accept cash, check, money order, debit card and credit card transactions. The company highlighted the kiosk can be used for loan payments, down payments and insurance premium payments — with more enhancements in the […] [Read More]

Used-car sales should exceed 2.78 million units this month, but they are likely to fall short of January 2015 levels by 6.8 percent, TrueCar said in an analysis on Tuesday. On the new-car side, the company is projecting 1.15 million sales for the month, a figure that includes fleet sales. This would be down 0.3 […] [Read More]

Though many expect used prices to drop as off-lease supply expands in the auctions lanes this year, used-car prices were still on the way up in December. The most recent Market Update from RVI Group shows that the company’s Used Vehicle Price Index jumped up by 0.7 percent in December when compared to November prices. […] [Read More]

Depreciation in the lanes is slowing down as tax season gets underway. Last week, car prices dropped by an average of 0.29 percent or $30 in the auction lanes, while trucks dropped by a larger 0.39 percent or $59. That’s according to the latest Black Book Market Insights report that highlighted the slowdown in price […] [Read More]

Total Dealer Compliance launched its platform on Tuesday with four offerings billed as a comprehensive solution that can help dealerships mitigate risk faced from proactive regulators and create a compliance culture that can reduce exposure. The solution includes on-site compliance audits and an E-Learning platform offering more than 20 online courses.  Dealership staff completing courses and […] [Read More]

Ford Motor Co. announced Tuesday that all Ford Rangers from model years 2004 to 2006 are now recalled for potentially faulty driver-side airbag inflators. This follows news of an estimated 5-million-vehicle expansion of the series of Takata airbag inflator recalls revealed Friday Ford's action affects a total of 391,394 Rangers, 361,692 of which are in the United States and its territories […] [Read More]

There were 2.55 million certified pre-owned vehicles sold in the U.S during 2015, according to Autodata Corp. Full disclosure: Two of them will be parked in front of my home this evening. I won’t tell you their brands or which dealerships they were purchased from, but I will tell you the biggest selling point for […] [Read More]