Direct distribution — a direct result of market needs and innovation or a threat to consumers and the country’s franchised dealers? That's just what industry experts were debating during the Federal Trade Commission’s Auto Regulation Workshop held last week in Washington D.C., during a panel discussion, titled, “Auto Distribution: Current Issues & Future Trends." Since […] [Read More]

Various areas around the world, including college campuses, cities, residential areas, and peer-to-peer platforms have already or are in the works to be affected by General Motors’ vehicle-sharing initiatives. On Thursday, these initiatives united under one new GM brand: Maven. According to GM, Maven’s mission is to give customers access to highly personalized, on-demand mobility […] [Read More]

There could be new curves for dealers to navigate this year on the regulatory road, a path that can sometimes wind and change course with little notice. Some of those twists in 2016, says Randy Henrick of Dealertrack Technologies, may involve ramped up regulation of dealership aftermarket products, continued focus on deceptive advertising, and increased […] [Read More]

The battle for captive auto finance business in the future will be won — or lost — in the world of digital real estate, according to Jonny Combe, general manager of product and channel development at BMW Group Financial Services. Combe insisted the reasons are obvious, elaborating about two specific points: —When more than half of […] [Read More]

Businesses in the automotive space have to spend quite a bit of time familiarizing themselves with laws and regulations to maintain a compliant business within the regulatory environment in which they operate. How they are allowed to operate depends heavily on how regulators determine to interpret and enforce legislation. With hot topics like autonomous vehicles […] [Read More]

For the second time in two months, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took out an enforcement action in the buy-here, pay-here industry. On Thursday, the enforcement came against Herbies Auto Sales, an operator in Greeley, Colo., for what the bureau deemed to be abusive financing schemes, hiding auto finance charges and misleading consumers. The CFPB […] [Read More]

While the federal government has legislative updates on its mind in anticipation of future groundbreaking technologies, like autonomous vehicles, various consumer protection agencies are getting in on the conversation in hopes of making changes for consumer safety.  In a formal petition, created by Consumer Watchdog, the Center for Auto Safety and Joan Claybrook (former NHTSA […] [Read More]

Primeritus Financial Services strengthened its recovery management, skip-tracing and remarketing services on Thursday by acquiring Dallas-based Roquemore, a provider of vehicle skip-tracing services to the credit union and collateral protection industries. Primeritus director Chuck Tapp explained why the company made this move. “The acquisition of Roquemore represents our continued commitment to be the best and […] [Read More]

Though many are holding on to the hope that wholesale prices might be on the way down this year as used supply is expected to expand, a growing number of exports into the U.S. may put a damper on that prediction for 2016. And prices in the lanes were still on the way up as […] [Read More]

You post a fun picture of you and the family from the holidays, and what happens? Dozens of likes, comments and maybe even a new friend request or two. Big news breaks, and one of your friends posts an article with an interesting angle to that story, so you click to learn more. Point is, […] [Read More]