Early indications are that May was another solid month for used-car departments at franchised dealers, including their certified pre-owned operations. Citing data from the National Automobile Dealers Association, Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb said in a monthly commentary released Tuesday that franchised dealers’ retail used-car sales were up 5 percent in the first four […] [Read More]

Mark Sauder's reaction when Ken Shilson approached him about becoming the newest member of the NABD Hall of Fame might have come straight from a script you’ve heard on countless TV shows or movies as the police are interrogating someone. Sauder told Shilson, “You’ve got the wrong guy.” While the exchange between the executive who helped […] [Read More]

New research from IHS Automotive suggests that there will be many more autonomous cars on the roads in the next few decades than they previously thought. The automotive research firm forecasts that there will be nearly 21 million vehicles with some degree of autonomy sold globally in 2035 alone. This is a much higher estimate than […] [Read More]

The National Automobile Dealers Association has hired Peter Fong as senior vice president of dealership operations. Fong’s more than 20 years of experience include various executive-level sales, marketing and brand management positions at Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. He also guided Carmoza, an auto transport start-up company, through its merger and acquisition. He most […] [Read More]

Movie stars and sun may make southern California a hot spot, but several parts of the state have a different kind of “hot spot” distinction: vehicle theft. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s latest Hot Spots report, California’s Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had the nation’s highest per capita vehicle theft rate in 2015, […] [Read More]

Receiving immediate support from organizations such as the Consumer Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the Texas Republican who also is the U.S. House Financial Services Committee chairman, has a plan he described as a way to replace the Dodd-Frank Act and promote economic growth. During a speech to the Economic […] [Read More]

The month of June has kicked off with our team moving full-speed ahead with planning and prep for this year’s Used Car Week, which will be held Nov. 14-18 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. Each year at Used Car Week, the unique market conditions within the used-car industry drive the content, as […] [Read More]

The web has long been a digital marketing platform for dealers, says Mike Burgiss, the vice president of digital retailing at Cox Automotive. For instance, a dealership listing its inventory on its own website and classifieds sites like Autotrader, Cars.com, etc. And lately, talk has ramped up about the internet being a dealer’s digital transaction platform. […] [Read More]

With rising off-lease vehicle volume being described as a “tailwind,” the April dealer survey conducted by KeyBanc Capital Markets indicated that 71 percent of respondents posted an increase in used-vehicle sales during the month. But not only did the remaining 29 percent of dealers surveyed sustain a drop in used turns, it might have been […] [Read More]

For the fourth consecutive year, members of the KAR Auction Services group of companies — ADESA, AFC, Insurance Auto Auctions and TradeRev — will auction off a premier vehicle during the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association Convention and Expo to benefit the NIADA Foundation. Officials highlighted this year's vehicle is an ivory white 2015 Chrysler 300 […] [Read More]