North Texas Ford dealers and the Ford Motor Company Fund late last week handed out more than $400,000 in Ford Driving Dreams scholarships for seniors in high schools across north Texas. These funds will go to students interested in pursuing education in science, technology, engineering and math. The scholarships are $2,000 a piece and will […] [Read More]

The NCM Institute recently completed its eighth General Management Executive Program (GMEP) curriculum and awarded 11 managers and future executives with certificates of completion for its dealer development program. Orchestrated by NCM Associates, officials explained GMEP's comprehensive curriculum emphasizes financial and operational best practices, along with a solid leadership foundation that will strengthen and prepare […] [Read More]

Mid-South Auction is back in family ownership. XLerate Group announced on Friday that the Rea family has repurchased XLerate’s Mid-South Auction in Pearl, Miss. Mid-South, originally founded in 1972, was formerly owned by the Rea family and operated under the name of Rea Brothers Mid-South Auction (RBMSA) until being acquired by American Auto Auction Group […] [Read More]

The attorney general in the Empire State found reason to bring more allegations against franchised dealership accused of illegal selling products and services through the F&I department. New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman this week announced a lawsuit against several Queens dealerships, including Koeppel Nissan, Koeppel Subaru, Koeppel Mazda, Koeppel Auto Group, and Koeppel Volkswagen. […] [Read More]

Consumer Portfolio Services finalized the closing of its first term securitization in 2016 this week.  The transaction is CPS’ 19th senior subordinate securitization since the beginning of 2011 and the second consecutive securitization to receive a triple A rating on the senior class of notes from two rating agencies.  In the transaction, officials from the […] [Read More]

GrooveCar, an online vehicle buying resource for credit unions, highlighted this week that five new partners joined the program. The credit unions now leveraging the platform include: — Telco Plus of Longview, Texas — Picatinny Federal Credit Union of Dover, N.J. — Port Washington Federal Credit Union of Port Washington, N.Y. — Lehigh Valley Federal […] [Read More]

Perhaps the gauntlet has been thrown by the Federal Trade Commission about claims automakers and dealerships make when it comes to promoting their certified pre-owned vehicles. Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, offered a strong statement on Thursday during a conference call following an announcement about General Motors, Jim Koons Management […] [Read More]

AutoNation’s fourth quarter results are in as of Thursday – and taking a look at its consolidated used-vehicle units retailed, the United States’ largest automotive group moved 53,920 used vehicles last quarter, a slight, 386-unit increase over Q4 2014. Those sales contributed to a total of 227,290 used units sold for all of AutoNation’s stores […] [Read More]

Federal Trade Commission officials said on Thursday that General Motors, Jim Koons Management and Lithia Motors all agreed to settle separate administrative complaint allegations from the regulator. The FTC indicated each company touted how rigorously they inspect their vehicles, yet failed to disclose that some of the used models they were selling were subject to […] [Read More]

CARPROOF Corp. announced this week it has added two new badges to its reports in an effort to make used-car transactions even more transparent. The VHR company — which was recently purchased by Carfax parent company IHS Automotive — has added Top Condition and Low Kilometers badges to their list of auto sales tools. The […] [Read More]