The Federal Trade Commission recently rolled out a new resource catering to Hispanics in an effort to curtail what the regulator believes are potential pitfalls in the vehicle purchasing and financing process. Officials highlighted their newest Spanish-language fotonovela — a small pamphlet similar to a comic-book format — is designed to explain how consumers can […] [Read More]

The expanded Takata recalls dominating the news on Friday reinforces the need for automakers to get more proactive in informing consumers, says a senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book. In comments the company shared Friday with the media, KBB senior analyst Rebecca Lindland said automakers impacted by the Takata airbag crisis shouldn’t rely on consumers […] [Read More]

MyDealerOnline announced Wednesday that it bolstered its funding by receiving $1 million right before the start of the new year. Having now received a total of $3.25 million in funding, the digital solution that allows dealers to broker wholesale inventory straight from their own websites says the additional funds will help it focus on increasing […] [Read More]

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]