Certified pre-owned sales picked up right where they left off — and actually got stronger. Following the fourth consecutive best-ever year for the market, CPO sales climbed more than 17 percent in January, as dealers moved nearly 195,000 units, according to Autodata Corp. The firm said in its sales data released Wednesday that, specifically, January […] [Read More]

After reporting several all-time quarterly and yearly records for 2014, AutoNation has positioned itself to step boldly into the new year. Mike Jackson, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, fielded several questions during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call on Tuesday, painting a picture of a solid 2015 ahead for his crew, including a […] [Read More]

No less than five finance companies — Ally Financial, Consumer Portfolio Services, Credit Acceptance, General Motors Financial and Santander Consumer USA — have been subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating practices in connection with subprime auto financing. Perhaps the industry-wide figure is even larger since this quintet includes publicly traded companies […] [Read More]

The January Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices orchestrated by the Federal Reserve indicated about 29.4 percent of the banks that originate subprime auto loans expect delinquency and charge-off rates to increase this year. Fed officials acknowledged this week that level is a somewhat smaller fraction of banks expecting that performance deterioration […] [Read More]

This week, Hyundai Capital America signed a lease for 177,000 square feet of working space in Newport Beach, Calif. HCA highlighted the property, which is the west tower located at the corner of Jamboree and MacArthur Boulevards, will serve as co-headquarters with the captive finance company’s other location at 3161 Michelson Blvd. in Irvine, which […] [Read More]

With all this focus on marketing to millennials, what about some of your older customers — perhaps the ones that have hit that proverbial bump in the road known as the “midlife crisis”? CarMax research shows these customers may not be on the lookout for the stereotypical red convertible that goes along with passing the […] [Read More]

Along with explanations for why lease residuals will be under pressure and late-model depreciation will be considered as “volatile,” the latest joint vehicle depreciation report from Black Book and Fitch Ratings indicated vehicle depreciation is expected to accelerate in 2015. Analysts came to that forecast based on increased used-vehicle supply and larger off-lease volumes placing […] [Read More]

VinSolutions announced recently the release of VinConnect Mobile, a customer relationship management solution that can be accessed via a mobile device, allowing dealers to stay connected to their customers. “Our focus for 2015 is really all around the mobile experience, and VinConnect Mobile is our contribution to the revolution,” said Lori Wittman, VinSolutions’ general manager. […] [Read More]

AutoNation hosted its fourth-quarter earnings conference call for 2014 on Tuesday, revealing several all-time earnings-related records for the company on both a quarterly and yearly basis. But first starting with the used-market results, the company’s retail used vehicle unit sales for the fourth quarter of 2014 increased by 9 percent overall, to 53,534 units. On a same-store […] [Read More]

New Jersey and New York legislators currently are crafting measures that would prohibit the installation of payment assurance devices, including GPS and starter-interrupt units, as a condition of securing vehicle financing. And advocates for the buy-here, pay-here industry are working not only to make sure the current legislation doesn’t become law in the Garden State […] [Read More]