Chernek Consulting will conduct a one-and-a-half-day workshop titled, “Auto Dealer Subprime Sales Success,” that will feature presentations by Dealertrack Technologies, Automotive Dealership Institute (ADI), Equifax and more. The training session is scheduled to begin on April 7 at the Marriott Hotel Perimeter Center in Atlanta. According to Rebecca Chernek, president of Chernek Consulting, “The Corporation for […] [Read More]

A service provider quite entrenched in the buy-here, pay-here industry has a new owner. On Thursday, DealerSocket announced the acquisition of FEX DMS, a dealer management system (DMS) for BHPH and other independent dealers. Established in 2001, FEX DMS is the first and only fully integrated, Web-based automotive DMS that includes an integrated loan-servicing platform […] [Read More]

EchoPark Automotive — whose parent company’s president said “is not your mom-n-pop used-car store” — is showing some positive signs on the sales front in its few first months and has plans to roll out in a second market next year following its debut in the Denver area in November. During Sonic Automotive’s recent quarterly […] [Read More]

On Wednesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued an order requiring Takata to preserve all air bag inflators removed through the recall process as evidence for both NHTSA’s investigation and private litigation cases. Foxx added the order also ensures NHTSA’s access to all data from the testing […] [Read More]

The National Automobile Dealers Association reminded members this week they must change their accounting method to comply with the tangible property regulations mandated by the Internal Revenue Service. NADA explained these regulations generally govern whether expenditures on tangible property may be expensed or must be depreciated. These rules are generally effective with the filing of […] [Read More]

Used-car prices in February have begun responding positively to the usual tax season surge, but prices were still dropping in the lanes during the first month of the year. According to the RVI Used Vehicle Price Index, used prices dropped by 5.4 percent last month when compared to December. Used prices were up just a […] [Read More]

In the latest development to this story, ServNet announced Wednesday afternoon that it has also decided not to participate in the remarketing industry’s currently proposed Multiplatform Bidding System initiative (MPS). ServNet president Patty Stanley said in the company’s statement: “ServNet’s Board has spent countless hours over the past two years working with major industry partners attempting to […] [Read More]

Dent Wizard International announced Tuesday that it has added Smart Claims from Ding Shield, an application designed to allow dealership customer service personnel or customers themselves to file and follow Ding Shield claims electronically. Ding Shield, a service plan that covers small to medium area repair techniques (SMART) and paintless dent repair (PDR), utilizes Smart […] [Read More]

Lithia Motors hosted its quarterly conference call on Wednesday to outline its end-of-year results for 2014. The overall highlights were led by the highest fourth-quarter and full-year adjusted net income in Lithia history as well as a 75-percent increase in fourth-quarter revenue from continuing operations compared to 2013. In the used market, the upward trend was […] [Read More]

Federal officials said Wednesday that Santander Consumer USA has agreed to pay at least $9.35 million to resolve a lawsuit by the Department of Justice alleging that the finance company violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) in connection with vehicle repossessions. The Justice Department indicated the complaint and the settlement, which is subject to […] [Read More]