A new global survey from Accenture of 10,000 consumers found that 80 percent of drivers in the market for a new vehicle are using some form of digital technology to research before purchasing, while almost two-thirds (62 percent) are beginning the car-buying process online before entering a store. Another sign the car purchase process is […] [Read More]

The typical franchised dealership increased its service and parts sales by more than 5 percent in 2014, and average net profit for this department climbed for the second straight year, according to NADA Data 2014. Meanwhile, total service and parts sales for all franchised dealers was a combined $91.73 billion last year, well above the sub-$80 billion […] [Read More]

Hyundai Auto Canada has chosen customer retention solutions company Xtime as its exclusive online service scheduling provider. The automaker reported the integration is designed to help dealers attract and retain service customers. “Hyundai has a long history of adopting the latest technology and bringing it to consumers, and this is an extension of that commitment,” […] [Read More]

Terry Groves, co-founder and senior vice president of sales and remarketing at Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems, is offering two installment of a free webinar titled, “What Should You Pay For A Repossession Service?” Groves intends to cover six different topics during each hour-long session, including: • What should a repossession cost? • What is the […] [Read More]

American Bankers Association president and chief executive officer Frank Keating recently penned a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray offering six improvements as to how institutions can respond to complaints that might be published publicly via the agency’s new database policy. Keating began his appeal to Cordray by mentioning how his positions […] [Read More]

The deadline to file federal income tax forms came earlier this week, and Autotrader took a look at the options for consumers who didn’t necessarily want to use a potential refund to make a down payment — rather to utilize that money to make a vehicle purchase without any financing. According to the most recent […] [Read More]

Resort personnel brought in additional seating for the first roundtable discussion on Wednesday during the Independents Conference orchestrated by the American Financial Services Association. Scores of executives came in out of the summer-like south Florida weather to hear a trio of alternative data providers discuss how this information can enhance underwriting, mitigate risk and perhaps […] [Read More]

Auction demographics have changed substantially over the years, with cultural differences in a variety of geographic markets driving the need for new ways to promote auctions to that wide-ranging cultural shift. As we focus more and more on Internet shopping and selling, as well as cross-platform issues, we also need to look at people-centric issues […] [Read More]

Despite advancements by women in many businesses, the automotive industry continues to be mired in gender imbalance. Certainly, advancements have been made in the last 10 years, but there is still plenty of room for further change.  Automobile dealers can and should continue to step up and be leaders of change to create a more […] [Read More]

There were three primary factors behind what KeyBanc Capital Markets believes to be a rosy outlook for earnings growth in the retail car business over the next couple of years: strong used-car sales, strong parts and service sales and the current dealership acquisition trends. Based on analysis provided in KeyBanc’s report from its most recent […] [Read More]