Cadillac is coming to the Big Apple. As part of the continued expansion of the brand, General Motors today announced a strategic realignment that will establish Cadillac as a separate business unit. In addition, the new Cadillac organization will expand to New York with a new global headquarters opening in 2015. GM president Dan Ammann said the […] [Read More]

In what ended up being a record second quarter, CarMax increased its total used-vehicle sales by more than 6 percent, and the retailer moved a shade under 294,000 used cars in its fiscal first half. CarMax had 143,325 total used unit sales in its second fiscal quarter ending Aug. 31, which marked a 6.3-percent year-over-year […] [Read More]

TrueCar announced today the addition of four new members to its National Dealer Council. The 20-member advisory panel of retail automotive experts collaborates via meetings several times per year with TrueCar executives to improve the car-buying and trade-in experiences for both dealers and consumers. Gary Marcotte, the council’s chairman and senior vice president of marketing […] [Read More]

For many shoppers, having a call go through to voicemail might mean moving on to the next dealer. And according to a new industry study, when shoppers search for cars, parts or auto services on their mobile phones and call a dealership, one in six times their calls don't get answered. Mobile advertising technology company […] [Read More]

As AutoStar Solutions opened its seventh annual Innovate conference on Monday by highlighting six of the top new capabilities of its new DMS — Fusion 2 or F2 — president and chief executive officer Allen Dobbins explained how buy-here, pay-here dealers and finance company executives can sidestep the entrepreneurship landmines common in the industry. During […] [Read More]

Haystak Digital Marketing announced this week its partnership with vAuto to integrate their search marketing campaigns for shared users. The combination of vAuto’s pricing data along with Haystak’s inventory tool links pay-per-click ads to the attributes and retailing objectives for specific used vehicles. Duncan Scarry, the founder of Haystak, commented on the integration of the […] [Read More]

Thanks to the power of the Internet and regulatory zeal for them, consumer complaints boast a shelf life that’s more on par with red wine than red roses. Disagree? Consider this story Terry O’Loughlin shared earlier this year. O’Loughlin, now the director of compliance at Reynolds and Reynolds, spent 16 years with the Florida attorney […] [Read More]

AutoTrader.com’s Buy-Here, Pay-Here Center rolled out to the market a little more than three months ago. In that span, site officials highlighted four significant improvements that already have been unveiled as now more than 500 BHPH dealers nationwide are leveraging the platform to reach buyers in their specific market. In a recent phone conversation with […] [Read More]

We’ve all seen the ads that say, “We’ll help you get better credit by reporting your on-time payments to the credit bureaus.” These ads may accurately tout your customers’ advantage when you furnish their payment histories to the credit bureaus. This furnishing may help you, too, by lowering your cost of credit reports and credit […] [Read More]

I frequently receive phone calls from buy-here, pay-here operators who complain that the deep subprime auto market has changed. Reasons cited are: 1. More competition 2. Customers are more selective about the vehicles they want to buy. 3. Operating and vehicle acquisition costs have increased. 4. There are more regulatory challenges 5. Customers are not […] [Read More]