Volkswagen has a new leader for its certified pre-owned program to replace Scott Weitzman, its former general manager of used-vehicle operations who is now chief operating officer at digital marketing firm DealerX. Named the national CPO senior manager at VW is Michael Ashton, who was previously the regional used-car manager for the Northeast for the […] [Read More]

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s ownership in Ally Financial continues to shrink. Treasury officials on Friday announced the completion of the first pre-defined written trading plan for Ally common stock. Treasury said it sold 8,890,000 shares and recovered approximately $218.7 million for taxpayers. With the conclusion of the first trading plan, Treasury said it […] [Read More]

Premier Warranty hosted an Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals certification boot camp for the sales and F&I personnel of its dealer clients in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas this summer in Bossier City, La. Attendees represented 10 dealerships operated by the following dealers and dealer groups: — ChevyLand and Morgan Auto Group in the Louisiana […] [Read More]

It’s been an emotional week for Banco Santander and Santander Consumer USA leaders both in Europe and the U.S. Chairman Emilio Botín unexpectedly passed away on Tuesday, and a day later the bank’s board of directors of unanimously agreed to appoint his oldest daughter, Ana Botín, as its new chair. Officials from Santander Consumer USA, […] [Read More]

Prices continued dropping at the auction this August, and overarching trends remained unchanged: the groups with the biggest declines in the lanes are still the luxury and fuel-efficient segments.  And these trends are causing many analysts to take another look at where prices will stand in the lanes come year-end. “Despite our projection that 2014 will end the […] [Read More]

Make it 13 quarters in a row during which the average amount consumers had remaining on their vehicle installment contract moved higher year-over-year. TransUnion's Industry Insights Report indicated that auto loan debt per borrower jumped 4.1 percent from $16,410 in the second quarter of last year to $17,090 in Q2 of this year. On a […] [Read More]

Cox Automotive is going national with its DealShield Purchase Guarantee product that lets wholesale buyers return a vehicle for any reason and receive a complete refund of purchase price and buyer’s fee. Through DealShield, the car can be brought back for up to 21 days and 500 miles from the time of purchase, depending on […] [Read More]

Subaru Canada Inc. and the Quebec Subaru Dealers Association announced late last week they had collectively raised $50,000 for Special Olympics Quebec. In association with the Rinaldi Agency, the event, with “a gesture that makes a difference” theme, was hosted at the Club de golf Fontainebleau on Aug. 22. Special Olympics Quebec, in operation for […] [Read More]

When Auto Remarketing Canada launched its inaugural Power 120 issue last fall, we had no doubt the Power list would grow, just as the number of innovative companies in the remarketing space continues to expand. The second annual Power issue — set to be released later this month — reflects that growth, as this time around we […] [Read More]

Auction volume was up nearly 5 percent in August, according to the National Auto Auction Association, continuing what’s been a solid 2014 so far and likely the third straight year of increased volumes — with more growth on the horizon. The association’s latest Economic Dashboard — prepared by NAAA economist Ira Silver — indicated that […] [Read More]