While the precise return on investment for reconditioning is certainly up for debate — and economists contacted by Auto Remarketing were averse to putting an exact number on it — the payoff from a dealership’s recon investment raises some interesting issues. How much should dealers be willing to put into making a car retail-ready when […] [Read More]

Copart has invited the general public to vote on the finalists of its first Copart Rebuild Challenge. The contest, which gathered video entries of various vehicle rebuilds from April 14 through July 6, has been narrowed down to 10 finalists. The three with the most votes by July 25 will receive one of three prizes: […] [Read More]

Dominion Dealer Solutions announced this week the release of Priority Page, an added feature for DealActivator, its equity data mining program. With the new feature, dealers can view equity prospects all on one page, making the program more efficient, which before required dealers to use the manual campaign builder to generate contacts based on specified […] [Read More]

When parents step onto the used-car lot to help their teen pick out a first car, many have two top concerns: affordability and safety. And many parents struggle with how to satisfy both those needs in the same used vehicle. In response to this need, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a few lists […] [Read More]

Analysts are predicting a larger flow of off-lease vehicles in the second half of the year to push down auction prices, but in June and for the whole first half of 2014, wholesale prices remained strong. According to the latest NADA Guidelines report, consumer demand for used and new cars was high last month, leaving […] [Read More]

Nicholas Financial opened its sixth branch location in the south Florida area this week. The indirect special finance company that originates subprime loans with more than 1,600 dealers now has a branch location in Miami Lakes, Fla. The Nicholas Financial branch office network now includes 66 offices in 15 states. “Each of the offices is […] [Read More]

This week, AFS Acceptance hired a new vice president of risk management to oversee all aspects of portfolio management and play a key role in the originations and collections strategy for the company. Tapped for the role is former Westlake Financial Services executive Greg Poppe. “We are thrilled to welcome Greg to the AFS team," […] [Read More]

Kelley Blue Book’s Consumer Sentiment Survey from the first quarter showed 33 percent of study participants didn’t expect to finance a vehicle purchase, and another 30 percent weren’t sure. Rather than thinking finance companies are going to fight over just 37 percent of those remaining shoppers who expected to secure an installment contract, KBB’s Dan […] [Read More]

It appears unlikely that the federal government will intervene any time soon with Tesla Motors’ desire to adopt a direct-to-consumer sales model on a national scale. In a response to a We the People petition created on June 5, Dan Utech, special assistant to the president for energy and climate change, outlined a few reasons […] [Read More]

Manheim and AutoTrader.com recently presented the first-ever National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD) Innovation Award to a dealer who the companies described as having positively impacted organizations and the industry. The 2014 NAMAD Innovation Award went to Steve Ewing, president and chief executive officer of Wade Ford of Smyrna, Ga. The award was presented […] [Read More]