Westlake Financial Services says its maintaining its strong relationships with independent dealers while reporting significant growth sprouting from its program for franchised stores. Company officials highlighted that Westlake's growth produced an 84-percent increase in franchise deals and an 80-percent jump in franchise dealership partners from fourth quarter of 2012 to Q4 of last year. "Since […] [Read More]

December's reading for the auto loan segment of the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices is squarely in between the level analysts spotted a month earlier and during the closing month of 2012. S&P Dow Jones Indices and Experian reported that the auto loan default rate stood at 1.12 percent in December, down from 1.15 percent […] [Read More]

The Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals revealed the pricing structure for its basic, senior and master certification courses. AFIP said wholesale prices will increase to $695, plus shipping and handling, beginning Feb. 2. Officials indicated courses ordered on or before Feb. 1 will be charged at the current rate of $595, plus shipping and […] [Read More]

Evidently dealers who participate in the monthly survey orchestrated by KeyBanc Capital Markets did not see the same conditions in subprime vehicle financing during December as leadership from CarMax noted. KeyBanc's survey results showed 50 percent of respondents indicated subprime lending availability is loosening and the remainder indicated availability is unchanged. When CarMax conducted its […] [Read More]

According to at least one respected industry observer — Manheim's Tom Webb — the major cause of an auto loan delinquency remains a job loss. And Fitch Ratings' latest analysis of the labor market showed a rebound in a nationwide employment is not proceeding quickly enough to drive a significant pick-up in U.S. economic growth. […] [Read More]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reiterated its uneasy assessment of how the dealer participation system operates when one of the agency's top officials made prepared remarks and answered a handful of submitted questions during the American Financial Services Association's Vehicle Finance Conference on Thursday. Patrice Ficklin spoke to a spillover gathering of more than 600 […] [Read More]

As the first month of the new year draws to a close analysts are predicting January’s SAAR will be the highest seen for the month since 2007, easily reaching pre-recession levels. The January forecast translates into a SAAR of 15.7 million new-car sales, up 2.1 percent from December 2013 and up 3.3 percent over January […] [Read More]

Though tax season will most likely ramp prices up in the near future, for the time being, winter weather is contributing to a “softer” auction market. Black Book’s Ricky Beggs reported both the car and truck segments saw larger price declines last week than experienced during the last few weeks of 2013. The car segments […] [Read More]

Results from a new study from FordDirect show that consumers are sitting up and paying attention to advertising in the digital space. And many of these shoppers are turning toward mobile devices for their auto shopping needs. The results of its Automotive Digital Advertising Survey show the growth of digital advertising channels and its impact […] [Read More]

PureCars recently announced the company has achieved Google Partnership status. What this means is the company has earned Google’s seal of approval through a series of requirements that include, “having an advanced knowledge of Google's AdWords, an established track record that demonstrates ability to maximize clients' performance, and a healthy amount of spending management across […] [Read More]