ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute reported that total bankruptcy filings in the United States decreased 8 percent in April compared to the same month last year. According to data provided by Epiq Systems, bankruptcy filings totaled 100,702 in April, down from the year-ago total of 108,996. Consumer filings declined 7 percent to 96,344 […] [Read More]

FORT WORTH, Texas — Coming on the heels of an announcement earlier this week about an offer of $2 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes in various tranches, General Motors Financial priced its private offering of $1.0 billion of 2.75 percent Senior Notes due 2016, $750 million of 3.25 percent Senior Notes due 2018 […] [Read More]

In the last chapter of our “How to sell to Gen X and Y” series, we talked about the death of the traditional buying funnel — and how our research has revealed a new car-shopping journey. [Read More]

Former new-car dealer Tarik Daoud says education offers freedom — that’s why he takes part in the National Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation’s Ambassadors program, and points the way for other dealers to do the same. “I’ve always maintained that education leads to freedom,” said Daoud, 77, who serves as a trustee on the board of […] [Read More]

Blackline GPS recently reached an agreement with MVTRAC for the distribution of Blackline’s Dart covert and asset tracking system into the recovery industry. Well-positioned within the auto finance, government and law enforcement market, officials highlighted MVTRAC’s Intelligent Data Network can process real-time data from public and privates sources to automatically identify delinquent collateral, including vehicles, […] [Read More]

VinSolutions said today it will acquire Haystack Digital Marketing 'to help dealers maximize the value of their advertising spend." Haystak’s digital marketing toolset will be integrated with VinSoilutions customer relationship management and website products 'to help dealers increase consumer traffic to VinSolutions customer websites," the company explained. Haystak will also operate under its own brand, […] [Read More]

Soon after revealing a new deal for AAA customers, the Hertz Corp. announced it is relocating its corporate headquarters. The company will be moving its worldwide headquarters to Estero, Fla., from its current location of Park Ridge, N.J. This decision was made after its recent acquisition of the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, a deal which […] [Read More]

Black Book highlighted two-year-old vehicles posting the top retention values. On this list of 18 models, Toyota secured the top three spots with the 2011 Tacoma Double Cab retaining 88.4 percent of its original value after two years on the road. The Toyota 4Runner came in second on the list with 80.9 percent retention, and […] [Read More]

Based on preliminary results shared by Autodata Corp., the estimated total for industry-wide certified pre-owned sales in April would be the second-best month of all time. Autodata is estimating that April CPO sales reached 176,314, which would be a 23.2-percent year-over-year increase. It would trail the best-ever month — which, incidentally, was March — by […] [Read More]

Dealers are used to seeing an uptick in auction prices come spring, but this year, prices stayed relatively flat. Why? Kelley Blue Book’s Alec Gutierrez said this flatness can be attributed to “mild fuel prices and increased supply.” In fact, wholesale values increased only 2 percent in the first quarter, said Gutierrez, who is the […] [Read More]