The National Independent Automobile Dealers Association has revealed that Automotive Finance Corp. became the association’s newest National Member Benefit partner. Officials highlighted that AFC is one of the largest providers of floor plan financing to independent dealers in North America and the only commercial auto finance company named as a NIADA National Member Benefit partner. […] [Read More]

Along with a recap of the first meeting of the OpenLane Recovery Remarketing Advisory Board, OpenLane shared some advice for when a repossessed vehicle has a dead battery. When third-party inspectors arrive at a repo agent’s lot and discover recovered vehicles with dead batteries, OpenLane pointed out they may not be able to capture the […] [Read More]

In an effort to involve the community, as well as ramp up its social media presence, one dealership is thinking outside the of the box. To ring in the summer, Stoops Buick GMC is holding a community scavenger hunt on Saturday, that will last throughout the day. The Plainfield, Ind., dealership will be awarding cash […] [Read More]

Dealers utilizing Dominion Dealer Solutions now have a new option when setting up a website or mobile site for their store. Potentially cutting down on the time spent building and maintaining mobile sites, Dominion revealed today the launch of its new website platform: Dominion Adaptive Websites. [Read More]

The used-vehicle department at franchised dealerships was even more profitable in 2011 than it was in 2010, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association, which released its NADA Data 2012 report on Monday. The publication – which NADA puts out each year as its state-of-the-industry look at dealer financial trends – showed that net profits […] [Read More]

As used-car managers know, dealer consignment might be the busiest lane on sale day, so Black Book took a longer look at the trends of trade-ins flowing into auctions nowadays. Black Book’s Ricky Beggs recapped recent editorial team discussion as the editors wondered “whether the trade-ins were aging any over the past year or so […] [Read More]

Pushed by cheaper oil and consumer appetite for new vehicles, last month showed a 3-percent dip in used-vehicle values, according to Kelley Blue Book. And this decline isn’t over. The firm is projecting used values to remain on the downturn over the next three months, possibly falling 6 percent  to 7 percent amid slowing demand […] [Read More]

This week marks the launch of two new Dealer 20 Groups, part of a 10-group addition for franchised auto dealers announced Monday by NCM Associates. Launching Thursday and Friday is a Kia 20 Group, which will conduct its organizational meeting, moderated by Jeff Bethel, at NCM Associates’ headquarters here. Getting under way the same days […] [Read More]

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems revealed Monday the launch of a program that will allow third-party software vendors to fully integrate with its dealership management system. Open/Mate, the company’s new open integration program, is designed to ensure “all data exchanged between an auto dealer’s DMS (dealer management system) and third-party software systems is delivered instantly and securely […] [Read More]

Nissan and Infiniti recently opened their largest U.S. training facility, a brand new operation in New Jersey consisting of 31,000 square feet and aimed at serving dealerships in the Northeast region. When assessing the site, Nissan Americas vice chairman Bill Krueger said, “Making sure that we have service technicians, service advisers, sales people trained on […] [Read More]