AR: Did you grow up in Michigan? Swanson: Yes, in Flint. My father worked in the GM plant for many years as a millwright. We were a large GM family as both my grandfathers worked for General Motors as well. [Read More]

Dealer satisfaction with their respective manufacturers continued to climb this past year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s latest Dealer Attitude Survey. This is especially apparent among the foreign OEMS. The survey — conducted twice a year — measures dealers’ attitudes in what NADA sees as three key areas: “franchise value, automaker policy decisions […] [Read More]

Expanding more on the recent deal to buy Dealer Services Corp., Patrick Brennan, group vice president for Manheim Financial Services, told Auto Remarketing on Friday that at first, dealers and clients won’t see many changes. Business will remain as usual. However, over time, as MFS sees where integration can work, perhaps in mobile technology and […] [Read More]

While also highlighting the company’s revamped website, Automotive Finance Corp. announced a new national floor planning promotion late last week. During festivities at the company’s official 25th anniversary celebration hosted at ADESA Dallas, AFC said it is giving away free floor planning for a year to one lucky AFC dealer. Officials noted the announcement made […] [Read More]

The Provision inventory management system from vAuto — which blends data tools from AutoTrader.com and Manheim — is now available on Android- and Apple-powered smartphones and mobile devices. The tool was released in November and is designed to help dealers locate the best used cars for the right price. Now, dealers can tap into Provision […] [Read More]

A pair of TIME Dealer of the Year Award nominees unofficially got their careers started at young age. One remembers he was 7, and another he says was 5.  In the next group of nominee profiles, these store executives all share what’s important to them — in and out of the showroom. The awards program, […] [Read More]

On Friday afternoon — mere hours after the company sent an email out to its dealers about an upcoming interactive trivia competition — the amount of “likes” on the Carfax for Dealers Facebook page had already jumped 200 percent, said Carfax public relations manager Chris Basso to Auto Remarketing. The company is kicking off the “Carfax […] [Read More]

DealerRater recently announced two key additions to its senior management team on the heels of the company’s unprecedented growth throughout North America in 2011. The company tabulated the number of consumer reviews posted on DealerRater has more than doubled in the past year to more than 550,000. Meanwhile, the number of visitors to the site […] [Read More]

ARLINGTON, Texas — Earlier today, SFG Finance launched a new loyalty program and formed an alliance with Subprime Analytics. As part of the alliance, the purchaser of paper from buy-here, pay-here finance companies, banks and credit unions indicated thousands of dealers now will have access to the SFG Finance National Subprime Loan Portfolio Program. SFG […] [Read More]

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — Designed to streamline processes for Volkswagen and Audi dealers, Open Dealer Exchange today announced an integration partnership with VW Credit. The technology company for lenders, F&I product providers and dealers explained the partnership includes processing credit application and contract data within the dealer management system as part of VW Credit's FinanceSource dealer […] [Read More]