After being awarded the Chevrolet franchise in 1915, brothers Harold Benson and Ray Benson and their cousin Roy Benson drove nearly 300 miles from New York City to a tiny New Hampshire town in their first Chevrolet. Nearly 100 years later, and as one of the oldest Chevy dealerships in the United States, Benson Auto […] [Read More]

With used-vehicle sales potentially showing the highest October in four years, CarGurus released some news that might bring even more consumers to dealer’s lots. Its Used Car Price Index for this past month showed a slight dip in the average price of a used car, sitting at $19,278 — down 0.88 percent from September and […] [Read More]

The future is looking a bit brighter for Chrysler, and one particular website is saying these improvements may be partly attributable to a change in leasing. LeaseTrader.com claims that Chrysler — which moved 114,512 new units last month — has perhaps benefited from gains in leasing activity, as well as improvements in how leasing is structured, […] [Read More]

LMC Automotive — a branch of LMC Group, an economic and business consultancy firm based out of the U.K. — revealed this week it has acquired the automotive forecasting division from long-time business partner J.D. Power and Associates. Commenting on the new acquisition, Pete Kelly, managing director of LMC Automotive, said, “We are very excited […] [Read More]

ATLANTA — The latest Equifax National Credit Trends Report declared auto finance companies have significantly increased lending. In fact, the growth is more than 47 percent during the past two years. Analysts discovered auto finance lenders outpaced bank and credit union lending to subprime borrowers during the past two years, as well. Equifax defines subprime borrowers as […] [Read More]

NEW YORK — It was revealed Wednesday that investment bank Sevara Partners has helped secure a $50 million subordinated credit facility for Southern Auto Finance Co. — a subprime auto finance company headquartered in Florida and operating in nine states. The funding is to help SAFCo grow. Delving into the reason behind the recent transaction, SAFCo […] [Read More]

LOS ANGELES — Westlake Financial's Advanced Lending & Portfolio Services, which buys buy-here, pay-here contracts, recently announced its third quarter results, revealing a significant 2,000 percent growth year-over-year. The company ended the third quarter with a total portfolio size of $11.5 million. Commenting on the expansive growth, ALPS general manager Scott Moles said, “We closed a $3.4 million dollar portfolio […] [Read More]

NEW YORK — Ally Financial's strengthening third-quarter auto originations weren't enough to overcome softening within the company's mortgage division, resulting in a net loss. Ally said earlier this week that it sustained a third-quarter net loss of $210 million, compared to net income of $113 million in the prior quarter and net income of $269 […] [Read More]

Learning that used-vehicle sales potentially showed the highest October in four years, Auto Remarketing sought feedback directly from the frontlines — both independent and franchised dealers. Just what are they reporting? At Select EuroCars, an independent dealership in Waterloo, N.Y., specializing in Volkswagens, president Joel Osserman said he can’t pinpoint the reason for topsy-turvy trending […] [Read More]

Fueled by used-vehicle department gains, Penske Automotive Group declared Wednesday that it achieved the highest quarterly profit in company history during the third quarter. Penske revealed its third-quarter income from continuing operations attributable to common shareholders was $56.7 million or 62 cents per share. In the year-ago period, the company posted income of $34.8 million […] [Read More]