President Sandy Schwartz and other top Manheim executives recently hosted a two-day advisory board meeting for its top dealer customers from across the country.  Encompassing a cross-section of franchised stores, independent lots and wholesalers, Manheim insisted the event served as a forum for discussion on industry trends and growth strategies, as well as an opportunity […] [Read More]

A North Carolina franchised dealer executive and a store solution provider left last week’s DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas as award winners. Chosen as the winner of the 2011 DrivingSales Dealer ‘Best Idea’ Award, sponsored by ADP Cobalt was Mary Catherine Curry, marketing manager of Rice Toyota Scion in Greensboro, N.C. DrivingSales founder and […] [Read More]

NADAguides recently named its Car of the Month for October, giving the distinction to the 2012 Volkswagen Passat. The redesigned Passat — which NADAguides called “simple, smooth, elegant and appealing” — saw its consumer market increase more than double from July to August, analysts noted. Editors called its design “ergonomically comfortable” and touted its “intuitive, […] [Read More]

An online British business that purchases vehicles directly from consumers has opened up shop in the U.S. The car-buying website — www.webuyanycar.com — has set up branch locations along the East Coast in recent months, including sites in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Georgia. Additionally, the company has a head office […] [Read More]

With an app already available for iPhone, AutoTrader.com released a free app last week to give Android users the same personalized mobile vehicle shopping experience. Using the Android app, AutoTrader.com highlighted that shoppers can find models and dealers near them, utilize location-based features and access everything they need to find the vehicle that their hearts […] [Read More]

Canada’s new-vehicle market has continued to experience an up-and-down year through the first nine months of 2011, but based on what automakers are telling Auto Remarketing Canada, the certified pre-owned market, once again, fared quite well. Many of the automakers reporting CPO results to Auto Remarketing Canada experienced year-over-year gains in certified sales during September. […] [Read More]

There was modest downward movement in Canadian wholesale prices during September, according to the latest ADESA Canada Used Vehicle Price Index report, which highlighted a mixed bag of economic activity in Canada during the month. Specifically, ADESA’s data — powered by ALG Canada — indicated that the index dipped 0.1 percentage points month-over-month in September. […] [Read More]

It appears the hearty used values in the Canadian market are here to stay for a while. Canadian wholesale prices for full-year 2011 are projected to climb almost 8 percent on a year-over-year basis before jumping close to 3 percent in 2012 and then staying solid for years to come, according to the RVI Group. […] [Read More]

Chrysler celebrated a landmark sale in its certified pre-owned program last month when a Chicago-area woman became the 1 millionth Chrysler CPO customer. Back in September, Jessica Taskay — who is 21 years old, hails from Lockport, Ill.,  and works as a kennel manager — bought a certified 2010 Jeep Patriot Sport at Bettenhausen Motor […] [Read More]

The wholesale market experienced far-reaching declines in vehicle values last month, according to NADA Used Car Guide, which attributed the sweeping price drops to a trio of factors. Analysts said a combination of seasonality, rental fleet volume increases and slowing demand for fuel-friendly rides helped drive the widespread sequential drop in wholesale prices. [Read More]