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]

NADA Used Car Guide is giving dealers another chance to learn how to use a tool to appeal to the youngest potential buyers — Generation Y. NADA UCG is orchestrating a free Webinar at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday titled, “Appraising Vehicles for Generation Y Buyers.” It’s going to be led by Stu Zalud, director […] [Read More]

Thanks to a new website launched today, serious Ford fans and dealers can now deck out their living rooms, garages and more, sporting the brands logo and themed items, ranging from bar stools and toolboxes to magnets and wall clocks. [Read More]

DealerTrack’s Chrome Systems revealed today it has expanded its vehicle image gallery, giving dealers and automotive websites even more options to choose from when searching for images of the most popular and requested vehicle shots and angles. The company contends the newly expanded gallery offers a “ comprehensive and cost-effective library of vehicle photographs for […] [Read More]

The used-car industry enjoyed its strongest October in four years last month, as both franchised and independent dealers — in addition to private-party sales — climbed double-digit percentages, according to CNW Research. Overall, there were 2.91 million used sales last month, up 12.4 percent year-over-year, CNW noted, with franchised dealers up a little more than […] [Read More]

Several automakers used descriptions such as “record” and “best since” to highlight their October new-vehicle sales performance. But such lofty words are why analysts from Edmunds.com, TrueCar and J.D. Power and Associates sounded cautious when discussing what October’s sales numbers mean in the near term and beyond. “High prices and inventory shortages in late April […] [Read More]