As the automaker revealed its sales and marketing team for the smart brand, Mercedes-Benz dealerships earned the top ranking for the third year in a row based on feedback from “mystery shoppers.” The results came Monday when the 2011 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Auto Industry Benchmarking Study was released. Officials recounted the independent […] [Read More]

While examining used-car pricing trends in its latest Guidelines report , NADA Used Car Guide spotted something in two of the larger segments that was a bit different from prior months. With fuel costs down, large pickups and SUVs were a bit stronger than they were in May. [Read More]

In the latest development in negotiations that have lasted more than a year, Hertz Global Holdings announced Monday that it has extended the expiration date of its exchange offer for all outstanding shares of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group. Officials reiterated the offer is for $57.60 in cash and 0.8546 shares of Hertz common stock. They […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive revealed revamped and extended syndicated credit facilities on Monday that allows it to tap into a pool of significantly greater funds to acquire cars, including a lift in used-vehicle inventory floor plan financing of $30 million. Breaking it down, the maturity date of the existing facilities was pushed back from August 2012 to […] [Read More]

MISSION VIEJO, Calif. — BlueYield, a consumer auto finance lending exchange and provider of private-label affinity automotive financing programs, recently teamed up with a website aimed at reaching the Indian community throughout Michigan and the United States. BlueYield officials now are aligned with miindia.com , a leading source of information, social networking, services and products […] [Read More]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Reserve still hasn't resumed its regular reporting on averages for new-vehicle loans by finance companies. But officials late last week did share the latest average by commercial banks. The Fed determined the average interest rate on a 48-month, new-vehicle loan from a commercial bank came in at 5.81 percent in […] [Read More]

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. and LOGAN TOWNSHIP, N.J.— Daimler Truck Financial revealed Monday that it will begin providing financial products and services for more than 175 Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America dealers and their customers. DTF noted that through this partnership the companies will “provide customers with competitive financing options with rates in Q3 as low […] [Read More]

PHILADELPHIA — VINtek revealed this week that it has helped with the drafting of legislation that will allow the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to develop rules to hold auto liens electronically, instead of via paper titles. Texas House Bill 2575 was signed by Governor Rick Perry on June 17, 2011 and authorizes the Texas Department […] [Read More]

Cash for Clunkers may have come and gone, but a new website that has recently launched aims to tackle a similar issue: getting rid of “unwanted” vehicles that are too old to be desirable, have repair costs that are more than the purchase price or are undesirable because of extremely high mileage. For those who […] [Read More]

A former president of ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, is one of the main presenters for a series of four training programs meant to create “collection superstars.” Officials from insideARM.com have rolled out ARM Summer School — a program that is broken up into a four-course learning experience for supervisors and […] [Read More]