When Hurricane Irene bore through the East Coast this past weekend, her geographical footprint was as broad as her wrath. The storm ran from the Southeast all the way up to New England, causing power outages, massive flooding and reportedly more than two-dozen casualties, if not more. Irene impacted everything from clogging roads and crushing […] [Read More]

As some dealers express their ire over factory image programs, the National Automobile Dealers Association is investigating how much bang for their buck dealerships actually get from these renovations. NADA has turned to industry consultant Glenn Mercer to conduct a study, which will attempt to measure how cost-effective these programs are. The organization contends that dealers […] [Read More]

Black Book’s Ricky Beggs spotted common themes when reviewing report summaries from personnel who attended auctions throughout the country last week. He indicated several dealers called the new-vehicle market “slow” and a “tough sell.” And a little more vital to the used-car department, Beggs shared that some dealers are saying “used buyers were a little […] [Read More]

According to the Highway Loss Data Institute  —  an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety — two domestic made units top the list for highest theft rate for passenger vehicles one to three years old, while the institute also cautions pickup owners to protect their property as these units are popular targets. With […] [Read More]

Road Dealer — an Illinois-based corporation working exclusively with dealers to assist them in buying and selling wholesale used vehicles online with no transaction fees — on Monday partnered with DealerFire, a Wisconsin-based custom website design company. The companies believe their agreement will further the success and profitability of dealers across the country because store […] [Read More]

OnStar revealed Monday a new feature of its RemoteLink mobile app. This enhancement allows a subscriber to search for a destination on his or her smartphone and send the result straight to the vehicle. Then, the company noted the route can be “accessed audibly through OnStar Turn-by-Turn or via an in-dash navigation system.” “Our customer […] [Read More]

OEConnection recently rolled out OEC 2.0 — a comprehensive e-commerce parts platform — to Honda and Acura dealerships throughout the U.S. Released earlier this year to General Motors and Ford dealerships, officials explained OEC 2.0 is geared to provide franchised rooftops with the most productive, efficient and cost-effective solution for managing their wholesale parts businesses.  […] [Read More]

HOUSTON — The National Independent Dealers Association’s recently appointed president certainly has his plate full balancing both his buy-here, pay-here dealership Fincher Motor Co., as well as his new role as head of the association. But Don Fincher doesn’t seem worried as he expands his perspective from that of a local Texas BHPH dealer to […] [Read More]

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Experian Automotive discovered lenders continued to "increase their appetite for risk" as second-quarter new-vehicle loans for customers with credit outside of prime increased by 22.4 percent when compared to the previous year. In the second quarter, Experian indicated 22.29 percent of all new-vehicle loans went to customers in the non-prime, subprime and […] [Read More]

NEW YORK — Municipal Credit Union, a New York credit union established in 1916, is running its Labor Day Auto Loan Sale through Monday. Officials said promotions include loan rates as low as 1.95 percent APR for new vehicles and 2.45 percent APR for pre-owned models. MCU, which has assets of more than $1.6 billion […] [Read More]