COLUMBUS, Ohio — Midwestern dealers might want to consider Huntington if they are looking to secure financing through the Dealer Floor Plan Pilot Loan Program launched again last month by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Huntington officials declared Tuesday they lent $4 billion to small businesses in the Midwest over a three-year period. That level […] [Read More]

HOUSTON , Texas — The National Alliance of Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealers announced the introduction of a new technology program called Skips to Cash. It's designed to help BHPH operators nationwide in locating, recovering and liquidating bad debt skips. The Skips to Cash program is facilitated by All Technology Recovery and pulls on alliances with Digital Recognition […] [Read More]

Manheim honored the top volume dealer seller group on OVE.com for 2010 last week, and receiving the recognition was Prestige Management Services. The Ramsey, N.J.-based company runs seven dealers throughout the Tri-State area (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York) and moved 1,519 units via OVE.com. It sold to 368 buyers on OVE.com in the U.S. and […] [Read More]

Thanks to stronger payment performance, commercial banks and captive finance companies found it less necessary to go after assets in the fourth quarter. Basically, the quarterly repossession rates pushed downward as 2010 closed. According to Experian Automotive’s analysis of the vehicle credit market, fourth-quarter repossession rates edged 6.1 percent lower. The fourth-quarter rate settled at 0.67 […] [Read More]

Volkswagen Group can rattle off a long list of positive attributes about its 2010 fiscal year performance, but most important is record profits. The automaker revealed last week its operating profit surged to 7.1 billion euro based on sales revenue of 126.9 billion euro. In 2009, the company still hit triple digits in revenue (105.2 […] [Read More]

The deadline for submitting nominations to help Auto Remarketing honor the top women dealers, remarketers, auto finance executives and more is this week, so act quickly. Auto Remarketing’s April 1 edition is dedicated to honoring women’s contributions to the used-car, remarketing, auction and auto finance industry. No matter what area of the business the female […] [Read More]

The positive new-vehicle sales wave that started late last year appears to be continuing into February, according to Edmunds.com’s latest forecast. In part due to momentum gained during Presidents Day, site analysts think February new-vehicle sales, including fleets, should come in at 937,000 units. The figure would represent a 20.1-percent increase from February of last […] [Read More]

DealerTrack Systems and @utoRevenue have teamed up to offer dealers a new campaign management program that can help them foster greater loyalty and customer retention. DealerTrack DMS Campaign Management provides three packages — Online Scheduling Package, Campaign Package, Direct Mail Package. These are designed to bolster a dealership’s retention and loyalty via communications that utilizes […] [Read More]

Kelley Blue Book’s Kbb.com released its list of Top 10 Family Cars of 2011 late last week, evaluating vehicles across such family-friendly metrics as safety, comfort, economy of operation, child-friendliness, how reasonable the purchase price is and the strength of the vehicle’s resale value. Six different OEMs were represented, with Chrysler,  Ford, General Motors and […] [Read More]

Stemming from a belief that more than 98 percent of shoppers take no action during visits to dealer websites, Autobytel unveiled a new solution last week for dealer members and manufacturers aimed at connecting stores with potential online buyers. Executives described the live chat capability provided by ActivEngage as a pathway for dealers and OEMs […] [Read More]