Nissan North America recently launched a recall of nearly 196,000 models of the Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX4, concentrated in wintry weather areas in the U.S. and Canada. The recall stems from the need to make a repair in the steering column for effected units originally sold or currently registered in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, […] [Read More]

Three models were recognized last week in New York by the 2011 International Car of the Year Awards for being top-notch within their respective segments. Honored during a private ceremony were: —2011 International Sedan of the Year: Volvo S60, which was voted “Most Dependable.” —2011 International Luxury Car of the Year: Jaguar XJ, which was voted […] [Read More]

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers recently made another step forward in its plans for a new facility in North Carolina, located just outside the Raleigh-Durham area. The auction company closed on 107 acres of property 24 miles north of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and plans to break ground on an auction site there in June. The facility, […] [Read More]

DEARBORN, Mich. — Despite a $77 million net income decrease from the first quarter of last year, Ford Motor Credit's top executive declared Tuesday that the captive continues "to execute the fundamentals of our business well." Ford's financial arm revealed that its first quarter net income came in at $451 million. On a pre-tax basis, […] [Read More]

CHENNAI, India and BERLIN — Daimler AG recently learned it received approval from the Reserve Bank of India to setup a finance company in the country. Executives explained the newly founded company — Daimler Financial Services India Private Limited — will be a 100 percent subsidiary of Daimler AG. They expect the new subsidiary to […] [Read More]

CARMEL, Ind. — Given the current favorable market conditions, KAR Auction Services announced this morning that it intends to refinance a portion of its indebtedness to allow for a greater flexibility to prepay debt. "The purpose of the planned refinancing is to extend the maturities of the existing debt and provide greater flexibility to prepay debt […] [Read More]

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — DealerTrack announced this morning that it has successfully completed a new four-year $125 million revolving secured credit facility, which will be used for future acquisitions and general corporate purposes. The credit facility, which includes a syndicate of seven banks led by J.P. Morgan, includes an accordion feature that provides for expansion of […] [Read More]

There have been many recent discussions regarding the practice of forwarding repossession assignments. In addition, the industry has targeted companies that do forwarding, questioning the value, or lack thereof, that these companies provide to the repossession process and to the industry. From the agent’s perspective, the standing argument is that lenders benefit from a direct […] [Read More]

Forwarding, in itself, is not a bad business practice. Afterall, we have been forwarding work amongst ourselves for many years. Forwarding became a nasty word when the auction companies entered into the business to push repossessed vehicles to their respective auctions. Sadly, that wasn’t enough for the auction companies, and forwarding started to become a […] [Read More]

BSC America’s Tallahassee Auto Auction recently wrapped up construction of a 10,000-square-foot mechanical and reconditioning facility that it says will allow the auction to process as many as 400 units each week. The auction has expanded its existing lot by five acres to build the new mechanical and reconditioning facility, which includes two mechanic bays with […] [Read More]