automotiveMastermind, part of S&P Global Mobility and a provider of data and technology, announced “significant enhancements” to its proprietary Mastermind technology. The company has added EV Behavior Driver, Service Portfolio and Service Portfolio Insights to Mastermind, which is designed to harness the power of predictive analytics to anticipate customer preferences, enabling dealers to “redefine automotive […] [Read More]

WarrCloud has joined with the American International Automobile Dealers Association as an affinity partner, offering AIADA members its artificial intelligence-driven software to automate the warranty claims process. The manual claims process costs dealers up to 12 percent of the gross profit from warranty revenue, according to estimates. Warrcloud’s software is designed to give dealers quicker […] [Read More]

Soon after taking office in June 2023, National Independent Automobile Dealers Association president Gordon Tormohlen said the first item on his to-do list was “to change the tone.” Ask any member of NIADA’s leadership about the association’s most important goals and chances are the answer will include something similar. CEO Jeff Martin said building confidence back is “one of our primary responsibilities.” Chairman Scott Allen said Martin is working to “put the train back on the tracks” and “build those bridges.” It’s an admirable goal. But it obviously raises questions that beg to be answered ... [Read More]

Sonic Automotive, one of the nation’s largest automotive retailers, has promoted longtime vice president of human resources Harry Harden to chief human resources officer. Harden replaces Angela Broadway, Sonic’s first CHRO, who retired Dec. 31. Harden served as Sonic’s human resources VP for 14 years beginning in 2001, building and leading the company’s first human […] [Read More]

Dealer Services Network, a technology-enabled provider of title and registration services, has acquired QuickView Technologies, a cloud-based platform that provides title and registration record access to Texas auto dealers. The acquisition allows Florida-based DSN, which handles tag and title processes for dealers in Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Texas, to offer its Texas customers a platform […] [Read More]

We continue our series on the Auto Remarketing Podcast highlighting some of the panels and presentations from Used Car Week 2023. This episode features another part of Dealer Training Tuesday, as Lotpop’s Jasen Rice gave a presentation titled, “Inventory Management Should Be Lead Management.” Listen to the episode in the window below. [Read More]

Earlier this week, one of the members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors made her third public appearance since Thanksgiving; this time hinting when interest rates might soften. Michelle Bowman gave a speech during the South Carolina Bankers Association’s 2024 Community Bankers Conference in Columbia, S.C., reiterating that inflation coming in at roughly 2% […] [Read More]

Hyundai Canada, CDK Global, Hyundai Capital Canada and PBS Systems joined forces to fight homelessness in Canada as 2023 wrapped up. The four companies raised over $15,000 through the annual Hockey Helps the Homeless tournament. This money will go to people experiencing homelessness in the York, Ontario region. This marks the first year Hyundai Canada […] [Read More]

One of America’s oldest car dealerships has changed hands. Smart Toyota in Madison, Wisc., founded in 1908 as Smart Motors, was acquired by Baxter Auto Group from president and CEO J.R. Smart. The sale ends 115 years of ownership by the Smart family, encompassing three generations and 28 franchises. “I celebrated my 52nd anniversary at […] [Read More]

Used-vehicle sales are expected to increase just under 1% this year, according to a forecast from Cox Automotive, with overall used volume expected to climb from 35.9 million sales to 36.2 million and retail used sales (those involving a dealer) projected to climb from 19.0 million to 19.2 million. The year closed a positive note, with dealers seeing approximately a 3% month-over-month rise in used-car sales in December, with year-over-year sales up 1%, Cox said, citing an initial estimate based on data from its vAuto unit. Software, marketing, and data firm ZeroSum also ... [Read More]