SARASOTA, Fla. — CarBiz recently announced that it purchased Calcars, the fourth largest chain of buy-here, pay-here dealerships in the country. This transaction entails the company acquiring 26 stores. Calcars' consolidated revenues for 2006 were more than $36 million, which would have increased CarBiz revenues by almost 10 times, explained Carl Ritter, chief executive officer. "I […] [Read More]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hudson Cook LLP, a leading provider of legal compliance services for the financial services industry, recently said it has added a new attorney to its team. Jean Noonan, managing partner of the Washington, D.C. office, announced that attorney Karen Leonard has come on board. Noonan indicated Leonard will focus on fair credit reporting […] [Read More]

WAYNE, Pa. — MaximTrak, an F&I menu system provider, recently announced that it has launched a real-time integration partnership with the Universal Warranty Corp., which is a subsidiary of Motors Insurance Corp. The integration partnership is designed to allow dealers to rate vehicle service contracts based on the VIN of the vehicle instantaneously. Officials said the […] [Read More]

TORRANCE, Calif. — The magazine, World of Special Finance, and its related conference and other assets have been acquired by Bobit Business Media, it was announced recently. World of Special Finance LLC, a Michigan-based entity owned by Rick and Cindy Sly, has produced a monthly magazine for the past 11 years. The new owners will […] [Read More]

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — To mark the company's entry into the direct-to-consumer lending business, BMW Group Financial Services announced today the launch of www.up2drive.com, an auto financing site that features loan services designed to empower the consumer in the car buying and selling process. The launch of www.up2drive.com and the entry into the direct-to-consumer lending sales channel […] [Read More]

HUNTINGTON BEACH , Calif. — Triad Financial Corp. recently announced that Scott France, a former AmeriCredit executive, has been named senior vice president of portfolio management. In this position, officials said France will head up Triad's efforts to optimize portfolio performance by overseeing collections, customer care and titles, in addition to loss recovery, portfolio project management […] [Read More]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Bankers Association's Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin found that late payments for indirect auto loans were up slightly for the second quarter. These delinquencies increased to 2.77 percent from 2.73 percent. Meanwhile, direct auto loan delinquencies were up slightly from 1.68 percent to 1.69 percent. "Consumers fared reasonably well in the […] [Read More]

HOUSTON — About 30 days ago, I wrote an article about some of the lessons buy-here, pay-here operators should learn from the recent subprime mortgage meltdown. I received numerous comments relating to this article, and several respondents offered additional insights, which I want to share with everyone. If you have not seen the previously referenced article, […] [Read More]

SARASOTA, Fla. — Carl Ritter, chief executive officer of CarBiz, recently announced the promotion of Jennifer Halloran to vice president of finance. Halloran previously served as controller for CarBiz, where she has been employed since 2000 in accounting, human resource administration and administrative operations. In her new position Jennifer's responsibilities will increase to handling the reporting […] [Read More]

HANOVER, Md. — On Monday, the National Auto Finance Association announced that its 12th Annual Non-Prime Auto Financing Conference will be held June 4 to 6 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth next year. The goal of the event is to offer education opportunities for creditors and dealers. Officials said the conference is […] [Read More]