When it comes to making it easy for consumers to schedule service appointments by phone, some dealer groups, apparently, do it better than others. On Monday, Pied Piper released the results of  its 2023 PSI Service Telephone Effectiveness Study, which examined the 17 largest auto dealer groups for how easily consumers can call to set […] [Read More]

StoneEagle grew its operation on Monday. The orchestrator of administration systems for F&I product providers as well as metrics and menus solutions for dealers nationwide, announced the acquisition of Pencilwrench, whose technology can help technicians and service advisors write accurate, comprehensive repair event documentation. Executives highlighted the addition of Pencilwrench to StoneEagle’s suite of solutions […] [Read More]

Late last week, Acrisure, which combines people and high tech to deliver an array of products including insurance, reinsurance and  cyberservices, announced the formation of the Acrisure Protection Group. The group is designed to be a full-service finance and insurance (F&I) and property and casualty (P&C) brokerage, training, compliance and consulting specialist, and producer of […] [Read More]

Inovatec Systems made its third executive move so far this year. The company, a provider of cloud-based software solutions for finance companies in both the U.S. and Canada, announced last week it has appointed automotive lending veteran Paul Harder as its chief product officer. Inovatec highlighted Harder brings decades of experience to the company from […] [Read More]

Group 1 Automotive has expanded in its hometown. The Houston-based retailer said Thursday it acquired Beck & Masten Kia, a move that broadens Group 1’s footprint in that market to 15 brands and 18 dealerships. The store is Group 1’s first Kia dealership in Houston. Group 1 anticipates Beck & Masten Kia to generate annual […] [Read More]

We conclude our series of Auto Remarketing Podcast episodes from the Auto Intel Summit and NRC Spring Summit with a presentation from Spiffy chief marketing officer Grayson Leverenz, who discusses “Driving Revenue & CX with Digital Servicing.” She explains the path from digital retailing to the emerging digital servicing segment, specifics on the mobile services […] [Read More]

Don’t let the slower start to the year fool you into thinking dealership buy-sell will grow soft. The number of dealerships acquired in the first quarter (approximately 82) fell 31% year-over-year, according to the latest Haig Report from Haig Partners, but the firm is anticipating an increase in buy-sell activity the rest of the year. […] [Read More]

On Thursday, Parks Automotive Group welcomed Franchise Equity Partners (FEP) as a minority partner following a capital contribution of approximately $55 million in connection with the group’s recent purchase of the Lake Norman and Gastonia Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-RAM dealerships in North Carolina earlier this year. Led by president and CEO Adam Parks, the group now has 21 […] [Read More]

Solera closed May with a notable move, becoming a National Corporate Partner of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association. “NIADA has been a vital advocate for independent used car dealers for several decades,” Solera senior director of inside sales Karen Chagnon said. “We are excited to step up our support of their mission and look […] [Read More]

Many of us have subscriptions for streaming music and video. Now dealers can get one for floor planning, too. On Thursday, Kinetic Advantage announced the launch of a subscription service in an effort to save independent dealers time and money. Kinetic+ is a monthly subscription service for Kinetic Advantage independent dealers that provides subscribers with […] [Read More]