Last year, Used Car Week celebrated the return of our in-person, live event after a year of going digital due to COVID-19. This year, we mark another return: We’re back in San Diego for the first time in almost a decade.  The used-car industry — and Used Car Week — has changed a lot since […] [Read More]

Last week, CDK Global rolled out a new research project to gauge current and potentially future retail activities at dealerships. The automotive retail software provider launched the Ease of Purchase Scorecard, a monthly snapshot of the consumer vehicle purchase process at dealerships. According to the latest survey data, 82% of auto retailer customers are finding […] [Read More]

Bill Seidle’s Mitsubishi opened on Sept. 9, 1982; an autumn that included a labor strike in the NFL and the debut of the TV sitcom “Cheers,” featuring Ted Danson and Shelley Long. Following 40 years of continuous business operations since that point, Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) recently recognized the franchised store based in Doral, Fla., […] [Read More]

At least one part of the subprime auto finance market is starting to resemble what the landscape was before the pandemic. S&P Global Ratings published a report last week highlighted the U.S. auto ABS sector’s performance for August, noting that it weakened, with prime and subprime losses increasing month-over-month. Analysts explained the deterioration in subprime […] [Read More]

TruDecision CEO Daniel Parry elaborated about the current state of the auto finance market in conjunction with an exciting development for his company that was one of the first Emerging 8 honorees in 2019. On Tuesday, TruDecision announced that it’s expanding its partnership with CIG Financial, an AutoNation company that will be rebranded as AutoNation […] [Read More]

Last week, Solutions by Text, a provider of enterprise text messaging solutions focused on consumer financial services, announced an integration with LiveVox, a leading cloud-based provider of customer service and digital engagement tools. According to a news release, Solutions by Text (SBT) will join the LiveVox Partner Ecosystem, a network of technology and solution providers […] [Read More]

The Presidio Group, known as an investment banking and dealership mergers and acquisition advisory firm, has seen a distinct uptick in its automotive retail services division that helps match dealership retail services companies with strategic capital to help the companies grow. Presidio managing director Keith Style, during an interview about the company’s dealership M&A market […] [Read More]

TrueCar’s Automotive Shopper Trends Report (ASTR) — what the company said is a comprehensive look into auto shopper actions and expectations — highlighted the Top 10 most important features in-market shoppers now want. Combining nationwide survey results with data from TrueCar’s platform, the ASTR uncovers insights from the past six months on automotive trends for […] [Read More]

The phone not ringing at your dealership likely is not a good sign for either your retail department or service drive. But having the phone ringing so much that your staff can’t keep up can be a challenge, too, so a quartet of service providers formed a pair of partnerships to help. First, WeGotYourCalls, a […] [Read More]

JM&A Group president Dan Chait recently announced a pair of executive leadership changes. According to a news release distributed this week, the F&I subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises promoted Scott Gunnell to senior vice president and chief operating officer, while the company also said Mike Casey will serve as senior advisor and retire at the […] [Read More]