The Department of Justice made a pair of announcements last week, with one involving Santander Consumer USA and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). According to a news release, the finance company’s Chrysler Capital division has agreed to pay more than $134,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that the company denied early vehicle lease […] [Read More]

J.D. Power sees competition for paper among finance companies as intense as ever, especially with monthly retail sales of new vehicles down 30% from pre-pandemic levels. According to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study, finance companies that find ways to form close relationships with dealers and deliver consistently high service levels are […] [Read More]

Alfa recently announced the three charities that the company is supporting globally for 2021 and beyond. Alfa’s U.S. operation has chosen Feeding America, one of the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organizations, working to connect people with food and end hunger. Officials said Feeding America is able to help one in seven Americans by providing 4.3 […] [Read More]

Cybersecurity Awareness Month started on Friday. It’s an initiative now in its 18th year led by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), in partnership with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), to ensure that everyone has the resources they need to be safer and more secure online. Officials highlighted that this year’s theme for […] [Read More]

Policaro Automotive is continuing its quest to "redefine the automotive retail experience," this time through premium service offerings and new franchises for its customers to shop.  In July, the dealer group broke ground on a new Porsche store in Kitchener-Waterloo. The store, set to be located at 1705 Victoria Street North in Waterloo, is Policaro’s second […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive announced on Monday it has named a chief marketing officer and a chief revenue officer for its EchoPark Automotive standalone used-car store program. Dino Bernacchi is EchoPark's first CMO and will lead the Sonic pre-owned stores'  marketing as nationwide expansion continues. Most recently, Bernacchi served as the senior vice president of marketing for the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise. And […] [Read More]

Dealer World, which is a flat-fee, advertising agency for  franchised and independent dealers, has chosen a new director of sales who is no stranger to the auto dealership game.  In fact, Eric Gidney, the executive chosen for the position, previously founded and served as president of AutoUpLinkUSA, which he described as a self-funded automotive and inventory management agency. By […] [Read More]

The main segments of CarGurus most recent COVID-19 sentiment study came in groups of three, as analysts spelled out short-term and long-term trends as well as recommendations for dealerships. CarGurus highlighted that this research project is the latest iteration in a series of previous studies that were run in April, June and November of last […] [Read More]

AutoNation, whose charitable donations have all gone towards fighting cancer since 2013, will host October "Drive Pink" events at DRV PNK Stadium with InterMiami CF and 2021 Indy 500 Winner Hélio Castroneves.  Since launching its Drive Pink initiative in 2015, the dealer group has raised and donated more than $28 million to create awareness and support critical […] [Read More]

Starmark Financial, a national debt buyer and first- and third-party servicer of accounts receivable for national and regional lenders, recently hired Daniel Venditti as executive vice president of operations. Venditti brings more than 24 years of financial services industry experience to Starmark, having previously served in a wide variety of roles with both with first- […] [Read More]