It’s that time of year again, and today’s lesson is: Consumer buying trends. During the pandemic, everyone asked, what’s the “new normal” going to be? It’s been five years now — and we know. Post-COVID, consumers have become more conservative. They are more concerned about reliability and the “future cost” of the next car they […] [Read More]

Vehicle thefts continued to fall in the first half of 2025, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s analysis of reported thefts. The nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and combating insurance crime found 334,114 auto thefts in the U.S. for the first six months of the year, down 23% from the same period in 2024. […] [Read More]

While August is often a month of change on vacation and academic calendars, that wasn’t the case for the wholesale vehicle market. According to analysis around used-car price indices, wholesale vehicle values last month were flat from July and didn’t see any outlandish change from August 2024, though some volatility remains. Starting with Black Book’s […] [Read More]

What are car shoppers looking for in a vehicle? According to the Kaiser Associates 2025 Midyear Dealership Survey — part of the Dave Cantin Group’s Market Outlook Report Midyear Update — reliability and affordability are firmly entrenched as the top two criteria considered most important by car buyers. Given that, the dealership M&A advisory firm […] [Read More]

2024 delivered a sharp turn in the trajectory of dealership service revenue. According to industry data, OEM warranty revenue rose nearly 20%, reaching $28 billion, far exceeding WarrCloud’s original forecast of 8.4%. That kind of growth should be welcomed because it comes at a time when customer pay work is stagnating. What’s driving this shift? […] [Read More]

Sales are projected to fall in the second of the half of the year, and dealers need to seek ways to optimize operations, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. While much attention is often paid to retention in new car sales, the service lane represents a critical yet usually underutilized profit center through retention. Automating […] [Read More]

Not all recalls are created equal. And according to Carfax’s data, the most dangerous kind of recalls is on the rise — in a big way. The provider of vehicle history reports warns of a “concerning spike” in “Do Not Drive” recalls issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, affecting hundreds of thousands of […] [Read More]