According to the Edmunds Used Car Report, SUVs and trucks made up 47 percent of sales of 3-year-old vehicles in 2017. And in total, off-lease supply boosted the used market to reach 39.2 million sales last year — a record high. And as increases in off-lease supply begin to put long expected pressure on residual values, this […] [Read More]

As 2017 came to a close, auto dealership values fell a bit, and the number of dealerships sold in the U.S. for the year was down, but the tides could be turning in 2018. According to the year-end 2017 edition of the Haig Report, a report released by Haig Partners that studies M&A activity among […] [Read More]

Pre-owned vehicles sales reached a record high last year of 39.2 million, according to the 2017 Edmunds Used Car Report.  This was up 1.6 percent from 2016. And for perspective on how much used sales growth the industry has experienced in the past five years, that number represents a 4.3-percent increase from 2012. So, why the record highs […] [Read More]

NextGear Capital introduced this week it's new Rapid Pay tool — a feature built to streamline and speed up funding within its Account Portal platform. This follows the company’s recent February announcement regarding the release of Account Portal’s AutoPay feature. Rapid Pay is designed to simplify the funding process for eligible dealers who want to floor plan […] [Read More]

Fraud is very much on the minds of finance companies nowadays. And for good reason, as LexisNexis Risk Solutions put a figure on how much fraud added to finance companies’ operational costs. According to the study titled, “2017 True Cost of Fraud for Financial Services," LexisNexis Risk Solutions found that for every dollar of fraud, financial […] [Read More]

First, I would like to thank Auto Remarketing and Cherokee Media Group for providing me this platform to weigh in on various economic and industry trends. But why choose a “Monty Python” line as the title?  Because it is my hope this column will offer a differing perspective. Not to be a contrarian just for […] [Read More]

In Hollywood, it is awards season (at the time I’m writing this in February) and on the basketball hardwood, it’s tournament time (by the time you’re reading this in March). In the auto industry, it’s convention/conference season. Not only have the auto shows been in full swing, but perhaps the largest auto industry event of […] [Read More]

Editor's Note: Story and headline updated for clarity and to correct timing of Experian's purchase of Clarity Services. Experian has rolled out its first innovation stemming from its purchase of Clarity in October.   This past fall, two of the traditional credit bureaus each acquired a different specialist in alternative consumer credit data. And now one of those […] [Read More]

Along with finding that service quality continues to be a key driver of customer satisfaction among consumers, the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study released Thursday found that younger customers who their vehicle serviced are more likely to rely on recommendations from friends or family. Nine percent of Gen Y car buyers […] [Read More]

Perhaps not every potential buyer who arrives at your dealership — or, more specifically, your store website — knows exactly what vehicle they want along with all of its attributes from the amount of horsepower to placement of cup holders and power outlets. New data from thousands of consumer profiles studied by PERQ — experts in […] [Read More]