Remember February 1995? Bill Clinton was in his first term as president. TLC was topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for most of the month, according to Billboard.com. UCLA was a couple months away of running the table in the NCAA Tournament. And it was the last time used-car prices dropped from their January level. […] [Read More]

It appears the demands stemming from millions of recalled vehicles flowing into dealership service bays are catching up with franchised stores. The J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study showed satisfaction with dealer service related to an automotive recall declined for the first time in six years. According to the study released on […] [Read More]

The 2016 NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas is just around the corner, and attendees would be smart to review what’s on the docket before they arrive for the huge event that has a full agenda.   The NADA event is scheduled for March 31 through April 3 this year at the Las Vegas […] [Read More]

FORTUNE magazine recently released its 100 Best Companies to Work For and, as usual, several companies involved in the automotive industry made the list. These companies include the likes of ARI, Capital One Financial, CarMax, Credit Acceptance, JM Family Enterprises, and USAA. CarMax celebrates its 12th consecutive year on the list. “Our associates take pride […] [Read More]

Social media users are bombarded with advertisements and promotions — some obvious, some subtle. But in the automotive landscape, which manufacturers are doing it best? And what about offline, in perhaps the oldest form of promotion:  word of mouth? Engagement Labs, a technology and data company, set out to figure that out and released its findings […] [Read More]

In our urgency to get online inventory frontline ready, the importance of how we merchandise those vehicles can get lost. However, how you image inventory and the order in which you display those pictures online matters — especially if your goal is to sell cars, not just get clicks. In addition, also important is how […] [Read More]

After moderating a few Used Car Week conference sessions, I'm going to try my hand at moderating a webinar.  Fortunately for this first go-round, I’ve got a solid co-pilot: Tom Webb, chief economist of Cox Automotive. Tom is the type of source that journalists, particularly those of us in the auto business, love to interview. You […] [Read More]

Much like the dealer consignment side of the auction lane, you can expect commercial consignment to rise this year and next. According to a National Auto Auction Association forecast in Manheim’s 2016 Used Car Market Report, the drivers of the expected gains in commercial consignment are the spikes from prior years in new-car leases, outstanding […] [Read More]

How digital is the auto retail environment becoming? Consider this: OEMs are likely to launch approximately 100 new digital stores globally in 2016, says Lisa Whalen of Frost & Sullivan. In the firm’s 2016 Global Automotive Outlook webinar this past Tuesday, Whalen — a vice president and business unit leader with the company — shared a few trends […] [Read More]

Look for used-car sales to be well above 3 million units this month. At TrueCar, analysts are predicting a possible 3.27 million used sales for February, which would be a 4.5-percent dip from a year ago. Meanwhile, Edmunds.com is calling for 3.5 million used-car sales this month, with a resulting SAAR of 37.9 million. In […] [Read More]