Last year was the best ever for franchised dealers’ used-car operations, and the pre-owned industry as a whole had its strongest year since 2007, according to a report from Edmunds.com. And the linchpin to these and other trends in the rapidly rising used-car market? Leasing, says Jessica Caldwell, the director of industry analysis at Edmunds.com. The […] [Read More]

If you’re a dealer, protecting your customers is about more than protecting your business; it’s about contributing to the overall wellbeing of your community. So with issues on a large scale as huge as the potential risks caused by Takata’s airbag inflator ruptures, the more you know, the more you can potentially protect yourself, your […] [Read More]

As voters are driving out to participate in primaries and caucuses, do you ever wonder what they’re driving? The folks at BestRide, a car-shopping website, and CarTalk, a nationally syndicated radio program, have done the legwork for you — and some of the results from the more than 10,000 respondents they polled may surprise you. […] [Read More]

St. Louis. Austin. New Orleans. Memphis. Nashville. Those might be pushpins on a barbecue- and gumbo-stained road map to music’s meccas, but they're also a sampling of cities where consumers are having the best experiences shopping for a car at the dealership.  CarGurus recently released a study ranking the top 10 cities with the most satisfied car shoppers, based on […] [Read More]

The Northwood University/Cox Automotive Interactive Dealer Summit is coming up Thursday at the university’s campus in Midland, Mich.  The event designed for networking and to spark important discussion surrounding marketing and retailing trends in the industry. It’s scheduled for from 8:30 a.m. (ET) to 5 p.m. on Thursday in the university’s Griswold Communication Center.  The summit […] [Read More]

There are over 47 million vehicles in the United States that have at least one unrepaired safety recall. That’s according to a recent analysis from Carfax, who pointed out that these 47 million vehicles are being driven, bought and sold, or sitting on a lot somewhere in our country, either because there’s not a fix […] [Read More]

Hyundai has taken the top brand spot in Kelley Blue Book’s 5-Year Cost to Own Awards, while Acura has earned top honors among luxury brands. KBB also recognized 22 segment winners, which were distributed across a fairly  wide array of brands. Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota each had four segment winners, and Buick had three. These […] [Read More]

The recent Iowa caucuses are in the books and it’s time to shift the political focus to Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries. Similar to the tight legislative races vying for each party’s presidential nominations, the Edmunds.com data for New Hampshire shows that many of the state’s new-car buying tendencies are similar to the national averages. Let’s […] [Read More]

The Denver Broncos may have prevailed over the Carolina Panthers to clinch the Vince Lombardi Trophy this weekend, but there were many more competitors vying for viewer attention during Super Bowl 50. And as usual, the competition within the automotive space was particularly potent. Honda’s singing sheep did a fine rendition of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” while […] [Read More]

Franchised dealers have increased their used-car sales for six straight years, according to data from NADA cited in Manheim’s 2016 Used Car Market Report. But one caveat shouldn’t come as a surprise: Used margins are slimmer. In fact, the 25 straight quarters (through Q3) of increasing same-store used unit sales for the public dealership groups is […] [Read More]