Late on Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission published frequently asked questions on price transparency to help dealerships and rest of the automobile industry comply with the FTC Act. While the guidance delves into specific topics such as how to handle document fees, rebates and discounts, perhaps the penultimate question and subsequent response might be most […] [Read More]

Nearly 27% of taxi and/or rideshare vehicles in a Carfax analysis of more than 437,000 vehicles across 16 major U.S. cities had at least one unfixed recall, the company said Monday. While those numbers are certainly alarming, there are solutions for consumers — and potential service opportunities for dealers. Carfax examined 437,583 VINs representing taxi […] [Read More]

It’s now been 25 years, but dealers still vividly remember the vicious tragedies in New York and Washington, D.C. Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association president Mark Schienberg was overseas on business on Sept. 11, 2001. Schienberg was attending the Frankfurt Auto Show with New York Auto Show chairman John LaSorsa and GNYADA board chairman […] [Read More]

Missouri-based Clement Auto Group has expanded to Ohio with the acquisition of Mansfield Motor Group, according to a news release from Performance Brokerage Services. Mansfield is a family owned three-rooftop Honda, Nissan and Volvo group based in Mansfield, Ohio, and led by Dirk Schulter and Brett Schulter. Clement Auto Group, based in the Greater St. […] [Read More]

Lithia & Driveway has bolstered its presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the purchase of Rockwall Hyundai, the retailer said Tuesday. The purchase of the Rockwall, Texas dealership adds roughly $75 million in annualized revenue to the dealer group. So far this year, Lithia has added expected annualized revenues of $915 million. Lithia financed […] [Read More]

The Courtesy Automotive Group has acquired Watson Chevrolet and Infiniti of Tucson in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release from Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions. Pinnacle represented the seller in the transaction, which closed on Aug. 31, and was led by Bill Scrivner, founder and CEO of Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions. Following the acquisition, the […] [Read More]

The Costco Auto Program has launched a new offering that may help drive more affordability-minded shoppers to certified pre-owned Volvo vehicles. The Certified by Volvo special is providing savings for Costco members on model-year 2023 through 2025 CPO vehicles from Volvo. In a deal that started Tuesday and runs through Nov. 2, eligible Costco members […] [Read More]

A Harvard business student and former advertising art director at General Motors released a research paper last month with car dealership ad spend in mind. Automotive Retail Advertising in Crisis: Overlooked Liquidity Lever, which was published by Andrew Reutsky on Aug. 12, reports the first field deployment of Banner-VIN-Profit, which is an open-source attribution model […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group has named a new senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Wendy Reynolds-Dobbs, who is currently Asbury’s interim chief human resources officer and vice president of talent development and chief culture officer, will begin that new role on Sept. 14. Reynolds-Dobbs joined Asbury in May 2022. Her prior roles include serving […] [Read More]

Why does one dealership command a significantly higher blue sky multiple than another, even when both operate under the same franchise? The answer is multi-dimensional and extends far beyond profitability alone. Blue sky represents the goodwill component of a dealership’s value, the premium a buyer is willing to pay above the value of its tangible […] [Read More]