After wrapping up a “challenging” year, ACV CEO George Chamoun said he is pleased with the company’s most recent quarterly financial results but cautioned that macro factors that hindered its online wholesale auction business in 2022 may not be over. Chamoun said constrained new car supplies and sales, interest rate increases and elevated used-vehicle prices contributed to an 11% decline in retail used vehicle sales in 2022, depressing trade-in volumes and ACV’s wholesale auction listings. Still, he said he is encouraged that ... [Read More]

The change in wholesale vehicle prices — which in February, according to Black Book, climbed sequentially for the first time since June — is impacting what those used cars are fetching in the retail market. The month-over-month increase in wholesale values, along with decreasing supply and a consumer appetite for lower-priced used cars, helped push […] [Read More]

The last time February wholesale prices increased this much on a month-over-month basis, Barack Obama had just completed his first full month in the Oval Office. And a 26-year-old Ben Roethlisberger had just earned his second Super Bowl ring, leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to victory over Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals. Two U.S. presidents and NFL quarterback retirements later, wholesale prices last month ... [Read More]

Just like it had for the past nine years, Carvana entered 2022 positioned for growth. But supply chain issues and a historic rise in interest rates resulted in a dramatic used-vehicle affordability issue. Those and other factors helped lead to ... [Read More]

Digital auto auctions, many of which gained increasing popularity during COVID-19, are here to stay. But physical auctions are still necessary in an industry literally full of moving pieces. From a boots-on-the-ground perspective, auction companies, even digital ones, need physical infrastructure. For instance, physical locations are often needed to ... [Read More]

In their third quarter earnings call, Vroom executives said the firm would purposely slow down in order to improve the online used car retailer’s customer experience. They warned it would impact fourth quarter results. Boy did it. “Sequential declines in e-commerce unit volumes impacted e-commerce gross profit by approximately $12 million. Additionally, the impact of ... [Read More]

Black Book reported that wholesale values rose another 0.21% last week, representing the highest week-to-week jump analysts have seen in 10 months. According to the latest installment of Market Insights, last week’s increase landed after Black Book spotted a 0.14% increase during the week that included Valentine’s Day and part of Presidents’ Day weekend. Perhaps […] [Read More]

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Sonic Automotive began to see improvement in new-vehicle production, and that helped the company gain higher new-vehicle retail sales volume at its franchise dealerships. That sales volume outperformed the volume change for the overall industry, quarter over quarter and year over year, said Sonic chairman and CEO David Smith. Used-vehicle performance also shined. Sonic’s diversified business model helped its used-vehicle business outperform the change in industry volume. That strong used-vehicle performance took place despite ... [Read More]

AutoNation is continuing to expand its standalone used-vehicle store presence with “more than 20 additional facilities currently under development” and it expects to open “over 10 new stores over the next 12 months,” said Joe Lower, the company’s chief financial officer. Asbury Automotive Group CEO David Hult, said the company incurred $2.7 million in costs for ... [Read More]

Jonathan Jordan, director of retail strategy at JM&A Group, believes we are in a “crucial time in CPO history.” And JM&A’s name has been in the headlines recently for new CPO offerings. JM&A and J.D. Power joined forces last year and released the J.D. Power Edge program, a third-party CPO program for franchised and independent dealers. JM&A developed a strategic alliance with J.D. Power in 2022 to develop co-branded F&I products, and the first product to ... [Read More]