CarShop is officially gone in the United Kingdom. Its status in the U.S., on the other hand, seems much more solid. Last week in Penske Automotive Group’s earnings call for the second quarter of 2024, chief operating officer for international operations Randall Seymore confirmed that CarShop — Penske’s brand for its used-car stores — has been ... [Read More]

Lithia & Driveway's second quarter results took a hit from the CDK Global software outage. While the company reported its second highest quarterly revenue in company history, net income fell 28% compared to the same quarter in 2023 to $216.6 million. Revenue increased 14% to $9.2 billion. The group faced other headwinds, as well. “Free cash flows were impacted by declining EBITDA due to ... [Read More]

Carvana is adding physical capacity to increase its current volume by approximately three times, CEO Ernie Garcia said on the recent second quarter earnings call. Carvana has cited inventory constraints as a barrier to faster growth. Combined with the ADESA U.S. acquisition, Carvana has the real estate to handle vehicle reconditioning at approximately eight times the current run rate, he said. “We also have very clear plans and high confidence in ... [Read More]

Before the cyberattack that hit dealership software provider CDK Global, Group 1 Automotive’s used vehicle and aftersales businesses were performing well in the second quarter, said Group 1 president and CEO Daryl Kenningham. But the CDK outage “significantly affected” Group 1’s U.S operations from June 19-26, Kenningham said during Group 1’s second quarter 2024 earnings call on July 24. “We do believe that we could have [Read More]

The wholesale vehicle market has emerged out of COVID with a few new wrinkles, some driven by the pandemic itself and some happening coincidentally. For instance, more electric vehicles are making their way into the wholesale market, a trend likely applicable to the latter.  Even more pronounced than a rise in EVs is the increased digitization of the market, a phenomenon more applicable to the former. In data sets, presentations, interviews and calls with the media this summer, leading executives and analysts ... [Read More]

Even as inventory levels recover, affordability is still the biggest challenge facing dealers and auto finance companies in Canada, industry participants and analysts told Auto Remarketing Canada. “I would say while it is not unique to Canada, the biggest challenge (auto finance companies are facing) is simply the affordability factor,” said Mike Buckingham, managing director, auto finance at J.D. Power. Vehicle prices are up 30% since the third quarter of 2020 and interest rates have ... [Read More]

It hasn’t had quite the swings of, say, electoral politics in the past decade (or past month). But the ups and downs of used-vehicle prices in the last five years might rival the volatility of any other industry. According to the latest Industry Insights Report from Cars Commerce, the monthly average list price for used […] [Read More]

Affordability is an issue car dealers have been battling daily over the past couple of years as retail prices for used and new vehicles soared to unprecedented highs. This year, though, those prices have been falling steadily while, as noted by Cox Automotive’s analysts in their 2024 midyear review, consumers’ incomes are rising. And yet sales growth has been slow. Turns out it’s not just about the price of the car ... [Read More]

There were 3.41 million units sold at auction in the first half of the year, which is an 8% hike, according to AuctionNet data from the National Auto Auction Association. But the oldest contingent of that group showed even steeper growth: Auction sales of vehicles 11 years and older climbed 11% in the first half of 2024, NAAA said. The reason? It’s repo. [Read More]

It wasn’t long ago that the new-vehicle supply was so dire that rental-car companies were becoming buyers in the wholesale market rather than sellers. But with the mid-pandemic new-car production issues largely squared away, rental car volume in the wholesale market has bounced back the last three years. Though unlikely their numbers will reach pre-pandemic levels ... [Read More]