Benefits of Buying a New Car from an Auto Dealer

The Dealership is your Playground Visiting an auto dealership in pursuit of purchasing a brand new car is comparable to taking a child to a candy shop; (Except the merchandise is much more expensive.) At an auto dealership, there is a wide variety of inventory and you can choose from.  You can choose the vehicle make, model, size, color and other features all based upon your budget. Brand New Features As technology advances, the features in new cars also continue to advance; state of the art features such as lane change assist, which is...

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Ford to keep base price stable on Explorer, but raises top trim level

BY: Bradford Wernle Ford has held the line on prices for the refreshed 2016 Explorer crossover, but a new top-of-the-line Platinum trim raises the ceiling on what a customer can spend for the hot-selling full-size crossover to well above $50,000. Today Ford Motor Co. announced prices for a base 2016 Explorer will start at $31,595, the same as for a base 2015 Explorer. The loaded Platinum Explorer, new to the lineup for 2016, will start at $53,495. The priciest version of the current 2015 Explorer is the Sport model, which starts at $43,995....

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NADA sees 2015 U.S. sales nearing 17 million vehicles

Continued economic improvement, low interest rates and cheap gasoline will help new-vehicle sales rise more than 3 percent to nearly 17 million units next year, the most since 2005, according to forecasts from the National Automobile Dealers Association. NADA sees U.S. new vehicle sales growing to 16.94 million units in 2015 from a projected 16.4 million this year, as U.S. gross domestic product grows 3.1 percent, compared with an estimated 2.1 percent this year. Through October, the industry sold 13.7 million vehicles in the U.S., up 6 percent...

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NADA tells Nissan to butt out of dealer surveys

BY: Lindsay Chappell The National Automobile Dealers Association has rapped Nissan's knuckles for "actions by some Nissan representatives" to boost scores in a survey of dealer attitudes toward automakers. In a July 24 letter to Nissan dealers, NADA said that over the summer it became alarmed that some Nissan field reps may have pressured dealers to give favorable responses on the NADA Dealer Attitude Survey. "We want you to know that NADA considers any attempt to coerce you into giving responses that you don't believe in is unacceptable,"...

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To Be or Not to Be On-Camera

Are you ready — and qualified — to become the face and voice of your dealership? Marketing expert asks the tough questions. Auto Dealer Monthly - Feature by Jim Raposa Broadcast advertising has helped a good many business owners take on an air of celebrity and authority. Former Men’s Warehouse owner George Zimmer’s distinctive voice was the trademark of that company’s TV and radio commercials for nearly 30 years. Sy Sperling launched the Hair Club for Men with a commercial in which he famously told viewers he was not only the company’s president,...

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NADA Issues Dealer Data Guidance

By Brittany-Marie Swanson The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA)’s department of legal and regulatory affairs issued guidance on data protection last week. Officials said the 14-page memo, issued to members on Aug. 28, is part of an ongoing effort to promote compliance by the association, but it comes at a time when industry marketers are turning to transaction data to fuel vehicle sales. Obtained by F&I and Showroom magazine, the memo acknowledged there are a “number of entities who wish to gain access” to transaction data stored...

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Police Catch Kidnapper Using Dealership’s GPS Device

By: The Washington Post Feature by Abby Ohlheiser Local and federal law enforcement officials announced Wednesday that they had rescued a nursing assistant whose violent abduction in Philadelphia was caught on surveillance video. And as police credit that video for its role in finding Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, and her alleged abductor, Delvin Barnes, another sort of surveillance technology also helped lead officials to the suspect and the victim: a GPS device, planted in Barnes’s car by the dealership that sold him the vehicle.   Barnes,...

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Check Your DMS Bill

By: Auto Dealer Monthly Feature by Brian Reed Billing errors for dealership management systems are more common than you may think. Technology expert suggests you check your monthly invoice for erroneous charges related to hardware and software, annual increases and click fees. You know the approximate amount of your dealership’s monthly electric bill, but do you know what you pay per kilowatt-hour? Many dealers manage the monthly invoice for their dealership management system (DMS) much like their electric bill. They know the total amount they...

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Zero to 60 in Less Than Three Seconds

By: Auto Dealer Monthly   It’s insane! Chrysler will soon begin production on 700-horsepower editions of the Dodge Charger and Challenger, both due in the 2015-MY. Considering my 1968 Dodge Super Bee was rated at 335 hp and was one of the fastest production cars of the day, I have to ask, where’s it all going?   Trumping the 650-hp 2015 Corvette Z06 and the 662-hp Mustang Shelby GT500 — and a host of European exotics — Chrysler’s SRT Hellcat line should be the ultimate “Need for Speed” machine, assuming buyers can find a public highway...

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The Wolf of Walmart

By: Automotive News AutoDealer Monthly I have been to Atlantic City many times. I have conducted seminars there, spoken at conferences and consulted nearby dealers. It isn’t the nicest part of New Jersey, and it sure ain’t Las Vegas. Unlike Vegas, where the airport is a stone’s throw from the Strip, the closest major airport is in Philadelphia. The streets and sidewalks around the casinos are nice enough, but you wouldn’t want to stray too far from the bright lights. The surrounding blocks are seedy, dirty and crime-ridden. It’s the kind of place...

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Experian Finds Longer Vehicle Ownership Reduces Brand Loyalty

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Experian Automotive found that the longer consumers owns their vehicles, the less likely they are to buy their next vehicle from the same brand. Average length of ownership in the first quarter of 2014 was 7.75 years, a number which correlated with a brand loyalty rate of 49.5%. In Experian’s analysis, the company found that owning a car for one year held a brand loyalty rate of 57.3%, while owning it for 12 years had a brand loyalty rate of 33.8%. While the drop in brand loyalty was consistent with ownership length, the largest...

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Avg. New-Vehicle Transaction Price Up $3,900 Since 2009

By: Admin Rising transaction prices for new vehicles have been a big contributor to the health of the auto industry this year, J.D. Power analysts reported this week. They noted that the average new-vehicle transaction price has risen $3,900 since 2009 to $29,600. Current transaction prices for new vehicle and the rise in sales could push up the value of vehicles purchased to the highest level ever at $407 billion, J.D. Power noted. “When defining success in the auto industry, whether it is for a specific segment, manufacturer or model, it’s...

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Braman Motorcars Implements LoJack Inventory Management

ANTON, Mass. — LoJack Corporation has deployed its LoJack inventory management system with South Florida's Braman Motorcars, a top 30 dealer group. The new inventory management system will help deliver an accurate location of vehicle inventory across multiple lots, helping to minimize the time required in the regular dealer inventory process. LoJack is working with Braman to further refine the system that uses a telematics platform and a proprietary user interface. "LoJack has had a long tradition of bringing products to dealerships that help...

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