Dealers: Page 108
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Courtesy of WardsAuto
Auto Dealers Get Serious About Service Work
“We’ll do whatever we have to do to get customers in for service,” says dealer Bradley Hoffman.
By Steve Finlay • May 13, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ironically, Car Dealers Use Internet to Get Prospects Offline
Editor's note: This story is part of the WardsAuto digital archive, which may include content that was first published in print, or in different web layouts.The mighty Internet sure helps dealerships sell cars, but there’s an irony to it all. That’s because as much as the Internet is ballyhooed...
By Steve Finlay 2 • May 12, 2010 -
Explore the Trendline➔
Courtesy of Kia Corporation
TrendlineArtificial Intelligence
Automakers and dealers alike are increasingly seeing the use case for AI within their operations. Explore some use cases in this trendline.
By WardsAuto staff -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Rumble Ready
Many auto executives watched in horror as the megadealer movement went public in the 1990s. They thought if publicly traded dealership chains got big enough, the growing megadealers would start dictating terms to them, rather than what typically had been the other way around. Some active imaginations even conjured up the possibility of a dealership chain getting so big and powerful, it would even brand its own car line.
By Steve Finlay • May 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Ask Shoppers: Who Are You?
Dealership employees, by training and disposition, are not confrontational with the public. Confrontation doesn't sell cars. It doesn't satisfy customers. Your employees may fear that asking for proof of identity may be rude and interfere with the attempt to build rapport. However, today's atmosphere requires a new set of rules. Technology makes it easy for an outlaw to pretend to be someone else
By Michael Charapp • May 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Some Providers Pitching Price
Information technology vendors typically promote the new features and functions of their dealership management systems. But this year, dealers also will find vendors pitching the price of their systems. DealerTrack Inc., for instance, was at the recent National Automobile Dealers Assn. convention telling dealers how it can save them 50% on the annual cost of their current system, compared to a DMS
By Ralph Kisiel • May 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Modern Auto Marketing 3.0
(This is the first part of a two part series) It has been about a decade since the automotive Internet revolution started. Since then, we have run the gamut, starting with the Internet threatening to displace sales people and dealerships. Then the Internet was deemed a non event. Now, it is seen as doing what some of us said it would do: Putting customers in charge of the transaction. Making the dealerships'
By Larry Bruce • May 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
MEGA DEALER
Rank Megadealer Group Name City ST Executive(s) Total Dlrshps New Retail Revenue New Retail Units Fleet Revenue New Fleet Units Used Retail Revenue Used Retail Units Wholesale Revenue Whole-sale Units Insurance Revenue Service Revenue Body Shop Revenue Accessories Revenue Total Units Totall Revenue 1 AutoNation Inc. Fort Lauderdale FL Michael Jackson 246 $5,656,000,000 183,372 $81,400,000 3,851 $2,164,200,000
May 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Fisker Duals With Lux Dealers
Henrik Fisker's firm starts selling innovative cars in late 2010, but he says we didn't want to reinvent the wheel in setting up a retail network for his fledging enterprise. So Fisker Automotive Inc. is dualing with existing luxury-brand dealerships across the country. We have 45 U.S. dealers who will be up and ready by the end of this year, says Fisker, CEO of the namesake company, maker of the
By Steve Finlay • April 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Big-Town Dealerships Tend To ‘Get’ It
While visiting his hometown of Rapid City, SD, something occurred to Dean Evans, chief marketing officer for Dealer.com, an online sales-lead and marketing firm.
By Steve Finlay • April 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Downside of Recon Retail
Pre-owned sales should be driven by a high rate of inventory turn rather than based on gross profit per retail transaction says Dale Pollak, CEO of vAuto and the author of the hot-selling book Velocity, From the Front Line to the Bottom Line. His concept is based on the fact that the Internet has changed the way people shop for pre-owned vehicles. When doing an online search, consumers get to a point
By David Ruggles • April 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
ALG Adds Monthly Updates to Residual Risk Analysis
Automotive Lease Guide has added monthly residual value updates to its Residual Risk Analysis tool, which is used by vehicle lessors to analyze their automotive lease portfolio risk. The short-term monthly residual values will be based on the most recent auction data in order to better reflect the latest market fluctuations. The goal is to provide greater residual value accuracy for vehicles that
April 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Internet Aids Simmons Rockwell Group’s One-Price Selling
ELMIRA, NY selling is alive and well at the 5-store Simmons Rockwell dealership group, where Internet sales are healthy, as well. Ranked No.11 on the Ward's e-Dealer 100 roster, the group based in upstate New York has long been on the elite list, owing its Internet numbers to the continuity of value-pricing vehicles and bypassing negotiations. Our customers know they can count on undeviating delivered
By Mac Gordon • April 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
‘One-Stop’ Dave Smith Motors Stays High on 100 List
The dealership found its long-time system tailor-made for the Internet.
By Mac Gordon • March 29, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Spyker Wants More Showrooms; Could Integrate Saab
Spyker currently has 16 North American dealerships and wants more than 25. An executive says it is “quite possible” Spyker and newly acquired Saab will share retail space.
By Tom Murphy • March 16, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Unlucky Dealer Stays Upbeat
Editor's note: This story is part of the WardsAuto digital archive, which may include content that was first published in print, or in different web layouts.George Nahas is an unlucky dealer. You wouldn’t know that from talking to him. He was his upbeat self when I ran into him at the National ...
By Steve Finlay 2 • March 5, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Know Thy Customer
We all know time is of the essence in the Finance and Insurance office when closing a customer. So good use of the limited time is essential. Most customers only have a 20-25 minute attention span and truly appreciate you not wasting precious minutes. If they perceive that you are, it can show up on customer satisfaction surveys. So I ask: What is the single most important step in the F&I process?
By Marv Eleazer • March 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Mitsubishi Australia CEO Resigns
Robert McEniry presided over a period of significant challenge for the subsidiary, including the tumultuous end of local production in 2008 and the transition into a distribution and retail company.
By Alan Harman • Feb. 26, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Bobbled Phone Calls Hurt Dealership Business
Dealership misuse of the phone ranges from not answering it promptly to putting callers on hold too long, to misdirecting calls, to lousy conversational skills.
By Steve Finlay • Feb. 24, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Social Media Marketing Takes Auto Industry by Storm
Ford’s Fiesta Movement campaign resulted in 6,000 order reservations from all 50 states and 100,000 hand-raisers, 97% of which do not drive a Ford product.
By Byron Pope • Feb. 22, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Use Video in Fixed Operations
Video advertising for the sales departments is the norm. Pull up any dealership web site and it usually contains some type of video for the sale of new or used cars. Few have any fixed-operations videos. The usual excuse is that it's too expensive. Not anymore. The video-sharing web sites have created a new market for technology that allows people to shoot and post videos seconds. This technology
By Lee Harkins • Feb. 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Out of Trust, Out of Control
When it's the dealer who's in trouble with fraud, things usually unravel fast. Here's how it happens. A dealer starts to fudge the numbers a little in a bad month. An accounting staffer is told to cook the books to look good on floor planning and inventory. Dealers think they will catch up in good months but that doesn't happen. So starts a domino effect that leads down a road to peril. The biggest
By Lillie Guyer • Feb. 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Six Legal Safeguards to Take
Worn out by increasing compliance obligations? It seems that every year dealers face added responsibilities under federal and state laws. While compliance with all laws is important, a dealer should understand where losses are most predictable and should implement active programs to prevent the most likely losses. Here are some suggestions of where a dealer should concentrate. Implement an F&I compliance
By Michael Charapp • Feb. 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Death of Auto Dealerships Greatly Exaggerated
In the 1990s, some auto-industry seers predicted consumers would one day shop for, order and ultimately buy cars online, virtually eliminating the need for dealerships. That day certainly didn't come. With good reason, says the country's top dealer. It's not that simple, Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest dealership chain, says at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.
By Steve Finlay • Feb. 1, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
Attorneys General Go After Dealers
Having been on both sides as a former assistant attorney general and now a compliance counselor to auto retailers, Terrence O’Loughlin offers this advice to dealers: “Be concerned with how you conduct business.”
By Steve Finlay • Jan. 8, 2010 -
Courtesy of WardsAuto
It’s Wrong To Blame Dealers
A quick study of the golden years of automotive retail would show the benefits of what happens when dealers are in control of the customer experience. My father was fond of pointing out that when manufacturers use all their talent to build the best they can, and dealers are unfettered to sell as many as they can, great things happen. But when manufacturers are too focused on how and what dealers do,
By Peter Brandow • Jan. 1, 2010
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