Dealers: Page 129

DealerTrack and Credit Online Merge

It garnered little attention, but for dealers, the merger of DealerTrack Inc. and Credit Online is big news. DealerTrack plans to integrate directly into dealer management systems with Credit Online's technology platform. DealerTrack streamlines auto financing by connecting dealers and lenders through the Internet. In existence for less than two years, the company has 20,000 dealers using its system

By Cliff Banks • April 1, 2003

Rotary’s New Lift Eases Dealership Parking Shortages

Its service bay lifts are inside dealerships all over the country. Now Rotary Lift debuts a lift primarily for outdoors and for a new use parking cars. The new double-decker lifts stack and store vehicles. Such lifts are typically used in urban areas where parking is scarce. Rotary also sees potential among car dealers facing parking space shortages due to expanding inventory and more cars in for

By Steve Finlay • April 1, 2003

Explore the Trendline➔

Artificial 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

Father-Son Chat Over Beers Fermented Firm’s Founding

In 1988, Rusty West and his father Russell were sitting around having a beer, watching a game on TV and talking about stuff, as Rusty recalls. The topic turned to leasing, which was just taking hold in the auto industry. The elder West was a pioneer of independent vehicle leasing in Atlanta. The son was about to get a West Georgia College degree in math and computer programming. Says Rusty. We thought

By Steve Finlay • April 1, 2003

Impersonal Computers

We live in an impersonal age that moves at the speed of byte. Electronic mail, dealer communication satellites and consumer surveys connect us in ways that used to require intimate, but painstakingly slow, interaction. Today we get to know each other without ever seeing one another, and yet, we behave as though we're in a relationship. The culprit is easy information. Nowadays, we give and get more

By Peter Brandow • April 1, 2003

Northwood University Honors Bob Baker

San Diego dealer Bob Baker is the recipient of the Northwood University Automobile Dealer Education Award for 2002. Education is one of the most important things you can provide for yourself. I am pleased to be in a position to offer help to others in the process of pursuing their educational goals, says the president and CEO of Bob Baker Auto Group. He and the New Car Dealers Association of San Diego

April 1, 2003

What’s In It For Me?

Service departments can suffer from bad cases of In other words, What's in it for me can be something that all fixed operation staffers feel the brunt of. Technicians may think parts guys never carry the right inventory. Service advisors think that techs are always looking for the gravy jobs, like brakes, alignments, and flushes and not taking as much time to do difficult diagnosis and repairs. Parts

By DAVID SKROBOT • March 1, 2003

Centrix In the Race With High-Risk Financing Drives Centrix

Robert K. Sutton sees high-risk auto finance as a vehicle to success. While many other players have exited the sub-prime market, especially in the current climate of economic uncertainty, he's bullish on serving the fastest-growing sub-sector in the consumer finance. Sutton is the CEO of Centrix Financial, a risk management firm in Englewood, CO, currently doing business in 26 states. His goal? To

By SUE MEAD • March 1, 2003

Dealers Get More Respect

SAN FRANCISCO Dealers, who for years were unwillingly cast in an role of the auto industry, are enjoying newfound esteem these days. They're getting that with help from themselves, happier consumers and auto executives who note dealers have come a long way from the shake and bake days of showroom antics. Dealers are feeling good about themselves and their growing positive public image. That came through

By Steve Finlay • March 1, 2003

Debunking Those Myths

Why bother with OEM accessories when comparable aftermarket brands can be had for less cost to the dealership potentially producing more profit when sold? Three big reasons: fit/finish, warranty and serviceability. Parts managers tell me they use OEM accessories because of fewer problems after the sale. This was the impetus for dealerships switching to the OEM brand and vowing not to go back to the

By GARY NAPLES • Feb. 1, 2003

Two Great Dealer Events

My father as an automotive journalist sometimes took the family along when he covered the National Automobile Dealers Association's conventions each year. He'd hit the convention, and we kids would partake in the family activities and such without knowing (or at that age, caring) what he was doing in the convention hall. I attended my first NADA Convention as a journalist after becoming editor of

By Steve Finlay • Feb. 1, 2003

How to Be Retail Victor

We live in a society that hates short-term expense more than it values long-term customers. Our markets turn on quarterly numbers of dollars, not on numbers of satisfied customers. So, by side-stepping doing the right thing manufacturers are often rewarded by better quarterly earnings reports, their mantra being a penny saved is a penny earned. Unfortunately the highway of once great companies is

By Peter Brandow • Jan. 1, 2003

Dealers Speak!

Dealers are concerned. A possible war, a shaky economy and the effect of 0% financing have them looking carefully at their businesses. Yet, dealers remain optimistic and reveal an uncanny ability to adapt. Here's what they had to say, in their own words, for our annual Dealers Speak feature in which we ask dealers what's most on their minds at the start of the new year: Weird year Gilbert Chavez,

By Cliff Banks • Jan. 1, 2003

Your CPA Should Know

As a CPA, I'm generally one of the top three trusted advisors to whom my clients look for advice. But much of the advice requested of me these days seems away from the general office and away from accounting. Operations, profitability, strategic planning and pay plans are many of the items that I discuss with my clients now. However, as these questions became more prevalent, I knew that it was imperative

By Don Ray • Jan. 1, 2003

Rentals Replacing Service Loaners

Catering to customers is serious business, with services at some dealerships ranging from offering customers use of a putting green, cappuccino bar, and children's play area to on-site manicurist, concierge services, and more. But when it comes to one of the most essential services providing loaner cars to customers while their vehicles are being serviced an increasing number of dealerships prefer

Dec. 1, 2002

Backlash of Backdating

The standard industry practice of backdating contracts may violate federal law. That stems from a Truth in Lending Act case. It went before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The case involved an auto sale and spot delivery. The first contract signed by the buyer was conditioned on certain financing. When that contract fell through, the buyer signed a second contract about

By TOM HUDSON & TERESA ROHWEDDER • Dec. 1, 2002

5 Top Consolidators Boost F&I Yields

Reflecting increased sales of aftermarket products, the five largest publicly owned major dealer consolidators all boosted their F&I revenues in the third quarter. Group 1 Automotive CEO B. B. Hollingsworth Jr. says the Houston-based group of 73 dealerships raised their F&I income 25.9% from a year ago to a record $46.0 million or $996 per vehicle retailed. When the 0% campaign of the Big 3 cut into

Dec. 1, 2002

Manheim’s $40-Million Motown Auction Opens

Manheim Auctions' new $40-million Detroit Auto Auction opened for business on 225 acres. Highlights of the state-of-the-art facility are a 12-lane dealer auction center, a fully equipped 90,000-sq.-ft. reconditioning center and storage for 16,000 vehicles. The sprawling new place is located in Carleton, MI. and is staffed by 475 employees. It replaces the 95- acre Taylor facility that was bulit in

Dec. 1, 2002

Joan Saunders Becomes CEO at CNA

Joan Saunders moves from executive vice president to president and CEO of CNA National Warranty Corp. as Thomas Rowley retires from the top spot at year's-end. Joe Becker, senior vice president of sales, assumes the title of chief operating officer. Saunders began her career in 1987 with CNA National then and has served as executive vice president since 1996. CNA National provides service contracts

Dec. 1, 2002

From File Cabinet to CD

A tidal wave of popularity in electronic data archiving has hit auto dealerships during the last few years. One of the main reasons is to avoid drowning in paperwork. Dealerships using electronic archiving no longer need to print the voluminous journals, schedules, reports and document copies generated by the Dealer Management System (DMS) computer. A year's worth of that stuff can fit on a single

By Don Ray • Nov. 1, 2002

F&I managers face a dilemma: 0% vs. leasing

The used-car glut and the spate of incentives on 2003-model units are heightening the uncertainties of market forecasting and complicating the future of leasing. That adds up to increased problems for F&I managers trying to figure out whether a 0% loan or a harder-to-come-by lease is a better deal for the customer. We like price increases but not incentives, says Raj Sundaram, president of Automotive

By Mac Gordon • Nov. 1, 2002

How to do Subprime Online

Conventional wisdom is that you'll find about as many subprime car shoppers online as you'll find convertibles in Alaska. Not so, says Greg Goebel, a former dealer and current finance & insurance sales trainer, specializing in subprime. Let me tell you, they're there, whether they're online at home or work, he says of people with checkered credit looking online for vehicle deals, mainly on used cars.

By Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 2002

IRS Nixes Dealers’ Tax Shelter

An income tax dodge is how the IRS now regards the practice of dealers using off-shore reinsurance accounts to deposit customers' premium payments for extended warranty contracts and credit insurance policies. An affected dealer says it's a legitimate tax shelter. But the IRS, in a November bulletin, rejects the position that foreign reinsurance companies receiving premium funds from dealers are tax-exempt

By Mac Gordon • Nov. 1, 2002

All for 0% & 0% for all

When all seven new-car dealers in town join in a sales program, that's news. When all of them offer 0% financing on used vehicles, that's a rarity. The dealerships of Findlay, OH did that. A summer promotion of 0% financing on used units was so successful on a dealer-wide basis, it or something similar might well be repeated some day, says Jim O'Donnell, used-car business manager for La Riche Chevrolet-Cadillac

By Mac Gordon • Nov. 1, 2002

Many Happy Returns

John Honiotes has spent a career in the auto industry, first as a dealer, now as vice president of auto operations for Autobytel. His business roots go back to working at his family's grocery store some 40 years ago in Joliet, IL. There, Honiotes learned about keeping customers happy and, thus, keeping customers sometimes at a cost, but at a relatively small one compared to the repeat business it

By Steve Finlay • Nov. 1, 2002

What it Takes

What's it take to obtain an automotive franchise these days if you're not already a dealer on the inside track? Well, if you're without considerable dealership management experience and a whole lot of money, you can pretty much forget it. Gone are the days when someone with limited experience and funds could get a franchise from manufacturers who doled them out freely in an effort to spur sales. But

Oct. 1, 2002