Dealers: Page 132

Making a small parts department into a giant

When Sam Pack purchased Lee Jarmon Ford in 1980, having one of the nation's most successful parts departments wasn't foremost on his mind. It wasn't long, however, before he spotted an opportunity in parts. I just saw a niche years ago and began to develop it, the Carrollton, TX dealer explains. His was a modest parts department in the dealership back then. Now it's located off-site. It's the largest

By Cliff Banks • Oct. 1, 2001

Email marketing can work well if you know the ins and outs

Email marketing campaigns can help a dealership if you know what you're doing. Consider the response rate results from an email marketing campaign by a Texas dealership, Richardson (TX) Toyota, in conjunction with MyCarPage.com. The dealership emailed 1,044 customers a service coupon. Two types of emails were sent. In one, 476 customers received a coupon with a survey attached. Only eight customers

By Cliff Banks • Oct. 1, 2001

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

American Suzuki offers zero percent financing across the line

American Suzuki Motor Corp. and American Suzuki Automotive Credit will offer zero percent financing on the entire 2001 automotive product line for up to 60 months. That bests other car companies' – notably Ford’s and GM’s -- zero percent APR finance programs offered to spur vehicle sales which dropped after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. American Suzuki was already offering zero percent financing

Sept. 27, 2001

NADA and NFL working the deal

After saying "No deal," the National Automobile Dealers Association is reconsidering the National Football League's proposal to switch the dates of the Super Bowl and the NADA Convention. The Super Bowl is scheduled for January 27 in New Orleans and the NADA Convention is slated for February 2-5, also in New Orleans. Because of the senseless attacks on Washington D.C. and New York City on September

By Cliff Banks • Sept. 24, 2001

Showroom 101

The New Car Dealers Association of San Diego County sponsors a sales training program to bring new talent from recent high school graduates to retirees into the showroom, says Dean Mansfield, president. Called the California Sales Training Academy when held in Orange County, San Jose or San Diego and the Sales Training Academy for Automotive Retailers when taught in Philadelphia the effort to recruit

By Jim Leman • Sept. 1, 2001

Wine auction raises $1 million for the American Cancer Society

The 22nd annual l'Ete du Vin, Nashville's International Wine Auction, raised more than $1 million for the American Cancer Society. Manheim Auctions underwrote the event. It's the nation's largest, non-industry, for-charity wine auction, and Nashville's largest charity event. Manheim employees brought their professional skills to the event. They served as auctioneers and ringmen.

Sept. 1, 2001

Study shows dealership staffs happy with DSP providers

Dealership employees are more satisfied with their computer system providers than they were three years ago, but the vendors fall short of goals that the NADA's Information Technology Committee established. The committee's new research shows that overall dealership satisfaction with dealership system providers (DSP) has improved from 66% satisfaction in 1998 to 71% in 2001. However, it falls short

By Tim Keenan • Sept. 1, 2001

WARD’S DEALER BUSINESS WINS NATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD

Ward's Dealer Business won a national editorial excellence award from the American Society of Business Press Editors. Winning silver honors in the feature series category was our two-part State of the Industry. It reviewed and analyzed auto events of 2000 and looked ahead to 2001. The series ran in the December 2000 and January 2001 issues. The State of the Industry series won a gold award in AMSBPE's

Sept. 1, 2001

Aon Corp. acquiring First Extended Inc. to expand into dealership mechanical repair programs

Aon Corp. is acquiring First Extended Inc., an administrator of extended service contract products. First Extended will enhance Aon Warranty Group's current warranty offerings by providing additional choices in automotive mechanical repair programs. First Extended will also allow Aon Warranty Group to add distribution channels by reaching dealerships through their relationships with general agencies,

Sept. 1, 2001

CarsDirect.com adds more consumer research options

Los Angeles-based CarsDirect.com has launched a comprehensive research center for customers on its Web site. The new research capability will help CarsDirect.com customers make more-informed car buying decisions by offering easy access to essential pricing information, enhanced vehicle comparison tools and in-depth automotive reviews from Automobile Magazine and NewCarTestDrive.com. During a phased

By Wire Reports • Aug. 29, 2001

Carsdirect.com Launches Dedicated Automotive Research Center

CARSDIRECT.COM LAUNCHES DEDICATED AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH CENTER Research Center Will Provide Comprehensive Pricing Information, Cost-of-Ownership Data, In-Depth Vehicle Reviews, Other Useful Tools CarsDirect.com today announced the launch of a comprehensive research center on its website. The new research capability will help CarsDirect.com customers make more informed car buying decisions by offering

By Wire Reports • Aug. 22, 2001

Capital Automotive Closes $102.4 Million Transaction with CarMax

Capital Automotive Closes $102.4 Million Transaction with CarMax Capital Automotive REIT, a specialty finance company for automotive retail real estate, announced yesterday the acquisition of nine automotive retail properties for approximately $102.4 million from CarMax, division of Circuit City Stores, Inc. This acquisition added approximately 413,000 square feet of buildings and improvements on

By Wire Reports • Aug. 16, 2001

Bank of America is the latest to exit the leasing game

The fallout of much lower than anticipated residuals for end of term lease vehicles continued today as the Bank of America Corporation announced it is exiting its auto leasing business because it does not fit the company's strategic and profitability objectives. In a statement released today, Kenneth D. Lewis, chairman and chief executive officer for Bank of America, said "We have said for some time

By Cliff Banks • Aug. 15, 2001

New survey ranks customers’ satisfaction with tires

Michelin brand tires earn the highest customer satisfaction among passenger-vehicle and light-truck owners replacing their tires, according to the J.D. Power and Associates’ 2001 Replacement Tire and Retailer Customer Satisfaction Study. Firestone, which has seen its share of troubles in the past year, did not rank particularly well. In the 10th year of this national study, Michelin has ranked highest

Aug. 7, 2001

APC Sets Up Shop in TC

Signifying increased cooperation among its members and a desire to speed up the use of plastics in automotive applications, the American Plastics Council is exhibiting for the first time here in Traverse City during the Management Briefing Seminars. “We’ve had no presence officially here in the past,” says Bruce Cundiff, director of automotive for the APC, a national trade organization representing

By Brian Corbett • Aug. 6, 2001

GM Quits Korea Retail Sales Operations

SEOUL– General Motors Korea sells its retail sales operations for General Motors Corp. and Saab cars to a private Korean businessman, effectively abandoning its fledgling and unsuccessful sales effort. One source familiar with GM’s Asia/Pacific strategy suggests the move may be linked to GM’s plans for acquiring Daewoo Motor Co. Ltd. By divesting its dealerships, GM detaches itself from the retail

By Vince Courtenay • Aug. 1, 2001

DEALERSHIP SUCCESSION CAN BE TRICKY

A car dealer, age 80, getting ready to retire, was shocked when his son, whom he considered his successor, announced he was planning to retire soon. AN UNUSUALLY HIGH NUMBER OF FAMILIES OWN and operate retail new-vehicle dealerships. This being the case, there are many important succession and management issues that must be addressed to accomplish the goals desired jointly by the family. Important

By Nat Shulman • Aug. 1, 2001

Land Rover dealer scales to peak of success

Market penetration, customer satisfaction and overall satisfaction with the repair and maintenance process earns the title of top U.S. Land Rover retailer for Miami-based Land Rover South Dade. A Land Rover-exclusive facility that specializes in four-wheel drive vehicles, Land Rover South Dade garners 8,879 points out of a possible 10,000 to win the Land Rover Trophy. Owned and operated by Warren

Aug. 1, 2001

Tough times still ahead for leasing industry

By now, everyone in the industry knows the story. The residuals on full-term lease vehicles are much lower than original estimations made at the beginning of the leases. The number of lease vehicles being returned at a loss is extraordinary. According to the Consumer Bankers Assoc., 95% of the full-term vehicles returned to lessors lost money in 2000, compared with 84% in 1999 and 71% in 1998. In

By Cliff Banks • Aug. 1, 2001

Honda retailers MOVE to improving allocation mix

Since 1997, American Honda has been counting on its dealers to help them forecast demand, and now both parties seem pleased with the results of the web-based system called MOVE. That's short for market-oriented vehicle environment. As a result, the company's inventory went to 38 days compared to the industry average of 70 days. From a tactical standpoint, we understood the success of this project

By Tim Keenan • Aug. 1, 2001

Hometown Auto Retailers settle claim with former dealer

Hometown Auto Retailers reached a settlement with the former owner of its Toyota of Newburgh operations, Richard Gaillard, that eliminates Hometown's obligation to issue 1.8 million additional shares of Hometown common stock to the former owner. Under terms of the original "buy/sell" agreement between the two parties, Hometown was obligated to issue the 1.8 million new shares (or cash equal to the

By Wire Reports • July 20, 2001

Insurance firms transfer responsibilities to body shops

Just five years ago, only about 8% of collision repair work was handled through insurer direct repair programs (DRPs). By 1998, it hit 20%. It's estimated to reach 30% this year. The reason behind the trend is the estimated $8 million insurers spend annually on loss-adjusting expenses, says Rick Tuuri, director of ADP's industry relations. That $8 million doesn't include a nickel spent on actually

By John Yoswick • July 1, 2001

DIRECTORS NAME PHILLIP D. BRADY AS NEW NADA PRESIDENT

Phillip D. Brady is the new president of the National Automobile Dealers Association. He's the NADA Board of Directors' unanimous choice following an extensive search. Mr. Brady succeeds Frank McCarthy, who died of cancer in February after serving as NADA's chief executive for 33 years. Mr. Brady pledged to build on that legacy. This is the beginning of a new era at NADA, says Robert Maguire, NADA

July 1, 2001

WE PICK OUR 1ST DEALER OF THE YEAR

All the nominees are quality people with great personal and professional life stories to tell. THIS IS A TOUGH ONE, REMARKED TONY NOLAND of NCM Associates as we considered nominees for this issue's Dealer of the Year, our first feature of its kind, and something we plan to do annually. Mr. Noland is right. So says everyone involved in the process of nominating the candidates, narrowing down the finalists

By Steve Finlay • July 1, 2001

Ward’s Dealer 500

Dealers on the 15th annual Ward's Dealer Business 500 are getting bigger and stronger. Since 1997 — when the total revenue average per dealership on the Ward's 500 equaled $90.9 million — the total revenue average has increased approximately $10 million each year to reach 2000's record total average of $121 million. In 1999, 241 dealers surpassed the $100 million mark for total revenue. In 2000, that

By Cliff Banks • June 27, 2001