Dealers: Page 133

Not an afterthought: Aftermarket revenues increase by $4 billion

Automotive aftermarket product and service volume in the U.S. reached $151.2 billion during 2000, a $4 billion increase over 1999 in current dollars at user-price (the price paid by ultimate consumers of products and services). In its Aftermarket Annual 2001, Lang Marketing (www.langmarketing.com) reports that 2000 aftermarket product sales in the U.S. totaled $110.4 billion, with purchased service

June 25, 2001

F&I - The Center of the Dealership Universe

To view the Ward's Top 20 F&I Leaders click here. The Finance and Insurance department is an integral part of any dealership operation. The average Ward’s 500 Dealer brought in about $3.3 million in F&I revenue in 2000. Considering overhead is pretty low for F&I departments, that’s a pretty good chunk of change. Ron Martin, F&I columnist for Ward’s Dealer Business, and owner of The Vision of F&I,

By Cliff Banks • June 21, 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

Smythe European - No. 1 Service Department, Again

Smythe European (ranked 5th on this year’s Ward’s Dealer 500) is the leader in service department revenue for the third consecutive year. The San Jose, CA import dealership generated $23.3 million in service revenue in 2000. That’s an increase of $4.6 million from 1999. What is even more astounding is in 1997, just before AutoNation purchased the dealership, total service department revenue was approximately

By Cliff Banks • June 21, 2001

Here’s a dealership Q & A on E-mail

In a study of over 250 dealers, 6gear Inc. of San Francisco encountered these and other recurring questions about email marketing. The following Q and A is based on that survey: How does email marketing work? Dealership customers "opt-in" to receive e-mail messages regarding their vehicle and their dealership. Historical DMS data is then used to identify groups of customers who will receive specific

June 18, 2001

Number of new-car dealer operations falling in Europe

The numbers of new-car dealer operations in the United Kingdom and France are falling faster than almost everywhere else in Europe, according to a new survey by leading auto industry consultancy HWB International Ltd. Both the UK and France have around 5,000 main dealer contracts (territories) across the 39 makes surveyed, and both have seen the total decline by 10% over the last four years. But whereas

By Ward's reports • June 6, 2001

Today’s consumers give dealerships high marks, according to 2 studies

The dealership experience once considered by many consumers as painful is getting high marks from today's buyers, according to two surveys that Automotive Retailing Today commissioned. The Gallup Organization, which polled how satisfied customers are with their new vehicle purchase or leasing experience, says 85% reported a positive experience and 94% reported being satisfied with the dealership they

By Steve Finlay • June 1, 2001

It’s the size of the fight in the dog

Dealers on the lower tier of the Ward's Dealer Business 500 may make less money (a range of $73 million to $91 million) than the bigger guys, but they approach the business in many of the same ways. Despite selling a lot of cars last year, dealers at the top of the Ward's 500 list and dealers near the bottom both turned their attention toward fixed operations a factor that will help them weather any

By Cliff Banks • June 1, 2001

Bank One goes with longer leases

Bank One President Ed Tinsley says that, in contrast to the leasing pullout wave that began last year, the Phoenix-based lender is staying in the field with longer-term leases of preferably 48 to 60 months. It has established a remarketing team for off-lease vehicles, promotes subprime financing and is helping its 5,000 to 6,000 dealer clients upgrade their web sites to speed F&I application processing.

June 1, 2001

GMAC touts two new initiatives

GMAC is focusing on two new initiatives daily dealer auctions of off-lease vehicles and instant clearances of loan and lease applications on an upgraded web site. A record number of vehicles are pouring in off-lease this year for all providers, and GMAC is counting on its auction web site to facilitate their disposal back to GM dealer used-car lots. GMAC's nonprime Nuvell division is participating

June 1, 2001

Top-Level Dealers

To see more information on the Top Five megadealers, click here. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader For free download, click here. The Ward’s Dealer Business Megadealer 100’s upper echelon, despite their size and scope, take a hometown approach to automotive retailing. "We're all coming closer to the model that is the right model for large megadealers/consolidators in this marketplace, which is to run

By Tim Keenan • May 30, 2001

Associated Press story highlights Ward’s Megadealer 100

DETROIT (AP) - With 373 franchises in 17 states and $20.5 billion in revenue, AutoNation leads the top 100 "megadealers", according to a list published Monday by Ward's Dealer Business magazine. A megadealer is a company that owns a group of dealerships. Of the roughly 2,200 new car dealerships in the United States, about 1,725 are owned by the top 100 megadealers, accounting for 5.1 million new and

May 15, 2001

Mid-level dealers are cautious, yet they’re having fun and making money.

There’s one big change for the mid-level dealer groups on the Ward’s Dealer Business Megadealer 100 -- more revenue. In 1999, the mid-level players (Nos. 30 – 70) generated almost $18.5 billion in revenue. Total revenue for the segment in 2000 was $20.3 billion – a 9.7% increase. Of course, with 2000 being a record-breaking year for the automotive industry, the increased revenue is not too shocking.

By Cliff Banks • May 13, 2001

ADP-Advent agreement offers dealers more integrated F&I system

ADP's Dealer Services Group has signed a technology and business agreement with Advent Resources Inc. that will give Advent's dealer clients a more-integrated F&I management system and give ADP users access to Advent's services. The agreement certifies Advent as a member of ADP's Application Programming Interface (API) program, which gives selected partners the ability to interface to the ADP Elite

By Tim Keenan • May 2, 2001

NADA exec takes vice president’s job at Bell & Howell’s automotive unit

Bell & Howell's Publishing Services division, which provides electronic parts catalog systems for automotive parts, named Lee Poseidon senior vice president and general manager of its Global Automotive business unit. Most recently, Mr. Poseidon was chief operating officer for dealer services at the National Automobile Dealers Association. Prior to NADA, he was a principal in the consulting firm Growth

May 1, 2001

Card’s microchip is a link to dealer

Castrol Oil's new Smart Customer Card is designed to make the customer want to bring the vehicle back to the dealership for maintenance and repairwork. Castrol will mail the plastic card to customers who purchase a vehicle from a participating dealer. Also mailed for free is a card reader that connects to any PC. The card has a computer chip that includes the dealership's customized information about

By Cliff Banks • May 1, 2001

The lessor of evils It’s been a great, but costly, lesson

LAS VEGAS How bad are lease residual losses these days? Deadly. So say participants in the 2001 Conference of Automotive Remarketing, trying to make sense of the worst residual losses in the last seven years and bracing for more of the same this year. Bill Jensen of Banc One Credit Co. likens it to an He calls his analysis of what went wrong an autopsy. The not-so-good good news? You can't fall down

By Steve Finlay • May 1, 2001

Megadealers high on the list use the “hometown” approach despite their size

To see the Ward's Megadealer 100 list, click here. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader For free download, click here. For more Wards Megadealer 100 information, click here. The Wards Dealer Business Megadealer 100s upper echelon, despite their size and scope, take a hometown approach to automotive retailing. "We're all coming closer to the model that is the right model for large megadealers/consolidators

By Tim Keenan • May 1, 2001

Asbury names Levenson to top marketing post

Asbury Autogroup has announced the appointment of Allen Levenson as its chief marketing officer and vice president of customer experience, a new position that reports directly to Asbury CEO Brian Kendrick. Mr. Levenson will be responsible for improving sales and profits through newly created customer-focused strategies, including the implementation of a major customer relationship management (CRM)

By Tim Keenan • April 27, 2001

Study says online auto information accuracy is worse

Vehicle pricing and specification information on auto websites is more inaccurate than it was last year, according to CNW Marketing Research’s second annual Online Vehicle-Pricing Accuracy Study. The study says the average price inaccuracy increased from $444 last year to $630 this year. The results do not bode well for the consumers who use the Internet to obtain dealer invoice pricing and the Manufacturer’s

By Ward's reports • April 19, 2001

Group 1 Automotive Included on Fortune 500 List

Group 1 Automotive announced today that it is ranked 458th on Fortune Magazine’s list of America’s 500 largest companies according to revenue. Today’s announcement reveals a significant jump from last year’s ranking of 569th on the Fortune 100 list for the automotive retailing giant. Group 1 increased its 1999 revenues of $2.5 billion to $3.6 billion in 2000. The jump is indicative of the strength

By Cliff Banks • April 10, 2001

Manheim opens bigger Las Vegas auction

Manheim Auctions opened the doors of a brand-new facility in Las Vegas, marking the beginning of a new era for Manheim's Greater Las Vegas Auto Auction. Located at 3225 South Hollywood Blvd., the Greater Las Vegas Auto Auction has grown from a 10-acre location to 42 acres. The expansion will allow the auction to more than double its current business. With the addition of an extra lane, the new facility

By Steve Finlay • April 6, 2001

PROVEN WAYS TO GET EXPENSES IN LINE

Last month, I noted that dealers at the NADA Convention sounded a common refrain of I have to get my expenses in line. I also noted that doing that doesn't happen overnight, but it can happen in short order if you take a few right steps. Dedicate one morning for an expense management meeting with all departmental managers. Review each individual expense. First, determine if it is essential. Second,

By Tony Noland • April 1, 2001

Seven tips on how to make your web sites sell for you

Dealer web sites are an exciting way to reach out to customers. But are automotive professionals taking the time to measure their effectiveness? Just because you have a nice web site doesn't mean it's doing the best it can to attract visitors and motivate them to buy, says David Saxby, president of Measure-X. It's a Phoenix, AZ-based company that helps those in the automotive industry measure business

April 1, 2001

A hard act to follow

He did more for the franchised dealers than anyone else in the system's 100 year history.Robert Maguire NADA chairman Bruce Kelleher, a 35-year National Automobile Dealers Association staff veteran, is stepping in as interim president of the organization after the death of its long-time chief executive, Frank E. McCarthy. When naming Mr. Kelleher to the post, the NADA Executive Committee decided not

By Tim Keenan • April 1, 2001

An inside look at AutoNation’s Internet operations

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL There is a noticeable difference between the people who plan and oversee AutoNation's Internet strategy and those at the retail level. The headquarters folks are laid back while the dealership operatives are intense. Stepping off the elevator onto the 24th floor in the AutoNation building (this city's tallest), one might expect to find a space-age type of office environment with

By Cliff Banks • April 1, 2001