After a jury's fraud judgment — and an eye-popping $5.8 million award — over the sale of a used Ferrari, an Arkansas dealership is arguing that the punishment does not fit the alleged misdeed — or the law.
Dealers featured this week include Carol and Dick Wendle of Wendle Ford in Spokane, Wash.; Kim Fox, dealer principal of Bergeron Toyota in Iron Mountain, Mich.; and Tim Pohanka, dealer principal of Pohanka Nissan of Fredericksburg in Virginia.
Here's a look back at some of the destruction caused by weather and other disasters in 2018.
At Diehl Automotive, having a distribution center off-site for the group's two Pittsburgh-area stores helps lower costs while increasing inventory control and accountability for new and used vehicles.
Here's a look back at some memorable dealership moments from 2018.
The 2015 Nissan Leaf, for example, has actually grown slightly in value over the last year.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric car company will reimburse customers if delays to car deliveries cause them to miss out on a significant tax credit.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may keep its name after all, marking a feeble end to a nearly yearlong, ultimately fruitless saga.
Of all the F&I stories published in 2018, Automotive News readers were most interested in auto finance regulation and the role of the F&I manager.
Changes in technology, regulation and the lending landscape led much of the F&I chatter of 2018. Here are some of the major highlights from this year.
Honda is hoping the Passport will be an alternative to CR-V owners ready to upgrade to a mid-size crossover that will keep them in the Honda family.
Despite surging sales, Jeep Wrangler inventory levels have ballooned to well over 100 days' supply, and more are going to fleets.
Closing car company offices over the holidays while retailers stay open sends the wrong message, according to Automotive News Editor-In-Chief Keith Crain.
How can auto retailers survive the future? With technology, improved customer experience and scale.
The coming wave of digital retailing is about changing the process, the people, the roles and the compensation.
Newton Nissan of Gallatin says its launch of a mobile app has helped retain customers, book service appointments and sell vehicles.
The controller of a Connecticut BMW store will spend 2.5 years in prison for embezzling more than $1.1 million from the dealership.
CarMax's profit jumped in the fiscal third quarter, partially boosted by a decrease in the corporate tax rate. The company also expanded its store count.
Ford is modifying the assistance it gives dealers for loans to finance new-vehicle inventory to help offset rising interest rates.
Fair, a used-vehicle leasing subscription service led by auto retail heavyweights, is the latest company to catch SoftBank's eye. The Japanese technology giant led Fair's latest $385 million funding round. Scott Painter, Fair's CEO, said the funding will help accelerate its year-old partnership with Uber.
Michael Larson, the director who was leading the effort to find a replacement for Mike Jackson as AutoNation's CEO, abruptly stepped down Monday.
Nissan Latin America Chairman Jose Valls is taking over the automaker's top North America sales job from Dan Mohnke, who has held the post for 14 months.
Recent data suggest this brand loyalty is leveling off across the industry. How to counter the trend.
Facility improvement gripes are perennial complaints, but dealers wonder: Why invest in their own brick and mortar, especially as automakers close plants and launch vehicle subscription models?
Cars.com is betting that a restructuring and job cuts will help answer an activist investor's call for change and aid the online shopping site's efforts to grow beyond vehicle listings.
A Michigan dealership hosts bimonthly dinners for its new vehicle buyers to familiarize them with their sales rep, show them services the dealership offers and keep them coming back.
Inventory levels in the U.S. climbed above 4 million units at the beginning of December for the first time in seven months.
A Florida dealership agreed to pay $150,000 to a former assistant parts manager who wasn't considered for promotion because she is a woman.
A new survey of 35,000 dealership service technicians concludes that techs are unhappy with their jobs, and especially with their flat-rate pay plans.
A new law in Rhode Island toughens that state's regulation of the use of aftermarket parts in collision repairs. Several other states similarly limit aftermarket parts in vehicle repairs paid for by insurance companies, often by requiring notification and consent of the vehicle owner.
Dealership service departments are offering customers Lyft rides to relieve pressure on their loaner fleets and shuttles.
Mini says its program of embedding dealership service techs with race crews is promoting teamwork and building morale.
A Miami dealership group says its business development center focusing on service department calls is generating more repair orders, higher profits.
The integration of fixed ops data generated separately by Tire Profiles and Dealer-FX is not unique, says Dave Boyle, CEO of Tire Profiles.
A new campaign aims to enlist state lawmakers to mandate greater use of factory parts in collision repair.
What is your dealership's parts department doing to sell more parts, both online and through other channels?
Fixed Ops Journal Editor Dave Kushma juxtaposes two trends: Savvy dealers who are increasingly relying on parts and accessories to shore up profits, and a potentially ruinous tide of discontent among service technicians.
Jordan Hettinga oversees initiatives that are designed to make it faster, easier and less labor-intensive for new-vehicle dealerships to sell original equipment replacement and repair parts in the eBay online marketplace. Hettinger, previously an executive with Snap-On Tools, says he aims to help dealers keep turning their parts departments' inventory.
On how franchised dealerships can list retail parts on eBay Motors
Many of our 1,000-plus OEM dealers are brought in through third-party partners that create listings for dealerships using OEM parts data. These partners can tap directly into the dealership management system to provide inventory control between the listing and the dealership's inventory records. These partners also have special pricing that enables listing larger volumes of parts.
For high-volume dealers, many of these sellers come through partners such as WHI, OEConnection and RevolutionParts. Through these listing solutions, sellers get benefits, including an eBay storefront and the associated listing fee discount. These partners provide a fast way to list inventory directly from the DMS.
On how eBay helps parts department managers and employees run a mail-order business
We have a variety of training resources available online to sellers of parts and accessories. Additionally, the partners I mentioned before have a ton of support available for working with dealers directly.
The partners will work you through an onboarding process to help you understand what it takes to be a better online retailer. They help sellers get a grasp on best practices, shipping and packaging expectations in the industry, and more. Our partners are well equipped to help dealerships with a successful e-business strategy.
On eBay Motors' initiatives to help dealerships get into mail-order parts sales
We continue to work on growing authorized reseller programs for OEM dealerships. These are programs we've created with the OEMs to help build trust with buyers — to help give better visibility that the part they're buying is authentic and from an OEM dealership.
One of the things that comes up regularly is obsolete inventory — what do we do for it? EBay is a great way for dealerships to start listing and selling parts on the platform. It's even easier if you're using a third-party partner; your obsolete inventory already exists in your DMS. It's a great way to try to clear out inventory that tends to be a pain point for some dealerships.
On how eBay helps reduce returns by helping buyers find the right part
We have built algorithms that connect the largest catalog of parts and auto inventory in the world, with unique visual diagrams based on car make and model. Buyers can search for the part they are looking for with just one click and be guaranteed that it is right for their vehicle.
Shop by Diagram is a new feature that we rolled out in August. It supports vehicles from 1995 to the present model year. We have plans to expand this feature to include older-model vehicles.
What's really useful for OEM dealers is that anytime a consumer engages and tells us their vehicle information when they are purchasing a part, we provide that information to the seller directly.
A year after a strike by service technicians at Chicago area dealerships, union officials say that the settlement has left key issues unresolved.
Service customers greatly prefer that dealership shops notify them by text message when their cars or trucks are ready, a new survey suggests.
Before selling cars, the Kari family opened a bicycle garage in the late 1920s that expanded to vehicle maintenance and repair. As this late 1920s photo shows, the family also sold gasoline: 16.6 cents a gallon.
The flat-rate pay system, which assigns specific amounts of time to do vehicle repair and maintenance work, was a key issue in last year's strike of service technicians at Chicago-area auto dealerships. Flat-rate is a blessing to techs who can regularly beat “book times,” but a curse to others who can't always complete jobs in the allotted times.
Parts sold via the Internet generally are less profitable than those sold in the dealership, but the potential to sell online in large volumes can overcome that disadvantage.
Online sales of replacement parts and accessories are a fast-growing fixed ops profit center for dealerships.
A Seattle dealership says its merger of separate fixed ops digital technologies has helped increase repair orders, boost tire and alignment sales.
Dealership service departments are selling more accessories by teaming up with financial institutions to offer zero-interest loans to customers.
