CU Direct Connect announced that June year-to-date application volume is up 31.6 percent and funding volume is up 27.5 percent. CUDC financial results are even better, with net income up 88.5 percent and book value rising 11.6 percent year-to-date, which is on pace for a 23.2 percent full year gain. CUDC collective market share also continues to grow.
Convenience, Selection Tops for Shoppers
When researching online to buy a car, the majority of men prefer KBB.com (72.2 percent), while women prefer Craigslist. org (66.1 percent), a recent survey finds.
The majority of respondents say convenience, access to inventory, and comparison shopping are the largest benefits to online shopping.
The majority of respondents say the true price, car offered and the need to still speak with a dealer in person are the biggest drawbacks to online shopping.
Consumers Prefer Dentist to Dealership
Consumers feel less stress going on a first date than buying a car. And they would rather visit the dentist than the service department.
That’s the findings of a pair of recent surveys on consumer attitudes.
Car shopping site Edmunds.com conducted a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults and learned that consumers claim purchasing a car or truck is more stressful than getting married, going on a first date or watching their team in a close championship game. Having more trust in the purchase price would relieve a lot of stress for car shoppers.
American car shoppers loathe haggling over price; in fact, 83 percent of respondents prefer to avoid it.
Having more trust in the purchase price would relieve a lot of stress for car shoppers. The survey found that nine out of 10 car shoppers would be more excited to purchase a vehicle if it had a set price they felt good about, rather than having to haggle
Among Millennial respondents, this number jumps to
91 percent, compared to 78 percent of Boomers.
How much do shoppers hate the haggle?
One in five consumers would rather say sayonara to sex for a month than haggle over the price of a car; 44 percent would give up Facebook for one month and 29 percent would turn over their Smartphone for a weekend if it meant avoiding the haggle.
One in three consumers would rather go to the DMV or Secretary of State, do their taxes or sit in the middle airplane seat than go through the process of buying a car through haggling. Between the Generational Divide and Mars versus Venus, consumers disagree on who to trust when it comes to car buying advice.
Little gets better after consumers buy their cars.
Most consumers continue to feel overcharged in the auto repair process and rank the experience of going to the repair shop/dealership to get their car repaired on a par with going to the dentist (with women preferring the dentist), according to a survey from AutoMD.com.
While women have a more negative view of the repair shop/service center experience than men, across the board consumers say a more transparent process would improve the experience.
Consumers say that not knowing what a repair should cost is the biggest challenge in the process
and that they want real apples-to-apples repair job quotes.
The survey was conducted online among more than 2,400 car owners. The survey included self-identified Do-It-For-Me - DIFMers (46 percent) and Do-ItYourself - DIYers (54 percent) who shared consistent and similar views.
Sonic Sets Pre-Owned Sales Record in Second Quarter
It seems the decision of Sonic Automotive Inc. to launch a chain of standalone used-car stores was a good one.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based dealership group set a record for used-car sales in the second quarter.
Sonic dealerships retailed 28,514 used units in the second quarter.
Pre-owned unit sales per store per month reached 100 units in May and 93 units for the second quarter.
The company also set records for fixed operations gross profit ($159.9 million) and total gross profit ($346.9 million).
The previous pre-owned record of 27,657 units sold was
set in the first quarter of this year.
In the month of May, Sonic stores retailed 100 pre-owned vehicles per store per month.
“This was a goal we set for ourselves over three years ago and we know we can continue to build on this accomplishment,” said Jef Dyke, Sonic’s executive vice president of operations
Sonic president B. Scott Smith said the company’s preowned store initiative “is one of the cornerstones which will enable Sonic to rapidly grow in the future.”
The first store is expected to to open in Denver during the fourth quarter.
Illustration by Joe Schlaud
Independent Dealer Ranks Shrink, But Sales Grow
By Jeffrey Bellant
Nearly half of National Independent Automobile Dealers Association members ofer buy-here, pay-here financing and more than 9 in 10 members buy vehicles at auctions.
Those statistics and others are part of the NIADA 2014 Used Car Industry Report. Each year, NIADA surveys its members on a variety of topics covering demographic and business data.
The report also includes data from CNW Research, Experian, Carfax, AutoTrader.com, National Auto Auction Association and the National Alliance of Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealers.
The report states, in the CNW Research section, there were 37,026 independent dealers in the country, a dip of more than 800 dealers from 2012.
However, sales volume by independent dealers rose to 14.3 million in 2013, an increase of 300,000 from 2012.
Market share by independents continued to drop to 34 percent, compared to 34.6 percent in 2012 and 35.5 percent in 2011.
Used vehicles sold on the Internet rose to 47.2 million in 2013, from 45 million in 2012 and 38 million in 2011.
CNW Research also reports the average price of used vehicles sold by independents rose to $9,104 in 2013, from $8,916 in 2012. The firm reported that F&I income rose to 29 percent of used vehicle total sales in 2012. Although the percentage of sales dipped slightly, the actual amount of finance income in dollars still rose to $1,382,164 from $1,251,951.
In addition to the high percentage of NIADA members buying at auction, 85 percent of NIADA members surveyed said they wholesale vehicles at auction. Forty-four percent wholesale through other dealers and less than 17 percent wholesale vehicles online. Dealers use more than one outlet, so the figures won’t add up to 100 percent.
Nearly 40 percent of NIADA dealers said they go to auctions one to four times per month, while 33 percent attend eight or more times per month.
More than 45 percent of NIADA members surveyed
receive $1,000 or less as a down payment, with only 15 percent getting more than $2,000 for a down payment.
Overall, the average down payment was $1,328 and the average contract term was 41 months.
About 61 percent of NIADA members surveyed said they use cash to purchase inventory. More than 35 percent use banks and 21 percent use auction floor planning.
On the technology side, less than half of NIADA members said they use GPS devices. Of the 45 percent who did, there were 21 percent who used starter-interrupt devices and 12 percent who used a payment reminder system, too.
More than 57 percent of those surveyed sell service contracts, with nearly half of those selling one to five contracts per month. Eight percent of those who ofer service contracts sell 31 or more per month.
In a new category, nearly 17 percent of NIADA members ofer certified pre-owned vehicles and 6 percent have rental car operations.
In terms of the types of vehicles sold, more than 48 percent were in the six- to 10-year-old range and more than 7 percent were more than 11 years old.
Seventy-nine percent of NIADA members surveyed advertise online, the highest percentage among all advertising outlets.
Newspapers placed second with 32 percent, followed by radio (23.3 percent) specialty publications (17.6 percent) and 12.5 percent using television.
Mobile advertising was used by only 6 percent of those surveyed. The report shows that 82 percent of dealers have websites in 2013, matching the percentage from 2012.
Average reconditioning costs were $654, according to NIADA members surveyed.
HOW OFTEN DOES YOUR DEALERSHIP ATTEND AUCTIONS PER MONTH?
(percentage of respondents)
Source: NIADA Member Survey
DO YOU SELL WARRANTIES/ SERVICE CONTRACTS?
(percentage of respondents) IF YES, HOW MANY WARRANTIES/SERVICE CONTRACTS DO YOU SELL PER MONTH? (percentage of respondents)
Source: NIADA Member Survey
Franchise Dealers Report Higher Used Profits
Net profit in franchise dealers’ used-vehicle departments was positive for the fifth year in a row in 2013.
The profit per used vehicle retailed increased to $254 from $194 the previous year, according to the
National Autombile Dealers Association’s annual NADA Data report.
Of the 17.4 million used vehicles sold by new-car dealers in 2013, 9.9 million were retailed and 7.5 million were wholesaled.
Used-vehicle sales were up 1.7 percent – with retail sales up 5.6 percent, and wholesale sales down 3 percent. The retail price for the average used vehicle was $18,111, up 3.2 percent from $17,547. Franchise dealers ob-
tained 66 percent of these used units from tradeins, 25 percent from auctions and 8 percent from street purchases and other sources.
The used-car department made up 31.3 percent of total dealership sales dollars.
NEWS BRIEFS
Credit Acceptance Extends Facility
Credit Acceptance Corp. extended the date on which its $325 million revolving secured warehouse facility will cease to revolve to July 18, 2017 from Dec. 27, 2015.
There were no material changes to the terms of the facility.
As of July 18, Credit Acceptance had $162.6 million outstanding under the facility.
Carfax Expands Database
Carfax announced that automobile accident reports from police departments across the U.S. now are accessible through its accident reports service, Crashdocs.org.
Insurers, lawyers and other interested parties can order accident reports from all 50 states and the District of Columbia through an online site.
In addition, Carfax does not add convenience fees to accident reports ordered through Crashdocs. org, in many cases making them the same price that’s charged at the police station.
People who need information about a specific crash can order the police accident report online through Crashdocs.org instead of taking time to visit the police station. There is no cost to create a Crashdocs.org account and no added fees from Carfax to order the accident reports online.,
Westlake Closes Securitization
Westlake Financial Services closed its fifth term asset-backed securitization.
J.P. Morgan served as structuring lead manager and joint bookrunner with Credit Suisse as the co-lead and joint bookrunner.
Wells Fargo and RBS were comanagers on the deal.
With five classes of bonds ofered, from A1+ to BBB, all were at least three times oversubscribed by investors. Westlake issued BBB bonds for the first time and achieved a 93 percent advance rate on the total bond issuance.
CarMax Adds Texas Store
CarMax Inc. has ofcially opened its second store in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Located at 4700 River Ranch Blvd., this is CarMax’s sixteenth store in Texas.
The Southwest Ft. Worth store is more than 20,000 square feet, occupies more than 11 acres, employs nearly 70 associates and stocks ap-
proximately 250 used vehicles .
Owner-Operators Skip Vacations
One in five U.S. microbusiness owners - those with five or fewer workers, including the owner - report not taking any vacation days in the past 12 months, with another 21 percent saying they took a week or less.
These owners are also the most likely to say they will not be vacationing anytime soon - with almost half saying they don’t expect to take a vacation in the next year either.
The median annual vacation for microbusiness owners is 12 days,
comparable with average vacations across the general workforce.
By contrast, the average number of annual vacation days for microbusiness owners in the U.S. is 29 days. That average is pulled higher by the 18 percent who report taking two months or more of vacation time in the past 12 months.
Experian Offers Hispanic Tool
Experian Consumer Services-Afnity and Univision Communications Inc. announced the launch of a Spanish-language, credit-focused product for the U.S. Hispanic community.
Published By General Media LLC
USED CAR NEWS (ISSN 1555-7413) is published at 24114 Harper, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080
Phone: 586-772-5200 or 800-794-0760 Fax: 586-772-9400
www.usedcarnews.com
Charles M. Thomas Founder (1947-2002)
Lynda R. Thomas, Publisher Colleen Fitzgerald, General Manager
Contributing Writers: Ed Fitzgerald, Jenny King, Sheila McGrath
Columnist: Tony Moorby
Advertising:
Shannon Colby, Account Manager
Megan Frump, Account Manager Marie Hingst, Account Manager
Circulation: Helen Thomas
Production: Josie Godlewski, Media Manager Tim Montie, Graphic Designer
Used Car News is published the first and third Monday of each month. Subscribers: We print advertisements as sent to us by auctions and other advertisers. It is not possible to verify the correctness of listed vehicles in auction ads. Most lists are partial and all lists are subject to last minute changes by auto auctions, so before travelling a long distance for a particular auto auction event, contact the auction by telephone for a fax of vehicles in the sale. Used Car News assumes no guarantees or liabilities concerning the accuracy of any advertisements. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without the written consent of the publisher.
Please submit clear, legible copy. Payments from first time advertisers must accompany the insertion order. Distribution is guaranteed by U.S. Postal Carriers. The advertising reservation deadline is 5:00 p.m. Friday, 10 days prior to the issue date. Camera ready ads must be received by noon on Monday prior to the issue date.
Myles Mellor
U.S. Attorney Handles Two Fraud Cases
The U.S. attorney for South Carolina recently handled a pair of usedcar cases.
One involved former auto auction owner Michael L. Wolfenbarger of Spartanburg, S.C., pled guilty in federal court to wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Timothy M. Cain accepted the plea and will sentence Wolfenbarger once the U.S. Probation Ofce has prepared a pre-sentence investigation report.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Wolfenbarger, 42, owner of the now defunct Spartanburg Auto Auction, would write checks drawn on bank accounts with insufcient funds or create counterfeit instruments and deposit these checks into other accounts.
The pattern of depositing insufcient funds checks and counterfeit instruments resulted in the books and records of the banks showing inflated balances that permitted these NSF checks or counterfeit instruments to be honored rather than returned unpaid.
Wolfenbarger would then withdraw monies from the banks and/or write checks for goods and services
based on inflated balances and thus take advantage of the time required for a check deposited in one bank to be physically presented for payment at the bank on which it was drawn. It was further part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that Wolfenbarger, rather than remitting funds to the automotive dealerships once a used vehicle had been sold, would deposit these funds in accounts with the banks in an efort to perpetuate the kite and cover bad checks that he had written.
Through this scheme, the victims lost in excess of $1 million.
The second case involved a former Myrtle Beach used-car salesman.
U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said 53-year-old Harry Lavin III has been sentenced to more than 6 years in prison in a bank fraud scheme authorities say cost local financial institutions millions of dollars.
Lavin has also been ordered to pay more than $8.5 million in restitution.
Lavin pleaded guilty last year to bank fraud. Authorities say he made dozens of deposits and withdrawals at two institutions to maintain the scheme.
According to the indictment, those institutions gave immediate credit on the deposits, allowing Lavin to artificially inflate account balances and write new checks against those that hadn’t cleared.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
Depreciation Set to Increase
Depreciation rates on used vehicles are nearing levels not seen since the recession, though the trend will soon reverse and likely lead to marginally higher losses for ABS, according to the latest joint vehicle depreciation report from Black Book and Fitch Ratings.
According to Black Book, both new and used vehicle markets are seeing positive growth after hitting a low of 10.3 million new vehicle sales in 2009.
As a result, depreciation has increased every year since 2011.
Black Book projects new vehicles sales to finish north of 16 million units this year and at least 16.5 million in 2015.
Auto depreciation is expected to rise above 13 percent in 2014.
This level is still below the average pre-recession depreciation rate of between 15 percent and 18 percent annually.
Fitch points out that rising interest rates, not likely to occur until
2015, can result in higher vehicle depreciation if this were to dent consumer demand for new and used vehicles.
In the auto lease ABS sector, rising supply from of-lease volumes in 2014 will contribute to higher depreciation in 2014, and pressure residual value losses.
This is not expected to pose any material threat to overall asset performance nor outstanding ratings.
In the rental car ABS sector, rental car company fleet depreciation rates will creep up, but stay within the historical range of 1 percent to 2 percent per month, depending on each rental car company’s fleet mix.
Housing and service industries will continue to be a net positive for larger vehicle sales and retention levels, although trucks and latermodel vehicles are exhibiting higher-than-normal valuation volatility.
The report is a joint venture by the two companies using Black Book’s used-vehicle depreciation data.
William Nettles
Facebook Requires Focus
By Ted Craig
It often seems the most popular topic on Facebook is complaining about Facebook.
Users post their unhappiness about every topic from the latest layout to being used in psychology experiments.
Businesses have had a diferently complaint lately – their pages are being seen by fewer people.
blame themselves.
Facebook was never a free lunch, Paglia said. Instead, many dealer were gaming the system and now the rules have changed.
“The dealers I’ve seen do well with Facebook have approached it in a professional manner,” he said.
That means posting often and with material people want to see. It also means dedicating resources, including financial resources, to social media marketing.
Dealers should also consider paying Facebook to promote their posts.
The early promise of Facebook as understood by many business owners, including car dealers, was as a free way to promote themselves online. Changes to the formula that puts posts in users’ newsfeeds, however, seem to have broken that promise.
The social media company said the changes place more relevant stories in the users’ newsfeed. Many businesses are upset to find their posts are less relevant.
Ralph Paglia, president of Automotive Media Partners, said dealers who feel this way can only
The efort and expense is worth it, Paglia said.
“Facebook is an extremely high return-on-investment media for dealers,” he said.
The main reason dealers should continue using Facebook and find ways to use it better is the reach. The company recently reported it had 829 million daily active users on average for June, an increase of 19 percent year-over-year.
Dealers Settle with State – Again
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Afairs has obtained a settlement of $1.8 million, plus consumer restitution, from eight auto dealerships and their owners, Carmelo Giufre, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Ignazio Guifre, of Colts Neck.
The settlement resolves an investigation into alleged deceptive sales tactics such as failing to disclose existing mechanical defects or past damage to used cars; charging for supplemental warranties and other costly “after-sale items” without customers’ consent; and failing to honor the negotiated or advertised prices for vehicles.
The settlement includes Route 22 Auto Sales Inc., d/b/a “Route 22 Toyota,” Route 22 Automobiles Inc, d/b/a “Route 22 Honda,” Route 22 Nissan Inc. d/b/a “Route 22 Nissan,” and Hillside Automotive Inc. d/b/a “Route 22 Kia”, all located in Hillside; Hackettstown Auto Sales, Inc d/b/a “Hackettstown Honda”; Hudson Auto Sales Inc. d/b/a Hudson Honda, in West New York; and Freehold Automotive LTD, Inc. d/b/a “Freehold Hyundai” and Freehold Chrysler Jeep, Inc d/b/a “Freehold Chrysler Jeep.” All eight dealerships are owned by Carmelo and Ignazio Giufre.
New Jersey ofcials alleged that actions taken by the dealerships directly violated a prior settlement that Carmelo and Ignazio Giuffre, and certain of the dealerships, reached with the state in 1999, after ofcials received very similar consumer complaints about deceptive practices by the dealerships.
The Division of Consumer Afairs
received complaints from numerous consumers who documented a host of allegations against these dealerships.
In addition to the bait-and-switch tactics and add-on sales without consent, consumers alleged that the dealerships failed to refund deposits in a timely manner after consumers either canceled the sales or were denied financing; advertised cars without including required information such as vehicle identification numbers, thus preventing consumers from being able to check the vehicle’s history of damage and use; and failed to provide consumers with motor vehicle titles and registrations in a timely manner.
In February 1999, Carmelo and Ignazio Giufre, as well as Route 22 Toyota, Route 22 Honda, and Route 22 Nissan entered into a settlement in which the defendants agreed to pay $450,000, including $250,000 as a compensatory fund for consumers, resulting from similar complaints by consumers.
The new settlement requires a payment of $1.8 million which includes $1,733,059 in civil penalties and $66,941 to reimburse the state’s investigative costs and attorneys’ fees.
In addition to that payment, the defendants must work to resolve the complaints of 45 consumers who documented their allegations with the Division of Consumer Afairs.
The defendants shall provide restitution or, if they dispute a consumer’s complaint and requested relief, shall notify the division.
State Changes Title Laws to Address Flood Cars
By Jeffrey Bellant
Colorado legislators passed new laws addressing title branding for flood cars and total loss vehicles with the help of the Colorado Independent Automobile Dealers Association and other groups.
Todd O’Connell, executive director of the Colorado IADA, said one bill followed in the wake of some flooding last fall.
“One of the state representatives asked for a title branding task force,” he said. “So we met four or five times with a bunch of diferent stakeholders.”
O’Connell said the bill that came out of those meetings was an improvement over the prior law, but still came up short. House Bill 141100 would allow a flood vehicle to be repaired under certain parameters without any branding at all.
“That wasn’t acceptable to us,” he said.
“A flood vehicle needs to be disclosed to consumers.”
There was a strong lobbying efort against the bill from the insurance industry, O’Connell added.
He said the supporters of the bill – including the Colorado IADA, the Colorado Auto Dealers Association, recyclers, law enforcement
and consumer groups – provided a “team efort “ to get it passed.
The association was able to work on changing that part of the bill, O’Connell said. HB 1100 creates new brands on titles including: Non-repairable which ensures unsafe cars are not on the road; flood-damaged means a vehicle that has existing water damage is properly identified; Rebuilt from Salvage indicates a vehicle’s past damage has been repaired and is now road-worthy.
But the initial draft did not address another problem in the current law.
In Colorado, if two vehicles were in a head-on collision, with severe damage and deployed airbags, the previous law provided a salvage title for cars that were five years old.
But vehicles older than six years would not get a salvage brand.
“It was goofy,” O’Connell said. “It didn’t make any sense.”
Although the sponsors of HB 141100 did not want to amend their bill, the association found another legislator to write a bill to specifically strike the six-year exemption.
That bill, HB 14-1299, was passed earlier this year and went into effect upon signing this spring.
HB-14-1100, which creates the new flood brand category, also passed and goes into efect in January.
O’Connell said the association was not able to get another change that it wanted this legislative session.
“In Colorado, the threshold for salvage is 100 percent of actual cash value at the time of the damage,”
he said.
So if a vehicle sufers 85 percent or 95 percent damage, insurance companies will deem it a total loss and take title to it. But they can repair and resell it with a clean title.
“That, unfortunately, is still the case,” O’Connell said. “I would like to get it cleaned up next year.”
Photo by the Associated Press
DELUGE: A motorist calls for help during fooding in Colorado last year. The state recently passed a set of new laws to handle food cars.
PAGE 8 - FINANCE AND WARRANTY
Survey Finds Dealers Will Pay for Better Service
New-vehicle dealerships place such a value on the relationship they have with their prime retail credit finance providers that twothirds are willing to pay a premium for good service, according to the J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.
The study examines dealer satisfaction with lenders in four finance segments: prime retail credit; nonprime retail credit1; retail leasing; and floor planning. Satisfaction is measured across three factors in the prime and non-prime retail credit segments: finance provider ofering; application/ approval process; and sales representative relationship. Four factors are measured in the retail leasing segment: finance provider ofering; application/approval process; sales representative relationship; and vehicle return process. Three factors are measured in the floor planning segment: finance provider credit line ofering; floor plan support; and floor plan portfolio management.
The service and relationship dealers have with their finance providers matter enough that 66 percent of dealerships are willing to pay as much as an additional 0.50 to 0.60 basis points on their loan terms to receive good service from their lenders.
“Auto lending is a relationship business, and the
key to success for lenders is to provide dealers with the best support and quickest response times possible,” said Michael Buckingham, senior director of the auto finance practice at J.D Power. “Dealerships want lenders that focus on building strong relationships and that provide a wide array of financing options for vehicle buyers. These fundamentals hold true for all auto financing products.”
Buckingham noted that dealers financing the three consumer-facing products—prime loan, leasing and non-prime—covet lenders that ofer a dedicated credit underwriter and sales representative in order to maintain a level of familiarity, which they believe provides them better and faster service.
Even if a credit underwriter team supports a dealership, providing a primary contact for the dealership solidifies the relationship. In the floor planning segment, dealers seek a responsive and knowledgeable servicing team along with a proactive sales team to help them manage their inventory and expense.
One of the key finds of the survey was that eContracting increases dealer satisfaction. When lenders use eContracting, overall satisfaction averages 892 (on a 1,000-point scale), compared with 858 when lend-
ers do not use that service. Additionally, because of the ease and speed it provides, dealers are more likely to increase their business with lenders that ofer eContracting (35 percent).
The study finds that auto dealers in retail leasing keep 62 percent of their prior leasing customers through retention programs and consumer guidance provided by their lender. More than twothirds (68 percent) of dealers indicate they increased retail business with their provider because of their floor planning relationship.
In the non-prime credit segment, the competitive-
ness of vehicle advance is the most important component of provider oferings.
In the floor planning segment, satisfaction is 937, while satisfaction in retail leasing averages 899. Satisfaction in the prime retail credit segment is 866, while non-prime retail credit satisfaction is 827.
Mini Financial Services ranks highest among lenders in the prime retail credit segment with a score of 968. Following in the rankings are BMW Financial Services (961) and Alphera Financial Services (952).
BMW Financial Services ranks highest among lend-
ers in the retail leasing segment for a third consecutive year, with a score of 975. Following in the rankings are MINI Financial Services (970) and Mercedes-Benz Financial (965).
Mercedes-Benz Financial ranks highest among floor planning lenders for a fourth consecutive year, with a score of 972. Following in the rankings are BMW Financial Services (964) and Hyundai Motor Finance (961). The 2014 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,037 dealers who were surveyed between March and April 2014.
Finance Companies See Little Change in Latest Quarter
A pair of finance companies recently reported results for the latest quarter that showed fairly flat perfonance for both.
General Motors Financial Company Inc. announced earnings of $175 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $178 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2013.
Consumer loan originations were $3.6 billion for the quarter, compared to $3.4 billion for the quarter ended March 31 and $2.5 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2013.
Operating lease originations of General Motors Co. vehicles were $1.5 billion for the quarter ended June 30, compared to $773 million for the quarter ended March 31 and $834 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. The outstanding balance of commercial finance receivables was $7.1 billion at June 30, compared to $7.1 billion at March 31 and $6.7 billion at Dec. 31, 2013. Consumer finance receivables 31-to-60 days delinquent were 3.5 percent of the portfolio at June 30, compared to 3.4 percent at June 30, 2013. Accounts more than 60 days delinquent were 1.6 percent of
August 4, 2014
the portfolio at June 30, compared to 1.4 percent a year ago.
Annualized net credit losses were 1.4 percent of average consumer finance receivables for the quarters ended June 30, 2014 and 2013.
General Motors Financial Company had total available liquidity of $4.8 billion at June 30, consisting of $1.4 billion of unrestricted cash, $1.8 billion of borrowing capacity on unpledged eligible assets, $990 million of borrowing capacity on un-
secured lines of credit and $600 million of borrowing capacity on a line of credit from GM.
Meanwhile, Consumer Portfolio Services Inc. announced earnings of $7 million for the second quarter. This compares to net income of $4.8 million in the second quarter of 2013. Revenues for the second quarter were $71.6 million, an increase of $1.1 million. However, in the second quarter of 2013, revenues included $10.9 million from a gain on cancellation of debt.
Excluding that gain, revenues for the second quarter of 2014 increased by $12.1 million.
Total operating expenses for the second quarter were $59.3 million, a decrease of $2.7 million. However, in the second quarter of 2013, operating expenses included a provision for contingent liabilities of $9.7 million. Excluding the provision for contingent liabilities, operating expenses increased $7 million.
-Putu Blanco
Agency Adds Narratives To Complaint Database
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a new policy that would empower consumers to publicly voice their complaints about consumer financial products and services.
When consumers submit a complaint to the CFPB, they would have the option to share their account of what happened in the CFPB’s public-facing Consumer Complaint Database.
CFPB won’t verify the accuracy of the narratives
“Because creditors must maintain the confidentiality of their customers’ information, it will be very difcult, if not impossible, for a creditor to respond to the narratives,” Hudson said. “The result will be complaint information that is one-sided and unverified. The consumer gets to tell her side of the story, but the creditor will be gagged.”
The CFPB has stated that it is data-driven, Hudson said, but unverified narratives don’t really qualify as data.
The CFPB appears very proud of its exisiting system.
The regulator is releasing a series of videos of consumers who have been helped by the CFPB, some of them after submitting complaints.
CFPB ofcials believe that publishing consumer narratives would provide important context to the complaint, help the public to detect specific trends in the market, aid consumer decision-making, and drive improved consumer service.
“The consumer experience shared in the narrative is the heart and soul of the complaint,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.
“By publicly voicing their complaint, consumers can stand up for themselves and others who have experienced the same problem. There is power in their stories, and that power can be put in service to strengthen the foundation for consumers, responsible providers, and our economy as a whole.”
The CFPB began accepting complaints as soon as it opened its doors in July 2011.
It currently accepts complaints on many consumer financial products, including credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts, private student loans, vehicle and other consumer loans; credit reporting, money transfers, debt collection, and payday loans.
When consumers submit a complaint to the bureau, they fill in information such as who they are, who the complaint is against, and when it occurred.
They are also given a text box to describe what happened and can attach documents to the complaint.
The bureau forwards the complaint to the company, allows the company to respond, gives the consumer a tracking number, and keeps the consumer updated on its status.
Complaints are listed in the database only after the company responds to the complaint or after it has had the complaint for 15 days, whichever comes first. To date, the bureau has handled more than 400,000 complaints.
Attorney Tom Hudson is skeptical about the new process because the
The “Everyone Has a Story” videos show real consumers who have run into trouble with their finances.
The CFPB is also accepting complaints from consumers encountering problems with nonbank products, including title loans.
Title loan companies often provide small loans to consumers using a vehicle title as collateral.
If a consumer defaults or fails to make payments, the lender can take possession of the consumer’s car. These loans are frequently short term and may have high interest rates.
Consumers can submit and title loan complaints to the bureau about:
fees
correctly charging and crediting payments
Issues with the lender repossessing, selling, or damaging the consumer’s property or vehicle
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will Calif., on Oct. 23, to examine how
consumers, especially those who have limited English proficiency.
The event, titled “Debt Collecbring together consumer advocates, industry representatives, state and federal regulators, and academics to discuss the issues.
The roundtable is free and open to the public. It will be held in The Pointe Conference Center at Caliand will also be streamed live online.
Richard Cordray
Insurance Insitute Suggests Safe Cars for Teens
Many teenagers are driving vehicles that don’t ofer good crash protection and lack important safety technology, new research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows. To help guide parents toward safer choices, IIHS has compiled its first-ever list of recommended used vehicles for teens.
In a national phone survey conducted for IIHS of parents of teen drivers, 83 percent of those who bought a vehicle for their teenagers said they bought it used.
With that reality in mind, the Institute has compiled a list of afordable used vehicles that meet important safety criteria for teen drivers (see below). There are two tiers of recommended vehicles with options at various price points, ranging from less than $5,000 to nearly $20,000, so parents can buy the most safety for their money, whatever their budget.
“A teenager’s first car is more than just a financial decision,” says IIHS President Adrian Lund. “These lists of recommended used vehicles can help consumers factor in safety, in addition to afordability.”
Among the 500 parents surveyed, 43 percent said the vehicle their child drives was purchased around the time he or she began driving.
Minicars or small cars were the most commonly purchased type of vehicle, with 28 percent buying from this category. A little more than half of newly purchased vehicles were from the 2006 model year or earlier. That’s a problem because older vehicles are much less likely to have safety features such as electronic stability control (ESC) and side airbags.
Teenagers who drove a vehicle that the family already owned were even more likely to drive an older vehicle: Two-thirds of those parents said the vehicle was from 2006 or earlier.
A separate IIHS study shows that teenagers killed in crashes are more likely than adults to have been behind the wheel of small vehicles and older vehicles. Among fatally injured drivers ages 15-17 in 200812, 29 percent were in minicars or small cars, while 20 percent of fatally injured drivers ages 35-50 were. Eighty-two percent of the young teen drivers were in vehicles that were at least 6 years old, compared with 77 percent of those in the adult group.
The recommendations on teen vehicle choice are guided by four main principles:
Young drivers should stay away
heavier vehicles protect better in a crash
ESC is a must
Vehicles should have the best safety ratings possible
In the survey of parents, the mean purchase price for a teen’s vehicle was about $9,800, while the median was just $5,300. There are many options on the recommended list for
under $10,000, but just three that cost less than $5,300.
“Unfortunately, it’s very difcult to get a safe vehicle for a teenager at the prices most people are paying,” says Anne McCartt, IIHS senior vice president for research. “Our advice to parents would be to remember the risks teens take and consider paying a little more.”
The full list is available at iihs.org.
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Color Reflects Personality
The color of a car can actually say a lot about a driver, according to a study from Repokar Public Auto Auction.
Silver car owners usually are calm, stable, elegant, and confident as silver represents a confident, cool-headed person.
People who own silver cars are most often very thoughtful and attentive drivers.
They often seek stability in all areas of their lives.
Those who choose to drive a white car value order and organization, prefer to be up-front and honest. They strive to achieve harmony, represent refinement and dignity. People who favor white might be dreamers, often generous and outgoing people who are earnest and accommodating, and often have very trusting personalities, sometimes lacking in financial caution.
Red car owners embody vitality, fun, ambition, and achievement, being sexy, speedy, high-energetic and dynamic people.
A red car can indicate a passionate person who likes to be in charge, who can be a little ‘wild’ and impulsive at times. They are often enthusiastic about life.
Those who drive blue cars are generally consistent in their moods and attitudes. They are cool and quiet, faithful, reflective and cautious people.
Those who drive a black car send the subconscious message that they are self-assured, confident and have a desire to be taken seriously by others.
A gray car can suggest practicality and reliability of the owner.
The color gray relates to formality, knowledge and inner-wisdom, insight and reflection, and those who choose a gray car are often conservative, pragmatic and refined, elegant and aloof.
People who choose to drive gray cars are often reasonable, helpful and agreeable souls who like to go with the flow of life.
Pink cars are chosen by people who are loving and afectionate, and who exude tenderness and care for others.
Those who possess pink cars are feminine and have a soft side to their personalities.
The color yellow associates with optimism, confidence, cheerfulness, joy and happiness.
Yellow car owners are bright, optimistic, idealistic, intelligent, intuitive and warm.
Those who own and drive yellow cars have great self-confidence and enjoy having fun.
They are energetic, creative and like to stand out in the crowd.
Drivers of yellow vehicles can sometimes have a childish outlook on life.
Owners of green cars are typically peaceful people who possess calm, comforting personalities.
As blue is symbolic of optimism, thoughtfulness, wisdom, patience, and composure, people who drive blue cars are often loyal and honest and prefer to blend in rather than stand out in the crowd. They are hard workers who achieve their goals and are able to find personal success.
Powerful, classic, well-disciplined people who like elegance and luxury often choose black cars.
Black car drivers are said to be aggressive, competitive and intimidating.
A green car driver is a conscientious and considerate person who tends to keep their emotions balanced, regardless of circumstances. Practicality is a high priority for those who choose a green car, they are friendly, social and welladjusted people.
Gold relates to absolute authority, perfection, self-esteem and selfconfidence, wealth and luxury. Gold also signifies determination.
Fraud Brings TARP Investigation
The former owner of a Chicagoarea used car and motorcycle dealership was sentenced recently for defrauding funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
According to court documents, Tariq Khan, as owner of Urban Motors, used a line of credit from TARP-recipient Old Second National Bank to purchase inventory.
Beginning in December 2008 and continuing until at least November 2009, when Urban Motors sold cars that had been purchased using the line of credit from Old Second, Khan told the bank that the vehicles were still on the lot and used the proceeds for operational and other purposes.
Additionally, Khan failed to provide the bank titles of certain vehicles financed through the line of credit, so that Urban Motors could conceal the sale of these vehicles from the bank and not provide the proceeds of the sales to the bank. Khan also misrepresented the status of vehicles to Urban Motors’ customers by, for example, failing to inform the customers that the bank possessed the titles and would not release the titles until Urban Motors had repaid the bank for the funds it had borrowed to purchase the vehicles, so that the customers would not complain about missing titles and cause the bank to become aware of certain vehicle sales.
Furthermore, when an auditor asked Khan about the location of certain vehicles financed through the line of credit, Khan falsely stated that the vehicles were located at an automotive auction, at repair shops, with employees, and at another dealership location, when in
fact Khan knew that the vehicles in question had been sold and the proceeds of the sales had not been provided to the bank. Khan then attempted to conceal the scheme by promising to provide the bank with documentation establishing proof of vehicle locations, such as auction listings and billings for repair, knowing that no such documentation existed for the vehicles because they had been sold. Khan continued to draw on the line of credit at the bank, knowing that he had misrepresented and was continuing to misrepresent to the bank the status of the bank’s security interest in Urban Motors’ inventory.
As a result of the scheme, Khan sold vehicles valued at approximately $340,069 and did not provide the proceeds to Old Second, thereby defrauding the bank.
Khan was charged with one count of bank fraud on July 31, 2013. He pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 3, 2013.
Old Second had received $73 million in federal taxpayer funds through TARP in 2009. The bank was subsequently unable to make required TARP dividend and interest payments totaling approximately $9.1 million, and in March 2013, Treasury sold its stake in the bank at auction for approximately $25.5 million, resulting in a combined principal and dividend loss of approximately $56.5 million.
Kahn was sentenced on June 24 to six months home detention, six months community confinement, five years of supervised release, and community service. Additionally, Khan was ordered to pay restitution in the full amount of $340,069.
Consumers Sue Subaru for Defect
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Some Subaru vehicle models have a defect that could lead to engine failure while they’re being driven, a federal lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the state’s consumer fraud act, breach of express warranty and other violations. It says piston rings in the vehicles wear out quickly and some vehicles burn excessive amounts of oil.
The models afected by the defect are the 2011-14 Forester 2.5-liter, 2013 Legacy 2.5-liter, 2013 Outback 2.5-liter, 2012-13 Impreza 2-liter and 2013 XV Crosstek 2-liter, according to the lawsuit.
The oil consumption issue “can cause engine failure while the Class Vehicles are in operation at any time and under any driving condition or speed,” the lawsuit says. “This exposes the driver and occupants of the Class Vehicles, as well as others who share the road with them, to an
increased risk of accident, injury, or death.”
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Camden. It seeks unspecified damages and an order that Subaru initiate a recall to fix the problem.
The lawsuit says Subaru of America, which has headquarters in Cherry Hill, has “long known about” the defect but has refused to address it or repair afected vehicles without charge. Also named as a defendant is Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., identified in the lawsuit as a Japanese corporation located at Subaru headquarters in Tokyo.
Subaru said in a statement that it is aware of the lawsuit and believes the oil consumption of its vehicles to be within acceptable levels.
The two plaintifs, Keith Yaeger, of Escondido, Calif., and Michael Shuler, of Lakeland, Fla., are seeking class action status for the lawsuit.
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1Subaru, the Subaru logo, and Subaru Motors Finance are trademarks of Subaru of America, Inc. (“Subaru”) and any use by Chase Bank USA, N.A. (“Chase USA”) and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“Chase”) is under license. Retail / Loan accounts are owned by either Chase or Chase USA and lease accounts are owned by Chase.
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3The tradename “Mazda Capital Services” as well as the Mazda and Mazda Capital Services logos are owned by Mazda Motor Corporation or its affiliates and are licensed to Chase. Retail/Loan and lease accounts are owned by Chase.
Air bag issues continue to drive recalls for the auto manufacturers.
Chrysler Group LLC is recalling 643,618 SUVs model year 200507 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles manufactured Feb. 11, 2004 to July 5, 2007, and 2006-07 Jeep Commander vehicles manufactured Jan. 31, 2005 to July 5, 2007.
In the afected vehicles, the driver may accidentally hit the ignition key with their knee, unintentionally knocking the key out of the run position, turning of the engine. If the ignition key inadvertently moves into the of or accessory position, the engine will turn of, which will then depower various key safety systems including but not limited to air bags, power steering, and power braking.
Loss of functionality of these systems may increase the risk of crash and/or increase the risk of injury in the event of a crash. Chrysler will notify owners in September. The remedy for this recall is still under development.
Chrysler’s number for this recall is P41.
General Motors LLC is recalling 16,932 model year 2011 Cadillac CTS vehicles manufactured Oct. 18, 2010 to June 2, 2011.
In the afected vehicles, vibrations from the drive shaft may cause the vehicle’s roll over sensor to command the roof rail air bags to deploy.
If the roof rail air bags deploy unexpectedly, there is an increased risk of crash and injury to the occupants.
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear drive shaft assembly, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.
GM’s number for this recall is 14233.
GM has also initiated a safety recall of 31,520 model year 2012 Buick Verano and Chevrolet Camaro, Cruze and Sonic vehicles to
address a defect condition that could result in the primary or secondary stage air bag not deploying.
These vehicles are a small percentage of all 2012 vehicles and were built on several specific production dates broadly ranging from Dec. 1, 2011 to Aug. 2, 2012 (see NHTSA recall 14V-300 for more information).
This investigation was opened to evaluate the scope of two uninfluenced safety recalls (NHTSA recalls 12V-522 and 13V-023) of certain 2012 Verano, Camaro, Cruze and Sonic vehicles.
These recalls involved the same defect issue as the new recall mentioned above.
Accordingly, this investigation is closed based on the recall actions GM is undertaking.
BMW is recalling 573,935 model year 2000 323i sedans, coupes, convertible, and Sports Wagons; 2000 328i sedans and coupes; 200106 325i sedans, coupes, convertibles, and Sport Wagons; 2001-05 325xi sedans and Sports Wagons; 2001-06 330i sedans, coupes, and convertibles; 2001-05 330xi sedans; and 2001-06 M3 coupes and convertibles to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag.
In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger’s frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking and potentially seriously injuring the passenger seat occupant or other occupants.
BMW will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger side frontal air bag, free of charge.
An interim notice will be mailed to owners in August.
The recall is expected to begin in October when an adequate supply of parts is available.
Manheim, AutoTrader.com Salute Minority Dealer for Innovation Manheim and AutoTrader.com presented the first-ever National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD) Innovation Award to Steve Ewing, president and CEO of Wade Ford of Smyrna, Ga.
The 2014 NAMAD Innovation Award honors a leader in the industry who has positively impacted their organizations and the industry.
Ewing was selected as the first recipient of this award for the leadership he demonstrated through implementation and adoption of new technology and improvement of processes at Wade
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Ford. Under Ewing’s leadership, the 40,000-square-foot dealership recently underwent a $2 million renovation to help provide an enhanced customer experience at all the franchises’ touch points. Ewing is also a multi-year recipient of the Ford Motor Company President’s Award, as well as a member of the Ford Dealership Advisory Board.
During the selection process, the NAMAD Board recommended members who embodied this award, and representatives from Manheim, AutoTrader.com, Kelley Blue Book, vAuto and VinSolutions voted on a recipient based on the following criteria:
Demonstrates the ability to innovate, inspire and lead their organization and efect change, relevant to the industry.
Demonstrates the ability to create and implement a vision for their organization, and drive insights and opportunity through technology.
Demonstrates success at implementing or promoting technology, and applying it to people and processes that impact customer value.
A Detroit native, Ewing has held various positions in his 20-year career in the automotive industry, including salesman, sales manager, general manager and operator. He purchased Wade Ford, which start-
ed in Atlanta in the 1930s before moving to Smyrna in the 1980s, 12 years ago after selling his Ford dealership in Pennsylvania.
Wade Ford, located of South Cobb Drive near King Springs Road in Smyrna, was the first Motor Trend Dealership, which ensures buyers of pre-owned Ford vehicles that they are fully inspected and under warranty. The dealership averages 1,500 pre-owned and 1,400 new vehicle sales annually..
Auction Appoints GM
Gary Smith, owner of Dealers Auto Auction of Oklahoma City, has announced the appointment of Jon Reininger to the post of general manager. Reininger has worked for DAA/ OKC since 2000 and has served as assistant general manager since March 2007.
Reininger spent the first part of his career in corporate finance, having received a degree in accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and working as a cost accountant with Dana Corp. for five years.
He spent the next six years as a controller for a novelty gift company before signing on with DAA/OKC in March 2000 as the assistant controller, moving shortly thereafter to controller.
Creditor Names VP
United Auto Credit has announced the hiring of Frank Marraccino as executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Marraccino comes to United Auto Credit from Capital One with over 30 years’ experience in the auto finance industry.
“Our growth over the past two years has been tremendous, and we are confident that Frank’s experience and drive will play a pivotal role in taking us to even greater heights,” said United Auto credit CEO Jim Vagim.
Marraccino began his career with Western Financial Savings Bank and later left the company as a senior vice president to become one of the original founders of Onyx Acceptance Corp. As executive vice president for sales and operations at Onyx, he was instrumental in taking that company from start up to its acquisition by Capital One.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity to join the United Auto Credit team,” Marraccino said.
Jon Reininger
RETAIL MARKETS
MICHIGAN
Jerry Moore, owner, Jerry Moore Auto Exchange, Adrian, Mich.:
“As of Aug. 1, (I’ve) been on my own for 43 years. We’re the longest-running auto dealer of any kind –new or used – in the county. I also owned a Ford dealership for several years.
“We’ve been in the same spot for 30 years.
“Our inventory fluctuates. On average, we’ll carry a little over 20 (units).
“Sales are pretty consistent. We retail between 20 and 30 a month. It’s usually in the mid-20s. We don’t wholesale much at all. They say if you’re moving 40 percent of your inventory a month you’re doing good. We’re consistently right at 100 percent or better. We sell more used cars than many of the new car dealers.
“Most of our cars, we get from ABC Detroit/Toledo in Perrysburg, Ohio. I did the buying for about 30 years, but now my son, Josh, is my buyer. He graduated from Northwood University and
he’s pretty sharp. He made the school’s ‘President’s List, which is the top 2 percent.
“(In terms of pricing), we made a big switch after the Cash for Clunkers law. Up until then, our average retail price was about $15,000.
“After that, the market for used cars jumped drastically. We were competing with new-car dealers for latemodel used cars.
“So we shifted gears and started handling cheaper cars. Now we sell just as many.
“As a result, we quit using a floor plan and just use our own money. And we’ve been able to give ourselves a $75,000-a-year raise.
“Our average price now is between $8,000 and $10,000, probably around $8,995.
“We try to hang on to that late-model business. We’ll sell 2011s and 2012s Ford Fusions, Chevy Malibus and a few Impalas. So those keep the average price up a bit.
“Our average model year now is about 2009.
“We’re handling higher
mileage cars, anywhere from 70,000 to 100,000. Right now, it’s a lot easier to sell a 100,000-mile car than it has been in the past. The new-car dealers didn’t use to handle 100,000-mile, late-model cars. But in our town, they’re handling those cars. I guess availability is part of that.
“The majority of our cars are 80 to 90 percent or more domestic.
“We carry about 50 percent trucks and SUVs and 50 percent cars. That’s been pretty consistent over the past five years.
“We own a service center and I have a full-time detail man. We run that service shop independently.
“We probably spend $300 to $500 on reconditioning each car.
“Most of our business is repeat business. You can’t go forever without advertising, but we do go several months without advertising the store.
“We recently sold a 2010 Ford Fusion. It had 98,821 miles and we sold it for $10,900 plus tax.”
NORTH CAROLINA
Will Davis, owner, G&B Auto Sales, Louisburg, N.C.:
“My dad started the company in 1982. I came to work with him in 1995 and I took the company over in 2006. We have one location.
“We generally keep about 40 units in stock. We’ve been selling 15 per month on average. This year is running pretty even to what it was last year.
“Normally, we’ll get our vehicles from Greenville Auto Auction in Greenville, N.C., and Manheim North Carolina in Kenly, N.C. We also have a couple of wholesalers that we work through.
“The average retail price right now is about $8,900, similar to last year.
“Probably 99 percent of our business is buy-here, pay-here.
“Our average term is about 36 months. Our average down payment is between $1,000 and $1,200.
“The average model year we’re carrying on the lot is between 2006 and 2013.
Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant
“We try to keep mileage under 100,000 even though that’s difcult. We have a couple with 120,000 miles.
“We carry more domestic that import. It’s about 70 percent domestic.
“We probably have 80 percent cars and 20 percent trucks/SUVs. That’s similar to this time last year.
“Averaging reconditioning costs are running between $650 and $700. That’s probably up from this time last year. Our biggest expense is that pretty much everything you bring in needs tires, brakes and servicing.
“We farm most of our service work out. We will do some detailing.
“We have our website, but as far as any other marketing or advertising, that’s something we have never really done.
“Most of our business is repeat and referral. It’s probably 75 percent of our sales.
“We recently sold a 2009 Nissan Altima. That sold for $9,995. It had 97,000 miles.”
WHOLESALE MARKETS
PENNSYLVANIA
Grant Miller, president/ CEO, Central Pennsylvania Auto Auction Inc., Lock Haven, Pa.:
“We’ve been here 27 years. We’ll have our 27th anniversary on Aug. 28. We’ll give away $27,000 in cash and prizes.
“We have five lanes and we’re running all five.
“Volumes usually run up to 700 on our regular sale. We’ll average about 650. In terms of volumes, we’ve dropped a few. But dollarwise, we’re managing to stay even with last year.
“Our sales percentages have averaged 61 percent since our first year. But we’re struggling to hold that now. We find that June and July, during vacations, is tough to do big volumes of business. During tax season, we were selling 78 percent. When that stops, the market changes really quick. We do a great job with late-model vehicles as far as prices, but we just don’t get a large amount of volume.
“We don’t have a factory sale. We do business with a
few banks and lease companies, but that’s about it. Our lease numbers run from 70 to 90 per week.
“We also have a utility sale once a month and we’ll run 1,000 cars on that day.
That’s every third Thursday of the month. We have a contract with Verizon, so we remarket their lease-end and terminated vehicles.
“We’ll draw anywhere from 375 dealers a week for our regular sales to 500 for our specialty sales. We have great dealer support. More likely, 80 percent of our dealers come from Pennsylvania. But we have quite a few coming from New Jersey. We also get dealers from Ohio Maryland and New York.
“We have our own transportation company and that helps us. We have 16 to 17 transporters, some four-car, some two-car and nine-car carriers. We can also move heavy equipment from our utility sales.
“We’ve found that to be very critical to our business.
“Our average price in the lanes – not including salvage – is between $8,000
Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant
and $9,000.
“Jeep prices are just our of sight. I can’t believe some of the prices they’re bringing. They’re bringing what they brought two years ago.
“I think, if anything is struggling, it’s the highpriced, late-model, full-size cars like the Chrysler 300s and the Cadillacs.”
TEXAS
Charles Furr, general manager, Lubbock Auto Auction, Lubbock, Texas:
“The will be our 68th year in business.
“We’re running three lanes and we have three lanes.
“Volumes have increase over last year. We’re having a real good year so far.
“The trend we’re seeing this year is a little bit different from the last couple of years. I track it week by week compared to last year. We’ve been consistently 10 percent ahead of last year on consignment. Our goal was 5 percent or more ahead of last year.
“The last couple of sales we’ve run more than 300 cars, which is above average
for us.
“Sales percentages are in the ballpark of 45 percent, which are a little bit below the national average, I think, but we’re satisfied with it.
“We average about 150 dealers in the lanes. I think that’s higher than last year, maybe 10 percent more participation than last year.
“We draw dealers from about 200 miles around Lubbock, which pulls in Amarillo, Abilene, Midland, Odessa, eastern New Mexico – Lovington, Hobbs and Clovis.
“Dealers said their June numbers were of, but a lot stronger in July.
“Dealers are all saying they’re not doing enough business, but they’re still out here buying more inventory.
“One recent GM Financial sale did real well. They sold 100 percent.
“My average sale price in the lanes runs about $8,500. That’s up a little higher than this time last year. I think the GM Financial and ARI lease units are getting some higher priced lease units in here. That’s causing my av-
erage price to increase.
“Flexco Fleet Services also runs a number of units here, as well as GE Capital.
“We run a non-drivable sale each week. Recently we ran about 15 to 20 (units).
“Back in May we had a classic car sale, which was a tremendous success. It went even better than we expected. It was open to the public and limited to 175 cars.
“We’re trying to set up a pre-sale inspection to help our Internet sales for dealer units. Internet sales for GM Financial have been excellent.
“But we’re going to start pre-sale inspections on some of the dealer units so the Internet buyers can be (more confident) of what they are bidding on.
“Our economy has been good. But I need mechanics, drivers and detail people. It’s the first time in years I’ve been short-handed and having a hard time hiring help. Because of the oil boom, we’re losing a lot of (workers) to the MidlandOdessa area, which is about 150 miles from here.”
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2013 MODEL S
2012 MODEL S
Acura
Lexus ES 350 4D Luxury Sedan $34300 $31700 $31800 $26350 $22650
Mercedes-Benz E Class E350 4D Luxury Sedan $41800 $37800 $34600 $30750 $25950
Mitsubishi Lancer ES 4D Sedan
Nissan Altima base 4D Sedan $15100 $13850 $13000 $12150 $10625
Nissan Altima S 4D Sedan 3.5 $19250 $17250 $16300
Nissan Sentra S 4D Sedan
Volkswagen Jetta SEL 4D Sedan
2011 MODEL S
Chrysler 200 Touring 4D Sedan $10600 $9700 $10850 $8525 $7125
Ford Focus SE 4D Sedan $10550 $8950 $9150 $7700 $6550
Ford Mustang base 2D Coupe
Ford Taurus SEL 4D Sedan
Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited 4D Sedan $21600 $21900 $20800 $16750 $13850
Import Cars Aug-13 Feb-14 Aug-14 Aug-15 Aug-16
Acura TL base 4D Sedan $22400 $19600 $18900 $15575 $13350
BMW 3-Series 328i 4D Sedan $23500 $19750 $19100 $15650 $13200
BMW 7-Series 750Li 4D Sedan $47400 $44600 $39300 $33525 $28350
Honda Accord LX 4D Sedan $13600 $12750 $12150 $11025 $9675
Lexus ES 350 4D Luxury Sedan $25300 $23100 $21250 $18825 $16575
Mercedes-Benz E Class E350 4D Luxury Sedan $32200 $28200 $25900 $21525 $17650
Mitsubishi Lancer ES 4D Sedan $11250 $9850 $8750 $7450 $6250
Nissan Altima base 4D Sedan $11200 $9950 $9900 $8775 $7525
Nissan Altima S 4D Sedan $12500 $11250 $11200 $9750 $8350
Nissan Sentra base 4D Sedan $10100 $9050 $9750 $8050 $6925
Toyota Camry LE 4D Sedan $13250 $11850 $11550
2010 MODEL S
MONTHLY DEALER CONSIGNMENT AVERAGES
COMPACT CAR
JAN 2014 $5,755 98,750
FEB 2014 $5,962 98,023
MAR 2014 $6,262 97,844
A PR 2014 $6,278 98,434
MAY 2014 $6,067 100,232
JUN 2014 $5,883 100,750
Y TD A VG: $6,047 98,969
FULLSIZE CAR
JAN 2014 $4,621 108,480
FEB 2014 $4,600 109,110
MAR 2014 $4,699 110,445
A PR 2014 $4,713 110,363
MAY 2014 $4,612 110,137
JUN 2014 $4,552 113,245
Y TD A VG: $4,635 110,240
LUXURY CAR
JAN 2014 $11,917 95,362
FEB 2014 $11,527 98,444
MAR 2014 $12,531 97,046
A PR 2014 $13,005 97,093
MAY 2014 $12,849 96,646 JUN 2014 $12,205 98,181 Y TD A VG: $12,353 97,103
MIDSIZE CAR
JAN 2014 $6,032 108,139
FEB 2014 $6,200 109,358
2014 $6,742 106,757
PR 2014 $6,651 108,044
2014 $6,593 108,355
2014 $6,362 108,702
$6,443 108,193
2014
CURRENT YTD, THROUGH JUNE 2014 SOURCE: MANHEIM CONSULTING
Compiled By Jeffrey Bellant
SON RISES AT MID-STATE
Mid-State Auto Auction celebrated the auction’s 31st anniversary in July, taking the time to review the company’s history and to announce the start of a new era in ownership.
Bob Thompson, who started the auction in New York Mills, Minn., in 1983, ofcially turned over the reins to his son, Rob, on July 1.
As soon as Rob graduated from college, he joined the staf at MidState as a sales representative for the auction. For the past 15 years Rob has been filling a much bigger role as president.
As of July 1, he becomes the sole owner of Mid-State Auto Auction. Bob celebrated his 80th birthday in December, and although he is starting to enjoy retirement a bit more, he still consults and does payroll for the auction.
The father/son duo has truly enjoyed working together for years building the business and, more importantly, building the friendships they have with their customers and auction associates.
“Our entire staf is like family, several of whom have been with our auction since the very beginning,” Bob Thompson said.
GM Returns to Manheim Auctions
General Motors has brought back closed sales to Manheim Arena Illinois and Manheim Pennsylvania.
“We value our partnership with Manheim,” said Dan Kennedy, national remarketing manager with General Motors. “We are confident that these closed sales at Manheim Arena Illinois and Manheim Pennsylvania will help our franchise dealers maintain their pre-owned vehicle inventories.”
These closed sales are open only to GM dealerships and are designed to help them build their pre-owned vehicle inventories.
“We’re delighted that General Motors has brought closed sales
back to Manheim,” said Mike McKinney, regional vice president for East Region Operations. “We’re proud to partner with General Motors once again to help their franchises build inventory. Our organizations have had a long history of working together, and we’re excited to enter into this partnership.”
PASSING THE TORCH: Bob Thompson, left, congratulates son Rob Thompson on his new position as sole owner of Mid-State Auto Auction in New York Mills, Minn.
Compiled By Jeffrey Bellant
SON RISES AT MID-STATE
Mid-State Auto Auction celebrated the auction’s 31st anniversary in July, taking the time to review the company’s history and to announce the start of a new era in ownership.
Bob Thompson, who started the auction in New York Mills, Minn., in 1983, ofcially turned over the reins to his son, Rob, on July 1.
As soon as Rob graduated from college, he joined the staf at MidState as a sales representative for the auction. For the past 15 years Rob has been filling a much bigger role as president.
As of July 1, he becomes the sole owner of Mid-State Auto Auction. Bob celebrated his 80th birthday in December, and although he is starting to enjoy retirement a bit more, he still consults and does payroll for the auction.
The father/son duo has truly enjoyed working together for years building the business and, more importantly, building the friendships they have with their customers and auction associates.
“Our entire staf is like family, several of whom have been with our auction since the very beginning,” Bob Thompson said.
GM Returns to Manheim Auctions
General Motors has brought back closed sales to Manheim Arena Illinois and Manheim Pennsylvania.
“We value our partnership with Manheim,” said Dan Kennedy, national remarketing manager with General Motors. “We are confident that these closed sales at Manheim Arena Illinois and Manheim Pennsylvania will help our franchise dealers maintain their pre-owned vehicle inventories.”
These closed sales are open only to GM dealerships and are designed to help them build their pre-owned vehicle inventories.
“We’re delighted that General Motors has brought closed sales
back to Manheim,” said Mike McKinney, regional vice president for East Region Operations. “We’re proud to partner with General Motors once again to help their franchises build inventory. Our organizations have had a long history of working together, and we’re excited to enter into this partnership.”
PASSING THE TORCH: Bob Thompson, left, congratulates son Rob Thompson on his new position as sole owner of Mid-State Auto Auction in New York Mills, Minn.
Disconnected Jottings From Tony Moorby...
I know that striving for cleaner air is a laudable pursuit. I remember well growing up in London after the war with the renowned pea souper fogs. They were not just a product of warm, damp air meeting cold but
they combined those natural elements with coal and tar smuts, tiny specs of smoky efuent from factory chimneys and households burning wood and coal.
It was normal back in those days to “air” the house; leaving the top sash of the windows open a couple of inches to allow air to circulate.
It was actually safe to do that then. In fact we’d go away for two week’s vacation leaving them open. Dread the thought nowadays.
It would probably have been healthier to leave them shut. After a couple of weeks the net curtains that were the ubiquitous urban hideaway, had to be taken down and washed – there would be a wide swathe of a dark
fuels such as coke, gas and electricity. Even the power stations were moved to remote areas.
While all that was 60 years ago, we’re witnessing a grand repetition in China, Beijing in particular, where public health warnings are issued on an almost daily basis. Déjà vu, all over again.
The rest of the world is taking huge, sometimes silly, steps to improve the air quality and you wonder if we go too far with crazy ideas.
These twelve-story monoliths stared over the North Sea. Eerie sentinels of a future, boding the globe to look like a porcupine.
Give me an oil pipeline, anytime.
gray line of soot at the top –a bare testament to the filth that was in the air.
The fogs were highly dangerous, especially to anyone who had chest problems.
In 1952 the combination of extremely bad smog and an onset of a particularly virulent flu epidemic killed thousands. While the flu weakened people, it was the fog that carried on taking lives for another year.
This episode spawned the Clean Air Act in 1956 allowing only clean-burning
Although they are probably not so crazy, I have to voice some disdain over wind turbines and wind “farms”.
These monstrosities mar the landscape, especially in otherwise bucolic settings, like alien scarecrows with flailing arms, similar to those air-fed attention-getters outside today’s dealerships.
A couple of years ago, my brother and I took the Channel Tunnel to France.
Upon our subterranean escape we were greeted with a “War of the Worlds”-like array of hundreds of massive wind turbines along the coast of Northern France.
CR R O O S S W D Sponsored
By Miles Mellor
28. More of 14 across
30. Exercise abbr.
31. Electrical work
32. Compass point
33. Type of engine (2 words)
38. Dual
40. ___less entry
Across
1. Motor Trend’s 2014 SUV of the year
6. CX-5 or Tribute
10. Selling very well
11. It may be personalized
13. Sedan similar to the Lexus ES
14. S Type and XK
15. Dashboard abbreviation
17. Luxury car ads often appeal to it
19. 458 Italia and F12 Berlinetta
20. Evaluated by Edmunds
22. Ford ___ Crown Victoria
23. Rental car company
24. Gear-___
25. Wall for one
26. Elon Musk’s auto
41. Green light symbol in newer cars
42. Thumbs-up
45. Lincoln model
46. Light, for short
47. Used way too much fuel (2 words)
50. ___ TT Roadster
52. Nickel, abbreviation
53. Beatle wife
54. Short time, abbr.
55. Auto ratings agency
56. Stick shift subject
Down
1. They have a controlling interest in Ferrari
2. Sounded very loud, at the Indy start for example
3. Place where cars are displayed
4. Truck weight measurement
5. Friendly alien
6. Ghibli or Quattroporte
7. What @ means
8. Acceleration phrase used in car promotions (3 words)
9. There may be a rest for it on a seat
11. VW midsize sedan
12. Smartphone brand
16. Affordable compact SUV
18. Player
19. Stopping distance measurement (abbr.)
21. Engineering science of locating problems in autos
22. RX 350, e.g.
25. Viewed, on a lot for example
27. Lane, for short
29. Cadillac SUV
30. Tire pressure measurement
31. Totalled vehicles
32. Scheming
34. Chess abbreviation
35. Common color for a Lamborghini
36. Customer
If you take I 80 from Oakland, Calif., to the Napa Valley, you pass through hills and valleys, soft and rolling, which Mother Nature has beautifully sculpted over millions of years. Shockingly green in the early part of the year, these Rubinesque features turn to varying shades of tan and purple-gray.
All of a sudden this pastoral scene, beckoning you to all the delights of the wine country, is prickled with propellers atop stark aluminum middle fingers!
There is a glaring irony here. In an efort to improve
our environment, that very push has put a blatant wart on nature’s nose. Another irony is that they had to be turned of when the Sierra Club pointed out that these valleys provided protection on migratory bird routes. Apparently, the birds were being chopped up by the whirling dervish propellers. Another attempt at altering nature backfiring ironically and expensively.
In England they’ve had to turn them of because the grid can’t take any more power so they stand like the Mo’ai monoliths of Easter Island – no one knows why they were put there either!
Perhaps we should line the west coast with these wind turbines, stick them in reverse and blow China’s pollution back to China.
by
INSURANCE AUTO AUCTION S
37. “Frasier” character
39. One who joins pieces of metal
43. Provide money for
44. Smell
48. Name for a new form of car sharing company, ___cars
49. Compass direction
51. Ford’s HQ
Tony Moorby
Clear-up ugly plastic headlites to a like new appearance. Call 1-866-998-4999 or visit www.uglyheadlights.com
FRUSTRATED?
ot getting enough traffic to your lot?
Getting too many people wanting to spend as little as possible on a car?
Your advertising is doing little or nothing? How would you like to increase your bottom line by thousands of dollars in as little as 30 days? If you want fast answers simply request our free special report “Secrets Of High Profit Marketing For Used Car Dealers” by calling us toll free at 1-888-762-5477 and we’ll send his powerful information to you immediately.
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Call 800-479-2226.
Fastest Growing County in NC. For Sale or Lease. Three Locations 1-7 acres HWY. 74. Former & Current Dealership Locations. Call Carlton Tyson at Typar Realty, 704-238-9700
USED CAR DEALERSHIP
www.AutoRevolution.com
located in Jacksonville FL near I295 & Atlantic Blvd. 200 ft frontage, 75 vehicle capacity. Open 22 yrs. Shop with lift & equipt. 150K. 904-234-4280
Clear-up ugly plastic headlites to a like new appearance. Call 1-866-998-4999 or visit www.uglyheadlights.com
Liability Specialists!
markets! Williams $ Stazzone Ins., 800-868-1235 www.wsins.com
ot getting enough traffic to your lot?
Getting too many people wanting to spend as little as possible on a car?
Your advertising is doing little or nothing? How would you like to increase your bottom line by thousands of dollars in as little as 30
If you want fast answers simply request our free special report “Secrets Of High Profit Marketing For Used Car Dealers” by calling us toll free at 1-888-762-5477 and we’ll send his powerful information to you immediately
DW_MeetSara_UCN.pdf 1 2/10/14 11:38 AM 80% of your Internet leads will SHOW UP! Go to: www.theinternethook.com
www.AutoRevolution.com
Call 800-479-2226.
Fastest Growing County in NC. For Sale or Lease. Three Locations 1-7 acres HWY. 74. Former & Current Dealership Locations. Call Carlton Tyson at Typar Realty, 704-238-9700
USED CAR DEALERSHIP
located in Jacksonville FL near I295 & Atlantic Blvd. 200 ft frontage, 75 vehicle capacity. Open 22 yrs. Shop with lift & equipt. 150K. 904-234-4280
Position Plus GPS Saves the Day
Although Position Plus GPS shows the location of vehicles in ONE second and eliminates the dreaded, “spinning hourglass,” some situations are so unique they require additional tools to successfully locate repossession vehicles.
When a Position Plus Support Representative recently assisted a local southern CA lender with a
the report.
Later in the day, the Position Plus agent followed up with the lender who found the device had been uninstalled and was resting in the trunk of the repossessed vehicle.
PositionPlus is the only provider that utilizes real-time data, thus allowing us to provide a suite of features and metrics that have not
Online Reviews Attract Buyers
By Ryan Leslie Director of Dealer Reputation Stategy DealerRater
Many dealerships are leveraging their online reputations to boost sales and stand out from the competition. One such dealer is an independent, family-owned operation in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, called Amaral Auto Sales. The dealer is a three-man team led by general manager Neil Amaral, and they use online reviews to attract and convert potential customers.
DealerRater testimonial feed to share its reviews from every page of its website. This ensures that prospective customers will see the dealership’s reviews no matter what page of the site they visit. Car shoppers may only spend a brief minute on the website, so the dealer makes sure that its reviews are front and center.
repossession, the lender was pretty upset that the vehicle was not at the location indicated on the Position Plus’ map.
The Team noticed that the device had performed flawlessly up until three days prior to the repossession, when it then stopped reporting.
The Team ran one of several Position Plus’ unique reports, the “Frequent Stops Report.”
The report was sent to the lender, who found and successfully retrieved the vehicle at the most frequented location indicated on
been available in the market place until now.
No more waiting and waiting to find your vehicle on the map; it takes only ONE SECOND to view current location.
In addition, Position Plus has unique reports, such as “Frequent Stops,” which saved the day for the lender in this article.
See Position Plus’ ad in this issue to get a free GPS and $100 cash.
For more informantion about Position Plus, call (844) 477-7587 or visit www.positionplusgps.com.
The key to their success starts with making a personal efort to gather customer reviews. While sorting through the final paperwork of a deal, the team makes sure to verbally ask the customer to write a review online. They also include requests with any additional followup communication, such as when license plates arrive for a new vehicle purchase. These requests are tactful to ensure the customer does not feel pressured.
Next, Amaral Auto Sales uses a
Today’s car shoppers are using online reviews to search for more than just the right dealership –they are looking for the actual salespeople and service advisors that they want to work with before even stepping foot in a showroom. In fact, according to a 2013 Dataium study, consumers that view employee review pages on DealerRater are 12 times more likely to convert to a lead for that dealership compared to consumers that did not read employee review pages. Consumers want transparency in the car shopping process, so it’s critical for dealerships to market their online reputations if they hope to attract more customers.
Share the Revenue
GO Financial offers a unique deep subprime lending program that gives dealers the best of both worlds: competitive up-front profit at the time of sale and portfolio profit through a share of the payment stream over the life of the loan.
The GO program provides participating dealers the ability to control their subprime approvals through its Web-based GO Portal.
This system provides real-time credit decisions and allows the dealer to interactively control their deal structure from start to finish. From there, loans funded through GO are pooled to create a unique portfolio for each dealer which GO services through its national call center. This powerful combination of front and back-end profit equates to stronger earnings as the loans perform.
And what if a dealer doesn’t
want to wait for the payments to be collected to earn their back-end profit? Easy. The dealer has the option to tap into a closed pool’s equity early through GO’s exclusive Cash Out Now option.
With a financing program that can approve all customers in an easy to use online Portal, GO creates a roadmap allowing dealers to selling more cars.
GO’s approach to success in subprime finance is finding the balance between predicting risk and knowing when and how to balance it with reward.
All loans are non-recourse and GO has no sign-up fees. GO Financial is licensed in 44 states and is currently enrolling franchise and independent dealers.
For a demonstration, call 888-GOFinancial (888-463-4626) or visit www.gofinancial.com
CAR Financial Understands BHPH Business
Back in the 80’s, a group of Buy Here/Pay Here dealers in Florida came together with a group of Norwest business managers looking for a way to fund expansion and ease cash flow for their thriving car dealerships.
Out of these early meetings, CAR Financial Services was eventually formed. Back in those days, the dealerships relied heavily on capital, much as they do today. The operational and funding issues that were present then are still an issue for dealers today. The original visionary Norwest Financial managers still make up much of the team at CAR Financial today and continue to manage the operation with dealers and customers in mind.
CAR understands the value of a local point of presence, so it has a Manager stationed in or very near each of its territories. With that in mind, CAR is excited about the recent addition of several new areas.
In June 2013, CAR ofcially opened an ofce in St. Louis, Missouri under the management of Bob Coon (816-550-9756) leading the way for additional openings to come. Later in 2013, CAR continued expansion into the Northeast by adding a New York Manager in Paul Hicks (585-216-5664) followed by the addition in early 2014 of John Saenz (310-902-6805) in the
Pacific Northwest.
CAR Financial has a proven track record of over 25 years in the Auto Finance industry. They can help you survive these difcult economic times by customizing a purchase/ service program that meets your needs while providing quality service through a single dealer point of contact that is located near your dealership. They strive to understand your day-to-day business so that they can structure a program designed to meet your long term goals and objectives.
Whether purchasing, a stream of payments, purchasing all or part of your accounts outright, or simply servicing your BHPH portfolio, the trusted professionals at CAR Financial are interested in working with you to meet your dealership needs.
CAR Financial Services, Inc. (“CAR”) services both independent and franchise automotive dealers, along with automotive sub-prime financial organizations. CAR operates in 45 States and is continually evolving its programs to meet the ever changing needs of those served. Their strengths lie with their experienced and professional employees, dedication to technology and a tradition of over 25 years of quality service. You can reach CAR Financial at 877-570-8857 or on the web at www.carfinancial.com
CAR Financial Understands BHPH Business
Back in the 80’s, a group of Buy Here/Pay Here dealers in Florida came together with a group of Norwest business managers looking for a way to fund expansion and ease cash flow for their thriving car dealerships.
Out of these early meetings, CAR Financial Services was eventually formed. Back in those days, the dealerships relied heavily on capital, much as they do today. The operational and funding issues that were present then are still an issue for dealers today. The original visionary Norwest Financial managers still make up much of the team at CAR Financial today and continue to manage the operation with dealers and customers in mind.
CAR understands the value of a local point of presence, so it has a Manager stationed in or very near each of its territories. With that in mind, CAR is excited about the recent addition of several new areas.
In June 2013, CAR ofcially opened an ofce in St. Louis, Missouri under the management of Bob Coon (816-550-9756) leading the way for additional openings to come. Later in 2013, CAR continued expansion into the Northeast by adding a New York Manager in Paul Hicks (585-216-5664) followed by the addition in early 2014 of John Saenz (310-902-6805) in the
Pacific Northwest.
CAR Financial has a proven track record of over 25 years in the Auto Finance industry. They can help you survive these difcult economic times by customizing a purchase/ service program that meets your needs while providing quality service through a single dealer point of contact that is located near your dealership. They strive to understand your day-to-day business so that they can structure a program designed to meet your long term goals and objectives.
Whether purchasing, a stream of payments, purchasing all or part of your accounts outright, or simply servicing your BHPH portfolio, the trusted professionals at CAR Financial are interested in working with you to meet your dealership needs.
CAR Financial Services, Inc. (“CAR”) services both independent and franchise automotive dealers, along with automotive sub-prime financial organizations. CAR operates in 45 States and is continually evolving its programs to meet the ever changing needs of those served. Their strengths lie with their experienced and professional employees, dedication to technology and a tradition of over 25 years of quality service. You can reach CAR Financial at 877-570-8857 or on the web at www.carfinancial.com
Share the Revenue
GO Financial offers a unique deep subprime lending program that gives dealers the best of both worlds: competitive up-front profit at the time of sale and portfolio profit through a share of the payment stream over the life of the loan.
The GO program provides participating dealers the ability to control their subprime approvals through its Web-based GO Portal.
This system provides real-time credit decisions and allows the dealer to interactively control their deal structure from start to finish. From there, loans funded through GO are pooled to create a unique portfolio for each dealer which GO services through its national call center. This powerful combination of front and back-end profit equates to stronger earnings as the loans perform.
And what if a dealer doesn’t
want to wait for the payments to be collected to earn their back-end profit? Easy. The dealer has the option to tap into a closed pool’s equity early through GO’s exclusive Cash Out Now option.
With a financing program that can approve all customers in an easy to use online Portal, GO creates a roadmap allowing dealers to selling more cars.
GO’s approach to success in subprime finance is finding the balance between predicting risk and knowing when and how to balance it with reward.
All loans are non-recourse and GO has no sign-up fees. GO Financial is licensed in 44 states and is currently enrolling franchise and independent dealers.
For a demonstration, call 888-GOFinancial (888-463-4626) or visit www.gofinancial.com
CAR Financial Understands BHPH Business
Back in the 80’s, a group of Buy Here/Pay Here dealers in Florida came together with a group of Norwest business managers looking for a way to fund expansion and ease cash flow for their thriving car dealerships.
Out of these early meetings, CAR Financial Services was eventually formed. Back in those days, the dealerships relied heavily on capital, much as they do today. The operational and funding issues that were present then are still an issue for dealers today. The original visionary Norwest Financial managers still make up much of the team at CAR Financial today and continue to manage the operation with dealers and customers in mind.
CAR understands the value of a local point of presence, so it has a Manager stationed in or very near each of its territories. With that in mind, CAR is excited about the recent addition of several new areas.
In June 2013, CAR ofcially opened an ofce in St. Louis, Missouri under the management of Bob Coon (816-550-9756) leading the way for additional openings to come. Later in 2013, CAR continued expansion into the Northeast by adding a New York Manager in Paul Hicks (585-216-5664) followed by the addition in early 2014 of John Saenz (310-902-6805) in the
Pacific Northwest.
CAR Financial has a proven track record of over 25 years in the Auto Finance industry. They can help you survive these difcult economic times by customizing a purchase/ service program that meets your needs while providing quality service through a single dealer point of contact that is located near your dealership. They strive to understand your day-to-day business so that they can structure a program designed to meet your long term goals and objectives.
Whether purchasing, a stream of payments, purchasing all or part of your accounts outright, or simply servicing your BHPH portfolio, the trusted professionals at CAR Financial are interested in working with you to meet your dealership needs. CAR Financial Services, Inc. (“CAR”) services both independent and franchise automotive dealers, along with automotive sub-prime financial organizations. CAR operates in 45 States and is continually evolving its programs to meet the ever changing needs of those served. Their strengths lie with their experienced and professional employees, dedication to technology and a tradition of over 25 years of quality service. You can reach CAR Financial at 877-570-8857 or on the web at www.carfinancial.com
Are you GPS Compliant or is Your Business at Risk?
Give Car Shoppers Confidence to Become Car Buyers
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past couple years, you’re aware of the focus the CFPB and FTC have placed on the subprime finance industry.
Recently, the FTC issued several Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) requesting information and documentation on dealer privacy and data security practices – including geo-location technology.
The FTC and CFPB are determined to create a level playing field for consumers. They aren’t concerned with the risk for dealers or financial institutions.
It’s time to look at your policies regarding discrimination and other compliance issues. You may also be responsible for your vendors or service providers.
In a 2012 bulletin, CFPB Director Richard Cordray says “Consumers are at a real disadvantage because they do not get to choose the service providers they deal with – the financial institution does.
“Consumers must not be hurt by unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices of service providers. Banks and nonbanks must manage these relationships carefully and can be held accountable if they break the law.”
Is your GPS and collections technology provider informed on regulations? Is the device and software built to work within the ever chang-
ing regulation landscape?
PassTime, a service provider by the CFPB’s definition – is dedicated to being compliant and encourages dealers, finance companies and credit unions to do the same.
Along with Hudson Cook Law Firm, PassTime has created Device Compliance Training, a free seminar available to anyone interested in learning about state and federal compliance for GPS and Payment Assurance devices. The first Device Compliance Training seminar was held at the NABD conference.
Many attendees were surprised to learn they could be held accountable for the service providers they partner with. Attendees were particularly interested in ways to help identify if a service provider is following the law.
Dealers may want to ask for:
Do not be afraid to start looking for a new service provider if yours is unable to provide you with a compliance packet outlining its internal policies and procedures – don’t pay the price for mistakes made by your vendors.
As a dealer, you understand that purchasing a car is a big decision for your customers. They spend a significant amount of time researching what vehicle best fits their lifestyle and falls within their budget.
They rely on the expertise of your staf to guide them to the vehicle that best suits their needs. Inevitably, there are times that no matter how perfect a vehicle may be customers occasionally lack the confidence to make the purchase.
By partnering with an industryleading vehicle service contract provider, you can help give your car shoppers the confidence they need to become car buyers.
A quality vehicle service contract allows customers to buy with confidence knowing that they’re protected from unexpected repair costs with Day One, Mile One coverage. A vehicle service contract also provides your customers with the freedom to enjoy their purchase with no worries.
The right partner will ofer your customers 24/7 roadside assistance and a nationwide network of service facilities to ensure that they are able to drive anywhere worry free.
Finally, knowing that in the unlikely event of a mechanical breakdown it will be handled smoothly and paid promptly provides the
reliability that both you and your customers need.
The right vehicle service contract partner should free you from unnecessary headaches and allow you focus on selling cars.
Be sure that you partner with a vehicle service contract provider that helps you ofer your car shoppers the confidence to become car buyers.
About GWC Warranty:
For almost 20 years, GWC Warranty has built one of the few integrated platforms in the industry, providing sales and marketing, exceptional claims administration, and unparalleled product options for its dealer partners.
GWC has brought the “No Worries. Just Drive” experience to drivers by being a trusted partner of over 20,000 car dealerships nationwide. GWC is owned by Stone Point Capital, a Connecticut based investment firm with aggregate committed capital of $13 Billion.
For more information about how GWC can help you give your car shoppers the confidence to become car buyers, visit GWCwarranty.com.
For almost 20 years, GWC Warranty has been helping dealers like you sell more cars by offering car shoppers the confidence to become car buyers. With multiple coverage options for vehicles with up to 200,000 miles, GWC can help more of your customers buy with confidence.
Now more than ever with GWC, it’s No Worries, Just Drive.
Share the Revenue
GO Financial offers a unique deep subprime lending program that gives dealers the best of both worlds: competitive up-front profit at the time of sale and portfolio profit through a share of the payment stream over the life of the loan.
The GO program provides participating dealers the ability to control their subprime approvals through its Web-based GO Portal.
This system provides real-time credit decisions and allows the dealer to interactively control their deal structure from start to finish. From there, loans funded through GO are pooled to create a unique portfolio for each dealer which GO services through its national call center. This powerful combination of front and back-end profit equates to stronger earnings as the loans perform.
And what if a dealer doesn’t
want to wait for the payments to be collected to earn their back-end profit? Easy. The dealer has the option to tap into a closed pool’s equity early through GO’s exclusive Cash Out Now option. With a financing program that can approve all customers in an easy to use online Portal, GO creates a roadmap allowing dealers to selling more cars.
GO’s approach to success in subprime finance is finding the balance between predicting risk and knowing when and how to balance it with reward.
All loans are non-recourse and GO has no sign-up fees. GO Financial is licensed in 44 states and is currently enrolling franchise and independent dealers.
For a demonstration, call 888-GOFinancial (888-463-4626) or visit www.gofinancial.com
Touch Up Tips for Profitable Reconditioning
Used car dealers nationwide are doing small cosmetic paint repairs themselves to increase profts, according to a recent survey conducted by AutomotiveTouchup, a leading touch up paint supplier. This cost-effective reconditioning strategy
helps dealers improve vehicle appearance while avoiding the cost of having paint work done by body shops or professionals.
This do-it-yourself approach provides a good return on investment and is an easy way to address an older vehicle’s minor wear and tear.
While not a substitute for major collision repair and refnishing, fxing small faws can contribute to optimum vehicle appearance and increased grade.
“It’s easier to sell a car that looks good, and we provide an unlimited color selection formulated for each order,” said Jeremy Thurnau, owner of AutomotiveTouchup, an online company which direct-ships custom-blended paint products from its New Orleans headquarters.
To create an exact color match, the company uses a comprehensive library of OEM paint colors that encompasses decades of makes and models.
One dealer noted that as soon as he
knows a car is coming in, he gets the color code and VIN and places his order so that the paint arrives even before the car arrives at his dealership.
Another proactive touch up tip is to keep a stock of popular and frequently used colors on hand for fast turnaround touch ups that keep inventory moving.
This “always be prepared” method is demonstrated in a dealer who created an inventory of over 200 half-ounce paint bottles to be ready for on-demand touch up needs.
Easy to apply primer, basecoat and clearcoat products are designed to work together as part of a complete paint system, with three application options.
Paint pens are good for small rock chips and nicks smaller than a pencil eraser, and also for thin scratches. Half-ounce and two-ounce bottles work for small areas and are packaged for long shelf life while 12-ounce aerosol spray cans are available for larger areas. For more information, visit AutomotiveTouchup.com.
and
Does Everyone Trust Your Prices?
I pose this question to used-car manages everyday and usually get the same confident reply: “I use (insert one of many dealer centric appraisal systems here) to price my vehicles fairly”.
Yes, I believe you! But does your customer believe you?
Of the thousands of used cars sold every month, most are actually priced competitively. So why do more than 60 percent of these transactions still take so long to consummate?
And, with all the technology available to dealers to help price their inventory competitively, why do so many have
a hard time conveying this to their customers?
What if dealers could convince buyers to accept their vehicle asking price without a need for further validation?
When you provide customers pricing reassurance from an independent source they are 3 times more likely to buy from you. How you ask?
One simple step could help your dealership maximize selling opportunities and cut negotiations by 50 percent. If you want to know what this one simple step is, call (888) 31-3374, or go to dealers.autosaver.com.
Vehicle Acceptance Corporation Recognizes Important People
By Jonathan Neubauer, CEO, Vehicle Acceptance Corporation
On June 19, 2014 Vehicle Acceptance Corporation celebrated “Daina Day”. Our President, Daina Xavier, has 25 years of service with the company.
While capital and technology are important components of our business, we do not forget how important good people are to our success.
Showing appreciation to your valued employees, vendors, and suppliers is good business.
While it may not be an eight day all expenses paid Alaskan cruise, as is the case with Daina, often times just
a simple thank you can mean a tremendous amount to those that work so hard to contribute to your success.
We at Vehicle Acceptance Corporation also know that our success would not be possible without the hard working owners and employees of the independent used car dealerships that we work with. To all of you we say “Thank you.”
VAC has been providing floorplans, payment streams and note servicing to independent dealers for 25 years.
To learn more about Vehicle Acceptance Corporation please visit VACorp.com/SignUp or call 1-888-571-7092.
How 3.5G Technology Will Play a Vital Role in Your Continued Effort of Controlling Costs and Expenses
It’s on everyone’s lips nowadays: 2G network is going to phase out as carriers are planning to sunset this technology for the benefit of 3G. This means that once the 2G shut down is fully completed, any 2G GPS devices will cease to function. To make a smooth transition from 2G to 3G, BHPH dealerships must start to plan today. IMETRIK is here to help!
The good news is we now have an estimation of when carriers will sunset their 2G network: 2017 for AT&T, 2019 for T-Mobile, 2020 for Sprint and 2021 for Verizon.
Each generation of cellular evolution means enhancements and increased benefits. In fact, 3G technology is optimized for data transmission, which provides a higher network reliability and increased speed of data transmission.
Since 3G devices are compatible with 2G networks, there is no coverage downside if you switch today. Also, no GPS Provider can guarantee the longevity of its 3G devices, but historically a cellular generation lasts between 10 to 15 years. However, it’s the carriers who decides when they
sunset a network generation, just like it is happening now with 2G and in 2008 with Analog cellular network launched in 1983.
IMETRIK: Leading the industry in 3.5G Technology
We, at IMETRIK, are proud to ofer 3.5G units to our customers. Our devices use the HSPA standard of the GSM technology. By acquiring the IMETRIK 3.5G devices today, you will have the tools to better control your costs and expenses moving forward.
What is 3.5G?
The acronym 3.5G, also known as “beyond 3G”, improves the performance of 3G. Completely based on HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), 3.5G is also faster than 3G, which means higher data-transfer speeds and capacity.
For more information, contact us at info@imetrik.com/866-276-5382 (ext. 5)
“I opened my business in 1998 with about 15 diferent lenders and selling around 30 cars a month. In 2004 most of the lenders dried up and so did my volume and cash fow. My frst Portfolio Proft Express check was $47,000. Credit Acceptance not only saved my dealership, it’s allowed me to increase my sales. The program has been life-changing for me and my customers.”
Joe Kaisk
Skypatrol Leads Dealers into
Track and recover. Reduce loss. Increase revenue. These are the three major challenges facing Buy Here Pay Here auto dealers in our current economic climate.
Many have tried, but few manage to harness GPS technology to efectively solve these critical issues.
Why? Capability was lacking. Automation didn’t measure up. Mobile implementation was slow. Frankly, these concepts were stuck in the past. Until now.
With its award-winning Defender 2.0 platform, global telematics leader Skypatrol is taking Buy Here Pay Here risk mitigation to places it’s never been before - the 21st century.
Voted the #1 Platform at the 2014 M2M Evolution Conference, Defender 2.0 raises the bar as the most advanced vehicle management software solution available today.
Running on GSM and CDMA wireless networks, Defender 2.0 delivers reliable, comprehensive nationwide coverage when and where you need it.
Defender 2.0 also boasts an easyto-manage user interface steeped in automation and mobile integration. These cornerstones aim to increase productivity while providing consistent access to your collateral on any device, ultimately increasing your bottom line.
the 21st Century
In addition, Defender ships with the most extensive set of features in today’s marketplace. Flagship features include:
secure repo mode
reminders to customers and reports applications
existing platform
“With Defender 2.0, customers are able to maintain tight control of their portfolio,” said Mark Peters, Skypatrol Senior Vice President of Sales. “The results speak for themselves; customers that implement our entire Defender platform have experienced improved portfolio performance and real drops in their default rates.”
For more information on how Defender 2.0 can improve your vehicle management protocol and help increase profitability, please visit www.skypatrol.com/defender.
To schedule a product demonstration, contact Skypatrol today at 800.369.5007 or email sales@skypatrol.com
Still Turning Away Credit-Challenged Customers?
Whether you are an Independent, Franchise or Buy Here, Pay Here dealer, your ultimate goal is to sell more cars and make more money. Yet many dealers are still turning away the large and growing segment of consumers with credit challenges.
Credit Acceptance - the 8th largest used-car lender in the country (Experian, June 2014), including all lenders and across all credit segments, has been helping dealers say “YES” to everyone since 1972.
Their program enhancements have made it even Easier, Faster and More Profitable to do business.
And, in today’s legal and regulatory environment, they help dealers do business in a manner that complies with the rules and regulations that govern their business. Credit Acceptance helps dealers help their customers - especially those who could not otherwise obtain financing - generating repeat and referral sales for dealerships.
“I opened my business in 1998 with about 15 different lenders and selling around 30 cars a month. In 2004 most of the lenders dried up and so did my volume and cash flow.
The Credit Acceptance program not only saved my dealership, it allowed me to increase my sales. It has been life-changing for me
and my customers.” - Joe Kaisk, Owner Magic City Motorcars
The Credit Acceptance programs also work with just about any make, model or year of vehicle - from new cars to late model used cars to older vehicles with higher mileage.
Reporting capabilities and tools are provided to help dealers purchase vehicles to maximize sales. And, a patented Credit Approval Processing System (CAPS®) makes it easy to deliver approvals, structure deals, and receive fast funding.
The bottom line is - Credit Acceptance helps dealers sell more cars and make more money. And, you can make Credit Acceptance one of your preferred lenders with no-fee enrolment options.
“Credit Acceptance gives me the opportunity to help my customers get back on their feet, improve their credit, and purchase a new vehicle from me down the road. I use the program both as a profit center and a stepping stone to transition credit-challenged customers from one of our certified preowned vehicles into the car of their dreams.” - Troy Duhon, President and CEO, Premier Automotive Group.
To learn more go to www.creditacceptance.com or call 800-873-0512.
FEX DMS Offers State-of-Industry Solution
FEX DMS, a product of Finance Express, is the state-of-the-industry, web-based used-car dealer software solution for collections management, inventory control and lender connectivity. The highly integrated, modular and scalable, stand-alone solution is comprised of feature rich inventory management, sales, customer and lead tracking tools, along with powerful custom reporting and data exporting capabilities. The uniquely integrated and cross-platform compatible modules are each priced separately, accommodating both the small dealer or wholesaler—and the largest buy-here-pay-here dealer.
Modules include: DMS, lender portal, BHPH with accounting, loan servicing and a marketing communications gateway that includes FEX TEXT and automated dialing systems, real time website management, and inventory syndication to paid and free listing sites—all of which can be added to the dealer’s account as needed.
Dealers who switch to FEX DMS quickly discover the convenience of the first 100% Internet-based DMS on the market. There are no disks to install, no hardware to buy...all updates are made in real time.
The platform makes it easy and intuitive to manage your dealership, not your software. Integration with well-known, Tier 1 forms vendors allows the dealer
to print all required contracts, documents and forms to plain paper.
FEX DMS maintains the industry standard for collections management, inventory control and compliance. Since each module is tightly integrated, the queue technology extends inventory description and distribution to comprehensive portfolio management.
The queue feature allows dealers to configure which reporting and data elements are important to review at a dashboard level, in real time.
FEX DMS is the result of over 20 years of research and testing in a wide variety of dealerships. The system is continually evolving to meet the increasing demands of industry regulation and dealership growth.
FEX DMS users will never have to install updates and are guaranteed to be using the latest version at all times. FEX DMS data is continuously archived eliminating manual backups.
FEX DMS is the perfect solution for BHPH or Special Finance dealerships. Call (949) 635-5892 or log on to www.FEXDMS.com to discover feature rich inventory management, sales, customer and lead tracking tools, along with powerful reporting.
The 2G GSM Sunset – Just Around the Corner
You’ve probably heard by now that AT&T is shutting down their 2G GSM network on January 1, 2017. They aren’t alone – other national carriers are following in their footsteps.
Due to high data demand, these carriers are making room for newer technologies. For telematics users, this will eventually mean greater network availability and high data speeds.
While the sunset is still officially a couple of years down the road, it will not be as simple as the flip of a switch. As 2017 approaches, AT&T will be hard at work converting their 2G GSM towers.
In fact, they’ve already begun – 2G GSM customers in certain regions of the United States are feeling the effects. This will continue to spread from one coast to the other.
With over 10 million 2G GSM devices currently in use, the encroaching sunset means telematics users need to have a plan in place if they don’t have one already. That starts with finding the right partner and implementing the right technology now to keep connected today, tomorrow and down the road.
Over the last year, we’ve made a substantial investment in our infrastructure to develop a worldclass telematics solution that works now and adapts easily to the next generation of wireless technology.
We started with our NSpire platform, which is engineered from the ground-up to deliver the highest level of service availability and reliable
performance.
Today, NSpire supports over two billion data events every year and 1.7 million subscribers — with the capacity to add a billion more without impacting service availability.
NSpire is designed to be flexible, meaning that as data demands and speeds increase, it can easily add capacity.
Since the announcement by AT&T, Spireon has been planning and innovating to ensure customers won’t be left in the dark.
It’s built using APIs (application program interfaces) and opensource code that allows us to quickly and cost-effectively add features, functionality and technology without having to re-engineer the entire system.
This allows us to quickly adapt and evolve our telematics solutions to give customers a competitive advantage as we meet their changing needs.
with comprehensive CDMA coverage, providing the best coverage and most reliable connections – period. For GoldStar GPS customers, that means you will stay connected to your vehicles even in remote and rural areas.
With better coverage, faster data speeds and greater longevity, Spireon’s GoldStar GPS with the 11th Generation CDMA Talon is certainly the clear choice for staying miles ahead of the 2G GSM sunset.
We took it a step further.
Our NSpire Platform is also backed by another industry first, Spireon’s Pure Gold Performance Guarantee with 99.9% system uptime guaranteed.
The second step was to implement the right technology. With 2G GSM networks being repurposed for faster data speeds and greater bandwidth, we chose CDMA technology. Why? Because CDMA allows you to take advantage of these faster networks – today.
We are the first and only provider in the automotive finance industry
That means we guarantee access to your GoldStar GPS web-based interface and tools, with 99.9% availability over the course of a year. Don’t wait for your first service interruptions. GoldStar GPS offers flexible packages that grow with your business, from affordable GPS locating services to a more robust collateral management system.
It’s your choice.
Make your plan for the 2G GSM sunset today – and make the right choice with GoldStar GPS.
Missed Payments: When GPS Is Not Enough
While GPS is the newest, sexiest technology, it is not foolproof. Unfortunately, you can still lose cars with it. So what’s a dealer to do?
First, understand that GPS is a “reactive” answer to the problem after things are already out of control. Now you have to say, “We’ve had enough. Go get the car.” Obviously, most dealers would rather get paid than go through a repo.
Second, consider using a twopronged approach that adds a proactive component to the reactive GPS component. Add our PT2000 as a proactive behavior-modification device that encourages your customers to pay
as agreed.
The PT2000 can be used as an “active decoy” (ask us). Mounted right there on the dashboard, it is a visible daily reminder to your customers that they must make their payment by the due date. Having a PT2000 is like having your own proactive collector in each and every car so that you can modify bad behavior before an account becomes delinquent. Contact PayTeck at 1-800-880-3081 or www.payteck.com
2014: The Year of Leasing
In the buy-here, pay-here industry there is a repeat cycle of loss. Loss for the customers, the dealers, and the finance companies. The typical loss process goes like this:
Industry report, the average default rate for buy-here, pay-here has reached
Determine Your Own Sales Success
By Jimmy Atkinson
Increasing your sales can take many forms.
Let’s look at three that will lead to controlling and raising your sales and gross profit.
Manage your Turn
Nothing is more critical to increasing your sales than keeping your inventory turn in line.
There are really only two key reasons that your cars aren’t selling:
1. Vehicle Condition
2. Pricing
How do we isolate the problem? Track these: high)
comes to training typically performcess to chance.
Take a few minutes each day to work on simple selling skills and the sales.
Similar to training for a marathon, steps then add speed work and long runs for endurance. If you go out and try and run 26.2 miles on day one, make sure your health insurance is paid up.
add a little each day, your team will efective with your customers that you pay dearly to attract to your dealership.
Inspect what you expect
lose on average $4,000 for each repossession.
credibility.
the insanity of losing money on over 2014 is the year of USED CAR LEASING! No repossessions – leverage over delinquencies – more profit – tax advantages – turnkey business model. To learn more about used car leasing and the many benefits it can bring to your dealership, please contact
pricing again or your salespeople’s skills need work)
Train your Sales Team
There are really only two typesthing: initial and ongoing. Period. Training never stops and the people who are “sponges” when it
Ed Lacy, a Ford dealer in Florida gave all his managers a coin that said “Inspect” on one side and “Expect” on the other. It was required that you have the coin in your pocket all the time. that most management issues and simply inspecting what we expect. sales every day so contact us at 800826-3207 or aulcorp.com.
Just another Vehicle Service Contracts provider – right? Think again!
Every car, and VSC coverage, is connected to a real person—your customer! At AUL, our commitment to excellence in your customer’s claims experience is unprecedented. Our culture is inspired by positive human interaction and we’re proud of providing a level of customer service that is unmatched in the industry.
It matters! People matter! Vehicle Service Contracts. It’s what we do.®
Making A Floor Plan Work For You
By Karen Millwood Account Executive NextGear Capital, Inc.
The ever-changing auto remarketing industry has seen more changes in recent years than ever before.
Today, more than ever, having a floor plan partner is very important to the small business owners’ vitality.
If you are looking to grow an existing business or beginning the journey of business ownership, it is important to have a good inventory finance partner to assist in expanding or getting your new business off the ground.
A floor plan can ensure you have fluid cash flow, a variety of inventory to increase your consumer base and can make buying inventory a simpler process.
Why a Floor Plan Company?
There are several things you should know and take into consideration when choosing a business partner in inventory finance.
An inventory finance plan, known as a “floor plan,” can
increase your cash flow. A floor plan gives you the option and the freedom to use your money where it is needed most, instead of being tied up in inventory on your lot.
It provides the flexibility to purchase a variety of inventory that can drive more consumers to your lot.
As your consumer base widens, so do your profits!
With the cutting edge technology being offered by floor plan companies today, floor planning has never been faster or easier, as you are able to manage your account from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
This includes making payments, viewing titles and reviewing key performance indicators specific to your account. These tools can provide insight on potential market opportunities to develop your business and improve income opportunities.
Know Your Numbers
When researching which floor plan partner is right for you, it is very important to
know your numbers. A good floor plan company will ask you in detail about your business model before quoting you term plan fees.
sell per month to pay your operating expenses (your break even number)? What is your average profit margin per car? These are all key
Every business model is different, catering to various demographics: specific locations, types of consumer (cash vs. financing), etc. Other factors, such as average price, turn time, retail, wholesale, specialty units, power sports units, etc. may be considered in the equation as well.
Know Your Business Model
When the time comes to have this conversation with a prospective floor plan partner, it is important to know your business model and be wellversed in presenting it. What is your average inventory turn time? What are your operating expenses? How many cars must you
questions a good business person should know. Knowing these numbers and reviewing them on a consistent basis is significant in establishing where you were, where you should be, where you are going, and how long it’s going to take to get there. Keep in mind that floor plan companies are discretionary lenders. The less of a risk you appear to be, the more likely you are to get a great term plan fee structure and the money your business needs. Be proud to share your numbers!
Let them check inventory and see your financials when asked. They aren’t just trying to be nosy. Their review can
factor in to determining your fee structure and the line of credit you qualify for. You should know your credit score and any hiccups on your credit, as this could negatively affect the term plan you qualify for. It doesn’t necessarily mean you would not qualify for a floor plan line of credit. However, it could affect how much you pay for one initially.
Know Your Needs
Last but not least, once approved, don’t use the entire line of credit all at once. It is important to maintain discipline and floor plan responsibly. Space your purchases out over a period of time. Loading up a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of inventory in a single week could be a huge mistake. The payoff on that inventory will come due at the same time and if they haven’t sold, you will be paying a considerable amount of money all at once. This is important to keep in mind as you are flooring inventory.
Tanya Povorozniouk, owner of Law Auto Group in Bensenville, Illinois, says NextGear Capital has provided her with many opportunities and resources to expand her business.
“We started with a small line of credit, and as the business grew each year, NextGear Capital was there to help us grow. The people at NextGear Capital are amazing. They worked with us to help make our business a success.”
Listen to more of what Tanya and other dealers have to say at nextgearcapital.com/why/opportunity
Steve Kapusta Vice President SmartAuction
DiPanni Director of Remarketing Operations SmartAuction
