Used Car News 1/2/17

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Auction Devastated by Fire, Rebuilds For 2017

By Jeffrey Bellant

MidKansasAutoAuctioninHays, Kan., is celebrating the new year with brand new auction facilities after a devastating fire last summer destroyed the former four-lane sale.

At the end of December manager Trevor Ottley said workers were putting the finishing touches on the rebuild in the aftermath of the disastrous July 24 fire.

On that day, the staff was getting ready to give out a loaner car for someone who had repair work, Ottley said. The loaner was a 2005 Buick LaSabre, which has the battery under the back seat. The bat-

tery was set on a trickle charge and employees left for about an hour, Ottley said.

“One of our employees came back and the car was engulfed in flames and the building followed,” he said.

Ottley was mowing his lawn and got a call that the auction was on fire. He and his father, Mark Ottley, both live about a quarter of a mile from the sale.

“I thought they were joking, but I ran out and looked across and could see a couple hundred feet of flames in the air,” he said. “My dad and I both beat the fire department here.”

There were more than a dozen cars in the building and even after

the firefighters got it under control, it sparked up again, Ottley said.

Ottley said it was windy day and the fire got so hot it shorted out garage door openers and caused them to open up, allowing the wind to feed the fire.

“The fire was so hot, the concrete was exploding,” Ottley said.

“It got hot enough to melt the steel beams.”

Fire inspectors came out and said everything was hooked up correctly so it was a malfunction in the extension cord, the machine or the car.

No one was hurt, but the devastation was total.

“We had one facility which en-

compassed everything and everythingburntdown,”hesaid.“Welost all of our servers, all of our data.

“So within four hours, everything we’ve done over the past 11 years was gone.”

After replacing a server a few years ago, the service provider did not make the proper connection betweentheserverandonlinebackup, so all of the data was lost, Ottley said.

“That was much worse than the building,” he said. “We had to start over.”

Ottley said the auction couldn’t even register a car after that.

Continued on page 6

FTC Settles with Groups over Certification Claims

Three large dealership groups have settled allegations they misrepresented the safety of their certified vehicles.

CarMax Inc., Asbury Automotive Group Inc. and WestHerr Automotive Group have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they touted how rigorously they inspect their used cars, yet failed to adequately disclose that some of the cars were subject to unrepaired safety recalls.

The proposed consent orders will prohibit them from making unqualified inspection or safety-related claims about their used vehicles if any are subject to open, or unrepaired, safety recalls.

Also, following a public comment period, the FTC has approved final consent orders in similar cases against General Motors Co., Jim Koons Management, and Lithia Motors Inc. that weresettledearlierthisyear.

The FTC’s complaint against CarMax cites its claims about rigorous usedcar inspections, including its

“125+ Point Inspection” and that its cars undergo, on average, “12 hours of renewing – sandwiched between two meticulous inspections.”

The complaint also notes a TV commercial touting a team inspection and reconditioning, which included a message that appears for three seconds in tiny type at the bottom of the screen stating, “Some CarMax vehicles are subject to open safety recalls.”

Despite highlighting their inspections, the FTC alleges that CarMax failed to adequately disclose that some of the cars had open recalls. These recalls included defects that could cause seriousinjury;includingtheGM key ignition switch defect, as well as the Takata airbag defect.

Similarly, the FTC’s complaintagainstAsbury, which also does business as Coggin Automotive Group and Crown Automotive Group, alleges that the company made claims such as: “Every Coggin Certified used car or truck has undergone a 150 point bumper-to-bumper inspection by Certified mechanics. We find and fix problems – from bulbs to brakes – before offering a vehicle for sale.” However, as alleged, the company advertised some certified used vehicles without adequately

disclosing that some of the cars were subject to open recalls, including one that could cause fuel to leak and the engine to misfire or stall, and one that could cause a car to move in an unexpected or unintended direction.

The FTC’s complaint against West-Herr, the largest auto group in New York, cites claims about vehicles backed by the “West-Herr Guarantee” and touting a “rigorous multi-point inspection with our factory trained technicians.”

Continued on page 5

NEWS BRIEFS

CarMax Retails More Units

CarMax Inc. reported higher sales and revenues in its latest quarter, which ended Nov. 30.

Netsalesincreased4.4percentand operatingrevenuesroseto$3.7billion.

Used unit sales in comparable stores increased 5.4 percent.

Totalusedunitsalesrose9.1percent.

Total wholesale unit sales declined 2.2 percent.

CarMax Auto Finance income declined 3.2 percent to $89.4 million. Net earnings increased 6.6 percent to $136.6 million.

Southeast Toyota, World Omni Mark Milestone

Southeast Toyota Finance and World Omni Financial Corp. are celebrating 35 years in the automotive inance industry.

Established in 1981 with only two associates, World Omni Financial Corp. was the irst captive auto inance company for an import carmaker in the U.S.

Launched to support Toyota dealers in the southeast, World Omni’s growth accelerated when it began operating as Southeast Toyota Finance. More than 1,000 associates and 3 million contracts later, World

Omnirecentlycelebrated35yearsof continued growth.

To commemorate the milestone anniversary, World Omni distributed a total of $45,500 in donations to local organizations that provide services to veterans.

Carfax Wins Lawsuit Brought by Dealer

Carfax defeated a lawsuit iled against it by a New Jersey car dealer.

Maxon Hyundai Mazda of Union, N.J., had sued the vehicle history provider, claiming the company was a monopoly.

A federal judge ruled the suit brought by Maxon should be dismissed. The judge found no basis to let the case go forward.

The judge found that Maxon’s claims that Carfax’s activities improperly foreclosed competition for the sale of vehicle history reports failed as a matter of law.

Dealers Struggle with CRM Usage

Arecentstudyco-releasedbyVinSolutions and DealerKnows shows that the average dealer struggles to use their CRM efectively in several keyareas,butthatefectiveCRMusage is tied to overall dealership success.

The CRM usage benchmarks in this study were set by examining a select group of dealers who had evaluated their CRM usage and implemented a plan to improve performance. The study compared the CRM usage of these best in class dealers to that of a representative sample of dealers nationwide.

In both groups, CRM usage was evaluated across three categories: utilization, reporting and lead process. In each category, average dealers were shown to lag signiicantly behind best-in-class dealers.

NHTSA Speeds up Airbag Recalls

The National Highway Traic Safety Administration issued an amended order to continue the acceleration of recall repairs for millions of U.S. vehicle owners afected by the Takata air bag inlator recalls.

The Amended Coordinated Remedy Order issued to Takata and the 19 afected automakers requires replacement parts to be obtained on an accelerated basis and made available irst to the riskiest vehicles. The order sets new requirements for automakers to certify to NHTSA when they have obtained a suicient

supply of replacement parts to begin repairs, and requires automakers to coordinate consumer messaging using best practices identiied by NHTSA, industry and the Independent Monitor of Takata and the Coordinated Remedy Program.

America’s Car-Mart Extends Financing Agreement

America’s Car-Mart Inc. has entered into an agreement with a group of lenders to extend the buyhere, pay-here chain’s revolving credit facilities to Dec. 12, 2019.

The agreement also increases the total permitted borrowings to $200 million from $172.5 million.

The agreement also includes an accordion feature allowing for up to an additional $50 million in total commitments, subject to lender approval and/or successful syndication. The agreement provides for threepricingtiers(downfromfour).

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Certification – from page 3

However, the complaint alleges again that the company failed to properly disclose that some of the vehicles were subject to recalls for defects that could result in serious injury.

Under the proposed consent orders, CarMax, Asbury, and WestHerr are prohibited from claiming that their used vehicles are safe, have been repaired for safety issues, or have been subject to an inspection for safety-related issues, unless they are free of open recalls.

The companies can also clearly and conspicuously disclose that their vehicles may be subject to unrepairedrecallsforsafetyissuesand explain how consumers can determine whether a vehicle is subject to arecallforasafetyissuethathasnot been repaired, as long as the claims are not otherwise misleading.

The proposed orders also would prohibit the companies from misrepresenting whether there is or is not an open recall for safety issues foranyusedmotorvehicle,whether they repair such vehicles, and any other material fact about the safety of the used vehicles they advertise for sale.

The proposed orders also would require the companies to inform recent customers, by mail, that ve-

hicles they bought as far back as July 1, 2013, may be subject to open recalls.

The commission vote to issue the administrative complaints against CarMax, Asbury Automotive Group, and West-Herr Automotive Group and to accept the consent agreements was 3-0.

In a commission statement regarding the six auto recall advertising cases, the commission said that its orders “will help empower consumers to make more informed and safer purchasing decisions in a market that, absent a change in federal law, continues to include cars subject to open recalls.”

CarMax made a statement after the FTC announced the settlement, saying the company “has led the industry in recall transparency.”

“As soon as centralized recall information was made available by NHTSA, we believe we were the irsttoincorporateitintoouradvertising and sales process,” said Clif Wood, CarMax’s chief operating oicer. “We share vehicle speciic open recall information in-store and online to ensure our customersknowaboutopenrecallspriorto purchase. We will continue to make enhancements to our comprehensive recall disclosure program.”

Auction Fire

– from page 1

It was just as much work to try and buildupatemporarysalesotheyjust stayedclosedandworkedonrebuildinginstead.

“We’re separating our oice facility from the auction facility and then we have a separate recon facility,” he said.

Ottleysaidtheonepositiveisthatit forced them to stop and make all the changes at once, without having to juggle the weekly sales and daily operationsatthesametime.

“We also have the cutting edge technology now, setting up with AutoIMS,” he said. “It will be much better.”

The auction used to run 125 units on an average sale day. At press time, Ottley was expecting to run more than 200 for the irst sale at the new facility, which was scheduled before thenewyear.

As a family-owned independent auction, the Ottleys have focused on their customers and still did some transportationduringthefour-month rebuild.

Owner Mark Ottley opened the original sale new in 2005 and duringtherebuilddidnotlayanyoneof, keepingallofthestafon.

TrevorOttleysaidhelooksforward torunningsalesfordealersagain.

Thenewtwo-lanesalewillhavethe abilitytorunupto300cars.

“We’re excited to get back open for them.”

Young Show Most Interest in EVs

Few consumers are interested in buyinganelectricvehicle.

According to a survey by Reportlinker, 81 percent said they couldn’t envision buying an EV as their next vehiclepurchase.

And while they are divided about whether EVs ofer real beneits, 40 percent couldn’t specify the autonomyrangeofabattery-electricvehicle,

and many weren’t familiar with the auto brands that are leading the way onEVdevelopment.

Millennials view electric vehicles more favorably than the rest of the population.

When asked what they felt was the best alternative to traditional fuel vehicles, nearly half said hybrids and otherelectricvehicles.

FORECAST 2017

News Briefs Header 1

The start of each new year raises questions that the industry will grapple with over the next 12 months. Here are some of the issues for2017.

How Far Will Wholesale Prices Fall?

The rising tide of of-lease vehicles and

the trades coming from new-car sales of around 17 million units will continue to place pressure on wholesale prices.

Black Book forecasts overall depreciation of 17 percent over the next year, said Anil Goyal, the company’s seniorvicepresidentof operations.

This is more in line with historic trends than the depreciation levels seen in recent years,Goyalsaid.

The decline varies by segment, with cars continuing to lose valuefasterthantrucks.

Another challenge facingwholesaleprices is the types of vehicles comingbackof-lease.

There are more cars than trucks, which further drives down prices, and the cars are all fairly similar, with the sameoptionsandalimitedrangeofcolors.

How Much Will Credit Tighten?ader 2

Goyal sees a slow declineininancinglevels as delinquencies rise and wholesale values

decline.

Butthatdoesn’tmean a collapse in lending, especially subprime lending,thatsomecontinuetoanticipate.

“If lenders are compensated for the additional risk in the portfolio,amodestincrease in delinquency should not disrupt the auto inance market,” said Jason Laky, senior vice president and automotive and consumer lendingbusinessleader for TransUnion. “We do not expect to see

a surge in auto delinquency unless there is aneconomicshock.”

Growth in average auto balance per consumer is expected to slow to levels last observed in 2011, Laky said.

Will New Car Incentives Rise?

The answer to this question depends on how comfortable manufacturersarewithplateauingnew-carsales.

Many factors were pushing up auto sales in the past few years, including low interest rates and pent-up demand. Those factors arelesseningnow.

“Now,we’rereallydependentonorganicdemand,”Goyalsaid.

George Hofer, a transportation economist at the University of Richmond, said the manufacturers would be pushed to equal 2016’ssales.

In addition to the other challenges, Hoffer said, there is little new product coming to market this year.

The most in-demand segments, trucks and SUVs, are especially lateintheirproduction cycles.

Steven Szakaly, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, expects more targeted incentives aimed at those late-in-cycle vehicles, as well as small cars.

Will Washington Curb Regulation?

Notatirst,thatmuch isforsure.

“You’re going to see the same sort of compliance focus that has evolved over the past few years,” said attorneyMichaelBenoit.

But change is inevitable at the top of the most disliked regulator in Washington, the

Consumer Finance ProtectionBureau.

Current CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s termendsinJuly.

Benoit said the idea of replacing a single director with a more traditional three-person commission might growmoreappealing.

That won’t mean dealersareintheclear.

“Just because you won’t be getting attention from one area doesn’tmeanyouwon’t be getting attention from another,” Benoit said.

2

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RETAIL MARKETS

FLORIDA

Sharon Woodward, coowner, Gateway Auto Sales,Jacksonville,Fla.:

“The family’s had the business for 52 years.

“We just have one location. We carry about 25 cars or so.

“We go to auctions for our cars. We go to ADESA Jacksonville and Carmax.

“On average, we sell about 10 a month.

“It’s all buy-here, payhere.

“The average down payment is about $1,100. The average term length is two years.

“We use GPS on the cars. That’s just to recover cars if we need to.

“Ouraverageretailpriceis $4,995. But we have higher priced cars and a few that are cheaper. We don’t add a lot to our contracts.

“The average model year is about 2005 or 2006.

“My husband (and coowner) Tony tries to get cars with low mileage – as low as our customers can

aford – but on average it’s around 130,000. We’re in a depressed area. Big time. Around here, most of the jobs are retail and there are several warehouse jobs.

“We don’t carry many trucks. We do 90 percent cars and 10 percent SUV and trucks.

“Trucks are expensive. Our customers just can’t affordit.Theyreallycan’t.We don’t want to inance it and we don’t use any outside inancing.

“We carry mostly domestics. We carry old police cars.

“We’re known for our Chevy Impalas, because my husband does such great work on them. We get them from the government.

“(Reconditioning costs) are less than $1,000. We try and do everything here. We don’t do outside work. We just do our own vehicles.

“For advertising, we have our website. My husband also uses Craigslist. We also advertise in Car Connection, a local magazine dur-

ing the busy season, which is tax time.

“One recent car we sold was a 2007 Chevrolet Impala. It had 130,000 miles. We got $6,995.

“This past year, 2016, was not as good as 2015. It was a long year. I think it was just the economy at the time.

“I think we’ll do better in 2017. We’re expecting a nice year.We’remakingaliving.”

TENNESSEE

Alan McFadden, president/owner, Al’s Auto Mart,Portland,Tenn.:

“We’re 30 miles north of Nashville.

“I’ve been in business 24 years. I have two locations. One is called 109 Auto Sales and it’s a buy-here, pay-here lot. This location is an upscale cash lot.

“At this location, I keep about 60 in inventory. That’s typical.

“IbuyinventoryfromCarmax, ABC Bowling Green and (Manheim) Nashville. That’s what I’ve used the last several years.

“At this lot, I sell about

35 per month. I partner with local banks and credit unions (to provide inancing).

“The average model year is about 2012. We try to stay under 100,000 miles for most units. Average is probably 90,000. We have several trucks that are 140,000 and we have a lot of items that are 15,000 to 20,000. Finding them has gotten better because we buy a lot of of-leases.

“Trucks are about 40 percent of our stock. Cars and SUVs are about 60 percent.

“Getting trucks is always a challenge. For example, if you get a 2014 truck now, it’s going to retail for about $35,000. If you get a 2014 car, it’s going to retail for about $16,000 to $17,000. So, when you’re talking about three times the price, it’s crazy.

“We carry about 30 percent imports, which are Hondas and Toyotas. The domesticsaremostlytrucks.

“Average reconditioning costs are about $350. We

Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant

try to buy them as clean as we can. My other lot has a three-bay shop so we do a lot of our detail and recon over there. We just work on our own cars over there.

“For advertising, we have a website and we use CarGurus. We also do some radio ads.

“We’re been buying newer cars – later-model cars. Instead of buying ‘12s, ‘13s, we’re buying 2014s, 2015s and 2016s. So that’s done well.Theinancingisbetter.

“I think we’ll stay the same in 2017.

“We do a little buy-here, pay-here at this lot, just because they have the check in hand. But when we do our down payments here, they’re usually $2,500 to $3,000 or $4,000. So we do about 5 percent buy-here pay-here at this lot, which is more upscale. Our other lot is more traditional buyhere, pay-here.

“Recently we sold a 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche LT Z71. It had 120,000 miles. It sold for $19,900.”

WHOLESALE MARKETS

CONNECTICUT

PeterSaldamarco,president, Central Auto Auction, Hamden, Conn.:

“Our 11-year anniversary is coming up Feb. 26.

“All and all, our volumes aredoingprettygood.We’re probably up 10 percent (in 2016) than what we were.

We started from scratch 11 years ago, so when you start from scratch you have no place to go but up.

“We run about 400 cars a week. We have been running three lanes, but the physical building accommodates four lanes.

“So we’ll be opening up the fourth lane in the irst quarter or second quarter of 2017.

“Our conversion rates are in the mid-60s, about 65 percent I’m pleased to tell you.

“I’m particular about the quality of our consignments. We just don’t bring bulk, gross vehicles in here and keep our ingers crossed. If accounts or sellers are low-percentage sell-

ers, I discourage them from coming here.

“As a business philosophy, I have sacriiced quantity for quality. Hopefully, that business philosophy is taking root after 10 years.

“I think we average 190 or 200 dealers in the lanes.

“We run 60 percent new-car trades, 30 percent commercial – including donation vehicles – and 10 percent independent.

“In 2017, we’re getting very involved with credit unions and we also just signed on with Tom Stewart of AMS to be our national salesrep.Hisgoalistobring some national consignors to us.

“So with the fourth lane starting up, we’re deinitely getting more serious about commercial business here.

“Hopefully, we’re also looking to start our Front Line sale in February. It’s an automated, live simulcast sale for front line vehicles from new-car dealers exclusively.

“Our patent is pending on that. It will be every Wednesday at 2 p.m. I think we’ll have several hundred vehicles right out of the gate.

“So we have a big online opportunity here. We embrace that technology. The AWG folks are great. We do Auction Pipeline with the Edge people.

“We have all the pieces in place.Afterourliveauction, all of our no-sales go onto OVE, Openlane and SmartAuction.

“Our average price in the lanes is $4,000.

“OurcontractforGSAwas just renewed for ive years. We marshal the new cars for GSA, as well. We run that monthly. We ran more than 700 in 2016.

“We also have a licensed salvage operation on the premises.Thathelpsuswith the charity vehicles, since a lotofthemgetscrappedand we can process them right on the premises.

“We’re poised for big growth here in 2017.”

WASHINGTON

Robert McConkey, president, DAA Northwest, Spokane, Wash.:

“We are running 10 lanes. Our volumes were big in 2016 – all year long. Our volumes were up 65 percent since 2013.

“Our monthly promo sales will run about 3,200 cars on average. On our normal weekswerun1,600to1,800.

“The biggest contributor for us is the Canadian exchange rate and the market in Canada. It’s falling of a little bit now.

“Conversion rates (were) good all year. They’ve been in the upper 50s and 60s all of 2016. We’re roughly 65-percent to 70-percent dealer consignment, with about 30 percent leet.

We also have a closed factory sale but that’s part of the leet number. Those volumes are about 200 a month.

“We have a monthly motorsports sale. That’s 100 to 200 units. It’s almost exclusively motorcycles, with

Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant

some other toys. Harleys make up 50 to 60 percent of that volume. Our RV sale is monthly, with 100 to 150 units.

“We use Edge Simulcast, Openlane, OVE and SmartAuction.

“We actually sell more dealer cars via simulcast than we do leet cars. About 65 percent of our overall simulcast sales are dealer consignment versus (leet).

“We do fairly comprehensive condition reports on every car. Our average price is driven by trucks, so it’s about $13,500.

“We’ve made tremendous investments over 18 months in all three of our sales – with about $12 million in facility improvements through May.

“We continue to hone in on transportation eiciencies and continue to pursue the Internet by utilizing social media in every aspect of the business. We think our growth will moderate, to maybe 7 or 8 percent in 2017.”

DISCONNECTED JOTTINGS FROM TONY MOORBY

I recently attended a meeting dedicated to the compliance issues relating to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was orchestrated on behalf of some

imposed on a business can eventually be a good thing. They can even stretch an organization’s talents to differentiate them from their competition. So you’d think

•

Tony Moorby

• 50-year veteran of the industry

• President from 1997–2000 of ADT Automotive

• Served as ADESA’s executive vice president of sales and marketing

• Moorby & Associates 2006–present

• Awarded the

auto auction operators and other suppliers. The auctions are almost necessarily involved in the resale of bankers’ and other inancial institutions’ collateral. As third-party suppliers, auctions are as responsible for their actions just as though they were principles in the transactions. When dealing with the government to ensure regulatory compliance, I take the high road on the basis that the rigors and disciplines

that the good ones would get paid more – good luck with that one! Commercial fees for cleaning and selling cars have hardly gone up in two decades despite the industry keeping up with (and establishing) new technologies. The compliance list is voluminous and of proctologic proportions, involving all facets of everyday operations from data security to handling customers and human resources, requiring documented records of per-

formance, available for audit at the drop of a hat.

The agency’s stated mission is, “The CFPB is a 21st century agency that helps consumer inance markets work by making rules more efective,byconsistentlyand fairly enforcing those rules, andbyempoweringconsumers to take more control over their economic lives.” So far I don’t think their rules have been fairly or consistently applied – they seem to base their ines on all kinds of whimsical determinations. Their mission statement declares them to be a data-driven organization. They’ve been roundly criticized for “guessing the race of some consumers by their names and zip codes.” If we did that our heads would be on pikes at the entrance to our cities.

The banking industry has been (and continues to be) its own worst enemy and has invited all this oversight because it can’t be trusted to police itself or behave in a commercially sensible and

acceptable manner. Their guile never stops. Wells Fargo’s recent escapades are nothing short of disgusting. We now have an expensive agency with unlimited funding from the Federal Reserve to make sure that a late-paying buy-here, payhere customer is treated like Lord Gotrocks. Allow me to describe expensive: they’re refurbishing oice space in D.C. to the tune of $55 million – that’s more than the building construction and acquisition cost for the whole of the GSA. The wage and beneit tag for 1,757 employees in 2017 is going to be $343.4 million or 54 percent of their operating budget of $636.1 million. That’s an average of $195,215 per employee. Whatever happened to the vision of an impoverished government employee?

The whole agglomeration

is overseen by one man. A grand panjandrum who, hitherto, can only be unseated by the president himself and only then for gross misconduct. That doesn’t seem to extend to spending your and my money with reckless abandon in the style of a drunken sailor.

I’m assured that other funding (they need other funding?) comes from ines andpenaltiesextractedfrom miscreant institutions they investigate. The amount of the ines depends largely on the state of the company’s wealth – nothing to do with aplannedcharterofinesfor speciic ofences.

From Trump’s early Cabinet selections, it would seem that this agency, along with all the other run-amok, spendthrift departments may well come under some scrutiny of their own. Fair’s fair.

To see past columns from Tony Moorby, visit www.usedcarnews.com/columnists/tony-moorby

Across

1. Hyundai’s “pseudo hot-hatch”

6. _____ control

11. Original manufacturer’s equipment, abbr.

13. Time measurement for 0-60

14. Luxury Ford

17. Former Toyota sports compact

18. Customer ___

19. Pampering place

21. Oice cofee supplier

22. Like GPS, bluetooth, etc

25. Drink with jam and bread

27. Lubrication

28. Time for a morning cofee

29. Old vinyl record

30. Someone who buys classic cars

By Myles Mellor

32. hat is

34. Start of a Musketeer credo

35. Honda models

36. Automaker with a four-ring logo

38. Scion model

40. Time periods, for short

42. Lotus sports car

45. Toyota SUV

47. Lion sign

49. Braking system

51. It’s what’s in stock

53. Computer whizzes

55. __ demand

56. His crat was a UFO

57. Lose value Down 1. Alfa Romeo Disco

____ Spider

2. Italian automaker

3. Eclipse, for one

4. Seemingly forever

5. Email subject line intro

7. Put a new coat on

8. Problem

9. Visionary

10. Car rental category

12. Ford Falcon Cobra and Chrysler VH Vailant Charger for example, 2 words

15. Holder for oil

16. “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper __

20. ___ Cruiser

23. Fancy British car, informally

24. Hurt

26. Huge

31. Auto pioneer

33. Mitsubishi sports car

35. How mpg is calculated for urban or highway

37. Operate

39. Slowing down

41. Chassis

43. Compact Lotus sports car

44. Range ___

46. Sales goal

48. Printers’ measure

50. Speculate

52. News channel

54. Singer lang