One challenge in many dealerships is building an environment where teamwork thrives. Salespeople are focused on their own individual commissions, not the stores; technicians are focused on the billable hours they produce, not the departments; and F&I managers want their penetration and back-end gross to be high. Aside from management, there’s a simple reason to…

Studying is a challenging process, especially when you study something so complex as automotive trade. But despite proper learning requires a lot of time and efforts, many students still want to find a job and to try combining their studies with work.

 …

Jumpstart Automotive Media, a leading media, insights, and marketing solutions company, today released its monthly share of shopper interest data. The report reveals that there is recent growth in interest for the Entry Luxury Sedan segment, but the segment is also drawing interest in other similar segments (Midsize Sedans, Midsize luxury Sedan), making it one of today’s larger cross-shopped categories.…

As I deleted yet one more email from a dealer I signed up with to test them (4 years ago at their request) I wondered how many emails they had sent me. Gmail does a nice job of getting rid of old email, but a search for the last two years showed 68 emails. 

By looking at the dates, 2/3rd of these were timed emails sent by the crm, the rest look like a campaign to either buy my car, which apparently is still going up in value, or some sort of branding event by the dealer.

I…

New car sales across the country have been declining with many dealerships starting to feel the heat from sales departments seeing reduced performance. Fixed operations have become critical and dealerships look for ways to improve returns from their service, parts, and body shops. The fact is, I believe fixed…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. …

Jumpstart Automotive Media recently analyzed more than 4,000 Tier-3 dealer digital marketing campaigns that ran in 2016. The campaigns were divided into four categories based on length (1, 2, 3, 4 month lengths). Click-thru rate (CTR), and cost per visitor and cost per visit and was then calculated for each category.

1 Month

CTR Rate: 0.06%

Cost Per Visitor:…

Urbandale, IA--August 28, 2017--Flick Fusion today announced that COO Tim James was selected by Digital Dealer to give a special presentation to vendors and sponsors on Sunday, September 17th at 4:30 pm PST. The 25-minute, pre-conference session is the first of its kind and will focus on how exhibitors can maximize their ROI at the show. James will share best practices on how to effectively work a booth,…

Over 200 transactions expected for the year; dealers begin taking on equity partners, while reinsurance profits increasingly factor into buy/sells, and key manager retirements spur sales  

Irvine, CA – August 28, 2017 – Dealership buy/sell activity during the first half of 2017 reveals a notable willingness by auto dealers to take on minority and majority equity partners, according to analysis…

AutoHook has announced they have completed the integration process with the industry’s top leading website providers. Mutual clients of AutoHook and the affiliate companies listed below are now set up to successfully target and incentivize customers to visit dealer showrooms based on any specific vehicle of interest - down to the year, make, and…

Protective Asset Protection, which operates dealer-owned warranty programs / F&I products (DOWC) for auto dealers, recently conducted an online survey presented to 1,500 auto dealer professionals in the U.S. Here are highlights of the results, which you may be interested in for a story:

When asked about the biggest challenge with their current F&I products, 29% of dealer respondents said both “too much of an administrative burden, and “doesn’t offer enough…

Connected cars are officially here. The 2018 Honda Odyssey minivan is just one example of how this technology is turning vehicles into traveling entertainment centers. Inside, passengers can access a 4G LTE Wi-Fi network so they can stream videos or surf the Internet. The Odyssey also offers smartphone control of entertainment and climate control…

Recently meeting with group directors for a multi roof-top franchisee, the topic of Management entitlement was the topic of discussion.  I visited nine of the eleven stores this group owned to give the 30,000 feet view of a third party.

Upon the review process I witnessed what the owners referred to as "Entitlement." When they brought this word into the conversation I was surprised. The word entitlement is being used by news sources and major media outlets as, "A given." Utilized in…

Recently I was at a grocery store deli to pick up my wife’s favorite cheese and learned a lesson about customer care and complaints. There was one employee in the Department cleaning the sink and a customer was patiently waiting ahead of me. I asked if she had been helped yet which caught the attention of the employee. She…