My phone’s been buzzing off the hook in the past week as dealers are almost single-mindedly asking the same question: Where’s the used vehicle market headed? The calls and questions moved from...
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Every dealer would agree that you make your money when you buy a used vehicle. That’s why appraisals are so critically important. The appraisal establishes the return on investment (ROI) and...
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I’ve had a version of the following conversation with dealers in recent weeks. The conversation typically arrives after I’ve shared why dealers should be treating their distressed (or “Bronze”)...
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I’ve been in multiple conversations with economists and data scientists at Cox Automotive, as well as members of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, that have focused on the apparent and surprising...
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As I’ve been helping dealers reckon with the vehicles they purchased at the top of the market and failed to retail in recent weeks, I’ve been reminded of what might be considered the “wild, wild...
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It’s fair to say that there’s often a gap between the way a used vehicle manager manages a used vehicle department and the way a dealer believes the department is being managed. The gap often owes...
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Heading into NADA, I wondered how dealers would respond when they saw their used vehicle pricing presented to them through the investment-based lens that ProfitTime GPS provides. My curiosity came...
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Several themes emerged in conversations with dealers at NADA that suggest future strain on their factory partner relationships. Beyond the OEM efforts to push dealers to invest in electric vehicle...
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Not so long ago, some observers questioned whether dealers would want to sell and support the rise of electric vehicles (EVs) given their long-standing history and investment in selling and...
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I’ll be taking home a new term that I learned in the first of my two workshops here at NADA—“learning journey.” It came from a dealer during the workshop Q&A as the dealer asked for guidance on...
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Like a saddle bronc in the chute, I’m chomping at the bit for this year’s NADA convention in Dallas. As many of you know, I get excited as NADA approaches. It means I spend my days talking to...
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Every January, some dealers exercise their right to an annual rite—the financial write-down of used vehicle inventory they have in stock as the calendar moves from one year to the next. This...
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I’m seeing a correlation between the current and pre-pandemic market in the way dealers with multiple rooftops are managing their used vehicle inventories. Back in 2019 and earlier, dealers with...
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It’s fair to say that many dealers experienced and saw things in used vehicles during the past year that ran counter to traditional wisdom. In the early part of 2022, we saw a continuation of the...
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I’ve been struck by how often the term “margin compression” has come up in recent conversations with dealers. Interestingly, dealers aren’t necessarily complaining about margin compression. It’s...
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I’ve been talking to a lot of dealers lately about how they’re doing in used vehicles. Often, I’m in these conversations because a dealer’s become convinced that vAuto’s new inventory management...
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As dealers are getting ready to close out 2022, some are seeing two trendlines in their used vehicle performance that give them pause. The first trendline relates to front-end gross profit....
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I’m seeing it day after day. At almost every dealership. It’s what can only be described as a problematic, two-pronged pricing problem. I’ll dig into the problem in a moment. But first, I must...
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‘Tis the season to be thinking about baseball. Here in Texas, a lot of people are hoping the Houston Astros live up to their potential as 2022 World Series favorites.
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Across the country, the share of distressed vehicles in dealer inventories is rising. On the surface, a rise in the number of distressed vehicles in a single dealer’s inventory isn’t necessarily...
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