Drunk on Profits: Preparing for the Used Car Hangover

Independent Dealer Realizes His Car Business Dream

It’s been a bit of a dream come true for independent dealer Dan Oakes in Kansas City. In 2010, Oakes acted on his curiosity and interest in the car business. His job as an energy trader provided...

A Deeper Dive for Dealers: Current Wholesale, Retail Conditions

I had the honor and privilege yesterday to serve as the featured speaker in the first installment of Cox Automotive’s webinar series, Continuity & Recovery Perspectives for Auto Dealers. We had...

Saying Goodbye to the ‘Godfather of Automotive Digital Marketing’

If you’ve been in the car business for the past 20 years and wanted to better understand how digital marketing could help your dealership, you probably know Ralph Paglia. Ralph was among a handful...

Why It’s Time to Get Back to Business In Used Vehicles

Like many dealers, I’ve been amazed by the resilience of the retail market for used vehicles during the past four months. I’ve heard from multiple dealers who set sales records in May, June and...

A Calculation to Cross-Check Your Used Vehicle Inventory Levels

It’s been impressive to see dealers retailing more used vehicles despite the smaller inventories many have been forced to carry due to lower-than-usual availability of wholesale supplies. Across...

Taking Notice of Two Used Vehicle Market Trendlines

There are two trendlines in the used vehicle market that merit every dealer’s attention. The first is the rolling seven-day average of retail sales across the country. A month ago, the rolling...

A Few Thoughts for the July Fourth Weekend

I suspect I’m not the only one who’s headed into this year’s July 4th holiday weekend feeling much different than I did in years past. For one thing, I can’t remember the first half of a year...

A Post-Pandemic Question on Factory Facility Requirements

I’ve been wondering if the shakeout from the COVID-19 pandemic across the retail automotive industry will result in any significant changes in the requirements factories place on dealers for their...

A View of Bears and Bulls in the Current Used Vehicle Market

It’s refreshing to see what might be called a boost of confidence among dealers related to their used vehicle departments. Dealers are seeing surprisingly strong retail sales volumes, and many...

A Call for Caution As Dealers Return to Auctions

It’s good to feel good about the current state of the retail used vehicle market. Retail sales are off last year’s totals by single-digit percentages, up significantly from the near-standstill...

A Call to Return to Retail-Back Used Vehicle Acquisitions

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone’s had their eyes on wholesale values for used vehicles. The focus on wholesale valuation benchmarks like Manheim’s MMR was necessary because the...

A Conversation with Dealer News Today

There’s a common structure to my conversations with dealers and media outlets. The conversations often cover current market conditions as COVID-19 continues to disrupt retail automotive, things...