NADA 2021: A View from the Home Office
Like a lot of dealers, I’m missing NADA this year. This year’s NADA would have marked my 52nd trip to the annual gathering of the dealers, partners and others who drive the car business.
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Industry Trends
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Ways to Win in Wholesale and Retail - Cox Automotive Experience 2021 Session
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4 Pointers for Acquiring Inventory in an Appreciating Market
With wholesale values of vehicles reaching record highs, dealers are asking if it makes sense to continue acquiring inventory at costs at, near or sometimes above current retail asking prices for...
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A Remarkable–and Familiar–Time for Used Vehicle Retailing
This is normally the time of year when I caution dealers about their high hopes for a strong spring selling season in used vehicles. The caution relates to the tendency of dealers to speculate...
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Stockwave | Tax Time
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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...
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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...
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A Case for Stocking Up Now on Used Vehicle Inventory?
For much of the past several months, I’ve advocated that dealers take a cautious approach to the way they replenish their used vehicle inventories. Last week, I shared how dealers should...
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ProfitTime in Practice: Discipline Drifts in Today’s Retail Tailwinds
I’ve spent way more hours than I can count on airplanes in the past decade. Truth be told, I miss the travel and the daily get-up-and-go routine it requires. But current market conditions remind...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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ProfitTime in Practice: Finding Balance in a Bipolar Used Vehicle Market
I’ve noticed what might be considered a case of bipolarity in used vehicle inventories at dealerships across the country. On one hand, there’s a sizable share of vehicles dealers purchased a month...
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A View of ProfitTime’s Utility in Today’s COVID-19 Pandemic
I’m seeing dealers take one of two paths as they work to right-size their used vehicle inventory costs and counts to fit current market conditions in the COVID-19 pandemic. The first path might be...
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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...
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A Gross Deception Discussion with WardsAuto
A few weeks ago, I saw down with WardsAuto Dealer Business editor Steve Finlay to discuss my latest book, “Gross Deception: A Tale of Shifting Markets, Shrinking Margins and the New Truth of Used...
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A Sobering Catalyst for a Strategic Shift in Used Vehicles
For the past several months, I’ve been discussing the trend of declining net profitability in used vehicle departments with dealers. Sometimes the conversation ends like this: “I appreciate the...
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A Meaningful Trip to Recap Our First Year With Provision ProfitTime
I’m heading to Austin, Texas, to share insights and observations from the first year of vAuto’s Provision ProfitTime journey with the vAuto data scientists and developers who helped us bring this...
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ProfitTime In Practice: A Question About Bronze and Silver Vehicle Quantities
A three-store dealer in the Southwest recently got worried about a drop in the Provision ProfitTime Investment Score for his used vehicle inventory. He and his team generally liked to see their...
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A Closer Look At Stabilizing Dealership Profitability
This week’s Automotive News brings great news: As of the mid-way point this year, dealership profitability appears to be stabilizing, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s...
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