ProfitTime 2.0 in Practice: A Case of Moonshots and Missed Shots in Used Vehicles

If you examine how dealers are pricing used vehicles in the current market based on the investment value of each vehicle, it amounts to a tale of two cities. Or, more specifically, it boils down...

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...

How ProfitTime 2.0 and Strong Retail Demand Will Benefit Dealers

A Better Way to Price Used Vehicles Arrives

It’s a big week for vAuto as we unveil ProfitTime 2.0 at the Cox Automotive Experience, a precursor to the system’s official launch at the upcoming virtual National Automobile Dealers Association...

ProfitTime 2.0 Offers Superior Investment Management Power

It was a big step for the industry when vAuto officially launched ProfitTime two years ago. For the first time, dealers had the ability to know the investment value of every used vehicle in their...

Three Principles to Fuel Your Fourth Quarter in Used Vehicles

My phone’s been buzzing with dealers asking for input on how they should manage and stock their used vehicle inventories as 2020 comes to close. The questions come from a confluence of factors...

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...

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...

ProfitTime in Practice: A Pandemic Teaches Important Lessons

For much of the past three months, I’ve been on a near-constant cycle of phone calls and conversations with dealers about their used vehicle business, conditions in the current market and next...

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...

When Pride in CPO Vehicles Hurts Your Profit Potential

It’s no secret that certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicles have become a big part of the used vehicle business at franchise dealerships. Cox Automotive predicts 2020 will be another record-breaking...

ProfitTime in Practice: A Dealer Shares Three Profit-Positive Take-Aways

It’s not easy to change long-standing beliefs and best practices. Just ask Tim Nelson, general manager at Beaverton (OR) Honda. He has led the store’s transition from a successful run as a...

NADA Day One: A Clear, Purposeful View of The Road Ahead

If my conversations with dealers on the opening day of the exhibit hall at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention are any indication, the coming year will be a good one in...