Optimizing your service engagement with women is the key to client retention. I had the pleasure to be on ServiceDriveToday of @CarBizToday and share ideas on how dealers can do just that with this growing customer base. Click here to view interview and learn more:…

Car advertising is heavily slanted towards price. The buying demographic has shifted to women who now make up more than half of the sales, and influence over 80% of the deals. Today, it makes sense to move advertising to accommodate this powerful market sector.

Did You Know?…

In order to decrease bounce rates, if a customer clicks on an ad – whether that’s a banner ad, PPC, email ad or one specifically targeted for a mobile device – it is not a good practice to simply take that customer to your home page. Forcing a consumer to then do a second search for the information promised in the ad is a recipe for failure. Best practices prove that…

Consumers have been showrooming in retail stores for quite some time now and, while many retailers don’t like it, they’ve pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that it’s going to happen.  However, one surprising argument posted in an article by speaker, trainer and consultant, Bob Phibbs, went so far as to make the claim that showrooming is akin to stealing.

In his…

A 2014 study by Autotrader showed that consumers are visiting fewer dealers in their car shopping than ever before. This is certainly a by-product of the availability of information. No longer do consumers have to visit multiple dealerships to find the right vehicle. They simply sit in front of their computers and browse a dealer’s inventory on their website or, more commonly,…

Selling cars to women takes a confident equipped sales person with a high level of communication skills, personal engagement and EQ. Women visit 30% more dealerships and may take a longer time in the shopping funnel than men. Patience is another key aspect to making a sale. Understanding when to stop pitching ideas and pull back is extremely important. Going overboard can be perceived as annoying or assertive an end up being a deal-breaker.…

In the automotive market developments are constantly surfacing that don’t just hint at a world of interconnected and automated driving, they scream it. Two tech giants we don’t normally associate with cars are poised to disrupt the market. Google’s push to get an autonomous car on line has been going since 2010, and Apple has been secretly working on a car…

Following tremendous pressure from the NHTSA, Takata has expanded the recall on its faulty airbags. In fact, it just doubled the number of vehicles that are subject to recall to 34 million – that’s one in seven vehicles on the road today – and the largest recall in automotive history. Since then, consumers have been flooding the NHTSA website, searching to see whether their…

A recent article in Auto Remarketing reports how Penske Automotive Group is using recalls to increase their service business through recall work, but also as an opportunity to sell more vehicles. “I think recall business is good,” Penske Chairman Roger Penske, stated. “We…

People aren’t watching your commercial or video because they want you to sell them your product. They’re watching because they want you to sell them a solution.

In the world of online marketing, oftentimes marketers forget this very basic concept. Think of it as painting pictures when selling. The idea is that you want to tell the consumer why they need a…

Black Book, the provider of independent valuation data for cars, trucks, collectibles and specialty vehicles, has analyzed auction prices of exotic collectibles, with particular emphasis on the Aston Martin DB5 Coupe, the Ferrari 250 GTL Lusso, and the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing. From 1977 through 2008, each vehicle appreciated in value roughly 5% annually. Since 2008, these vehicles have appreciated between 20% - 60% annually. A new, younger generation of collector has taken to this genre…

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. Click here to download the full report.

The Black Book editors identified an increasing number of car segments displaying greater week-over-week depreciation from data within the auction lanes. In fact, Near Luxury Cars was the only car segment with a positive…

As a husband and father to 5 daughters, the cartoon above is, at times, a pretty accurate description of my life. I’m sure all men in similar situations have found that couch or chair they inevitably get placed in while the females in their lives try on shoes, clothes or whatever they may need.  In reality, I shop more than my wife and kids… they just don't go…

According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2009-2013 was largely unchanged in April, with 0.0% registered depreciation during the month. Domestic cars increased +1.1%; import cars changed -0.8%; domestic trucks increased +1.5%; and import trucks changed -0.2%. Average pre-recession annual depreciation was continually recorded between -15% and -18%, and Black Book expects 2015 depreciation near -14.5%.



Premium Sporty Cars saw the largest…

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. Click here to download the full report.

The Black Book editors are tracking a continued pattern of strength across several truck segments, with particular emphasis on crossovers. For car segments, the Black Book editors are noticing growing weakness among…

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. Click here to download the full report.

 

The Black Book editors began to see signs of a tiring spring tax season in last week’s report, and this week those signs have become more obvious. This week’s data showed the largest drop off of the spring for…

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a law enacted in 1998, enforced and administrated by the U.S. Copyright Office. Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office is tasked with holding hearings to determine what new technology should, or should not, be exempt from copyright laws. According to…

The Good News? Women account for 50% of car purchases, and influence more than 80% of the deals.

The Downside? One in three women report feeling apprehensive or overwhelmed when they shop and buy a car. Only 38% of women feel confident about the process.

Women have different buying criteria and behaviors than men. Women rank trust…

Swapalease.com executives recently analyzed the difference in how Hollywood leverages cars today versus during the 1970s and ‘80s. The difference is obvious.



During the 1970s and ‘80s, Hollywood went to great lengths to showcase iconic cars and trucks in popular TV shows and movies.

• The A-Team van

• Magnum P.I.’s Ferrari

• Smokey and the Bandit’s Trans-Am

• Herbie The Love Bug

Since the late 1990s,…

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. Click here to download the full report.

 

In this week’s report, the Black Book editorial team reports on data trends straight from the auction lanes that may be showing signs of a tired tax season. Comments from the lanes and data show that used…