Industry experts predict that manufacturers’ will continue to double-down on service warranty audits. After all, chargebacks are an additional source of revenue that is sorely needed now. 

Every service manager should take special note of this prediction. Here’s why:

• It is the…

In the last seven years, new vehicle gross margins have declined from four percent to two percent. If that pace continues, profit margins will be wiped out by 2025. It appears that the front-end grosses dealers enjoyed 10 or 15 years ago are never coming back.

F&I profits have made up for some of these lost profits, but this trend is not…

At one point in time or another, we’ve all heard someone in our lives tell inform us that money doesn’t grow on trees. And they would be right. Technically.

The facts are, however, that the phrase started because sometimes there is money (revenue) that is simply waiting to be taken by businesses. There are a lot of revenue sources in dealerships and while those sources haven’t changed much in a century, the way in which dealerships can harvest…

With the fourth-quarter in sight, now’s the time to be planning for ways to end the year strong and insure you maximize your dollars and their effectiveness.  One way is to make sure you evaluate how you maximize OEM reimbursements and move more inventory.  Co-op funds can substantially improve a dealer’s ROI by reimbursing up to 50% of your marketing spend.   Think about…

Henry Ford was once asked why he visited his executives rather than having them come to his office when problems arose or he needed questions answered. “I go to save them time,” said Ford. “I’ve found that I can leave the other fellow’s office a lot quicker than I can get him to leave mine.” Ford knew the necessity of gaining information.[1] He also knew…

The automotive industry is changing with self-driving cars, companies such as Uber entering the field and the decline of oil-dependent vehicles.  

To that point, I am sure many of you are familiar with the shocking stories and downfalls of three highly successful companies: Blockbuster, Kodak and Xerox.

So, what lessons can be learned from…

If you have been paying attention to industry trends I am sure you have noticed the ever-increasing gap between the size of smaller dealerships and large auto groups. Groups are swallowing up smaller dealers left and right as they continue to grow.

Of course, size matters when it comes to many things in the dealership world and the consolidation of the…

As an industry, we’re witnessing the largest shift and money grab in history -- from the likes of Carvana, Blinker, and Fair, to the possible entrance of Amazon into car buying.

And now, another huge retail company has decided to jump in… but in a way that dealers may be overlooking.

Walmart recently launched a used-car buying service in…

As a dealership there are many ways you can identify if…

Far too frequently those in charge of dealership marketing decisions rely on one of two things: peer conversations/feedback, or data from a vendor showing results from a comparable dealership.…

How is your budget shaping up for 2018? Having fun yet? This is the second part in a series of blogs on how to create a budget that will help you achieve your growth goals. In Part 1, I shared tips on how to do a SWOT analysis. This installment will tackle…

A recent article on…

| by David Metter

Could it be possible that the secret to selling cars in today’s multi-touch, exponentially data-driven society is exactly the same as it was prior to World War II? I know what you’re thinking. This is either a huge stretch or some sort of joke. However, recently…

Customer Experience Improvement Drives 15 Percent Increase in Fixed Ops