At what rate is “manual drift” occurring in the American auto industry, and is there a difference between the rate of manual transmission use between men and women? Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, recently analyzed over 50,000 driver records from its marketplace dating back to 2012 to uncover some interesting trends.

“Manual drift” is a phrase coined by Swapalease.com executives that addresses the slow sunset of interest in manual transmissions…

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…

Everyone knows or at least, has heard of the giant tech company Microsoft. But little was known of their processes and software architecture this has been so for a long time. Microsoft has been a black box with their software being proprietary and closed. But recently the tech giant has had a change of heart and decided to spice thing up and open up their software a little and let people know some of the magic that…

As I travel from dealership to dealership I often encounter the same issues. This one is a recurring theme.

Many dealers allow their BDC manager or e-commerce director to place any phone number of their liking on the ads, websites and other e-commerce streams. Maybe the vendor told them it was best to advertise a different number for "tracking" purposes. Perhaps the BDC manager feels they need to "protect" their ability to prove the fruits of their labor. Perhaps…

Inc. 5000-ranked automotive digital marketing company introduces industry’s first dealer-facing, real-time conquest data configurator as part of expanded 3 Birds ME™ marketing platform

Chapel Hill, N.C., April 2, 2016 - 3 Birds Marketing announced today that it will incorporate IHS Automotive predictive models into its enhanced and expanded 3 Birds…

C H A P T E R 2

Selling in the Greatest

Time of All

Last month, I had my very first Uber ride. I was doing some training in Little Rock, Arkansas, and that evening, a friend booked me an Uber ride to take me back to my hotel after a social gathering.

In a matter of minutes, a gentleman in a Prius pulled up. We exchanged pleasantries, and he told me about his job. He described himself as a tech nerd, and his job was making apps for cellular…

AUTOMOTIVE DIGEST BLOG

“TrueCar Seeks the “Truth” about Real Reason for Its Existence”

WHY TRUECAR IN THE FIRST PLACE?

TrueCar was founded on the premise that dealers were exploiting car shoppers on price.

TrueCar was to tell the “truth” about the “price” car shoppers would/should pay.

TrueCar was the great “White Knight” of car pricing for beleaguered car…

DealerELITE EXCLUSIVE:

Q&A with TrueCar CEO, Chip Perry

Q.  Why did you create the Dealer Pledge?

It was perfectly obvious right from the get go that we needed to do something very significant and very visible and…

Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides new- and used-vehicle valuation services and custom data licensing solutions, today announced a distribution agreement with ProMax which will help expand the footprint of the new Bullseye Prospecting turnkey platform for dealer marketing campaigns. 

Under the agreement, ProMax will market the Bullseye Prospecting platform to its network of auto dealers throughout the United States. Powered by data from Black Book, Bullseye…

Las Vegas, NV -- April 1st, 2016 -- Helion Technologies, a leading provider of information technology (IT) solutions for auto and truck dealers, announced today that it has added the Summit Truck Group to its list of clientele. The Summit Truck Group operates 33 commercial truck and bus dealerships in Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Helion was retained to manage the group's…

Change is the one constant thing in life and the car manufacturers are the avid followers of this concept. Every new year they come up with some new models and the previous ones slowly get outdated. Similarly, the Mercedes-Benz GLK is no more and it has been steadily replaced by the GLC with pretty good positive…

March 27, 2016

Our Pledge to Dealers

When I arrived at TrueCar in December, it was apparent to me that the biggest issue facing the company was the need to make TrueCar a more positive place for dealers to do business. Over the past decade, TrueCar has been successful in attracting car buyers, but its overall approach has alienated many…

The new RESQ app – powered by Gubagoo – gives dealerships unprecedented visibility and control into off-showroom sales conversations, including calls, texts and chats

West Palm Beach, FL – March 31, 2016 – Gubagoo today announced the launch of RESQ, a landmark new application that will change the way dealerships use…

 Call-to-appointment ratios rise to 30% and higher, far outpacing industry average of 8%, report early adopters of patented Sales Performance Management (SPM)

Westlake Village, CA – March 31st, 2016 – CallSource today launched its patented Sales Performance Management (SPM) system, the first end-to-end call…

As many Business owners and recruiters have found as they aim for hiring talent that contributes on a high level to their business, it is not often as simple as posting an ad and reviewing the first few candidates.

Recruiting, at its most effective, involves a level of direct advertisement so that the team in charge of hiring has a way of weeding out the candidates that don't meet the companies’ standards and to meet to the ones that will add value to a company.

Here are 3…

Over 15 million consumers have used reports to discover their perfect car directly on a dealer’s website

Austin, Texas – March 31st, 2016 – CarStory today announced that its Market Reports, which launched last year during NADA, are adopted by over 6,000 dealers, including over 50% of the Top 10…

New index from Kerrigan Advisors tracks the seven auto retail publics to identify and assess the drivers impacting changes in their valuations, with implications for both public and private auto retailers

Irvine, CA, March 31, 2016 – Kerrigan Advisors today announced the inaugural release of…

Featuring premium content library, predictive modeling & lifetime value analytics, and integrated content distribution to help progressive dealers maximize their marketing investment

Chapel Hill, N.C., March 31, 2016 - 3 Birds Marketing is proud to introduce its enhanced and expanded enterprise-level marketing and analytics platform at the 2016 NADA Convention & Expo. Built from the ground up to be fully and tightly integrated and to serve the needs of automotive…