Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, reports lease credit approvals for 2014 ended with a rate of 69.0%, down from the 2013 approval rate of 77.7% approvals. December 2014 specifically ended with a monthly approvals rate of 60.9%, down from the previous December that saw 73.3% approvals in 2013.



“The year ended much the same way it progressed, with turbulence as the approvals theme for the entire 2014 campaign,” said Scot Hall, Executive Vice President of…

The most important process COACHING

More Important than the latest greatest technology, the right inventory, advertising, hottest brand, and most importantly, the key to sustained long term growth in today's competitve market.

*Coaching = A training or development process

*5 Point…

CarStory Market Reports Help Educate Volkswagen Customers and Streamline Purchase Decisions

Austin, Texas - January 21, 2015 – Today, CarStory announced it was selected by Volkswagen of America to provide free online CarStory Market Reports to authorized Volkswagen dealers nationwide. These Market Reports will introduce WorldAuto® Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles to customers earlier in the buying process and help build consumer…

New analysis by DMEautomotive of over 8,500 dealership calls shows that nearly 70% of missed service calls are from ‘Swing Loyalists’ who represent 31% of dealership spend

Daytona Beach, FL – January 21, 2015 – A new analysis by DMEautomotive reveals that dealerships are missing out on calls from customers who represent nearly one third of their total service dollars. The study of 8,537 overflow and afterhours…

Doubling in size and launching two new businesses in 2014, DrivingSales cemented its position as the leading information services provider in the retail automotive industry delivering valuable insights to dealers through its media properties, university and data & analytics tools

Salt Lake City, Utah – January 21, 2015 – DrivingSales today announced that 2014 marked a banner year of growth for the retail automotive information…

How do you use your time?

Click the link below to find out if you are using yours wisely?

Mobile: http://m.fixedperformance.com/site/2015/01/20/its-time/?imz_st

PC: …

Some people want it to happen,

some wish it would happen,

others make it happen. ~ Michael Jordan…

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, analyzed four of today’s most popular fuel-sippers against four of today’s most popular large trucks/SUVs to see if low gas prices are impacting consumer demand. The company analyzed search and consideration data from 2013 against 2014, when gas prices fell continuously through the end of the year.



The analysis showed that some small cars remained in healthy demand, while others did not. The analysis showed the same for…

Due to popular demand I bring you the extended cut of a recent Think Tank Tuesday where I explain my secrets to achieving digital success.

WE ARE ENTERING AN ERA OF CRM DOMINATION



- BY JAMES A. ZIEGLER, THE ‪#‎AlphaDawg‬

Third party Vendors are waking up to their worst nightmare. The party is almost over and we're turning the lights on. They…

Black Book® announced today that it has added Christopher Gluth as Account Manager, National Accounts, to its Activator Division. In his new role, Mr. Gluth will be responsible for expanding Activator’s relationships with national dealership and manufacturer (OEM) customers.



Mr. Gluth draws on more than twenty years of business development and account management experience in the automotive industry. Most recently, he worked at CARFAX for over eight years where he served as Senior…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBANY, N.Y. – January 19th, 2014 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) today launched Option/Mate™ Mobile, a mobile-optimized version of its advanced F&I menu solution for auto dealers. F&I managers using Auto/Mate's dealership management system (DMS) can now offer customers at their auto dealerships a variety of menu presentations on a mobile tablet. Option/Mate Mobile allows the…

Hello and welcome to this week’s Used Car Market Report with insight from Black Book. Our editors have been extremely busy over the past few weeks since the start of the calendar year. The short lull in the auction business during the holidays has dealers and remarketers chomping at the bits to do business. And overall, the greatest interest right now seems to cover the vehicles that each year are very…

AutoMotion’s comprehensive Location Targeting technology now includes beacon micro-targeting capabilities.

Minneapolis, MN – AutoMotion, the leader in mobile app technology for the automotive market, today announced integration of beacons into its Location Targeting technology.

The AutoMotion…

On January 11, the New England Patriots faced the Baltimore Ravens in a contest that would dictate which team moved onto the AFC Championship game. Going into the game as heavy favorites to win, the Patriots quickly found themselves losing the game 14-0 quickly. Undeterred, they powered through trading touchdowns with the Ravens for the remainder of the game to ultimately…

Are Your Phone Skills Costing You Money?

In reality when someone picks up the phone to call any business they have just taken the first step toward buying.  If they lose confidence in your dealership on the phone, chances are you…

The arguments used to avoid trial closes are "pressure"and "turning customer's off". Rather than teaching the associates not to trial close, there is greater benefit in teaching them HOW TO TRIAL CLOSE.

After reading David's blog, and Grant's reply I pondered and decided to throw my hat in the ring...

For the past two decades it has been popular for trainers and manufactures to attempt to take selling out of the equation. By falsely…

Over the last year I had the opportunity of working with a few companies and dealerships who were trying to track down their inventory during the reconditioning process.

Based on their feedback and their pain we ended up building Simple Recon.

The goal behind the tool is to improve visibility into your the operation.

To provide feedback at each stage along the way.

Notify managers when a vehicle is in their queue.

Alerts them when its been in their…

In a previous blog post, I discussed the importance of using live chat conversations to build rapport with your online shoppers -- and how this can help improve your dealership’s follow-up processes.

But what about the trackable data acquired through live chat outside of the content in a conversation -- such as consumer click path and the…

Consumers can now view their service invoice and ‘tap to pay’ instantly when the mobile app alerts them that their car is ready from service

New study shows that consumers are embracing dealership mobile apps and want mobile payment functionality, as well as quick access to service history, scheduling and special offers

Daytona Beach, FL – January 15, 2015 – DMEautomotive (DMEa)…