"Flaws in Cobalt system prompt honorary change and improvement"

Houston, TX (June 24, 2014) - VL Digital Marketing CEO Manny Luna and Sr. Vice President Larry Flowers were recently recognized by …

The 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution will be the last model year for the Evo.

Whether this decision by Mitsubishi is permanent or if they will decide to bring the Lancer Evolution back in a few years, we won't know! It more than likely will be based on an electric…

DMEautomotive survey reveals that less than one in four drivers do what experts recommend most: pull over and take a nap

With more than half of Americans planning road trips this summer – and the majority intending to drive 7 or more hours a day – dangerous, drowsy driving looks to intensify

Daytona Beach, FL – June 25, 2014 – With the summer road-trip season hitting high…

News about the FIFA World Cup and rock-star soccer players have been making headlines lately. One of the hottest player’s of the moment is Cristiano Ronaldo, who’s not only an exceptional player but a major brand ambassador for big hitters like Nike. So, how can you brand your dealership like Ronaldo?

BE 2 PERSONAS

According to Nike, Ronaldo is known as two people: the superstar soccer player…

When writing content – whether that content is a short, social media post or blog article, or a full-length feature article – form is just as important as the content itself. Proper spelling and grammar can dictate whether your content is received well or not. It’s not uncommon for readers to start reading an article or social media post that initially grabbed their…

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, reports lease credit approvals during the month of May were 60.6%, the lowest monthly level of the year and down from January when the approvals rate was at 70.6%.



Despite the overall approvals rating sliding down from a 2014 high in January, Swapalease.com attributes the recent slide to a significant higher number of applications over the last two months. In fact, 44.7% more applications have been processed in May and…

Most auto shoppers start their search on the web but would it surprise you to know that the #1 online destination for women shoppers is your dealership’s website? That’s right, our research lists the top sites nationally that women visit prior to buying a vehicle. They include:

1. Dealership
2. Manufacturer
3. KBB.com
4. Consumer Reports
5. AutoTrader.com
6. Edmunds.com
7. Cars.com
8. Carfax.com
9. Craigslist.com

We also…

Sometimes the difference between making a deal, and missing a deal, is knowing one more thing to say. As a matter of fact, that’s the difference a lot of the time. If you know what to say to the customer, you sell them. If you don’t, your competitor is going to get their chance.

In 1989 or 1990, I was on the road selling workshops. I was visiting a big dealer in Northern California, trying to get him to send his people to an upcoming workshop and making absolutely no…

As Appeared in the June 2014 issue of Auto Dealer Monthly

Everyone knows how important the chain of command is in the military. But during battles, emergencies and other times of duress, it's not always possible to run decisions up and down the chain of command. This is why soldiers are empowered by something called the Commander's Intent. The military commander gives his leaders a clearly defined goal (the mission) and the forces needed to accomplish that goal, along…

Find Out How You Can Win And Keep Service Customers…

Gubagoo study also finds: gradually ramping up value of published offers on dealer websites saves $18,000+ a month

West Palm Beach, FL–June 24, 2014 – With dealerships making record investments in driving traffic to their sites, the website engagement leader, Gubagoo, today released new research on what kind of ad formats and published offers convert at the highest rates (and most cost-efficiently) at dealer sites. An…

Looking for some of our elite here on this site to give me some guidance or suggestions.  I'm looking to hire anywhere from 4-6 official bird-dog reps for me to get some extra business in my name.  My question to everyone is are there "Ad" templates that you guys may have to share, and do you have an example pay structure for me to look at?  I am hoping to have my first 2 reps signed up by next week, just need to know what a fair pay scale may be.  Thanks for all your help everyone!  Keep…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market. I’m Ricky Beggs, Editorial Director at Black Book. There have been so many events happening within the auto industry this past week that have a direct influence on the used car market. A few weeks ago a tremendous group of storms consisting of tornados and tremendously large hail passed right by the Denver airport. Fortunately the track of the…

Blue sky pricing remains very high as pricing floor forms; more sellers enter market; privates dominate, while public spend rises 9% year-over-year, according to The Kerrigan Quarterly Blue Sky Report

Irvine, CA, June 23, 2014 – U.S. dealership buy/sell activity dramatically increased in the first quarter of 2014, according to The Kerrigan Quarterly Blue Sky Report for Q1 2014, which was…

“Ah, to come to the end of one’s life and realize one has never lived.” — Henry David Thoreau

Is life just happening to you or are you living it on purpose? Does your life and income depend upon the direction of the wind? Is it fate? Or will you pull it? You can decide what you want, add some character (doing something you committed to long…

If there's one thing that I've seen in the last 17 years while working on the vendor side of the business, it's that there are often products and services presented to dealers that simply do not deliver what they promise. It's one of the reasons that I partnered with JD Rucker to form our own company. We wanted control to deliver results no matter what, something…

Most dealers recognize the value of their data base of past and present customers.  Many even invest in automated marketing programs that rely on algorithms to target qualified customers and deliver equity alerts for vehicle exchange programs and properly timed service alerts based on factory recommended maintenance to improve customer retention and loyalty after the sale. 

The following potentially missed opportunities to maximize the R.O.I. realized by managing your most valued…

2015 Nissan Versa Note SR is Coming Soon!

The new 2015 Nissan Versa Note SR features design cues of the new Nissan 370Z NISMO Edition. For many car enthusiasts, the NISMO and SR editions of the Nissan lineup have been their focus when shopping for a Nissan. Nissan has taken advantage of this by offering SR and NISMO editions for some of their compact…