According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2009-2013 declined -1.6% in June, compared with -1.2% in May. Domestic cars changed -2.8%; import cars changed -2.4%; domestic trucks changed -0.8%; and import trucks changed -1.0%. Average pre-recession annual depreciation was continually recorded between -15% and -18%, and Black Book expects 2015 depreciation near -14.5%.



Entry-Level Cars felt the strong post-tax season slump, falling -4.7% in…

Over the years I've seen many dealerships terminate employees for various reasons. Most states today, state in their labor law claim, they are a right to work state. Interesting part about that is this means you really don't have to have a cause to terminate someone's employment at your dealership. Let's look at this in more detail, together we will analyze these…

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.

As summer picks up steam, so does the depreciation of just about every car segment with the exception of Premium Sporty Cars, which has outperformed the average car for eight straight weeks. Click through to see how cars…

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:…

The service department tends to be the busiest place in a dealership, and service managers must stay in tune with what’s going on. While meetings and discussions can be useful, at times they only result in vague ideas the service staff never acts upon. Just like in any organization, a service department is only as good as its leader. Sometimes, you have to get in the…

C.S.I. of course is our strongest marketing message we can deliver, but are we covering the bases? Most dealerships are extremely focused on C.S.I and so are their salespeople.  Ironically with that said, even though our number one source of customers is our previous customers the sales person who sold the…

In the city I live in, there is a run down, nasty looking house taking up some prime commercial real-estate that I'm pretty sure every Realtor in town has taken a crack at trying to sell. Seriously! Every couple of months there is a new sign out front from some poor real-estate…

Is The Road to the Sale Obsolete?

A lot of conversation these days by 'New Age' - 'Next Gen' - car people saying the 'Old School' sales processes are no longer valid with today's consumers.

Just the reference to the term  'Old School Car Guy' is an insult designed to  conjure up mental images of an extinct Mastodon being sucked down into the tar pits after eating the last brown shriveled leaves off of the trees. The hidden message in these terms is…

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?…

We've all heard the phrase, "content is king." The question that you should ask about your content is whether or not it's worthy of being the king of something important or the king of crap. Unfortunately, much of what is pawned off as content turns out to be ruling over nothing important.

I've said it in different ways in multiple articles and videos in the…

In this industry we often do things simply because they have been done before. Why not throw out the rulebook and do things because we SHOULD or WANT to? You don’t need anyone’s permission to pave the way for your dealership. It all starts with an idea that becomes a plan to present to those who need to buy in. You need to be that voice. I know it seems far fetched…

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.…

Stop the Trial Closes

By David Lewis

In 2013, we saw the greatest increase in retail auto sales in the last six years.  Industry researchers expect this year to follow in the same trend predicting even better sales ahead.  With that in mind, now would be a good time to discard some of the old practices that have…

I've been pretty torn over the last few months. On one hand, I'm so pleased to see that dealers (and even some vendors) are really starting to embrace building content pages on their website. On the other hand, I'm concerned that many companies are starting to promote building these pages as their complete SEO strategy. What's worse is that many dealers are starting…

An Open Letter to the Automotive Industry - Ken Potter

I spent the last three years working at TRUECar with a great team of people under me listening to dealers, industry executives, and my team on how to best serve dealers.

I first want to thank those dealers that allowed me to come visit their stores and hear their very candid feedback, concerns, and thoughts on how we could serve them better. I will be the first to say we didn't get it right for everyone, but we did grow…

There’s no better story about the perils of loyalty than that which played out in the summer of 2010. At the time, Lebron James was the most desired free agent in all of basketball. For the prior two seasons, he had been pressured by fans to announce whether he would stay with the Cavaliers, or leave for another team. Cavalier fans were intensely loyal to James, who was a…

I don't enjoy calling out vendors. It's something that I think is unprofessional in most situations. Sometimes, when a vendor is truly hurting the automotive industry, it must be done and I have to do that today.

We have a client being hounded. This other vendor has been telling them that our philosophy of using onsite and offsite content to…

According to Wikipedia* Reputation Management is the influencing and/or control of an individual's or business's reputation.

Reputation Management - Do You Know How Your Business Is Perceived? 

To better your business reputation, make sure you follow up with your customers. This is especially the case if your business is larger. You need to make them feel important. Consider…

A common lament in retail automotive dealerships around the country is that finding and keeping good employees is a real challenge. I will go even further to say that most employers, regardless of industry, probably aren’t satisfied with their hiring results. We’ve all heard the saying, ”If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten,” and my guess is this is the reason most employers continue to be confounded in this area. I heard…