If you’re a dealer, no doubt you’ve heard all the buzz concerning recent legislation and regulations about vehicle safety and recalls. Consumers are scared and politicians are responding. With a record number of recalled units over the past 18 months, it’s no surprise that this is a hot topic of discussion and that action is being taken.

Dealerships are…

Ever wonder why CarMax is the largest seller of pre-owned vehicles, selling more than any other company?  They retail 160,000 used vehicles just about every quarter and make approximately $2,200 per unit front-end profit -- over $350M.  If you do the math on 153 locations, each store averages 348 unit sales per month and grosses right at $800,000. In addition…

Last year, Twitter partnered with the data firm Datalogix to study Twitter’s influence on sales transactions in the car industry. Twitter provided Datalogix with all the data they had about brand, dealership and consumer Twitter accounts. Datalogix then paired actual vehicle purchases by cross-referencing the Twitter data with data from Polk.…

In the world of automotive retail, dealerships are always searching for ways to increase leads. Whether they choose to pursue that goal through third-party lead providers, increase page rankings through better SEO, or various other ways, if there is a customer in their market who wants to buy a car, dealers want an opportunity to earn their business.

When a…

Each year OEMs add more and more advanced technology to their vehicles. As a result, the skill set demanded of today’s technician has transitioned from one that is purely mechanical, into one that is more technology-based. Up until now, technicians have had access to master techs at their respective manufacturers to help diagnose and repair vehicles, and that was enough.…

Forgive me for saying this, but from where I now stand, it is quite apparent to me that there is way more opportunity for improving profitability than most dealership managers are aware of. I certainly know looking back on my career (and I thought I was very pro-active) that there was so much more opportunity to be realized than I was able to completely grasp at the time.

Most people agree that there is more upside potential left on the table, they are just not…

Black Book expects Luxury-Level car segments will feel the largest depreciation through the balance of the year, largely driven by off-lease returns in lease-heavy segments. Luxury segments in this class will include Premier Luxury (BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus GS/LS, Mercedes-Benz S); Near-Luxury (Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C, Cadillac CTS, Acura TL); and Luxury Level (BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Cadillac DTS, Lexus IS, Infiniti M, Lincoln MKS).

 

Entry-level and small cars will also…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insights from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. From all of the reports and seeing the action first hand we know how active most dealers and remarketers have been this past week. The comments within the Black Book survey personnel summary reports this past week as compared to the prior week took on a…

Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX), a global information solutions company, announced that its auto lending customers will now have the added benefit of direct access to Black Book® vehicle value data and loan-to-value (LTV) model data.

 

By incorporating Black Book data with differentiated Equifax data, lenders can better evaluate LTVs at origination, migration of LTVs, collateral risk and layered risk.



Additionally, using Equifax and Black Book data gives lenders additional tools…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market. In last week’s video market blog in addition to some market movement insight, we included a short interview with Paul Seger, Vice President, Asset Remarketing with GE Fleet Services. We have two more of the key industry remarketing personnel interviews from the recent NAAA convention to share with you today. We will…

Black Book announces the integration of its vehicle valuation data into a number of today’s leading providers of loan origination systems used by auto lenders. Recent integrations include Credex, Compass Technologies and FNI (Financial Network Inc.).



This continued expansion of Black Book data throughout industry loan origination systems allows lending decisions to be made in less time and with lower costs, thus accelerating the approval process. These operational efficiencies,…

This article was written by Robin Cunningham and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Is it just me, or does it seem like so much of what we take for granted in life is a zero-sum game?…

Welcome to this week’s Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insight from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. As we passed through each day with attendance at auctions and watching others online by the editors, it is obvious regarding the interest in the used market while recognizing the overall value movement and the number of no sales, that we are fully engaged in the beginning of the…

Thanks for tuning into this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insights from Ricky Beggs and Black Book.

The movement in the market continues, and pretty much as was expected. The average segment change for both the cars and the trucks was at -$73 and -$64 respectively, a greater decline for both pieces of the market than the prior week. For the cars it was a very similar…

24.9% of all car loans were 73 to 84 months long during the first quarter of 2014 according to Experian. This number continues to grow compared with just a few years ago. And while delinquencies are still at historic lows, how can auto lenders determine when vehicles entering their portfolio are expected to reach a position of equity?



Black Book is working with auto lenders to take a close look at comparative collateral data in order to spot this trend. The company recently…

Welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insight from Black Book on the used car markets. The opening week of college football brought mostly expected results along with a few surprises, and this Bulldog is pleased. And as the new car sales totals were reported this past week, most every manufacturer, along with the franchised dealer body, is pleased…

According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2009-2013 saw a slight improvement in August with overall depreciation at -1.3% compared with -1.5% in July. Domestic cars changed the most at -2.5%; import cars changed -1.6%; domestic trucks changed -1.1%; and import trucks changed -0.8%. Average pre-recession depreciation is historically between -1% and -2% monthly, and Black Book expects overall 2014 depreciation of -13.5%.



The lower…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market with data and insights from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. By the time you are watching or reading this used car market insight, whether you are a fan of college football or not, you either attended a game or at least watched some on TV. This great passage of fall has finally arrived. Hopefully you were satisfied with the…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the used Car Market, with data and insights on the used car market from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. What a week it has been with the editors being tuned into the online activity and getting on the physical auction lanes, while also getting to touch another majorly redesigned full-size utility, the 2015 Ford Expedition. We also had some interesting discussions within the industry regarding…

More than 37 million vehicles have been recalled so far in 2014. Will these recalls have an adverse impact to lender portfolios? I’d like to see if you have time to review new research from Black Book Lender Solutions that takes a closer look at what lenders  might expect. Click here to download the report.

While safety has understandably been the main concern with these and most…