Nowcom Announces Renewed Partnership with NIADA for 2012

Los Angeles, CA – January 10, 2012 – Nowcom, a leading provider of dealer management solutions, announced today that they have renewed their partnership with the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA) as a Gold National Corporate Partner for the second year in a row.

Nowcom has worked with the NIADA since 2005. They became a Preferred Partner in 2009, a Bronze Corporate Partner in 2010 and began as Gold National Corporate Partner in 2011. The NIADA Member Services partners with industry leaders that offer excellent services to help their members grow their business, protect their assets and enhance their profitability.

The NIADA Member Services National Corporate Partner Program was formed in 2010 in order to provide their members with an extensive, highly vetted roster of partners they could rely on to provide a broad portfolio of services they utilize on a daily basis. Through discounted affinity agreements NIADA Member Services now offers numerous member benefit services. For those dealers with neither the time nor staff to conduct thorough supplier evaluations, NIADA members look to NIADA Member Services for outstanding partner recommendations and discounts.

About NIADA

Founded in 1946 the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association has represented quality independent automobile dealers for over 65 years. NIADA is here to assist its members in becoming more successful within the used motor vehicle industry. Through membership in NIADA, you join with over 20,000 other professional auto dealers who share your dream of financial prosperity for your business. NIADA is your legislative advocate – protecting your business interests. The association consistently brings you industry education, valuable information, services and benefits designed to prepare members for an ever-changing marketplace. The simple and better way to keep pace in the used motor vehicle industry is to join NIADA. . .a highly respected organization dedicated to your success! Learn more about NIADA at: http://www.niada.com/

About Nowcom

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Nowcom is a leading provider of dealer management solutions, specifically catering to the independent dealer’s needs. DealerCenter.net, an all-in-one web-based dealer management software system allows the dealer full control over their sales, inventory, credit reports, insurance offering and financing. As an authorized reseller, Nowcom can grant dealerships access to all major services including credit bureaus, book services and other services popular with independent dealers. Nowcom’s staff has an extensive background in the automotive industry that prides themselves on their supreme level of customer service. Nowcom has over 9,000 active dealers using Nowcom products. Learn more about Nowcom at: http://nowcom.com/

BHPH Business, Not All Bad News. . .

Negative publicity for the Buy Here, Pay Here business lately in a couple of California newspapers. The scrutiny of the Buy Here, Pay Here business is nothing new but some industry experts are chiming in to let all know that there are lots of positive points to the Buy Here, Pay Here business. Counsel for the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA) said, buy-here, pay-here plays a vital role in getting people back to work and keeping them employed and “if you want to get the economy growing, people need access to affordable transportation”. So it’s not all bad news for those in the Buy Here, Pay Here business and most importantly for those that need to, are able to take advantage of it. Experian Automotive analysis found that, “buy-here, pay-here attracted better vehicles and better customers than many believe.” And, “only 8 percent of the cars in the buy-here, pay-here deals Experian looked at had major issues reported in AutoCheck vehicle history reports”.

To read the full article in Used Car New, please click here.

According to KBB, Used- Vehicles Prices Going Up in 2012

According to Kelley Blue Book, they are telling customers that if they plan or need to buy a used car soon to do it before the end of the year. KBB is expecting used car prices to rise 4-6% at the start of the coming year, so it looks like the best time to buy would be now. Overall the car market has really cooled down, especially since new car inventories are getting back to normal levels. KBB says we will see an expected decline in the 4th quarter but projections show values going back up in 1st quarter of 2012.

The end of this year has seen 5 consecutive months where used-vehicle prices have dropped with October values dropping 2.6% overall. Since June of this year prices have dropped 10% and fuel-efficient vehicles have seen an even bigger drop of 20%, but this decline won’t carry over into 2012.

To read more in F&I Magazine, please click here.

BHPH & Payment Assurance Devices

Payment assurance technology is there to make the job of Buy Here Pay Here dealers easier. . .ideally. A payment assurance device can be an essential part in improving collections for a dealer as well as managing inventory and if it comes down to it, make it easier to repossess a vehicle. At this year’s National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here conference Ken Shilson shared results of a study that found that “80 percent of the respondents said the devices lower the risk of default which allows them to sell higher value vehicles with less risk.” Having said that, the device can do these things if and when it is used properly and by properly meaning that the customer knows it is being used. Some dealers will have a GPS device on a customers car but fail to let the customer know. By not disclosing that a vehicle has a GPS device, the dealership is at risk of being sued which a dealership in Florida realized when they failed to tell a customer about the GPS on his car.

To read more about this in Used Car News, please click here.

New Certified Master Dealer Program

The Certified Master Dealers (CMD) program is bringing together the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA) and the National Alliance of Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealers (NABD) for a new training program. This new program was designed specifically to address the special needs of dealers and individuals that run in-house financing. The NIADA and NABD are currently working on the content of the classes and getting input from dealers as well. Topics on the agenda so far include compliance and financial management.

The CMD program was developed in 2001 and requires an intensive 3-day course along with 12 hours of continuing education over the following 3 years. It was developed to assist dealers in growing and running a profitable business.

To read more on CMD’s program, please click here.

KBB Updates

Kelley Blue Book has made some pretty important additions and changes. They have announced that they will now provide values for 51 regions and update values weekly for all of KBB’s used-car values. The values that they are updating weekly include lending, auction, trade-in, private party, certified pre-owned and suggested retail. Kelley Blue Book is also adding a new category to describe the vehicle condition. They are including,”Very Good”, as a category to give a better description of used-cars on the market. As would be expected the new condition category, “Very Good”, will be in between the current categories of “Good” and “Excellent”. According to the director of vehicle valuation, “Only 3 percent of today’s vehicles are actually in ‘Excellent’ condition.” With this new condition category it should allow for a better description for both the dealer and consumers of what a vehicles actual condition is.

To read the full article in F&I Magazine, please click here.

BHPH Dealers and Service

As a Buy Here Pay Here dealer there are many things that must be monitored and looked at, one of the key areas is BHPH Service Departments. A successful Buy Here Pay Here Service Department should be doing two things:

1. Cost-effectively and consistently recondition inventory (inventory management) to maintain sufficient lot-ready units at an acceptable quality level.
2. Support the collections function by providing superior customer service by handling customer repair issues in a timely and cost-effective manner while retaining the customer’s participation in the repair process and building value in your program.

Both things must be done together for a Buy Here Pay Here Service Department to be successful.

To read full article in Dealer Business Journal, please click here.

BHPH Marketing Spend

When it comes to marketing and advertising in the Buy Here Pay Here market, Leedom has come up with a composite benchmark of how much dealers are spending per unit sold. The average spend is estimated to be $186 per unit and what that number includes is: Radio ads, TV ads, Print ads, Referrals, Key Chains, balloons and much more. That comes out to be $67,000 per year that the average BHPH dealer is spending on marketing and advertising. Some dealers of course spend less and some more, for example a dealer in Lancaster, CA that owns a chain with 3 different locations is spending $340 per unit averaging 110 units sold putting their yearly spend at about $450,000.

To read full article in Dealer Business Journal, and see how dealers are spending their marketing dollars, please click here.

Midway Fleet Leasing Launches New Website!

MidwayLeasing.com has a whole new look! The car leasing company recently launched their new website with added features and exciting new content. Midway Fleet leasing provides vehicle leasing for businesses (corporate leases) and consumers. Midway is more than a fleet leasing company, they are a full-service fleet management and consulting company. They provide personalized service and custom lease options to meet customer’s needs. The new site not only highlights the corporate and consumer lease options but featured specials. With over $1 Billion in assets, the Midway companies buying power ensures competitive pricing from the start.

Midway Fleet Leasing offers a variety of leasing programs to meet whatever needs you might have. Midway Fleet Leasing can tailor a closed-end or open-end lease solution to fit your budgetary and internal needs. Their online order tracking, inventory tracking and information requests make the process efficient and easy for you to use. Their extensive experience in the automotive industry provides them with substantial bargaining power. They apply money-saving strategies from vehicle acquisition to vehicle remarking to ensure that your fleet program is the lowest cost available. Their corporate lease programs are tailored to meet whatever needs you might have from a closed-end lease to an open-end one. Each lease program has an options that can fit your budgetary and personal needs. They also have a consumer lease program that can help you find the perfect vehicle in dealer stock or factory order. Their leases are to designed to fit  a variety of consumers needs; one year leases, high or low mile leases and even shipping of vehicles to many other states outside of California. Whether you are looking for basic transportation to luxury car lease, Midway Fleet Leasing has you covered.

The new site allows you to build your own vehicle so that you are able to customize your search or you can begin by scrolling through the various special deals on current inventory as well as resale inventory they have available. They also give you access to apply for credit directly within the site for business or personal lease options. And if you’re just looking for a bit of entertainment take their Fleet Leasing tour on their home page that will take you on a quick trip of what you could be in store for when you chose to lease any one of our luxury car leases.

To find out more about Midway Fleet Leasing, please click here.

NADA Has a New Mobile App

Yet another organization has joined the mobile world; the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) has launched a new mobile app! The new free iPhone and iPad app will allow for you to get NADA info and content all from the convenience of you mobile device. You’ll be able to get NADA headlines with the latest news and videos and the new mobile app will show a list of upcoming workshops and webinars from NADA University as well as a list of upcoming events such as the annual NADA Convention and Expo. The app will also have a comprehensive contact list of member services and other NADA products and apps.

To read more about the NADA mobile app, please click here.