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.

How important is the “dealership experience”?

Nowadays with the internet, most customers can do all the research they need to buy a car online and via car dealers websites. However many dealers still understand that the car dealership experience still matters. With so many people on social media sites, message boards and access to information at all times, it’s more important than ever to make sure each customer that leaves your dealership has a good experience. One unsatisfied customer can easily share their bad experience with thousands of people by posting on social media sites and message boards.

The biggest challenge for car dealerships is and will continue to be attracting sales staff that is, “customer-focused, internet savvy and knowledgeable about product”. Also with more online shopping, dealers will have to keep better inventory management so that vehicles that appear online are still on the lot when a customer shows up to see it.

To read full article at the Car Connection, please click here.

Does your dealership use mobile apps?

Are you using Mobile apps? Do you have a Mobile app for your dealership? According to a survey conducted in September, mobile apps and social media are the two things getting the most interest from dealers. The purpose of the survey was to find out the best ways to engage with auto dealers as well as what technologies are important to them. 81% of dealers said they maintain a Facebook page, 44% have a LinkedIn page and 17% have a Twitter profile. Over half of the respondents said that they do not use social media to interact with vendors at all. Interestingly enough, of the dealers that are on Facebook, 29% did use it to interact with vendors, 10% use LinkedIn and 9% use Twitter. The vast majority of dealers surveyed (70%,) said they maintain their own social media sites while a small percentage (9%) outsource to a vendor.

Overall seems like dealer management in most interested in using mobile apps in their sales departments and having their technologies all integrated into their Dealer Management Solutions (DMS).

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

Cars.com Launches New iPad App

Cars.com has an all new iPad app. Lexus will be the inaugural sponsor of this new iPad app that is available for free download from the App Store now. The app will be focused on new car content and will join the iPhone apps that Cars.com has for PickupTrucks.com Cars.com as well as Android apps and mobile websites.

Here are a few features that the new iPad app includes:

• High-definition photos and videos along with info on hundreds of vehicles
• “My Showroom” feature, that lets users save cars so they can review them later and compare
• Expert car reviews from Cars.com editorial team
• Facebook & Twitter integration

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

Facebook Drives Traffic to Automaker Websites

So how important is Facebook in the car buying decision process? According to a J.D Power and Associates and Compete Inc.’s 2011 Website Performance Tools Report Facebook refers just as many new buyers to automaker websites as do sites like AutoTrader.com, Cars.com. 6% of new buyers visited Facebook right before going to automaker sites, which is right up there with sites like Edmunds.com that are at 8%.

Also, among new car buyers, the sites visited most often before a purchase was made were: KBB.com (7%), Edmunds.com (7%), Fordvehicles.com (3%) and Toyota.com (3%).

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

NADA 2012 Convention

Looks like the NADA Convention next year has some big things to look forward to already. The 2012 NADA convention has scheduled keynote speakers to be President George W. Bush and Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler Group and Chairman of Fiat Industrial S.p.A. The 2012 NADA and ATD conference will be combined for the first time and will run February 3-6 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

To read full article in NADAFrontPage.com, please click here.

Fourth Quarter Looks Promising

Good news, Kelley Blue Book predicts that the industry will see a strong fourth quarter. According to Kelley Blue Book analysts 62% of new and used car shoppers will be ready to buy in this last quarter of 2011. This coupled with incentive battles that they predict, should make for a good finish to the year. These prediction are based on a few key factors: fourth quarter is typically when dealers roll out big sales events, production will be back at 100% capacity since the March earthquake & tsunami and carmakers will have cash incentives on lease offerings to try to make up for the first part of 2011.

Since the March 11 earthquake many car manufacturers have been below normal sales levels for this time of year. In this fourth quarter many of the Japanese brands will finally be at full production and Kelley Blue Book anticipates that these manufacturers will attempt to recapture lost market share therefor offering stronger incentives to move cars.

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

High Wholesale Prices Effecting BHPH

High wholesale prices on used-vehicles has effected all in the used car market especially the buy-here, pay-here market. The combo of finding reliable used vehicles that can actually be financed at an affordable monthly rate can be tricky. According to Manheim’s annual Used Car Market Report, BHPH dealers are often paying $2,000 more for a car than a couple of years ago. This leaves BHPH dealers with the choice of  (if they can afford the higher priced vehicle) buying it in hopes they can sell it at the higher price or adjusting the financing to lengthen the loan terms which would place them at higher risk. 

Overall the annual report found that regardless of the collections or underwriting that the BHPH dealer had or has, what separated a successful BHPH dealer from one that isn’t doing so well is the vehicles that they have in inventory. When the cars are in good condition and affordable it means less time and money the BHPH dealer has to absorb due to mechanical breakdown and issues.

To read full article in SubPrime Auto Finance News, please click here.

Developing Your People

Dealer management involves much more than just customer management, there are the people who work for you and with you that can account for the majority of the success you can have. Having the right people on your team can make all the difference and much of the success can be developed internally by both management and the sales team. There are many examples of what successful organizations do and how they succeed, here are a few examples of things they have focused on:

• Recruitment
• Training
• Promote from Within

These are all simple things that are probably not given enough focus on a daily basis in many businesses, how about yours?

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

Used Car Prices Still Going Strong

With the rise in gas prices and the effects of the tsunami and earthquake that hit Japan, used car prices for small vehicles, particularly Japanese made cars, have been on the rise. As the summer is coming closer to an end looks like these used car prices may have finally peaked although prices are still 10-30% higher than at the start of the year according to NADA Used Car Guide. For example, a Chevy Aveo that was worth $5,275 in January could still be worth 20% more in August, and for Japanese made vehicles such as the Toyota Prius the increase could be more. Senior analyst at NADA Used Car Guides says that although prices are still up, they should begin to decline slightly in the fall.

To read full article in the Wall Street Journal, please click here.