Auto Retail News

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC announced top management changes at the company. Franz Reiner, currently President and CEO with operational responsibilities for the Americas (USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and

So, I get a call from a good-sized import client I had restructured in service about ten years ago.  “Quick service is out of control…customer retention is down, the repair order count is behind year-to-date, cars are lined up–shop

In the automotive industry and beyond, there is a plethora of different CRM choices. Visiting any of the trade shows geared towards dealers would provide a quick education on the daunting range of offerings. Some CRM products are basic, while others

Well, I’m certainly glad I am. It’s interesting to me hearing people talk about going green, new technologies, and that we need to take items and use them more frugally, etc., etc. When I was growing up we had milk bottles delivered to the door (

Last October at the Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas keynote speaker Chip Perry,  the CEO of AutoTrader.com, addressed a capacity crowd of dealer principals, GMs, parts managers/directors and e-commerce personnel declaring  d

Fact: Most customer-pay service work (maintenance and repair) is done by aftermarket service centers. Fact: Aftermarket service centers outnumber dealerships by at least four to one. Fact: There is a universal perception that dealerships charge more

Potential legal problems often arise when consumers purchase aftermarket parts. Aftermarket parts, and particularly performance enhancing parts such as programmers, can cause damage to a vehicle, can void manufacturer and aftermarket warranties and c

Unlike the empty talking heads on ESPN and TMZ, we were good at nicknames in college. The empty talking heads rely on a tired, formulaic nickname method…first initial of first name and first syllable of last name. Unfortunately, you hear it all the

Terry is a Chevy dealer selling 200 plus new vehicles a month with better than average grosses in his region. We met about 14 years ago at a “20 Group” meeting I spoke to regarding advertising strategies. A lot has changed in those 14 years and t