Last year, Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation, commented that our industry’s operating benchmarks have not changed in half a century.  He was speaking specifically about our inventory supply and the long held belief that a 60-days supply

In past articles, I have spent much time discussing the types of insurance coverage most dealers carry. As a change of pace, I thought it might be interesting to discuss some lesser-known policies that, in the right circumstances, may be just what yo

Here is a riddle for you. The average dealership saw its sales decline by 14% in the third quarter of 2009 and yet its gross profit dropped only 8%.  How is this possible if the largest portion of sales, the new car department, experienced a 25% dec

How you source supplies affects whether you make money As discussed last month, a centralized purchasing function can yield significant benefits to your organization including: Reduced costs and improved profitability Improved control and coordinatio

The idea that a dealer may be held liable for personal identity theft began to come up about 10 years ago. At that time most policies were silent on the matter, which meant that there may or may not be coverage depending on how the claims adjuster in

What dealers can expect through the arbitration process By the time you read this article, the deadline for Chrysler and General Motors dealers to seek a reinstatement of their franchise pursuant to new federal legislation may be near or already pass

There seems to be a growing divide in this country between the big and the small. Big banks are getting bigger (see Chart 1), while regional and small banks are closing (120-plus at last count). Corporate bond issuances hit record levels in 2009, whi

Why this matters to Honda dealers We have received reports from our Honda dealer clients that Honda has altered its system for assigning planning volume goals to its dealers. Historically, Honda issued planning volume objective(s) to its dealers on a