July 21, 2015
Best Dealerships to Work For
Automotive News is unveiling its fourth annual celebration of the Best Dealerships To Work For in North America. Since 2012, Automotive News has been proud to identify dealerships that are leaders in workplace satisfaction, talent retention, and excellent treatment of their employees. The recognition begins with a list of the top 100 places to work – car dealerships in North America that have created a high-quality work environment. Click here to see the list of 100. The final ranking of top dealerships – from No. 1 to No. 100 – will be revealed at a ceremony Oct. 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, where Automotive News will honor the dealerships on the list. That day, Automotive News also will host a half-day conference, "From Recruitment to Retention: Finding and Keeping the Best." The program will include speakers from dealerships at the top of our ranking, plus experts in employee and customer satisfaction. On Oct. 19, Automotive News will publish a special section that includes summaries of the top 100 dealerships. Some of the dealerships will be profiled in depth, with a look at the practices and policies that helped make them great places to work. For more on Automotive News’ 2015 list of the Best Dealerships to Work For, click here.
Talks Underway on Requiring Used-Car Recall Repairs
Senate staffers, auto industry officials, and others held intensive talks over the weekend on a proposal to require recalled used cars to be repaired before being sold, The Detroit News has learned. The proposal would pose a challenge for the nation’s 17,000 car dealers that sell millions of used cars a year. But it is still unclear how expansive the requirement would be and whether the Republican majority in the Senate will agree to it. Under current law, dealers are required to repair only new recalled vehicles before a sale. The Obama administration and many Democrats want a new law to require those repairs. Auto dealers have strongly opposed the measure, arguing that they could be forced to hold onto recalled vehicles awaiting the availability of parts. In some cases, they would have to send used cars they bought in a trade in to rival dealers for repairs before they could sell them. Earlier this month, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced legislation that would require automakers to install warning lights on vehicle dashboards to notify owners of safety recalls, lift the cap on delayed recall fines, and would require crash-avoidance technologies. For more on a potential Senate measure requiring used vehicle recall repairs, click here.
Birthday Wish for CFPB: Get Real
Five years ago this week, with the stroke of a presidential pen, and with all eyes focused on Wall Street instead of America's auto malls, a federal bureau was born. Happy Birthday, CFPB. You've never looked more battered, writes Automotive News publisher and editor Jason Stein. Five years later, the CFPB (a subsection of Dodd-Frank) is still as much of a mystery as it was on Day 1. The agency's original mission was to make the auto finance business more consumer-friendly. But understanding how it measures things, and the menu of options it considers, Stein would argue it's done the opposite. Exhibit A: Credit scores. According to dealers, the CFPB is still not factoring credit scores into its calculations. Exhibit B: Effect on dealer profits. If the CFPB takes away profitability via lower caps, that could have unintended consequences, such as dealers needing to find other sources of profitability to sustain their business. Exhibit C: Probability. Disclosure of race is not part of the industry's practice of buying and selling cars. So, let's use the CFPB’s birthday to offer a birthday wish: Let's get real about the calculation before we start beating the drum about mass discrimination in auto lending. Read more of Stein’s piece on the CFPB’s fifth birthday here.
How Auto Dealers Can Keep Regulators at Bay
Government regulators are paying close attention to dealerships these days in areas ranging from disputed loan rates to allegedly misleading ads. According to WardsAuto, here’s advice from four professionals on how to avoid compliance woes. “The regulatory ‘shiny objects’ of the last few years have been primarily advertising violations and rate markup,” says Jim Radogna, founder and president of Dealer Compliance Associates. “Regulators are paying closer attention to what’s going on during the sales and F&I process at the dealership, so a strong compliance management system (CMS) is more vital than ever,” Radogna says. Doug Fusco, CEO of Dealer Safeguard Solutions, describes a CMS as a process for accountability, responsibility, and training to ensure correct processes. Gil Van Over, president and founder, gvo3 & Associates says the CFPB is forging an updated compliance model likely to be mimicked by the FTC, the agency that has regulatory oversight over car dealers. It is clear that state agencies and the FTC will not be left behind in wake of the CFPB regulatory enforcement, says David R. Missimer, general counsel for Automotive Compliance Consultants. “Dealers taking a wait-and-see approach might want to get their house in order,” he says. For more on what dealers can do to keep regulators at bay, click here.
Top 10 Car Brands That Millennials Love to Lease
Forget about buying. If you see a millennial driving a Ram truck, GMC, or Lexus, chances are they leased it. It turns out all that hand wringing over millennials ditching cars for fixies, Uber rides, and mass transit might have been premature, reports Fortune. Millennials are acquiring cars; they’re just not buying them. Instead, millennials are opting to lease more luxurious, tech-forward cars than they could otherwise afford to buy. Leasing has accounted for 28.9 percent of all new car purchases of millennials ages 18 to 34 in 2015, according to Edmunds’ analysis of car registration data provided by Polk. The percentage exceeds the industry-wide lease penetration rate of 26.7 percent. It’s also reflects a 46 percent jump in leasing by millennials over the last five years. By comparison, the share of leasing among all car shoppers has increased 41.7 percent during that period. Edmunds found that top brands that millennials are more likely to lease include GMC, Lexus, Jaguar, and Cadillac. Remaining car brands that round out the millennial leasing list include Buick, Subaru, Scion, Mini, and Acura. For more on the car brands preferred by leasing millennials, click here.
ADESA Offers Extended Arbitration Time
When purchasing pre-owned inventory and having it transported across the country, sometimes those vehicles arrive after the arbitration window has passed. ADESA dealer customers shopping the open sale on DealerBlock don’t need to worry about that—at least not now through September 30—when they choose to ship their eligible vehicles through CarsArrive Network. The arbitration period on those vehicles is extended to 48 hours after vehicle delivery. Eligible vehicles include off-lease, rental, dealer, fleet and repo vehicles offered in the open sale on DealerBlock from an offsite location. Selecting CarsArrive Network for transportation will give customers a worry-free experience too. This growing company ships 1.7 million cars a year. And the CarsArrive technology lets customers track their shipments in real time. Log on to ADESA.com to find inventory today.
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