The uncertainty of this fall’s election season is a factor in the conservative forecast.Pexels/Torsten Dettlaff New-vehicle sales in the first half of the year are on target to post a healthy year-over-year gain, despite inflation pressure, Cox Automotive forecasts.It projects sales through June to be up 3% over the same period last year and puts…

The problem stems from a signal loss between the transmission output shaft speed sensor and the power train control module. More than half a million Ford F-150s have been recalled to fix a transmission problem that can cause loss of control. The recall potentially affects over 552,000 2014 models that can downshift into first gear…

Dealers must have a plan to offer the right F&I protection packages to ensure drivers are covered. Pexels/Jeshoots.com Dealers must have a plan to offer the right F&I protection packages to ensure drivers are covered if something goes wrong and repairs need to be made. The Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, 2024 proved once again…

Even with all the planning ahead and staff preparation, groups will find that they can’t consolidate everything the company does because there will still be localized tasks. Pexels/Lex Photography Ask those auto groups that have done it if it’s a good idea to consolidate back-office functions as the business gets to a certain size, and…

ASE is asking experienced parts managers, specialists, consultants and counter personnel to give their feedback. Pexels/Hebert Santos The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence has been commissioned to conduct a series of studies to understand which parts-related tasks are performed most frequently by parts specialists. The survey is focused on parts consultant tasks, and participants…

Even with the decrease, first-quarter traffic crashes resulted in 8,650 deaths. Pexels/Pixabay Traffic fatalities continued a multiquarter decline, hitting two straight years of decreases in the first quarter. The 3% year-over-year drop translates to a fatality rate of 1.13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from 1.18 a year earlier, according to National…

During the shutdown, dealers are compensating by various means, including handwriting necessary deal documents in many cases. Pexels/Markusspiske The CDK Global software systems shutdown continued on Monday, marking nearly a weeklong outage affecting thousands of auto dealers’ daily operations. The company, which sustained two cyberattacks on Wednesday, said only that it had “begun the restoration…

The CDK systems shutdown may be a motivating event for more dealers to switch to e-contracting. As scores of dealerships operate without the software they’ve grown to rely on to do business every day after CDK Global shut down its dealer software systems, many are seeking answers about how to compensate now and when future…

The Japanese automaker was working to develop a fix for the issue. It plans to send owners recall notices in mid-August. Toyota recalled about 145,000 SUVs over a glitch that could prevent an airbag from deploying in particular conditions. Certain 2024 Grand Highlander and Lexus TX vehicles are included in the noncompliance recall. Toyota said…

Digitizing sales and F&I processes and updating policies are two ways dealers can build in compliance. Pexels/Markus Winkler My job is to help dealerships find compliant solutions for the processes they’ve implemented. I am asked compliance questions daily by dealership owners and managers, and I would say I am able to usually provide a compliance…