Fitch Ratings analysts say the escalating cost to purchase and maintain a vehicle has pushed defaults, repossessions and the rate of loans more than 60 days past due to historic levels. +
NADA analysts say waning demand and affordability issues are depressing sales team earnings, Nevada leads the nation in average payroll and bigger dealers continue to gain market share. +
Presidio and NCM analysts say Q3 net pretax profit metrics varied wildly among domestic, import and luxury dealers in a report skewed by EV sales and echoes of the CDK Global outage. +
Wolters Kluwer’s Digital Transformation Index shows the adoption of digital workflows ticked down by 2.3% from the second quarter but improved by 4.3% year-over-year. +
Carleton’s Tim Yalich urges dealers and finance sources to face the “critical reality” of the complexity, challenges and profitability risk that underlies lease payment calculations. +
Kelley Blue Book reports the average transaction price for a U.S.-sold new vehicle exceeded $50,000 for the first time in September despite increased incentive spending. +
Edmunds reports the average amount owed on upside-down car loans reached a new record of $6,905 in the third quarter as more new car buyers traded in vehicles burdened by negative equity. +
Despite tightening among captive finance companies, the Credit Availability Index was essentially flat on a month-to-month basis in September, ticking back up to July’s 98.1 mark after falling by 0.2% in August. +
Ford has followed General Motors by unwinding a program intended to claim expiring $7,500 federal EV tax credits for future customers under pressure from U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno. +
Executives say increased financing options with familiar partners will help Amazon-partnered Hyundai dealers reach more used car buyers and sell more F&I products. +
