The start of the summer driving season is expected to be a bit of a mixed bag, based on feedback from a Swapalease.com Memorial Day Driving Survey conducted during the first two weeks of May. More people feel that gas prices aren’t negatively impacting their decision to travel compared with last year. However, fewer people plan on traveling during this year’s holiday weekend.…

Here is the latest used car market report from Black Book. Each week as we look at the most recent overall market changes, we are trying to identify any movements or consistencies in the market that will support the dealers, lenders and remarketers in their next steps in business. Is there a segment showing strength or weakness or a changing trend? This past week we saw a…

Here is the latest used car market report from Black Book. As the feedback arrived from the Black Book survey personnel who attend the auctions across the country every week, what a variety of opinions were presented. From slow, to many no-sales, to a couple indicating a flat market with the other side of the spectrum described as buyer interest being up, pickups with strong activity and older units selling better. After…

All too often when we sit at the computer, we aren't writing, we're typing. It's a subtle distinction but it's an important one. Do you ever stare at your screen and know you need to get something down so you just hammer it out? Worse yet, do you ever stare at the screen, knowing you need to get something down, and then open a new tab and start reading the news or something?…

The latest car lease credit approvals data show 2013 has started out with the strongest credit health since the recession. According to credit approvals data from Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest automotive lease marketplace, 77.3% of customers were approved during April, up from 70% during the previous month.



Credit remains the lifeblood of car leasing, and lenders must approve each individual…

Here is the most recent used car market report from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. A few months back we talked about the effects on the used auction activity, especially on the physical lanes, when we have a fifth week of the month of auctions. While attending a manufacturer related meeting this past week I had a remarketer say the reason for more no sales during this past week was due to the extra week of activity for the month. We did have several …

Thanks for checking out the first ever Wikimotive Podcast!

We talk about the cars.com debacle with Jim Ziegler. The Alpha Dog sheds some light on the current situation and makes a few new revelations along the way.

Don't forget to follow…

We sat down with Jim Ziegler (you may know him as the Alpha Dog!) to talk about the cars.com debacle. 

Check it out tomorrow morning at 8am EST on our new Podcast Network. 

Here is this week’s Used Car Market from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. As the calendar is about to put April in the history books, one might be wondering how much of the spring market remains. With the various comments from the Black Book survey personnel around the country indicating a more stable market in most cases, the only questionable retention and more hesitant interest was focused around the remarketing of the rental cars. Several reports mentioned …

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding what could possibly be dubbed "The Cars.com Debacle of 2013." I know, understatement of the year, right? In usual dealer advocate fashion, Jim Ziegler has brought to light a shockingly bad business practice recently instituted by the automotive marketing juggernaut, a…

Content is the SEO method of choice in 2013. Spam and content spinning are way, way out, and original content that has value to the reader is in. It's not enough to just create the content though. Even if it's amazing and insightful, you still need to market your own content, at least a little bit, to get it off the ground. There are a lot of great ways to do this, and today we're going to talk to you…

Content is the SEO method of choice in 2013. Spam and content spinning are way, way out, and original content that has value to the reader is in. It's not enough to just create the content though. Even if it's amazing and insightful, you still need to market your own content, at least a little bit, to get it off the ground. There are a lot of great ways to do this, and today we're going to talk to you…

Lease pull ahead programs allow drivers to wave their last remaining payments if they agree to immediately buy or lease a new vehicle of the same brand. Are they beneficial to the dealer, brand and customer?

With more off-lease volume expected in 2013, manufacturers and leasing companies are leveraging lease pull-ahead programs as a way to massage customer loyalty and keep people in the same brand family. These pull-ahead programs are similar to lease transfer by allowing drivers to…

Following is the latest Used Car Market Report from Black Book.  It seems that price is the value driver in the market information from this past week. There have been reporting periods where slightly more Average condition vehicles than Clean were adjusted and generally with more increasing adjustments on the Average condition units. This past week was the strongest example of this. More than 216 Average condition vehicles each day throughout the week were adjusted. Just as…

Here is the latest used car market report from Black Book. As the editors came back from auctions over the past week their observations and resulting comments indicated that many dealers were not bidding as aggressively, a sign that retail had been slower recently and they just didn’t need to replace previously sold units.

There is still enough interest and demand that for the past six weeks at least…

AAA recently unveiled its 2013 annual study in the cost of ownership for the typical sedan, available at AAA’s “Your Driving Costs” study, which revealed a nearly 2% increase in the cost to own and operate a sedan in the U.S. This report must raise a few eyebrows simply because of the increase in costs. One major question that…

Social media and search are again colliding, and for once, the news isn't about Google and Facebook. No, today's news is about the little brothers of search and social, the ones who aren't quite as successful but certainly give it there all. Let us here at Wikimotive tell you about it, and how it can affect your small business…

Let's forget for a moment that the overwhelming majority of SEO companies the average small business owner will encounter provide a service of no value whatsoever. Let's pretend that the majority of SEO providers are not outright scam artists. I'm only going to address the small percentage of us that provide a real service capable of producing ROI in some form for our clients (I'd wager less than 1% of the industry). For…

The other day I was in a dealership speaking with an owner.  He said to me "I have 315,000 VDPs" to which I responded "wow, that it is great".  He then said to me "however, VDPs do not cash checks, sales do".  I was so happy to hear that because here is someone that really gets it.  I am not saying that focusing…