John Huetter

Credit Acceptance Corp. set records for average loan portfolio balance and the number of dealerships it worked with on auto loans in the third quarter, the lender said.

Asbury Automotive Group sold Larry H. Miller Downtown Honda Spokane to Findlay Automotive Group during the third quarter. The car dealership is now called Findlay Downtown Honda Spokane.

Car dealers and a National Automobile Dealers Association development leader recommended auto retailers facilitate electric vehicle sales by having car dealership staff be familiar with EVs. One suggestion: Salespeople should drive them.

Leaders at Asbury Automotive Group Inc. in October said they were encouraged by recent incentive plans by Stellantis after a disappointing third quarter selling its vehicles at the national auto dealership company.

Customers are more motivated by the risk of loss than the prospect of gain, and auto dealership finance managers can leverage this element of human nature to sell finance and insurance products, according to Allstate Dealer Services. The F&I product provider also advises finance managers to capitalize on the inverse of fear of loss — peace of mind.

J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study ran from March to May and received responses from 4,472 dealership auto finance professionals. Here are overall satisfaction rankings for lenders who exceeded the average overall satisfaction in their segment, according to J.D. Power. Scores are on a 1,000-point scale.

Car dealer finance professionals are more satisfied with national auto lenders than regional lenders and are more inclined to send the national institutions business, according to the 2024 edition of J.D. Power’s U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.

The average car traded in during the third quarter of 2024 as part of a new-vehicle purchase carried an all-time record amount of negative equity, with the borrower underwater by an average of $6,458, up 11 percent from a year earlier, according to Edmunds.

Half of dealership finance office workers were concerned about artificial intelligence in 2023, and that sentiment has spread, according to the latest Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.

CarEdge survey finds a high percentage of buyers said there's room for improvement in the finance and insurance experience, with feeling pressured the most common issue.