John Huetter

I spent time NADA Week discussing F&I Sentinel's integration with Dealertrack and RouteOne, Assurant's F&I On Demand, the JM&A Group's Gyde and Dark Sky Data's F&I data extraction software. Here's what I saw.

Westlake Financial and its thousands of dealers gain access to the customers of the major mortgage lender Rate through a partnership adding vehicle inventory and prequalification to Rate's website and app.

Dominion DMS laid off a portion of its workforce, according to social media posts.

Experian found 15.4 percent of all fourth-quarter auto loans and leases involved subprime or deep subprime borrowers, the highest fourth-quarter for those weaker credit scores since 2021.

Using salespeople's personal phones to collect customer driver's licenses could expose dealerships to Safeguards Rule violations, compliance experts say. A survey shows this practice occurs at 39% of dealers.

Automakers are more likely to pass some tariff costs downstream in 2026, but brand loyalty will keep customers from jumping to competitors.

Cox's spring survey found dealers optimistic about the future and feeling the best about used vehicles since Q3 2022. But the economy grew to be a problem for 54% of dealers.

The Federal Trade Commission is watching dealers' advertised vehicle prices and says stores are responsible for their listings on third-party sites. However, vendors such as Cars and CarGurus have updated their sites to support dealer compliance.

The settlement resolves claims from six plaintiffs who alleged their names and Social Security numbers were compromised in a December 2023 breach but doesn't preclude other class-action litigation against Asbury.

The 97 auto retailers the Federal Trade Commission warned it suspected of illegal advertising practices included industry leaders Lithia Motors Inc., AutoNation Inc. and Hendrick Automotive Group.