Car Dealerships Closing
Posted on August 22, 2010
Car Dealerships Closing
The automobile industry has been plummeting, which directly relates to the falling economy, and the governments bailout of the auto trade. This results in dealerships all across the country closing their doors on their businesses.
In November 2008, statistics showed that 1 in 30 new car dealerships would cease selling with forecasts showing 1,000 to close in 2009. The country has 21,000 new car dealerships that have not shown a profit since 2006. These failures are due to high gas prices and falling home values. With Americans holding onto any money they earn, car purchases are stalled. Reports show that the number of auto loans that were more than 30 days late has doubled since 2004. This startling statistic, shows that consumers are unable to pay their bills on time, and or that they are using their car payment to pay for other bills, such as their mortgage.
Dealerships that sell vehicles made by Chrysler, Ford and GM are suffering the most since the auto industry bailout was approved in 2008. The profits that these companies once enjoyed are down and their factories are faced with layoffs and reduced pay rates. Once recovery is noted in the industry, the only dealerships that stand to come back around are those that sell used vehicles. Consumers are no longer willing to risk financing a purchase, especially one with such depreciation. These same consumers are also clenching their pockets, and are only looking for what is needed.
When dealers are not making money, they cut corners with financing. New advertising shows extended loan periods with lower interest in an attempt to attract buyers. Dealers are also encouraging their salespeople to extend vehicle servicing sales, while that market is not declining. Owners still need to have their vehicle serviced and repaired, and this money accounts for 40% of a dealership’s revenue.
Although the auto industry bailout helps, forecasters feel that the market will improve for car dealerships gradually but not anytime soon. The housing market has to improve first before consumers loosen the grip on their finances. Dealers still continue to advertise hefty rebates and softer credit requirements to get consumers in the door. It’s clearly a rough time for car dealerships.
Fisker Automotive Announces Michigan Expansion
Posted on August 21, 2010
Fisker Automotive Announces Michigan Expansion
Simple math: Michigan plus the American car industry usually doesn’t add up to a net gain in jobs. With plant closings, cut backs, lay offs, and related language suggesting job loss, any sort of addition to the fast draining job pool should warm the heart especially in the state of Michigan which has seen its share of bad times lately.
Fisker Helps Michigan
Well, Fisker Automotive, the self-named “green car company” is in the process of reversing that trend, if you count a ripple of new jobs as being something to shout about. The car company, which will be releasing its all-electric Fisker Karma in late 2009, has opened an Engineering and Development Center in Pontiac, Michigan. The 34,000 square foot facility will be the home to some 200 designers and engineers who help to develop and produce the Karma.
“The available talent, supplier base and infrastructure in Michigan will help us reach our production goal,” said Fisker Automotive COO Bernhard Koehler. “While Fisker Automotive will continue to be headquartered in Irvine, California, the new facility will allow us the opportunity to collaborate with our Michigan supplier base and have everyone under one roof.”
Tesla Motors Loses Its Suit
The announcement by Fisker comes fresh on the heels of a recent arbitrator finding that the company did not steal confidential design information from rival Tesla Motors, Inc. Tesla had previously used Fisker’s design team to help the company develop a second model, a luxury all-electric sedan.
The Fisker Karma made its debut at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January and in April Tesla filed its suit. Because both parties agreed to binding arbitration, the suit has officially been dismissed.
Made In Finland
Earlier this year, Fisker Automotive came to terms with Finland’s Valmet Automotive who agreed to build the Fisker Karma on its own assembly line. The company is currently taking “pre-orders” for consumers who put down a 00 deposit on the car. Shipment for those who place their order right now is expected to begin in the second half of 2010.
What Is A Crm In The Automotive Industry?
Posted on August 20, 2010
What Is A Crm In The Automotive Industry?
C.R.M is the short for Customer Relationship Management it is a software that posses the quintessential capabilities for an automotive dealership to maintain a good relationship with their existing or new customers. In a nut shell the CRM is designed to sort, filter, and management customer’s information in an effective way. It has some eerie resemblance to a well known software everyone uses on a daily basis called “Micro Soft Outlook”.
There are some key differences between a CRM and a DMS, don’t get caught up in the big words. A DMS system or Dealer Management Software should have a build in CRM capabilities, and in addition some functionalities a CRM can not offer. But today we are going to focus solely on the CRM aspect of the technology.
When choosing a CRM service provider, the customer should be aware of few key issues. Such as the creation date of the software, database scheme of the CRM used, and of course the cost of the software. There are few big name providers in the automotive industry each with their own version of a CRM program. It is surprising with the amount of subscription fee dealers pay to them, the software is still stuck in the 80s, using “flat file” system for their database, and poorly designed interfaces for the users. The cost of a CRM software can range from 2000-3000 per month, with setup installation fees up towards 10,000, all the way to 0 installation fee, and monthly cost of 0. One tell tale sign of an aged software is its “interactivity”, on mouse over a button, or on click event, and easily tell you if the software is more than 10 years old in age.
Many automotive CRM providers today refuse to upgrade their system, due to lack of programming staff and IT support on site, these companies are literally stuck in the 1980s. With today’s growing demand for interactivity, such as web integration, real time database modifications, paying a hefty bill does not necessarily mean you got the best product out there.
This article is brought to you by Dealer Elite Canada, visit us online for more information and tutorial videos at http://www.dealerelites.ca
How Do Car Dealerships Make Money?
Posted on August 19, 2010
How Do Car Dealerships Make Money?
Car dealerships make money from three primary revenue streams within a dealership. This article will explain the basics and provide you with general information that pertains to most all car lots.
Front End Profits
This is profit made on the sale of a vehicle. Whether a vehicle is financed through a loan company or if you pay cash, the dealership’s front end profit is unaffected.
Front end profit is the difference between the sale price of a vehicle and the dealers actual cost. In addition, dealers make money from manufacturer’s incentives, dealer “holdback” (a percentage of the invoice cost, paid to the dealer by the manufacturer) and rebates, if retained by the dealership.
The front end profit is what car salesman are paid their commissions from, which is commonly 25%, referred to in the industry as “gross”.
Back End Profits
This is profit that is made from brokering the financing for a vehicle sale in addition to various finance products.
These include the sale of Gap Insurance, Extended Car Warranties, Credit Life Insurance, Extended Service Contracts and Prepaid Service Plans. Interest rates as well as these other financial products have a cost. The dealer marks up the price of each and the difference equates to profit for the dealer finance department. Finance managers are generally paid a salary plus a commission rate of 5% to 10% on the sale of backend financial products.
Service Department Profits
If a new vehicle is covered under warranty and is brought in for a warranty repair, the dealership is paid by the manufacturer for labor and part costs.
Also, when used vehicles are cycled through the dealership and are prepared for sale, those expenses are charged to the used car department and paid to the service department. Those charges become a part of the used car departments “cost” for the vehicle. Service department profits easily exceed front end and back end profits in many new car dealerships.
How to Take Care of Your Car
Posted on August 18, 2010
How to Take Care of Your Car
We all know that car is one of the things we always need in our daily life. It always helps us in everything we do from business to our personal needs. So we should always take good care of it. So that It won’t give any problems and won’t cost us much in the future. Here are some of the tips that all of us must do to take good care of our cars
First of all we should always have to remember to always check our engine, break, fluids, and battery before using our car. We usually ignore these things because of our busy life. And always forget to check out our cars before we leave. I always remember what my father always told me when it comes to car. He said that the engine is one of the important parts of the car. Checking the engine periodically help us see what’s going to be a problem and will cost us much in the future. Have a full car engine check up. If you do know something about car engine then you can do it yourself. If you don’t, you can hire a car mechanic. If ever try to hire someone who you do trust or someone who have a good reputation when it comes to car engine. Or you can check the car manual for some help. But be careful if you just used the car there are some part of the engine that are still hot so be cautious in checking your car engine. Check the engine oil level you got to see if the oil consumption is rapidly increasing. If so you got to go to a repair shop and have them check it out. Make sure the engine is off when checking the oil level. Then check the transmission fluid read your manual about how to do this or have someone who has an expertise in doing this. Make sure you use the correct transmission fluid for your car. Next is the brake fluid this one is very important cause brake is really needed when driving a car. When the brake pads wear out the brake fluid level will drop slightly. But don’t worry this things are normal. If your brake fluid level drops in a short period of time that’s the time you got to have your brake check. Always put brake fluid that are approved in your brakes. And always keep it covered when you don’t have to fill it. And always make sure that you maintain a very high boiling point on your brake fluid. So don’t expose it to air cause this fluid will absorb moisture and that will lower the boiling point. Another thing is the Power Steering fluid. Check the fluid level and it should not change more than the normal range. You have to check it for leaks too. Then check the coolant. This one is very important because this one will really affect the condition of your car. Coolant is the one who help you when your car is overheating. So you got to check it if there’s any leak .Then the battery. Most battery today now offers a maintenance free meaning you can’t check the water level. But this doesn’t mean that we won’t check it out anymore. We got to clean and dry the top of the battery and also check the terminal connection if it’s clean and tight. Then next is the windshield washer solvent. These solvents are available in any auto supply store and supermarket. So you won’t have any problem. Then we got to check the belts and hoses too. These things are usually done by your mechanic but just in case you have to does it on your own always remember to check it when the car is cold. Check the belt for any sign of crack and tightness. The second important parts of the car are the wheel and the tires. Check the tires pressure. Tire pressures tend to rise as you drive due to heat build-up. So you should check it when they are cold. Use the manufacturers recommended tire pressures for your tires. It is advisable to rotate your tires periodically. The front tire always wear faster that the rear tires. Having an uneven tire thickness will give you uneven braking specially during rainy days. By not doing this you will end up placing two new tires at front and will still find it uneven to the tires on the rear part. Then you got to place the other two rear tires to make it all even and balance. This will cost you a lot. Don’t forget to have a wheel aligning and wheel balancing check. Having a wheel that’s not aligned will wear your tire easily. If your want to know, if your tires are not align. First is to check each tire and look for uneven patterns. Or get a coin and put it in between each tire tread and see if there at the same length .If the tread is deeper on one side than the other that’s mean you need to have a wheel alignment. Having a wheel that’s not balance will give you hard time in driving with all of the vibration in the seat, steering wheel and floorboard. To know if your wheels are not balance is when one section of the tire is heavier that the other or the car vibrates at a certain speed. You got to call a mechanic to do a wheel balancing for your car. Don’t forget to check the wheel lugs too. Check the lock lugs if all are tight and are not heavier than the other. Check all the light of your car from the inside light, headlights to the turn signal lights and brake lights. Don’t forget to check the electric wires of your car. Check if the wires are in good condition and have no crack or tear. There is one time I heard on the news about a taxi that just got on fire on the street and it’s all because of the faulty electrical wiring. We don’t want this to happen to us or to our car. Then check the windshield wiper. See if the blades have cracks or need to replace a new one. And then check if you need to replace the car filters. There are so many car filters that are replaceable. You can check them in your car manual. If you live in a dusty area then you should replace them frequently. Here are some of the filter u needs to check. First is the air filter this filter are use to filter the air going into an engine. You can replace this filter by yourself. Next is the fuel filter this one is found either in the engine compartment or near the gas tank. You got to let an auto mechanic to do this. Then cabin filter this filter are somewhere located under your dash they are the filter that filter the air conditioning system that clean the air before going into the passenger compartment. Schedule a day of car washing. I know for some of us especially to busy people going to the car wash station are a big yes. And I know car wash provide good grooming tools for your car and will really give good clean. They have equipment and tools that will give your car a very nice and shiny clean finish. But it will be better and much cheaper to do it yourself. Plus you will be sure that you can have the finish you will like because you do it yourself. And it’s one of the fun ways to spend a day with your family and love ones. Use cleaning products that are safe for your car. Wash and clean the outer part of your car depending on how frequent you use your car. If you use it every day and always driving in a muddy and dusty road I guess you got to wash it more often. Remove the dry mud and dirt under your car and around your tires. Because they do get dusty too. A good grooming car always gives a good appearance to anyone who sees it. Then after washing don’t forget to wipe it dry and check if there are any dirt that are still there. Vacuum the car seat and carpet of the car as often as you use it. Wipe the dashboard of your car because they do get dusty too. Car wax is good to maintain its car paint color and shine. It always makes the car look new and it also protect the car paint from the ultra violet rays of the sun. And it didn’t get wet much when it rain. How frequent you wax your car is depend on the type of wax you use. Some waxes do last longer than the others. When waxing always makes sure the car is totally clean and feels smooth to touch. And be sure to check the entire surface for any waxy residue, check the plates, emblems, around the trim and body seems.
Taking good care of your car will give you good advantage. If you have a good maintenance with your car it will perform well and will use less gas. Plus it won’t cost you more in a long run. Don’t forget to drive safely and responsibly. Remember we are not the only one who will get hurt if we have an accident while driving. The people who are driving with us and the people who are on the street are all in our hands and our responsibility. So always be responsible and be careful and alert whenever we start our engine and start driving. Always remember that the car is just a machine it is our responsibility to take good care of it. I hope this few tips will help you and will be a reminder for you in maintaining your cars.
Automotive Industry Encouraged to use Nitrile Exam Gloves
Posted on August 17, 2010
Automotive Industry Encouraged to use Nitrile Exam Gloves
Use of Disosable Nitrile Exam Gloves is quickly becoming the preferred standard in the Automotive Industry. While not all Automotive technicians are wearing gloves the ones who are, are choosing Nitrile.
In an article the EPA issued, “Choosing The Right Gloves For Painting Cars” they recommended Nitrile gloves because of their durability and strength. Nitrile gloves have been shown to provide a better barrier to paints and organic solvents. These are the chemicals that are toughest on gloves. Price alone should not be the deciding factor in your glove selection, the application should.
Today there are many choices when selecting a Nitrile Glove, depending on the application. Two of the most common are the Ultra thin with finger tips textures and a Thick Nitrile with full texture for stronger chemical applications. The more texture a glove has the more the technician will be able to grip with the glove, with fully textured providing the most non-slip grip and control. The Ultra thin are more comparable to the feel of Latex with the Thicker providing more protection. When reviewing both the Ultra Thin and the Thicker/Heavy Nitrile, they are both very flexible, soft, and comfortable to wear while still providing superior protection and durability.
Even with the recommendation that professionals in the Automotive industry use Nitrile gloves, understand that Nitrile will not provide protection for all chemicals. Use caution when determining whether Nitrile is appropriate and, if in doubt, check with your manufacturer or distributor. Most Manufacturers offer free samples. Before you decide to make a purchase contact your manufacturer and decide which glove will work best for your application. It is always better to be safe than sorry.
Family Run Car Dealership in Croydon
Posted on August 16, 2010
Family Run Car Dealership in Croydon
When something is family owned and operated doesn’t that give you more incentive to shop there? If it does, you are not alone. The family aspect of the environment is comforting to many. The second you walk in the environment, you begin to feel as though you are a part of the family too. Hopefully, since you are now “technically a part of the family”, you will get prime treatment. That is the service you have always been looking for. And, fortunately, that is the service you will get when you step foot on the family owned and operated Croydon Car Dealership. This amazing dealership, better known as McCarthy Cars, has been servicing the citizens of Croydon and surrounding areas for over 30 years.
History of McCarthy Cars
James F. McCarthy and his wife began this dealership in Croydon 37 years ago. They started as an independent used car dealership in Croydon, Surrey. As the business grew, they enlisted the help of their 3 sons to join the team and help build the business. These 3 guys now manage both of the Croydon dealerships and the branch in Clapham. From the beginning, McCarthy was established on professional standards of excellence. Their success today is a result of these high standards.
Why McCarthy?
As a consumer, you have a choice. The question is, why choose McCarthy Cars. If you have not experienced the “McCarthy Cars Experience” then you might need to take a trip to understand why they are a cut above the rest. Their dealership still employs the old-fashioned business tactics that value the customer as top priority. Although this seems normal, it is becoming a rarity today. Fortunately, you can still find it with McCarthy Cars. They are one of the few dealerships in the Croydon area that will truly put you first. They consider your needs, your preferences, and your budget. Then, they work to find you a suitable option.
Extensive Inventory
Lastly, when you are shopping for a used car, selecting the right one can be difficult. Fortunately, McCarthy’s has an extensive inventory of used cars to choose from. This way you will not be disappointed. You will be able to find the right car that works for you and leave happy – just the way McCarthy likes it. Therefore, don’t wait any longer. Come visit McCarthy today and test drive some of the cars that interest you. You will be glad you did.