Every dealer knows that an effective service department is key to a successful dealership. Well-managed service departments keep our customers’ cars and trucks on the road, while providing a steady source of income for local dealerships and jobs for our communities. But today’s service departments are facing a crisis, in the growing shortage of…

Most of us remember Dominoes as a fun childhood game. Later, we learned that “The Domino Effect” describes a process in which one domino falls, toppling an adjacent domino, then another, and so on until a series of dominoes have fallen, leaving a mess for someone to clean up. For the next few minutes, let's think of the obsolete parts on your…

A recent article by employees of the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Research and Statistics Group provided an update (of sorts) on the state of auto lending at the end of 2018. Much of the news coverage of this update focused on two Fed data points: 1) at the end of 2018, more than 7 million Americans with an auto loan were 90 or more days…

It’s big, it’s bright and it’s the only place you need to be to celebrate everything we’ve accomplished in the auto industry this year: the 2019 NADA Show. Thousands of fellow dealers and managers, OEM executives, allied industry and international guests will converge in the City by the Bay January 24-27. It’s not too late to register online and…

The difference between dreaming of lofty goals and achieving them is action and planning. Most people don’t achieve their goals. Why? We were told to dream big when we were children, but we were never taught how to set goals and execute them to achieve those big dreams. Hard to believe, right? Additionally, not only do those who set goals…

February is the month to show our love and appreciation, so here at ATD, I would like to salute my fellow ATD leaders, past and present. Each seat at ATD carries enormous weight and responsibility, and I’m privileged to be working with some of the most passionate men and women in our industry. In that regard, I want to acknowledge one of the…

I get asked every week by NADA Academy Students, “If tracking lost sales is so important, why do our parts department managers brush it off like it’s no big deal?” Well there could be many reasons. To explain I will attempt to relate it to something I feel everyone understands. We have all been sitting in the dentist chair at some point in our…

U.S. light-vehicle sales fell by 3.0% compared to this time last year. Many segments posted declines or were flat, although the popular pickup and crossover segments gained market share relative to January 2018. During the 35-day federal government shutdown—the longest in U.S. history—as many as 2 million workers went without paychecks. Federal…

The American Truck Dealers (ATD) Show 2019 was a resounding success. The passion, dedication and hard work of our association shined bright in San Francisco last week. The show included the ATD Industry Roundtable, workshops, make meetings and special industry and networking events with hundreds of truck dealers and guests from across the country…

America’s auto dealerships are facing a crisis in the shortage of experienced automotive service technicians, and the National Automobile Dealers Association is doing something about it. I’m proud to announce that this year the NADA Foundation is the first in the industry to officially launch a workforce initiative with the goal of promoting the…