Key Features

Featured long form articles exclusive to Dealer News Today.

The Importance of OEM Parts/Accessories for Dealers

By Amy Corr In the automotive industry there are really two options when it comes to replacement parts: Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts or Aftermarket...

Automotive Heroes of Black History Month

By Maggie McBride As Black History Month comes to a close, it’s important to continue to reflect on the contributions black Americans have made to...

An Encounter With the Other 50 Percent

by Adam Rapp A few weeks ago, a startling statistic was brought to our attention during the Dealer News Today podcast. According to Cox Software...

Augmented Reality: Smartglasses Deliver Hands-Free Tech Support to the Service Bay

Connected-technology platforms are putting shop technicians in touch with tech-support experts who can walk them through new or complicated repair procedures, without interrupting the workflow.

Masked or Unmasked?

By Adam Rapp If you feel confused about whether people should wear masks and why and what kind, you're not alone. The short answer is...

Do Your Customers & Staff Feel Welcome?

By Desiree Homer If there ever was a more pertinent time to be reminded that the automotive industry is in the ‘people business,’ it’s now....

Nervous Auto Lenders Pressure Dealers to Tighten Up Verifications

By Al Bredenberg, Senior Writer “I want to put you in this car today. How much do you make?” The days are disappearing when a credit...

How Dealers Can Serve Others

By Maggie McBride Today is the 25th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Though Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been...

Being Frontline Ready – How the Effectiveness of Your T2L Processes Can Affect Your...

by Kerry Dowling Getting vehicles frontline ready has never been more important for dealerships. Prior to COVID19, consumers were already moving more and more to...

Could Public EV Charging Stations Find a Place at Auto Dealerships?

By Al Bredenberg If your dealership is selling electric vehicles (EVs), you most likely already have a charging station in your service area. However, could...

Appraisal-to-Trade Ratios: Sharpening Your Pencil at Every Stage of Your Process

By Desiree Homer Your appraisal-to-trade ratio is one of those key metrics that varies by market but is typically driven by your sales and service...

Act As If – Reimagining New Car Sales

by Kerry Dowling Dealer News Today has spent a good deal of time recently talking about the ways dealerships have had to reimagine how they...

Close to Your Chest or Cards on the Table? Transparency Around Incentives Builds Customer...

By Al Bredenberg, Senior Contributor, Dealer News Today When someone asks what you do for a living, you’re proud to respond, “I sell cars.” But...

The Payoff of Non-Commissioned Auto Sales

in the past decade, there seems to be an acceleration in non-commissioned auto sales, with dealerships around the country opting for customer service and repeat business over selling the highest priced vehicle on the lot.

How Top Automotive Manufacturers Are Navigating Marketing During COVID-19

By Amy Corr Like most industries, automotive dealerships have been hit hard by the pandemic and the subsequent shut-downs nationwide. Many employees are furloughed, or...

Is Bad News Souring Your Customers’ Expectations?

By Desiree Homer Or Worse Yet, Is It Souring Yours? Listen, we get it. The hardships right now are real – for everyone. Thousands are still...

How Local Car Dealerships Use Social Media

By Amy Corr, Feature Writer Thanks to social media and the Internet, car buying no longer takes a weekend of walking car lots, negotiating a...

Dealership Engagement: Staying Relevant in an Ever-Changing Buying Landscape (and sell more cars as...

By Desiree Homer Looking at the year ahead, your dealership is most likely going to make improvements on last year’s lead source strategies. The best...

The Art of Successful Strategizing

by Adam Rapp As the pandemic persists, many dealerships have been left with no choice but to run at half capacity. If your dealership falls...

Cooperation Stems Supply Disruption during GM/UAW strike

By Kevin Donovan The spirit of cooperation helped General Motors-branded dealerships across the country survive the sudden dearth of supply resulting from the GM/United Auto...

Keeping Brick and Mortar In Line with Online

By Amy Losonsky There are some folks nowadays that claim the internet is everything.  They research and work online, pay all of their bills and...

Editor’s Prerogative: Expand Your Circle

by Evan Rapp Editor-in-Chief Because the game wasn’t racially integrated until 1947, the historical rankings of Negro League ballplayers remains one of the most active debates...

Emerging Catalog Technologies Can Rev Up Auto Parts Sales

By Al Bredenberg, Senior Writer Thinking about boosting your service and parts business to make up for softer new car sales? Selling original equipment parts...

Used Electric Vehicles: Retailers Gear Up for the Remarketing Challenge

How big a challenge do used EVs present to auto sellers, and what strategies and practices are proving successful in marketing this growing percentage of the pre-owned inventory?

“Investing in Tomorrow’s Leaders Today”

By Adam Rapp Believe it or not, your dealerships could come out of the pandemic stronger than they were before. In these times of uncertainty,...

Growth & Development Isn’t Always Linear

How Failure Is an Ingredient for Exponential Growth & Success By Desiree Homer Thomas Edison is famously quoted as saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found...

Dealers Look to Incentives for New Car Profitability

By Kathryn Pomroy Between 2009 and 2016, dealers saw car sales rise steadily. Over the past few years, however, vehicle production has slumped due to...

Dealers Rework Compensation Models to Find and Keep the Best Employees

By Al Bredenberg Perhaps the greatest asset any business owns is its “human capital” -- its people. New approaches to compensation are helping some dealers...

The Next Normal: What Does Automotive Advertising Look Like Post-COVID?

by Amy Corr As states begins to lift lockdown rules and slowly reopen, glimmers of a pre-COVID-19 life emerge. Our next normal will change everything...

Is Your Dealership Building Loyalty in the Service Drive?

7 Tips to Help You Assess Your Service Department’s Best Practices By Desiree Homer As a dealership owner, you wear many hats in managing the various...