September 8, 2014 — An industry-wide problem of damaged vehicles with doctored titles seems to be growing. Are there companies that could enter the space and compete with CarFax? Nearly 800.000 vehicles that are on the road have had their titles “washed” in an attempt to hide significant damage, according to CarFax. The…
September 7, 2014 — There have been 175 dealership-buy sells through the first eight months of the year in 2013 — up from 115 through the same period in 2013. The increase came despite a slowing of the buy-sell pace in August which saw 15 dealership acquisitions — down from July’s total of 30 buy-sells…
August 28, 2014 — Capital Automotive LP, a power broker in the dealership acquisition market, announced today it has been sold to Brookfield Property Partners for $4.283 billion. Based in McLean, VA, Capital Automotive has more than $3.5 billion invested in more than 450 dealerships spread across 37 states. The company provides financing to dealerships looking to…
August 27, 2014 — It had a rocky welcome to Wall Street, but TrueCar’s stock price has more than doubled since its IPO earlier this summer. About three weeks ago, we reported on TrueCar’s strong second quarter numbers — it’s first quarter as a public company. At the time, the stock price was just under…
August 23, 2014 — The automotive retail industry should see a third consecutive year of record breaking throughput — the number of sales per dealership — in 2014 according to the mid-year Automotive Franchise Activity Report released by Urban Science last week. Based on LMC Automotive’s forecast of 16.2 million new car sales by the… Continue Reading
August 22, 2014 Earlier this week, Search Optics announced it had acquired dealership website firm DigiGo from KPA. DigiGo formerly was called TK CarSites until a name change last January. TK CarSites had 650 dealership clients in late 2011 when it was acquired by KPA. It was never a really a good fit as the…
Group 1 Automotive continues its aggressive pace of acquisitions buying Mercedes Benz of Boerne, Texas from Ronald Heller and Bill Bird. The deal includes a Sprinter franchise and should generate about $135 million in annual revenue. The store is Group 1’s seventh Mercedes Benz dealership. Group 1 has acquired 41 dealerships dating back to January 2013… Continue Reading
The Larry H. Miller Family of Companies makes its first acquisition in California buying Quality Toyota from Bud Gordon in Corona. The new name of the store will be Larry Miller Toyota Corona. The dealership gives Miller, one of the top 10 dealer groups in the country, a foothold in the important southern California market. Bud… Continue Reading
UPDATED — At least ten (updated from eight) cases of manufacturers using the Right of First Refusal since January 2013, including at least three lawsuits, shows dealers wanting to sell their stores and the dealers hoping to acquire need to do their homework up front to know whether it will be an issue. Since we first reported…
Sonic Automotive is announcing more details today of its pre-owned strategy, which will include a national chain of used-car only stores. The initiative’s name will be EchoPark and will be launched in Denver in October. Ultimately, Sonic plans to be in approximately 50 markets, employing a hub-type model, each with a main store that will…