🚗 Credit Is Getting Easier to Get, and Loans Are Getting Longer
🚙 Auto credit access rose for a fifth straight month in September, reaching its highest level since April 2015, according to the Dealertrack Credit Availability Index. But the way lenders are loosening tells the real story: loans are stretching longer, down payments are shrinking, and more borrowers are carrying negative equity.
How Dealer Ads Have Changed Since the FTC Got Serious About Price
Under the FTC’s guidance, the most prominent price in an ad must be the all-in price any customer can pay, including dealer fees like doc fees. Only government-required charges, such as tax, title, and registration, can be left out. Dealers can still show MSRP or discounts, as long as the actual price stays most prominent.
Why Volunteer Time Off Might Be the Best Training Investment a Dealership Makes
New at Beaver this year, VTO pays every employee for up to 40 hours a year to volunteer for a cause they care about. Across 330 employees, the store went from zero dedicated volunteer hours to as many as 13,200. It removes a barrier Patrick hears all the time:
Why Transparency Is Table Stakes and Community Is the Dealership Edge Carvana Can’t Copy
When it’s time to buy, the store that kept showing up is top of mind. Then transparency and an easy process close the loop. Patrick says the industry spent years doing it in reverse, earning the business first and showing up in the community after.
🚗 Affordability Is Moving Car Demand, Not Killing It
🚙 Car shoppers haven’t disappeared. They’ve just changed where they’re shopping. That’s the core finding from Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jeremy Robb, who says pressure on household budgets is reshaping which vehicles people buy and who can still afford them.
Why One Dealer Group Pays More for Cars From Its Service Drive
Pettitt’s reasoning comes down to one idea: when you know a car’s history, there’s no mystery. A vehicle from the service drive comes with information an auction car or a street purchase can’t match.
How Del Grande Built a Service-Drive Acquisition Process That Actually Stuck
About two years ago, as EV price swings hit Del Grande’s Bay Area market, the group stepped back to get its house in order. Its buy centers were acquiring cars from the public, but the work depended on a few hard-to-find people, and turnover was constant. The service drive offered a better path, if they could make it consistent.
How Carvana’s Delivery Network Gives It an Edge in New-Car Sales
Carvana now owns seven franchised dealerships, mostly Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram stores, and it’s using its used-car delivery network to sell new vehicles far beyond a typical market area, Automotive News reports.
Shawn Fain Declares Victory in His Race for a Second UAW Term
Fain declared victory Friday in his bid for a second term leading the roughly 400,000-member United Auto Workers. Preliminary totals released by a federal monitor showed him winning a majority and easily topping five challengers, according to Reuters. GM, Ford, and Stellantis did not immediately comment.
Beaver Toyota and Mazda’s Charity Golf Tournament Shows What a Dealership Can Be
On Monday, we broadcast live from Hawks Ridge Golf Club in Ball Ground, Georgia, for the fifth annual Beaver Toyota & Mazda Charity Golf Tournament. Last year, a sold-out field of 120 golfers helped raise nearly $160,000. This year’s goal is $200,000, all for four organizations serving the special-needs and at-risk citizens of Forsyth County.
🚙 After losing a six-figure loyalty bonus, Mercedes-Benz of Temecula launched a mobile service van in December 2025 and texted every customer it hadn’t seen in over a year. In September, it booked 37 mobile appointments, its best month yet, and 70% of mobile customers hadn’t visited in at least a year.
