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The best dealer resources from our experts to help dealers solve their toughest inventory challenges.

Blog Post

A Strategy-Based Approach to Tame Appraisal Variability

As I’ve been helping dealers reckon with the vehicles they purchased at the top of the market and failed to retail in recent weeks, I’ve been reminded of what might be considered the “wild, wild West” in many dealerships. I’m talking about the appraisal process, and the degree of variability that too often exists between […]

Perspective from NADA 2023 in Dallas | Q1 2023 Live Market View

Blog Post

NADA Day 2: EVs, F&I Pressure, Stability and an Opportunity

Not so long ago, some observers questioned whether dealers would want to sell and support the rise of electric vehicles (EVs) given their long-standing history and investment in selling and servicing vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs). I’m not sure why anyone thought this could be the case. From conversations with several dealers at NADA […]

Blog Post

NADA Day 1: A Busy, Optimistic, Discipline-Minded Day with Dealers

I’ll be taking home a new term that I learned in the first of my two workshops here at NADA—“learning journey.” It came from a dealer during the workshop Q&A as the dealer asked for guidance on how he might lead his team on their learning journey to adopt our new strategy for managing used […]

Blog Post

Super-Excited to See Dealers in Dallas for NADA 2023

Like a saddle bronc in the chute, I’m chomping at the bit for this year’s NADA convention in Dallas. As many of you know, I get excited as NADA approaches. It means I spend my days talking to dealers in person from different parts of the country, catching up, swapping stories and talking about where […]

Blog Post

Inventory Write-Downs: A New Year Rite That Isn’t Right

Every January, some dealers exercise their right to an annual rite—the financial write-down of used vehicle inventory they have in stock as the calendar moves from one year to the next. This annual practice, which appears to be occurring in earnest this year, isn’t universal. For every dealer who writes down inventory, there are plenty […]

Blog Post

An Ongoing Gross Deception That’s Growing—Moving Cars Between Stores

I’m seeing a correlation between the current and pre-pandemic market in the way dealers with multiple rooftops are managing their used vehicle inventories. Back in 2019 and earlier, dealers with multiple stores would, to varying degrees of frequency, move retail units that weren’t selling at one store to a different store in their group. When […]

Blog Post

A New Reality in 2023: More Variability in the Used Vehicle Market

It’s fair to say that many dealers experienced and saw things in used vehicles during the past year that ran counter to traditional wisdom. In the early part of 2022, we saw a continuation of the used vehicle value appreciation that turned 2021 into one of the most profitable years for dealers that many of […]

Blog Post

A Return of Margin Compression? Yes, But Not Necessarily

I’ve been struck by how often the term “margin compression” has come up in recent conversations with dealers. Interestingly, dealers aren’t necessarily complaining about margin compression. It’s more accurate to say they’re starting to notice it in their used vehicle operations. Just this week, for example, two different dealers shared a surprisingly similar story: A […]

Blog Post

ProfitTime GPS in Practice: A Big Difference Between Two Dealer Groups

I’ve been talking to a lot of dealers lately about how they’re doing in used vehicles. Often, I’m in these conversations because a dealer’s become convinced that vAuto’s new inventory management solution, ProfitTime GPS, is causing a performance problem. Naturally, the starting point of every conversation is ProfitTime GPS. I’ll call up a dealer’s inventory, […]