P&A Online
August 19, 2010
Welcome to P&A eNews, your source for industry news and updates. P&A eNews is dedicated to the interests and concerns of providers and administrators of automotive finance and insurance products.
Be sure to visit P&A's website at www.pa-magazine.com regularly for the latest updates.
You can also join the P&A Linkedin Group here.
P&A Industry News
Resource Automotive Announces Training Initiative with Chrysler
CHICAGO – Resource Automotive, Inc. has reached an agreement with the Mopar division of Chrysler Group LLC to provide dealers with wholesale mechanical parts training and support.
Resource Automotive will provide Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealerships with proprietary methodology, market strategy, process, training, outside sales implementation and support aimed at conquesting wholesale mechanical parts sales ... Read More »
F&I Performance Down in 2009, NADA Reports
The recession’s effects on the industry last year wasn’t lost on F&I, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s DATA report, which showed declines in aftermarket income, F&I and service-contract acceptance rates.
Aftermarket income (combined gross from F&I and service contracts) fell to 25.7 percent of new- and used-vehicle department gross profit in 2009, down from ... Read More »
Warranty Inspection Services’ VeriScan Tool Aims to Overhaul Inspection Process
RICHMOND, Va. – Warranty Inspection Services, LLC, a provider of mechanical breakdown inspection services to the vehicle service contract industry, has introduced VeriScan, a proprietary tool designed to increase the accuracy, timeliness and thoroughness of mechanical breakdown inspection reports.
VeriScan facilitates encrypted WiFi/cellular transmission of vehicle data (through an OBDii interface), photos and the inspector’s ... Read More »
NAC Announces New Vice President of Sales
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – NAC, a developer and administrator of service contract products and services, has hired Stephen Anderson as vice president of sales. In his new role, Anderson will expand, create and lead new sales and training initiatives for NAC, and
its sales team, agents and clients throughout North America.
“From the start, I was impressed with ... Read More »
Automotive Industry News
U.S. Plays Big Role in Share Offering of General Motors
WASHINGTON — As General Motors moves to become a public company again, all the big decisions on the timing, size and price of the share offering will be left to its largest shareholder: the U.S. government.
The Obama administration, mindful of the politics surrounding its $50 billion GM bailout, says it is eager to liquidate its ... Read More »
VW to Bring Back Phaeton to U.S. after Flop
BERLIN – Volkswagen AG plans to bring back the $85,000 Phaeton to the U.S., where the flagship sedan flopped and was withdrawn in 2006, reported Bloomberg.
The Phaeton’s U.S. relaunch is part of the German carmaker’s aim of tripling its share of the world’s second-largest market by 2018.
“We have our eyes firmly set on the U.S. ... Read More »
Mazda to Recall 500,000 Cars for Power-steering Flaw
TOKYO – Mazda Motor Corp. expects to recall more than half a million vehicles worldwide due to power-steering flaws, its largest recall ever, Reuters reported.
The automaker has filed applications with local authorities to recall 215,000 vehicles in the United States and more than 10,000 in China, and now plans to broaden the net to include ... Read More »
GM Said to Consider Sale of Preferred Stock Along with its IPO
NEW YORK – General Motors Co. may sell preferred stock alongside its initial public offering of common shares, reported Reuters based on a draft of its regulatory filing and two people briefed on the plan.
GM would get proceeds from the preferred offering and will not sell shares itself in the common offering, according to the ... Read More »
GM Files Plan for Fall Initial Public Stock Offering
DETROIT – General Motors Co., moving to unwind itself from government control, filed plans to go public and begin selling common shares as early as this fall, Automotive News reported.
The filing — anticipated for weeks — came just 13 months after GM was restructured in bankruptcy with $50 billion in direct aid from the U.S. ... Read More »
AmeriCredit Selects Wolters Kluwer’s AppOne Platform
BATON ROUGE, La. — Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced today that independent automobile finance company AmeriCredit Corp. will utilize its AppOne platform to help further expand loan originations in the auto finance market.
AmeriCredit, which has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by General Motors, will form the core of a new GM captive ... Read More »
Auto Loan Defaults On the Rise
NEW YORK – Monthly default rates for auto loans and second mortgages have increased through July, while rates decreased for first mortgages and bank car loans, according to new data released today by Standard & Poor’s and Experian.
Defaulting balances were 8.2 percent in July, down from 8.8 percent in June for the bank card loans, ... Read More »
Auto Industry Satisfaction Is Down, but U.S. Brands Stable
DETROIT – Americans’ satisfaction with domestic automobiles has stabilized, and in a few cases climbed, despite an overall decline for the industry over the past 18 months, according to an annual report released today by the American Customer Satisfaction Index reported on by Automotive News.
Overall, automobile satisfaction dipped from an all-time industry high of ... Read More »
P&A Featured Companies
Monthly Survey Questions
Cast Your Vote
Question 1: What % of your business is remitted electronically?
Question 2: Please rank the items below in order of importance to your business in 2010, starting with "1" for the highest:
Question 3: How often do you pay agent commissions?
