June 2010 Blog Posts (14)

A Different Kind of Hybrid

It’s a car, it’s a plane… it’s a Terrafugia Transition.

Terrafugia Inc. is debuting a different sort of hybrid — a flying car. The Transition Roadable Aircraft, as the vehicle is known, looks like a mini-car with fold-up wings and a rear propeller. It fits into a single-car garage, and is powered with regular unleaded gasoline.

Terrafugia is scouting out financial institutions to provide financing and insurance for the… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 30, 2010 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Where do the Independents turn to?

It's a different world from the Independent dealer's point of view.

The current credit crunch seems to be taking new finance sources "off the map" on a weekly basis.

Business would be GREAT if we could find non-recourse lenders that are willing to handle prime and sub-prime deals.

What are my colleages doing about this issue? Any ideas/sources?

Added by Jim Kissane on June 28, 2010 at 4:30pm — 13 Comments

House, Senate Agree on Financial Revamp Bill

Lawmakers have targeted July 4 as the deadline for passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, a bill meant to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis.

The legislation will create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to police lending, impose tough regulations on financial derivatives, and grant the government power to liquidate teetering firms. The bill fails to restructure government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Also, as expected, dealers were exempted… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 25, 2010 at 1:45pm — 5 Comments

Santander to Buy Citi Auto Loan Portfolio

Santander Consumer USA extended its buying spree today, inking a deal to acquire $3.2 billion of CitiFinancial Auto’s loan portfolio. Santander will also manage another $7.2 billion of Citi’s auto loans.

Terms of the deal, expected to close next quarter, were not disclosed. With these purchases, Santander’s managed auto portfolio will hover around $30 billion.

Speculation surfaced in December 2007 that Citigroup and HSBC were seeking buyers for their auto loan operations,… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 24, 2010 at 2:35pm — No Comments

Report: GM Eyes Chase, Wells Fargo for Financing

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are on the short list of potential financing partners for General Motors Co., according to a Reuters report.

News surfaced last month that GM was looking to resurrect a captive financing arm. Its choices: buy back the auto finance portion of Ally Financial, start its own financing venture, or partner with a bank.

Currently, Ally Financial (formerly… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 24, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

BMW Group Financial Services Partners with Open Dealer Exchange to Create Industry-First for eContracting within its Dealerships

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Added by Nicole DiVito on June 23, 2010 at 1:46pm — No Comments

Fleet-Share

Faced with the prospect of reducing his fleet by 365 vehicles — after having trimmed it by 150 cars the year prior — Washington, D.C., Department of Public Works Director William Howland Jr. had to get creative.

After analyzing vehicle usage rates, Howland determined that some of the 16 agencies he oversees use cars only 5% to 25% of the time — “maybe two hours out of the day, or less,” he said in a session at the Government Fleet Expo yesterday.

So in July… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 23, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Can Modern Solutions Protect Against Old School Practices?

Much has been written about Automotive Online Reputation Management and, fortunately, there are a number of companies and consultants now available to assist dealers in getting a handle on this crucial subject. Reputation and customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to dealers and there is little doubt that many negative online postings are either questionable or do not reliably portray the true culture of the dealership.

However, I believe that a dealership’s reputation is… Continue

Added by Jim Radogna on June 17, 2010 at 2:45pm — 2 Comments

Lenders Warn of Mid-Decade Auto Finance Credit Debacle

DALLAS — “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Auto financiers will likely be reliving the past by about mid-decade as the lessons of the credit crisis fall away, said a panel of risk managers at the Auto Finance Risk Summit last month. Now that competition is creeping back into the marketplace, finance company executives are starting to think about how they will manage to withstand aggressive lending tactics.

“That’s the hallway conversation,”… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 14, 2010 at 12:45pm — No Comments

Breaking Even at Cerberus

Has Cerberus Capital Management finally escaped the dark cloud of GMAC LLC and Chrysler LLC?

An assessment by Reuters BreakingViews yesterday suggested that Cerberus, which acquired GMAC (aka Ally Financial Inc.) and Chrysler at the height of the credit boom, has negated its losses on those investments with the pending…

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Added by JJ Hornblass on June 8, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Prepare for Fair Lending Action

Regulators are stepping up efforts to rein in practices they deem predatory, warned Andrew Sandler, a partner at Buckley Sandler LLP, to a room of auto financiers at the Consumer Bankers Association conference yesterday.

The Department of Justice established a Fair Lending Enforcement Unit in January, and Attorney General Eric Holder has made fair lending enforcement a top priority.

“This is going to be the 800-pound gorilla for the industry,” Sandler said.… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 8, 2010 at 8:00am — 5 Comments

Lenders Brace for Fallout From Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Auto finance risk executives have their eye on the Gulf of Mexico as energy giant BP scrambles to cap a leaking oil spill.

At least 210,000 gallons of oil per day have leaked into the Gulf since a BP-owned oil rig exploded April 20. BP has yet to devise a viable plan to contain the oil slick.

Trouble capping the gusher could hammer lenders on both the front- and back-end, resulting in higher gas prices or local job losses, said Ken Gang, head of consumer credit at… Continue

Added by Marcie Belles on June 2, 2010 at 12:49pm — No Comments

The Memory in Memorial Day

Memorial Day meant just a bit more to me yesterday after I had the fortune of hearing Col. Jack Jacobs speak.

See, Jack Jacobs is a recipient of a Congressional Medal of Honor, our nation's highest accommodation for valor in battle. Jacobs later started and served as chief operating officer of AutoFinance Group Inc., which makes him one of us. AutoFinance Group Inc., a subprime auto financier, was eventually sold to…

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Added by JJ Hornblass on June 1, 2010 at 3:10pm — No Comments

FTC Delays Red Flags Rule (Again)

Much like the Energizer Bunny, it's the extension that just keeps on going.

Slated to be enforced on June 1, the Federal Trade Commission has pushed back its Red Flags Rule deadline to Dec. 31, 2010, while Congress contemplates legislation that "would affect the scope of entities covered by the Rule," according to the commission.

The Rule, which requires creditors to…

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Added by Mary Wisniewski on June 1, 2010 at 12:02pm — No Comments