Automotive News, Press Releases, and Events

Automotive professionals discuss how dealerships can implement year-round community service programs rather than limiting volunteerism to holidays and seasonal campaigns. The conversation highlights a practical proposal where companies give employees time off and a monetary stipend ($25-50) to volunteer or donate to causes of their choice, with the requirement to document and blog about their experience—creating authentic, personalized content that connects customers emotionally to the dealership's values.

North Carolina dealers express frustration over a July 2013 policy requiring them to collect property taxes from customers at the point of sale, along with existing title and registration fees. While dealers view this as an added burden—especially for customers with credit challenges—one respondent suggests the policy actually reflects a shrewd government cost-cutting strategy of outsourcing traditional governmental duties to the private sector.

Jeff Kershner promotes a one-hour webinar hosted by Phone Ninjas and DealerOn focused on improving dealership internet lead response skills, featuring industry experts Joe Webb, Jared Hamilton, and others. The contest offers a $1,000 prize to an 'Internet Ninja Warrior,' framing fast and effective first responses to leads as a critical competitive advantage. The thread serves primarily as an event announcement and promotional call-to-action for dealership internet department staff.

A brief thread sharing a tweet about Cars.com being ranked the highest third-party automotive website. No further discussion or dealer commentary is present beyond the embedded tweet.

Google's automotive advertising program is expanding from its initial San Francisco Bay Area beta test to Phoenix, Arizona, bringing the service to a new group of dealers. The original post notes that dealer interest remains high despite limited information updates since a February 2013 presentation by Michael Rose at the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference. The thread provides little additional insight beyond the expansion announcement, with one commenter simply acknowledging the update.

A DealerRefresh user shared a Motor Trend video recap of the 2012 New York Auto Show from their "Wide Open Throttle" series, inviting community members to use the chat feature to discuss new model details revealed at the event. The thread appears to be a simple resource share rather than a substantive discussion, offering dealers a convenient way to catch up on major auto show announcements through video content.

The thread announces a partnership between Carfax and ActivEngage that allows dealers subscribing to Carfax to share vehicle history reports with online shoppers in real-time through live chat, aiming to boost transparency and consumer trust. The key insight is that integrating Carfax data directly into live chat conversations creates a more seamless, confidence-building experience for used car buyers. The sole reply is an off-topic, generic comment offering no substantive discussion.

Jeff Kershner promotes the eDEALER SUMMIT event scheduled for April 10, 2013, in Bloomington, MN, offering dealers a 50% discount on registration. The event promises a full day of digital marketing education covering SEO, SEM, websites, analytics, CRM, and sales, along with networking and roundtable discussions. It's essentially an event announcement targeting automotive dealers looking to sharpen their e-commerce and digital marketing skills heading into the selling season.

A dealer shares a link to Google's automotive presence on Google+, recommending it as a bookmark resource. The replies include a humorous exchange about an attached image (apparently showing someone named Natalie who lacks enthusiasm for cars), with dealers joking about her unlikely satisfaction with a car purchase. The thread is brief and informal, serving primarily as a casual tip-sharing moment rather than a substantive discussion.

A dealer asks about a new TrueCar-Allstate partnership enabling insurance agents to refer car shoppers to dealerships, questioning the program's value and legitimacy of advertised savings guarantees. Responses reveal dealer skepticism, with one poster criticizing TrueCar's model as designed to eliminate traditional sales roles while dealers themselves enable the platform's growth. The thread provides minimal substantive information about the program's actual mechanics or dealer experiences with it.

Dealership professionals discuss a Pied Piper Management study showing improved internet lead response times, debating whether phone calls or automated emails are more effective. The consensus strongly favors direct phone contact over auto-responders, with participants arguing that personal responses create better customer relationships and that many dealers prioritize "looking good" over actually being responsive. A key insight emerges that third-party leads underperform not inherently, but because they often lack specific vehicle details or valid contact numbers that would enable real-time phone engagement.

CarChat24, a dealership website live chat software provider, won a "Top Rated" award for dealer satisfaction at the 2013 DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards presented at the NADA Convention. The award, which CarChat24 received for the second time, recognizes the company's commitment to helping dealers increase sales through live chat technology. The thread includes brief congratulations from another industry participant, suggesting friendly competition within the vendor community.

A DealerRefresh member shares a video recording from DSMC featuring Dale Pollak and Michael Rose discussing Google's new automotive initiative, which sparked debate about whether Google represents a genuine threat to established third-party listing sites like AutoTrader and Cars.com. The discussion reveals dealer concerns that Google could disrupt the current digital advertising ecosystem by capturing search traffic that dealers currently pay aggregators to reach, with one commenter predicting Google will eventually integrate vehicle data exports into PPC campaigns, siphoning dealer spending away from traditional platforms.

CarChat24 announced it received a 'Top Rated' award in the Chat Products category at the fourth annual DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards, presented during the 2013 NADA Convention & Expo. This marked the second time the company earned the recognition, with their CEO citing it as validation of their commitment to helping dealers increase auto sales through live chat software.

Joe Pistell unveiled a new product feature (likely for Dealer.com) that allows customers to save vehicles and receive price alerts, with the innovation demonstrated in a video at a NADA conference. Community members praised the user experience design and simplicity of the feature, though one dealer raised practical concerns about how the system would handle price alerts after a customer purchases a vehicle or buys elsewhere, which Joe addressed by explaining the automated inventory status update process tied to dealer management systems. The thread reflects industry enthusiasm for a feature that addresses a gap in standard dealer website functionality.

DealerKnows co-founders Joe and Bill unveiled TaskTeacher, a process-focused tool built to help dealer internet teams communicate more consistently and effectively with customers. The product grew out of their own frustration with inconsistent follow-up, aiming to ensure the right messages are sent at the right times to maximize sales opportunities. The thread positions TaskTeacher as a practical solution for dealers who struggle with disciplined CRM process execution.

A DealerRefresh community member promotes Gary Patterson's automotive dealership cartoon prints, which humorously depict industry characters and situations that dealership professionals can relate to. The prints were originally created for a promotion years ago but are now being made available for purchase online. The post received community approval and was endorsed by a forum moderator, suggesting it resonated with the dealership audience as lighthearted industry-relevant content.

The thread covers the announced partnership between Dealer.com and Contact At Once!, embedding live chat into Dealer.com's integrated platform ahead of NADA. One industry commenter speculates the deal could be a precursor to a full acquisition, noting that Dealer.com's own chat product struggled with dealer adoption while Contact At Once! holds the largest dealer chat footprint and valuable data across Cars.com, AutoTrader, Carfax, and OEMs. The key takeaway is that the data aggregation angle may be the real driver behind the deal, not just feature integration.

AutoTrader.com withdrew its IPO filing eight months after initially announcing it, with muted revenue growth and increased debt cited as likely reasons. Analysts also noted poor timing following Facebook's troubled IPO and concerns about debt taken on to pay bonuses and PE investors. Forum participants agreed the move was unsurprising and smart, with minimal expected impact on dealers.

Edmunds.com opened a free Vehicle API giving developers access to specs, pricing, inventory, VIN decoding, photos, and reviews for nearly 1.2 million vehicles. The community debated the risks of building products on a third-party API with no SLA, with founder Jeff Kershner warning it could be switched off or monetized, while others argued open APIs are strategically self-defeating to restrict and pointed to Netflix and social platforms as proof the model works. A follow-up comment a year later confirmed the API was still running, though concerns about the lack of a formal service agreement lingered.

Jeff Kershner announces a newly redesigned DealerRefresh blog he spent over six months developing, inspired by Tumblr's format, featuring a shift from a three-column to a two-column layout with a focus on content quality and publishing frequency. Community members responded with enthusiasm and encouragement, while Jeff noted minor Livefyre comment system hiccups during launch that were quickly resolved.