The J.D. Power 2018 Vehicle Dependability Study came out this week. Apparently, vehicles are more dependable now than ever before. The VDS measures the number of problems experienced by owners in the third year of ownership. It dropped for both volume brands and luxury brands.
That’s good news for dealers because they will get a flood of off-lease vehicles this year. Those vehicles will hopefully continue to be as problem-free in their fourth year of ownership and beyond, when they will have become pre-owned inventory.
Dealerships are going to need to rely ever more on pre-owned sales in 2018, it seems. Urban Science forecasts that new vehicle throughput per dealership in 2018 will drop to 920 units, the third consecutive year of decline.
On to this week’s issue. I met Cherie Watters, CFO and COO of O’Gara Coach, an ultra-luxury dealership group here in Los Angeles, a few months ago at the Women in Automotive conference in Palm Desert. I was impressed with her chops at the time, and even more impressed when I learned her story. Read about her dealership work saga in this week’s issue.
Also this week, Bass Sox & Mercer returns to our publication with a look at how you can intuit that a manufacturer is thinking of adding a point or relocating a dealership to your area, and considerations if you receive a notice that is happening.
Plus, of course, there is Transaction News.
Enjoy!
