Fitch Ratings analysts say the escalating cost to purchase and maintain a vehicle has pushed defaults, repossessions and the rate of loans more than 60 days past due to historic levels. +

NHTSA has issued “Do Not Drive” and “Park Outside” advisories for nearly 300,000 Ram ProMaster vans due to fire risk from a cooling fan issue Stellantis engineers have yet to resolve. +

A new survey finds the 15% of dealers who have integrated or embedded AI tools and processes at their stores are more likely to report improved revenue, profitability and efficiency. +

NADA analysts say waning demand and affordability issues are depressing sales team earnings, Nevada leads the nation in average payroll and bigger dealers continue to gain market share. +

Presidio and NCM analysts say Q3 net pretax profit metrics varied wildly among domestic, import and luxury dealers in a report skewed by EV sales and echoes of the CDK Global outage. +

Wolters Kluwer’s Digital Transformation Index shows the adoption of digital workflows ticked down by 2.3% from the second quarter but improved by 4.3% year-over-year. +

Carleton’s Tim Yalich urges dealers and finance sources to face the “critical reality” of the complexity, challenges and profitability risk that underlies lease payment calculations. +

Lithia has expanded its footprint in the Southeast with a series of dealership purchases over the past several weeks, adding a total of four franchised stores in Florida and Georgia. +

Kelley Blue Book reports the average transaction price for a U.S.-sold new vehicle exceeded $50,000 for the first time in September despite increased incentive spending. +

In a post-tax credit world, CarEdge’s Justin Fischer believes the same EVs that sold themselves through government incentives are being sold just as effectively by family, friends and coworkers. +