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Hey everyone,
The buy-sell market is heating up for the start of summer, and our CDG reporter Julie Walker has been busy keeping track of it all.
Get real-time updates at the CDG Dealership Buy-Sell Tracker.
— CDG
First time reading a CDG Newsletter?
Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
First look: Carvana unveils ‘test drive center’ concept store
Carvana’s entry into the new-car market, selling Stellantis brands, has been a source of intrigue throughout the industry over the past year-plus.
Now, the company is adding to that intrigue with a brand new “test drive center” concept, piloting at its location in Dallas, Texas.
Carvana unveiled the concept publicly this week. That said, CDG News (alongside a handful of other reporters) got a sneak peek of the center ahead of the official announcement.
Our take: Carvana is a force in the used-vehicle market, and its testing center is just one piece of the brand’s entry into new-vehicle operations.
That makes this a must-watch for dealers looking to compete, not on profit, but on reputation and the ability to offer easy car-buying journeys for consumers.
Toyota dealer logs three record months tied to use of MPI videos
Toyota of Montgomery in Alabama began utilizing MPI videos in its service lane earlier this year, and the results have been hard to argue with.
The details: Service Director Joel Love says the store is on a streak of three record-breaking months.
“We are looking forward to breaking another record this month,” Love told Sam D’Arc during Fixed Ops Friday on Daily Dealer Live.
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In her appearance with Sam D’Arc on Daily Dealer Live, Katie Gattuso Duncan, General Manager of Mohawk Chevrolet, shared the dealership’s marketing strategy, which is built around using social media to connect with customers.
The details: Running a dealership in Saratoga Springs, New York, Duncan and the staff are dedicated to enhancing the customer experience. And that’s led them away from constantly chasing leads.
Trade-in retention rates hit 87% in vAuto data
Rarely does a vehicle received in trade at Glenn CDJR in Louisville, Kentucky, not make its way into the retail line, points out General Manager Tom Cecil.
In fact, the dealership is retaining more than 90% of its trade-ins in a broader effort to grow and keep its customer base by offering a wide range of price options.
Worth noting, though: Glenn CDJR is not alone in holding on to more trades and steering away from the wholesale lane with more vehicles.
Looking through data from 14,000 rooftops, vAuto AVP of Inventory Solutions Patrick Janes noticed the developing trend last year. He found dealers were retaining and retailing 85% of trade-ins.
In the first quarter of 2026, the number jumped to 87%.
Ford recalls nearly 45K F-150s over incomplete prior recall repair
Ford is recalling nearly 45,000 model-year 2014 F-150 pickup trucks after determining that a previous safety recall repair may not have been completed correctly, as the automaker works to make the recall process more seamless for dealers.
The details: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), affected vehicles were incorrectly recorded as having received a software update required under an earlier recall tied to an issue first reported in late 2024.
