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Hey everyone,
Tustin Ulrich, general manager at Roper Kia, rejoined Daily Dealer Live on Wednesday and talked about how many dealerships don’t have a CRM problem but a culture issue to be addressed. Definitely worth a listen.
— CDG
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FICO scores on new loans drop 7 points
The FICO score on new auto loans fell seven points over the past year. Meanwhile, a quarter of consumers said they'd shop elsewhere if a dealership's online rating didn't match what they expected.
Driving the news: The Fall 2026 FICO Score Credit Insights report shows that consumers with existing loans have a score of 704, which is at the same level as April 2019. The average is down just 1 point year-over-year.
Additionally, FICO showed a drop in the credit score on the average new loan from 723 in April 2025 to 716 in April of this year, because of a larger share of borrowers with scores below 580, according to Shams Blanc, VP and Head of Auto, B2B Scores at FICO.
A quick word from our partner
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Honda warns USMCA uncertainty could derail North American plant plans
Honda is considering backing out of plans to build an eighth assembly plant in North America unless the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is extended.
The details: Honda Executive Vice President Noriya Kaihara discussed the automaker’s position on the plant during a roundtable with reporters in Washington, according to Reuters, underscoring how critical the company views the USMCA to its North American operations.
Honda is close to full production capacity in North America and needs a new factory, said Kaihara.
Numa acquires SocketTime
Numa, a dealership operations AI system, has acquired the fixed-ops software company SocketTime and will work to integrate AI systems into the platform for a launch by the end of the year.
Driving the news: Numa’s AI operating system is being used by more than 1,300 dealerships across the U.S and Canada to help businesses use AI agents to respond faster and improve customer service and productivity.
SocketTime’s software handles dealerships' service scheduling, advisor write-up, dispatch, technician utilization, MPI workflows, recon, and customer communication.
