Presented by:
Hey everyone,
Charlie Caprara, owner of FX Caprara, joined guest host Matthew Haiken on the CDG podcast this week. Caprara shared how his group was sold out from under him by an owner running a Ponzi scheme, and how he bought some of the stores back.
Check it out here.
— CDG
First time reading a CDG Newsletter?
Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
FTC releases FAQs on pricing transparency
The Federal Trade Commission delivered its FAQs on automobile industry pricing transparency Tuesday, approximately six months after sending 97 warning letters to auto groups nationwide about advertising and pricing transparency violations.
Following the warning letters sent in March, the FTC held webinars with the NADA and NIADA and promised to send out FAQs on its price transparency requirements.
The FAQs cover 14 different topics around price transparency.
The agency states its focus on price transparency is driven by “evidence and complaints we see every day in the marketplace.”
Dealers should make sure they are in compliance before enforcers start knocking at the door, as the agency explicitly states “price transparency is not a new requirement” and “the FTC Act and Section 5’s requirements have been in effect for decades.”
Fixed ops leaders prioritize customer retention in roundtable discussion
As fixed ops leaders with decades of combined experience, Tully Williams, Dave Rogers, and Richard Lupo pointed out that many shops are creating their own issues with customer retention.
During a roundtable discussion, the trio explained how too much friction for the customer is driving business away.
Fresh off their appearance at the Kem Krest Supplier Summit in Detroit, three of the top fixed ops leaders joined Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc on Friday to discuss what was covered during the event.
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Toyota Sequoia tops list of longest-lasting vehicles
The vehicle most likely to reach 250,000 miles is the Toyota Sequoia, at nearly eight times the rate of the average vehicle.
Driving the news: Building on its previous study, which showed the Toyota brand had the best chance of lasting to a quarter million miles, iSeeCars broke down data from 395 million vehicles to identify individual models hitting the mark.
For context, the average vehicle has a 5.4% chance of staying on the road for 250,000 miles.
But iSeeCars finds that 27 models have more than a 10% chance of making the milestone.
The top nine longest-lasting models were all Toyota or Lexus models.
VW dealers lead industry in service scheduling effectiveness
Volkswagen dealers collectively were the most effective in scheduling service appointments for their customers via the phone or websites, but the entire industry showed improvement in the past year.
In its 2026 Service Scheduling Effectiveness auto industry study, Pied Piper submitted 6,538 service requests at 33 U.S. auto brands and four of the industry’s top independent service center brands.
Using 40 different measurements evaluating how customers could schedule via the telephone or online, brands and service centers were scored 0 to 100.
In the second year of the study, Pied Piper noted the industry average improved by 7 points, with five brands seeing their scores improve by 10 points.
Car ownership hits $5,851/year as insurance, gas, repair prices surge
The overall cost of car ownership continues to rise, with drivers now spending an average of $5,851 a year to keep their vehicles on the road.
The surge, which comes as vehicle prices remain elevated, is being driven by three major factors—auto insurance, gas, and maintenance and repair costs, according to CNBC.
The cost of auto insurance has jumped 50% since 2019, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics through July.
Gas prices are now 55% higher than in 2019, according to AAA data, as the lingering conflict in Iran puts more pressure on fuel costs.
AAA estimates that maintenance and repair costs in 2025 were about 23.5% higher than six years earlier.
