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LMC are a family run used car dealership who were established in 1980 and are based in Grays, Essex, they specialize in high quality used cars including: family cars, 4×4’s, sports cars, prestige cars, exotic cars and even low cost run-a-rounds. Company owner, Spencer Kent said: “We decided to accept Bitcoin as we like to try and be at the forefront of technology and open minded about the possible use of different payment methods. “We have been considering accepting cryptocurrencies for a while and felt the time was right to see if there was an appetite for customers to pay via crypto, which of course there is!”

Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous person known as Satoshi Nakamoto and is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks are necessary for the purchase of vehicles. In addition, international payments are easy and cheap because Bitcoins are not tied to any country or subject to regulation. The currency is widely used to book hotels, shop for furniture and even buy console games. But much of the hype is about getting rich by trading it.

Bitcoin is indeed an interesting proposition for used vehicle dealerships because there are no credit card fees involved in the purchasing process. It is also true that the currency is an investment, and is predicted by many to rise in value in the years to come.

In fact, the price of bitcoin skyrocketed into the thousands in 2017 and if there was to be a repeat this year, LMC’s recent transactions could prove to be very shrewd pieces of business. LMC’s first Bitcoin sale actually came as a result of their highly successful social media marketing strategy, which is another benefit of their strong online presence, as owner, Spencer Kent explained: “Our first sale was last month and our second was this month, we advertised the fact that we took payments with Bitcoin on a Facebook ad and the first customer saw it from there.

“The second customer was a referral from the first as the crypto community is quite closely knit and still very niche in the UK.”

Many marketplaces called “Bitcoin exchanges” allow people to buy or sell Bitcoins using different currencies. Coinbase is a leading exchange, along with Bitstamp and Bitfinex. Bitcoins are stored in a “digital wallet,” which exists either in the cloud or on a user’s computer. The wallet is a kind of virtual bank account that allows users to send or receive bitcoins, pay for goods or save their money.

The pioneering LMC supremo is convinced of the future potential of Bitcoin and believes that more independent dealerships will adopt the currency in the future to cater for the growing consumer demand: “The popularity of Bitcoin is growing at a rapid rate of knots, not just in the millennials but if you ever went to a crypto meeting you’d see that they are full of people of all ages and backgrounds. “I think in the future, crypto payments will certainly sit alongside the mainstream payment systems but if I’m being honest I don’t see the big dealer groups considering it yet, independents like ourselves will be the ones that take the leap initially and try different tech to maximise our business potential,” said Kent.

To talk to LMC Cars about buying a vehicle through Bitcoin or through any other means, get in touch with Spencer and the team today via: sales@lmc-cars.co.uk or by calling either 01708 863247, or 07850 654356.

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The impact isn’t due to any kind of vehicle emissions and doesn’t even taken into consideration the pollution to landfills from dead batteries. Rather, it’s all about source of extraction of raw materials including lithium from mines, the processing of raw materials, and production of lithium-ion batteries in factories.

Ironically, a gas powered engine can run for 8 years until it has the same environmental impact a Tesla Model X. Since the Nissan Leaf has a smaller battery, it takes 3 years to have equivalent impact. That’s the ugly truth folks. For those of us who proudly drive our hybrids and EVs due to environmental concerns (sorry Larry David), but we’re driving an illusion. My chosen illusion is that I’m sticking it to OPEC by using less gas.

According to Mia Romare, one of the researchers; “Unnecessarily large batteries weigh more on the environment. One should therefore consider whether one can manage with smaller batteries.”

Even Toyota admits it’s production of the Prius Hybrid emits more CO2 than it’s conventional models due to more advanced components that includes a smaller gas engine, and large lithium battery packs.

A 2013 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment program concluded that batteries using nickel and cobalt, (lithium-ion batteries), have the “highest potential for environmental impacts”. It cited negative consequences like mining, global warming (poppycock), environmental pollution and human health impacts.

Although lithium-ion batteries are considered non-hazardous waste, would you be willing to filter drinking water through a funnel consisting of 1,000 lithium-ion batteries and not fear for your life?

The reason why more lithium ion batteries aren’t recycled boils down to simple economics: the scrap value of batteries fails the economy of scale test – at $100 per ton, Conversely, the cost of collecting, sorting and shipping used batteries to a recycling center exceeds the scrap value, so batteries are classified as garbage by you and I. What’s worse is that the industry does not factor in the fact that recycling battery metal material like cobalt has a much lower economic and environmental cost than mining raw materials.

The reality is that there will never be a fully environmentally safe technology to replace the combustion engine until either free energy is harnessed or solar energy has a quantum leap forward. 120 years ago, the streets were covered in horse crap. It was a huge issue as cities stunk to high heaven from road apples and dead horses. The car was supposed to alleviate the issue of such “pollution”, and it did…for a while. The ironic twist is that our green solution to our green solution of 120 years ago isn’t green at all regardless of how industry markets it as such.

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Flush with scandal and challenging governance issues, Uber Technologies Inc. is burning money at a rate that beckons one to think that they’re much better at raising capital than they are at running a company. In fact, two of their earliest investors cashed out at a discount as Japan’s SoftBank recently agreed to buy 13% of Uber at a 30% discount. SoftBank is willing to invest 1.25 billion dollars which will be used by Uber to invest in its technology, fund its growth and revamp its corporate governance, according to an Uber spokesman.

“We are appreciative of the support from Uber’s shareholders in the successful tender offer,” Rajeev Misra, CEO of SoftBank Investment Advisers, said in a statement. He continued: “We have tremendous confidence in Uber’s leadership and employees and are excited to support Uber as it continues to reinvent how people and goods are transported around the world.” The deal is expected to be complete on Feb 19th, 2018.

Regardless of Misra’s statement, the Japanese investment firm sees issues with management and overall governance and believes it can turn it around and be profitable. In so many ways, the Japanese have suggested that Uber represents a significant opportunity for their “Vision Fund” but only if they can play a significant role in corporate governance. Translation: Uber not only needs a CFO, but a massive managerial overhaul because the incompetence is apparent on so many levels.

Meanwhile, as Uber’s losses pile up, Lyft appears to be heading in the right direction, although they’re one bad news story away from a U-turn on the road to profitability. Lyft, which is available in fewer markets than Uber, has tripled its revenue growth and looks like it doubled its revenue from 2016, generating 1.5 billion dollars in rev.

Still, Lyft is like a black hole that burns through money worse than the Federal Gov’t. It has effectively lost 600 million dollars in 2017. Moving forward, Lyft sees net profits of 500 million in 2019, and 1 billion dollars by 2020. Lyft is currently raising more investment capital in order to continue its assault on Uber to take even more market share.

It’s not just dollars and cents that drive the fate of these two services. In 2017, there have been 218 criminal incidence, some with fatalities, involving Uber and Lyft. These include murders, traffic accidents, rapes, assaults, robberies and more. Uber just replaced it’s ethically challenged leader Travis Kalanick with Dara Khosrowshahi last September, but he’s likely on a short leash when SoftBank moves in. If either one of these ride providers can turn their culture around, from the top down, we’re going to see their ultimate potential come to fruition.

If neither company is able to turn the burn around in the next couple years, we’re going to witness the implosion of what seemed like a really good idea.

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Said Tackett, ”Car dealers now have a classified site that they can list unlimited inventory at no charge whatsoever, all leads will be free as well. I like the trade-off, dealers get great leads, traffic, and sales for free, we get to see which emerging technologies are the most effective at driving car shoppers to their sites, it’s a win-win”.

The “Free” initiative does face some dealer pushback, and although they’re signing up 100 lots per week, it seems that the more weary dealers who believe that there is no such thing as “free”, are less inclined to participate. However, the payback for Tackett is that he gets to test emerging technology which he values much more as part of a bigger picture than nickel and diming dealers with listing and lead fees.

An example of such technology is a live streaming system by DropIn Auto. Streaming live video (think Facetime) can prevent bait and switch tactics by making the dealer prove that they actually have the vehicles on the lot. It also allows the consumer to save an enormous amount of travel and possibly unwanted face-time with a car salesmen. You can literally do all of your shopping on your cell phone and take a full tour of the targeted dealer’s lot as if you were there. In fact, there are several platforms now in play that start and finish a vehicle purchase online with the consumer never having to face off with a used car salesman until a test drive is scheduled.

There’s also advanced “geo-fencing” technology that tracks buyers in a relatively small area, perhaps limited to a city block, that can “see” where the shopper is in real-time, records where they’ve been, and can reach out with texts and banner ads enticing them with calls to action to perhaps visit another dealership with the technology to do so.

Marketers can insinuate themselves into a shoppers journey in more ways than ever before.Tracking technologies currently exist that allow a car dealer to see exactly what was sold by their competitors in near real-time and how frequently that shopper had a touchpoint with their own staff or had actually visited their lot! It’s a great way to keep score and figure out what may be working or lacking in your overall treatment of the potential buyers who reach out to your dealership but end up buying from someone else.

According to the many used car dealers we’ve spoken to, Craigslist tends to outperform all of the other “paid” classified listing sites, but has had the same basic “free” business model for many years. The main issue car dealers face with Craigslist is that as more vehicles are added by other sources, their vehicles get pushed back page by page. To combat that “piling on” effect, there is now a moderately priced 3rd party software that re-lists each vehicle periodically to keep it at the front of the stack.

It’s a constant battle to stay visible and provide the consumer with a great shopping experience. In the competitive automotive industry, keeping up with the Jones’s is a must. Inevitably, he with the best technology will win, not the most expensive lead stream.

In harnessing “best in class” technology, and offering it as an upsell to tens of thousands of dealer clients on his site, Tackett believes that he can be very successful affording dealers enhanced visibility and leads for free forever, but offer a technological advantage at a fair price. With innovations in marketing coming out monthly and his own platform to test it on, this might prove to be a very novel strategy.

Kelly Kleinman

Dealership News/Content Manager

www.dealershipnews.com

818-817- 6343

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Your phone rings one day and it’s a lawyer on the other end of the line asking you a number of questions – all designed to empower him to cajole (some may say “extort”) Uncle Milton into paying you back everything you paid out to him over the 3 previous years. His premise is that you may have bought an unsafe vehicle. Heck, if the lawyer soliciting you can get even half of the money you paid out at no cost to you, that’s over 5K in your wallet!

The leading questions usually start off querying you about whether or not you feel Uncle Milton disclosed everything about the vehicle’s condition when you first bought it. Many used-car owners sensing an opportunity to make a few bucks or recover past repair costs are sucked into the lawyer’s scuzzy scheme and the ball starts rolling. According to the soliciting attorney, the “used car dealer” by nature is a scammer, and (he) the white knight lawyer on the other end of the line has a great track record winning cases against guys like him.

The attorney then contacts Uncle Milton accusing him of any number of mischievous activities and requests that the dealer return all payments and costs you the customer incurred since you bought the car plus his attorney fees. The bombastic barrister will also request all information regarding every car sale that dealer has made over a certain period of time for discovery purposes. Although it’s unethical and perhaps illegal, unscrupulous attorneys will then use that information to build additional cases against the dealer. One lawsuit becomes twelve. Welcome to the fall of western civilization.

In order to prevent unfair business practices by businesses hell bent on cheating the consumer, the The Consumer Legal Remedies Act was brought into play. The Consumer Legal Remedies Act effectively unleashed a cadre of attorneys looking for a fight and a pay day. They scoured the Internet for businesses that would be susceptible and many landed on the automotive industry which is infamous for it’s share of disreputable sorts and slugs. There is little honor among thieves and litigation hungry lawyers with expensive tastes saw a bright future crushing car dealers.

Enter the Anti-lawyer…lawyer. As lawyers find creative ways to sue, others are hired to defend. An example of this is David M. Parker, a business litigation attorney out of San Diego who has found a niche defending car dealers from predatory lawyers running amok under the gonfalon of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Says Parker, ”the attorney asks for all costs and payments from all of the dealer’s transactions for each and every customer, and suddenly one case becomes dozens. It’s unfair and those dealers need an attorney to defend them, and that’s where I step in”.

One law firm out of La Jolla California has become the poster child for suing California Car dealers having roasted hundreds of dealers and automotive financial groups in court for a variety of reasons. They have perfected the process and one call from them has been known to cure constipation in seconds.

The list of automotive entities this particular law firm has sued is prodigious. Are they providing the public a service or simply enriching their coffers is not for me to decide, the courts already have. There is hijinks aplenty in the car biz and potential cases are getting teed up on a daily basis.

Truth be told, there are too many other attorneys out there trying to follow the aforementioned law firms practice but instead of tracking legit targets, they unfairly prey on small businesses on a contingency basis with absolutely nothing but self-enrichment as the ultimate goal. In essence, they try to conjure cases out of thin air.

Per attorney David Parker, they’ve been able to successfully defend their dealership and business clients because many of those cases are taken on a contingency basis and the attorneys bringing suit don’t have the financial bandwidth to get deep into expensive litigation against a well defended dealer.

If your dealership is being attacked by any of the aforementioned consumer “advocates”, perhaps a call to one David M. Parker would be best advised else feel the wrath of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act gone wild!

Kelly Kleinman/Dealership News 818-817-6343 www.dealershipnews.com

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The new venture, called Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, or TRI-AD, is being created later this month (March ‘18) with Toyota Group suppliers Aisin Seiki Co. and Denso Corp.

The new entity will be based in Tokyo with staffing expectations to eventually grow to some 1,000 people, Toyota said Friday.

James Kuffner, chief technology officer at the Silicon Valley-based Toyota Research Institute, will lead the venture as CEO. TRI-AD is being positioned as a bridge between product development and TRI, which was founded in 2016 to focus more on pure research.

The threesome will invest 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in TRI-AD, with Toyota taking a 90 percent stake and Aisin Seiki and Denso each holding 5 percent each.

TRI-AD will focus on the development of “production-quality software for automated driving,” partly by harnessing big data collected from connected vehicles, Toyota said.

Toyota and its partners already do this, but Toyota hopes to jumpstart progress by combining efforts under one roof with an expanded staff and bigger budget, a spokesman said. Toyota says it wants to introduce cars capable of driving themselves on highways by around 2020.
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Kelly Kleinman/Dealership News

Automotive News Car Dealerships Can Really Use

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Typically, a consumer can expect to spend between $500 to $1,000 to put an efficient charging station in their garage. The cost of a years worth of charging is approximately a quarter of the cost of filling up with gas but the consumer also saves on oil services and other possible breakdowns common to combustion engines.

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My how things have changed! The vendors on the convention floor at the Digital Dealer Expo and Convention certainly proved that we’ve come a very long way in a very short time. It was on the convention floor that all of the latest and greatest marketing trends and tricks, data crunching, social media, and millennial based platforms were highlighted. One thing became clear, the “jack of all trades” digital marketing company is out of fashion and the niche agency with a nuance is in fashion.

The floor was well laid out and attendance was healthy. Although we missed the seminars, discussion panels, and “after parties”, we more than absorbed our fair share of ideas, concepts, spins and elevator pitches.

Most conversations revolved around how to find a buyer. Imagine that. There were sales gimmicks, gurus, data crunchers, technologists, reputation builders, makers, and marketers all trying to show dealers how they can optimize their marketing and increase their ROI if they do this, that, or the other thing. Car sales professionals turned booth barkers espoused the virtues of their current employ, while the more daring car sales veterans did seminars and panel discussions to improve their lot…literally and figuratively.

Although the human interaction was fascinating and intellectually stimulating, it was the technology that held court with greater authority.

Larry Tabloff of Digital Dealership System taught us the ABC’s (and benefits) of digitally branding a dealership via in-store advertising with strategically placed monitors and messaging that keeps the customer engaged, informed, and inspired both in the sales and service departments.

Steve Leh of Autoflyte clued us into his repurposing of “big data” that shows who bought what, where and why in “near real-time” and how a dealership can capitalize in a big way on that intel.

Jason Knight shined a light on what sets LOTLINX apart from other lead gen companies by being able to detect and match the most motivated, active car shoppers with a dealer’s slower moving inventory. He also explained why CS AMP isn’t just a play on words, rather it’s a play to increase a dealer’s profit.

Scott Pechstein of Autobytel , a leading automotive listing platform made no bones about the fact that their customer is the automobile dealer and that the Autobytel classified listing site gives the consumer as many buying options as is possible with a site design optimized for a positive user experience. At 43 million leads generated per year, Scott knows what he’s talking about.

Jeff Tognetti and Mustafa Matari of DealerX got deep into the data debate and crunched Google’s credibility as an honest platform while demonstrating the depths of DealerX’s expertise in tracking a consumer’s online activity in ways that would make Big Brother blush and car dealers rush to adopt the technology.

Louis Ziskin of Dropinauto repurposed technology similar to Facetime whereby a salesman-shy car shopper (most of us) can take a tour of the lot without ever leaving home or downloading an app! They simply click a button on the VDP from their mobile device or desktop! The inquiry appears on a salesman’s phone, and the tour is initiated. A car is picked and a credit app is sent in short order thus eliminating a lot of precious time. Calls are the best incoming leads possible and the transparency that this provides makes Louis’s platform a no-brain needed winner.

Michael Reth and Becca Tegeler Axiomadmin came up with a novel approach to maintaining touch with current customers by repurposing the “Tile” which is a simple tracking device given as a “gift with purchase” that allows a customer to locate their keys via their cell phones or cell phones via their keys! Once a year the battery needs to be replaced via the F&I office allowing upsells and other opportunities.

These are just some of the opportunities in digital technology that we were able to identify as we made our rounds across the convention floor. I’m sure we missed a few other highly inventive efforts as the day grew shorter and shorter but I’m sure we’ll be hearing about the more successful ones as the days go by.

Only time will tell how these companies pan out. Some have been around for quite some time and are the proverbial “industry leaders” while others are new ventures with bright futures.

How will they adapt to the ever-changing technological landscape only time will tell.

Kelly Kleinman

Content Manager/Dealership News

www.Dealershipnews.com

818-817-6343

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