company news
Quantum5 Acquires ESI Trends, Launches ESi-Q
Quantum5 announced the acquisition of ESI Trends, rebranding the solution as ESi-Q, which will be fully integrated into the Quantum5 family of brands.
ESi-Q, for the last decade, has paved the way for a new approach to dealership employee retention - one entirely focused on team culture. As a research, consulting, and training company, ESi-Q collects millions of payroll records and employee surveys to track compensation, engagement, turnover, retention, and trends in workforce demographics.
“The addition of ESi-Q to the Quantum5 family enables us to provide superior culture analysis at a store well before we go in to conduct the client training,” said David O’Brien, co-founder of Quantum5. “By implementing ESi-Q, we are now able to track the culture of each individual dealership and design and provide a program that uniquely matches the store’s current cultural strengths and obstacles.”
EasyCare Introduces New Vehicle Service Contract for Auto Dealers
EasyCare, an APCO Holdings brand, has introduced a new vehicle service contract (VSC) for automotive dealerships, making it easier for auto dealers to present in the F&I office by integrating coverage options for many vehicle types and needs into one product, including electric vehicles. The new product offers extended eligibility and more terms, increases the value of consumer convenience benefits, and includes options to help dealers retain service business.
"As F&I continues to be a success driver for dealers, evolving coverage options are critical to helping dealers stay ahead of automotive buying trends and the market itself," said Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of APCO Holdings. "Our goal with this product is to cover as many vehicles and situations as we can to help dealers protect as many consumers as possible."
To simplify the process of presenting a VSC to customers in the F&I office, EasyCare consolidated coverage for the following types of vehicles and situations into one form for VSC and one form for VSC with Tire & Wheel: gasoline vehicles, EVs, CPO Wrap, medium duty trucks, lifted trucks, Canadian vehicles with no factory warranty, snowplows, and commercial vehicles including commercial snowplows and vehicles used for rideshare services.
Dealers can now offer four levels of coverage to more consumers with an extension of eligibility to 200,000 miles and current model year plus 15.
DriveCentric and CUDL Announce New Integration
DriveCentric announced its integration and partnership with CUDL. The new integration not only allows dealers to tap into CUDL’s credit union network — which, collectively, represents one of the industry’s top auto finance sources — it creates a seamless workflow within DriveCentric’s CRM that streamlines the credit application process for dealers and ultimately improves the experience for their customers.
This integration allows DriveCentric dealership partners to connect with a network of more than 1,100 local and national credit union lenders and their 64+ million members.
“The landscape of lending is evolving, and we recognize the value and need for delivering a simplified, streamlined application process for dealers and their customers,” said Marty Simons, CUDL Product Director.
Protective Closes on AUL Acquisition
Protective Life Corporation, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. announced its principal subsidiary, Protective Life Insurance Company, completed the acquisition of automotive finance and insurance provider AUL Corp.
The transaction allows Protective to offer additional solutions, protect more customers and accelerate growth.
“Growth through acquisitions continues to be an important part of Protective’s success story; however, it’s important for us to find the right companies for our business model and culture,” said Rich Bielen, president and CEO of Protective. “AUL’s shared values, reputation for great customer and dealer service, and commitment to serving the community made it an excellent fit. I could not be more proud to have this team as part of Protective’s Asset Protection Division.”
Protective Asset Protection’s offerings include, among others, extended service contracts, guaranteed asset protection and ancillary products to protect consumers’ investments in automobiles, recreational vehicles, watercraft, and powersports vehicles.
UVeye Streamlining Vehicle Service at Dealerships
UVeye inspection technology has been integrated with the Fortellis Automotive Commerce Exchange™ platform. High-speed UVeye vehicle-inspection systems now can help write repair orders and speed customer service for car dealers equipped with CDK Drive’s dealer manager system (DMS) from CDK Global.
The UVeye application available in Fortellis Marketplace allows dealers to automatically create repair orders based on high-speed scans of vehicle tires, underbody components and exteriors.
“The integration of automated vehicle-inspection data on the Fortellis platform will help dealers save time, increase profits and improve customer satisfaction,” said Amir Hever, UVeye founder and CEO.
He added that UVeye plans to make its service department technology available to other new- and used-car dealers through several other major automotive retail-management systems this year.
UVeye has facilities in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, including offices in Israel, Japan, Germany and the United States. The company has raised more than $90 million since it was founded in 2016.
Volvo Cars, Hyundai Motors, Toyota Tsusho, W.R. Berkley Corporation, F.I.T. Ventures, and CarMax, the largest used-car retailer in the U.S., are all members of the company’s investor group. It also has strategic partnerships with numerous dealership groups, used-car auctions and vehicle fleets.
“We’re pleased to offer UVeye’s CDK Drive integration on Fortellis to continue delivering extraordinary innovation to dealers,” said Sandy Orlando, SVP, Data and Fortellis, CDK Global. “Leveraging the power of the Fortellis marketplace allows UVeye to be part of a growing number of companies creating products that are shaping the future of automotive retail.”
people
Brent Lessing Joins Ken Garff Automotive Group
Brent Lessing has been named Chief Technology Officer for Ken Garff Automotive Group.
“I’m excited to engage in several large projects that will allow Ken Garff to better serve every customer more fully. Beyond that, I’m proud to join the Ken Garff brand, which is legendary and unbeatable in every community it serves,” said Brent.
“We are delighted Brent has joined our team with exceptional skills to align our tech resources with our vision and companywide needs,” said Brett Hopkins, CEO of Ken Garff Automotive Group. “This is a critical position that will provide leadership on current technology and identify trends to strengthen our leadership position in the industry.”
Rita Case of Rick Case Automotive Group Receives National Award
Rita Case, president and CEO of the Rick Case Automotive Group, was inducted into the prestigious Horatio Alger Association, in ceremonies in the U.S. Supreme Court Chambers in Washington, DC. For the past 75 years, the Horatio Alger Award has been presented to distinguished Americans who have persevered through adversity to succeed in their lives, as well as displaying an extraordinary commitment to higher education and charitable efforts in their respective communities.
Growing up in her parents Honda dealership in Santa Rosa, California, Rita Case genuinely has the car business in her blood. After working through the ranks of the family dealership, Rita quickly established herself as a leader in this male-dominated industry. Along with her late-husband and automotive marketing pioneer, Rick Case, the pair went on to build an automotive empire–consisting of 16 dealerships across Florida, Georgia and Ohio that has spanned over 40 years. Today, the Rick Case Automotive Group has more than 1,300 employees and more than $1 billion in revenue.
Sean Seltzer Joins Castle Automotive Group Executive Leadership Team as CMO
Castle Automotive Group (CAG) has expanded their executive leadership team by bringing on Sean Seltzer to lead its marketing strategy as Chief Marketing Officer.
Sean has more than 25 years of marketing, sales, and executive management experience in even more challenging positions. From his time managing the dealer network in South Florida for Ford Motor Company, to the North American Sales Manager at Ferrari-Maserati North America, to managing a division of Kelley Blue Book, to leading marketing for a division of Volkswagen of America, to his role as the CEO of the original social media agency in the automotive vertical, his experience is vast.
"As Castle Automotive Group continues to expand its dealership portfolio through acquisitions and is focused on modernizing the automotive retail experience through its digital assets, Sean will be a crucial part of my leadership team in preparation for the growth and scale we will need to execute our vision," says Joe Castle, CEO.
Bob Haeffner Joins APCO Holdings as CFO
APCO Holdings, LLC, a provider and administrator of automotive F&I products and home to the EasyCare and GWC Warranty brands, announced Bob Haeffner has joined the company as CFO.
Bob has nearly 30 years of financial and accounting experience and a deep understanding of the automotive retail industry. He comes to APCO with significant financial executive experience in consulting and the automotive sector. He started his career with Deloitte and KPMG before joining JM Family Enterprises, where he spent more than 18 years in progressive roles before being named VP and CFO of JM&A Group in 2010. Most recently, he served as VP and CFO of Southeastern Toyota Distributors, LLC.
"Bob is a proven finance leader who brings a unique combination of strategic and capital allocation discipline, F&I and automotive knowledge, and experience driving operational transformation," said Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of APCO Holdings. "We were very thorough in our search to find someone with the knowledge to guide our continued growth. I look forward to partnering with Bob as we continue to execute our bold strategy to accelerate innovation and achieve our goal of continued long-term revenue growth and profitability for our partners."
Jason Ezell Joins FlickFusion as VP of Partner Communications
Jason Ezell has joined FlickFusion Video Marketing as VP of Partner Communications. In his new role, Jason will maintain and help to build strategic relationships with digital marketing, website and CRM companies in the retail automotive industry.
Jason brings more than 30 years of experience in the retail automotive industry to FlickFusion’s executive management team. He began his career in auto dealerships, working his way up from sales into finance and management positions.
“I always look for the best product in a space, and the technology that FlickFusion has built over the last decade is second to none,” said Jason. “The automation and customization aspect of its Nucleus platform is huge, making it easy for dealers to draw customers to their websites and inventory pages, and to have those customers become emotionally engaged with the dealership’s inventory and brand.”