Emerging and connecting
As we, as a society, emerge from the pandemic, and we, as an industry, see glimmers of the end of historic supply shortages, I’m doing a bit of a slow emergence myself, from behind the scenes to being a more …
Category: Editor’s note
Do you trust your gut?
When it comes to making key decisions, it’s always an interesting question: does someone with years (or decades) of industry experience rely on their “gut” instinct or numbers in a spreadsheet to make a decision? Dealers have to make key …
How’s your tech stack?
Every so often, you hear a term or phrase used often enough that it penetrates your consciousness. Like, “tech stack.” At Universus, we were doing an analysis of our own tech stack, to see if our tools were suitable for …
Meet the new editor!
Some of you might have seen a news story in our e-news announcing that Stephanie MacDonald was named the new editor of Canadian auto dealer. I was really touched when the head of one of Canada’s largest dealer groups reached …
Life is between the dash
Like many of our readers, I was saddened to learn of the passing of Sean O’Regan, 53, one of the kindest and most beloved car dealers I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I met Sean at a variety of events, …
Ready or not?
I interviewed some of Canada’s best-known dealers for a segment for the virtual CADA Summit held last month. It was a fun, lighthearted piece to help break up the day, and inject some dealer content into the event. One of …
No Groundhog Day here
Our magazine’s editorial team had an interesting chat about our cover story in this issue, regarding car dealers who give back to their communities. We’ve run a similar feature for the past few years, showcasing ways in which dealers across …
The first shoe drops
The Canadian dealership landscape has forever changed. In August, Lithia & Driveway launched into Canada by acquiring/partnering with Pfaff Motors. Pfaff became the first Canadian dealer group to join a U.S. public dealership group—and most assuredly won’t be the last. …
Avoid painful toe stubs
I was reminded recently of just how high the bar is for service when it comes to consumer expectations for their interactions with car dealerships. Now, this editor’s note won’t be very popular with some of our readers, because it’s …
Beating the odds
The CADA Laureate winners featured in this issue are truly deserving of the award, and now join the ranks of a group of dealers who are legends in our industry. It’s tough to become a CADA Laureate. Really tough. Only …
The show must go on
We write a lot about succession in the pages of Canadian auto dealer — including this issue’s cover story. That’s because the core audience of our magazine consists of dealer principals, who think a lot about these issues. And other …
Fixing fixed ops
New and used vehicle sales in Canada will always fluctuate, and there’s not much dealers can do about it. Even the most agile dealership, with the best marketing outreach and customer retention strategies, will experience events that nip into the …
