SANTA MONICA – A week after adding a former dealer association exec to its management team, TrueCar announced that it has forged a relationship with SunTrust Bank to provide the bank’s customers with direct access to its auto buying service. The SunTrust Auto Buying Service will be located at www.suntrust.com/autobuyingservice. It will be made available … Read More »

IRVINE – In response to rising fuel prices, Kelley Blue Book said today that used, compact-car values could realize the same 20 percent gains seen in 2011. According to vehicle information site’s Book Market Report for March 2012, values of used, fuel-efficient compacts increased a modest 0.4 percent in February, but noted that values picked … Read More »

Subaru is recalling about 320,000 of its 2009-12 Foresters because the rear seat belt may not securely hold a child safety seat or restraint, the automaker informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In a notice posted on the agency’s Web site, Subaru said the seat belt for the center position in the back seat … Read More »

Five car dealers have agreed to Federal Trade Commission settlement orders that require them to stop running ads in which they promise to pay off a consumer’s trade-in no matter what the consumer owes on the vehicle. The FTC charged that the ads, which ran on the dealers’ websites and on sites such as YouTube.com, … Read More »

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Finance Express, provider of a web-based financial services and technology for independent auto dealerships, has entered into an agreement with Santander Consumer USA that will make the finance source available on the software provider’s lender platform. Finance Express provides a dealer management system to independent dealers that that allows for credit … Read More »

FARMINGTON HILLS – RouteOne announced the availability of additional enhancements to its free Android(TM) app, including the ability to forward ‘sent’ applications to a new finance source, securely text message with supporting finance sources, get payoff quotes, and capture leads into the Lead Manager within RouteOne. The additions, which will be available for the iPhone … Read More »