F&I and Showroom, May 2013

Developments Facebook Beefs Up Ad Tools Re Engages GM NEARLY ONE YEAR AFTER PULLING ITS 10 MILLION ad budget from Facebook General Motors is back on the site at least for now In April the OEM began testing a mobile only marketing campaign for the Chevrolet Sonic Chevrolet is testing a number of mobile advertising solutions including Facebook as part of its Find New Roads campaign said Chris Perry vice president of U S Chevrolet Marketing in an e mailed statement Today Chevrolet is launching an industry fi rst mobile only pilot campaign for the Chevrolet Sonic that utilizes newly available targeting and measurement capabilities on Facebook Two days after announcing its reunion with GM the social network launched a new advertising solution called Partner Categories For a Honda dealer the tool will not only identify Facebook users who own a Honda or a vehicle in a competing category it also lets dealers know if a customer is actually due for a new vehicle Its adding a layer of purchase intent to the normal broad targeting capabilities of Facebook says Facebook Autos Client Partner Patrick Workman That inherently is a huge opportunity because now you can really fi ne tune your campaigns to focus on individuals who are likely to purchase a vehicle in the timeframe designated Partner Categories is powered by partnerships the social network forged with Datalogix Epsilon and Acxiom Noteworthy for dealers is the information coming from Datalogix which collects digital media and offl ine purchasing data The Westminster Colo based company also maintains a relationship with Polk a key industry data source Our technology allows us to take every householdlevel model and bring them into an online universe says Joe Kyriakoza Datalogix automotive general manager Every marketer knows and wants tailored interests doing this type of targeting 8 F I and Showroom May 2013 Carfax Sued by 121 Dealers D ealer law fi rm Bellavia Blatt Andron Crossett fi led a 50 million lawsuit against Carfax in late April bringing forward antitrust and anti monopolization claims on behalf of 121 dealers The mass action suit claims that the vehicle history report provider founded in 1984 has a monopoly on the industry holding a reported 90 percent of the market share through exclusive agreements with manufacturers as well as vehicle merchandising sites like AutoTrader com and Cars com Carfax has unlawfully acquired and maintained its market power in VHRs through exclusivity agreements with numerous major players in the auto industry the complaint reads citing that AutoTrader com and Cars com include hyperlinks to Carfax reports but exclude reports from competing providers Carfax has stigmatized any listing without such a link in the eyes of consumers who infer that the absence means that the car has a blemished history the complaint charges Leonard Bellavia the attorney leading the case has been looking at Carfaxs practices for the past six months as a growing number of his dealer clients questioned the quality of the companys reports Through research and conversations with dealers he said he believes Carfax is in violation of antitrust laws Theres nothing illegal about having a monopoly but the law looks very critically at an entity that has a monopoly that abuses its monopoly power Bellavia said You cannot engage in anti business or anti competitive behavior to either maintain the monopoly or increase the monopoly Bellavia was the lead attorney in a successful mass action fi ght against the U S Treasury in 2009 when Chrysler ordered nearly 800 of its franchised dealerships to be closed down following its bankruptcy He gained support of close to 20 percent of total Chrysler dealers affected by the cuts and Bellavia said he hopes to capture at least the same share of dealers in this lawsuit within the next 60 days Just as in the Chrysler suit Bellavia decided to fi le a mass action suit He said it allows the affected dealers to level the playing fi eld with such a large entity like Carfax And if successful in court each dealer would be given an individual hearing to argue for personal damages incurred under the mass action Collectively the dealers are seeking 50 million in damages with the total amount expected to grow as more dealers join the suit Bellavia says Dealers spend anywhere from 10000 to multiple tens of thousands of dollars per year in order to provide customers with free Carfax reports which the complaint claims are infl ated prices given what other providers charge dealers Carfax Communications Director Larry Gamache declined to comment on the litigation