August's numbers say what your desk already knew: buyers got no break on new or used, and the affordability squeeze is now the default condition rather than a blip. Cox's latest dealer sentiment read is full of supply and pricing gripes, though the used-car department comes out looking better than the mood music suggests. Translation: the traffic is still there, it's just shopping a payment instead of a vehicle. Stock accordingly — the $15K–$22K lane is where the customers actually live, and reconditioning discipline is the only margin you fully control.

The average new EV now runs only 9.4% above a comparable gas car, and the shift is coming from sticker prices rather than incentives propping things up. Pair that with rising pump prices and an August bump in both new and used EV sales, and the used electron car stops being a science project on your lot. It still lives or dies on charging access and battery-health documentation, but the buyer objection is shifting from price to logistics. Worth knowing which of your local chargers actually work before you take one in on trade.

Shoppers are increasingly asking an AI assistant which store to call, which means you can lose a deal before a lead ever hits the CRM — and nobody's tracking those recommendations. On the other end, fake dealers with AI-generated photos and cloned voices are running Marketplace scams, one of them a $36,000 4Runner that never existed, while attacks on dealership networks have surged as criminals use the same tools for volume and polish. Your reputation and your phone number are both now attack surfaces. Check what an AI chatbot says about your store, and check what your store looks like when somebody else is pretending to be it.

GM called back 306,511 Buick and Chevy compact and subcompact SUVs over a rearview camera defect, and Jeep added 97,349 Wagoneers for roof crossbar bolts that can let the bar detach. Both are the kind of units that land on independent lots as auction buys and trade-ins, so an open-recall check belongs in your recon workflow, not your post-sale surprise pile. Meanwhile, the FTC pricing and advertising guidance plus New Jersey's new dealer service law are generating the usual fog about what enforcement will actually look like — the Seth Dobbs interview is worth a read before you touch your ad templates.