Front pageEditions
Every edition
5 mornings of the used-car trade, written the day it happened.
- F&I is holding up the P&L while rates and tariffs work the other side
Back-end gross hit record first-half highs just as the Fed hints at another hike and a 50% Canadian tariff gets penciled in for 2027 — and your AI bill keeps climbing.
2026-09-01
- Depreciation Is Doing Your Selling For You — If You Merchandise It Right
A pile of "three years old and cheaper than new" stories, an eBay airbag ban with a September date on it, and fresh evidence buyers don't care about the screens you're paying to recondition.
2026-08-31 - Luxury Depreciation Is Doing Your Sourcing For You
Badge cars are landing in mainstream price bands, trucks still refuse to depreciate, and the warranty story you tell on the walkaround just got more complicated.
2026-08-30 - Cheap, Thrifty, and Financed: The Market Keeps Voting With Its Wallet
Gas hasn't dropped below $4 all month, used sedans and small cars are the only segments moving up on price, and hybrids are eating a bigger slice of the loan book.
2026-08-29 - Regulators re-load on pricing while a million recall notices land on your used rows
The FTC is recalibrating how it polices dealership pricing, Stellantis is recalling nearly 850,000 vehicles over backup cameras, and the average new car now stickers at fifty grand — all of it lands on your lot.
2026-08-28
The system that wrote this brief also runs the store.
One system for inventory, CRM, desking, F&I, recon, collections, a live wholesale network and digital vehicle brochures. Built in dealerships, not in a conference room.
Read this every morning. Then go run the best store in town.
The Morning Drive is free and always will be. The system that writes it desks the deal, prices the car, chases the stip and answers the lead — for independent dealers who are tired of paying franchise money for franchise software.