U.S. Traffic Fatalities 42K in 2021 — Highest Since 2005
Early estimates released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed what many saw coming: traffic fatalities rose in 2021 compared with 2020. The surprise isn’t the increase, but how large it is: 10.5 percent, which is the biggest year-over-year jump ever. The 42,915 projected deaths are the highest total since 2005, reports The Detroit Bureau. The country saw 38,842 deaths in 2020, according to NHTSA. The jump reflects a trend as 2020’s numbers were 7.2 percent higher than 2019 despite the numerous lockdowns related to the COVID pandemic. “We face a crisis on America’s roadways that we must address together,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With our National Roadway Safety Strategy and the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are taking critical steps to help reverse this devastating trend and save lives on our roadways.” As the pandemic-related shutdowns and restrictions lifted throughout 2021, the number of people on the roads increased. Not only that, but those people were also driving further or more. Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration show that vehicle miles traveled in 2021 increased by about 325 billion miles, or about 11.2 percent, as compared to 2020. Click here for the full story.
EPA Sued by Republican AGs For Reinstating California’s Car Emissions Authority
A group of 17 Republican attorneys general is suing the EPA over its decision to reissue a waiver allowing California to set its own auto tailpipe rules and zero-emission vehicle mandates that are more stringent than federal standards. The attorneys general, led by Ohio's Dave Yost, allege the Clean Air Act waiver violates the Constitution's equal sovereignty doctrine. In addition to Yost, officials from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia have joined the federal lawsuit, reports Automotive News. The EPA in March reinstated the waiver and withdrew its portion of the interpretation of the Clean Air Act that would prohibit other states from adopting California's more stringent vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards. The action was driven by President Joe Biden's executive order in January 2021 that directed the U.S. Department of Transportation and the EPA to reconsider the Trump administration's 2019 decision to revoke California's authority. The EPA previously granted California the waiver in 2013. Click here for the full story.
Google Analytics 4 is Coming — It’s Time to Update Your Website
Brian Pasch, founder of PCG Companies and BPE | Pasch Enterprises is on CBT News’ Auto Marketing Now. Pasch discusses the new Google Analytics 4 cut-over and the Automotive Standards Council for GA4. Car dealers should know that Google will end support of the current version of Google Analytics in July 2023, says Pasch. If you are unfamiliar with Google Analytics, the platform is the primary tool that almost every car dealer uses to monitor organic traffic, paid traffic, conversions, engagement, and more. Many car dealers in the U.S. use Google Analytics to verify the performance reports from their vendors. However, that data stream is going away next year. So, what are dealers supposed to do? The good news is that Pasch recently announced the formation of the Automotive Standards Council for GA4. Progressive dealer groups, dealership marketing managers, OEMs, and members of the vendor community will make up the council. This council aims to set standards to ensure that chat companies, website companies, digital retailing companies, finance, or trade tools, all support GA4 in a similar way, which allows dealers to easily inspect the traffic, engagement, and conversion on their websites. Click here to learn more.
F&I Providers Monitoring Parts, Labor Inflation
The price of auto parts and the labor to install them jumped last year and continues to track above 2021 levels. In the case of parts, prices are even outpacing the national inflation rate. But finance-and-insurance product providers — who are obligated to pay for such costs under the service contracts dealerships sell customers daily — expressed confidence in their ability to manage those bills with product pricing increases, if necessary, reports Automotive News. The balance of product prices and claim costs is relevant to dealerships on two levels. F&I sales are an important profit center for the industry. And many retailers participate in programs that give them an added stake in the underwriting results for those contracts. "These are important topics that they should be looking at," Scott Gunnell, JM&A Group vice president of sales, marketing and strategy, said of dealers involved in underwriting and reinsurance. Click here for the full story.
People Say Online Vehicle Financing Saves Time
For many automotive consumers, arranging a vehicle loan, a step that traditionally occurs relatively late in the car-buying process, is occurring sooner than before, a new survey indicates. “Consumers are doing financing earlier than before,” Angela Drake, Cox Automotive’s senior marketing research manager, tells Wards. “A few years ago, many people may have waited to do that in the F&I office.” But online financing availability has changed that order of business in some cases. That is a takeaway from the Cox Automotive Car Buyer Financing Journey Study. It indicates buyers who completed key financing steps online saved time and were more satisfied with the time they spent at the dealership than buyers who completed the same steps in person. Digital auto retailing, including vehicle financing, has made dramatic strides in recent years. It has changed the way many people buy vehicles. “The biggest benefit to (online financing) is the time savings,” Drake says. “At the dealership, people want to take a test drive versus discussing financing.” Click here for the story.
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