Leadpile’s Blog

The sales of four main brands of General Motors vehicles are up 24.6%. Cadillac is leading the pack with sales up 142% since August of 2008. Models like the Escalade, CTS, and DTS are just some to name a few. Buick is close behind raising their sales 137%. Chevrolet is performing well also, mainly selling their lines of trucks such as the Silverado.

Overall sales for General Motors are up 5.4%. Vice President of sales Don Johnson attributes this to the current economy,

“…those people who have put off replacing their worn-out vehicles are now slowly starting to come back into the market”.

Now that people are finally beginning to feel  more comfortable in making auto purchases, this could be a trend we continue to see with other major auto companies as well. Leadpile is currently working with auto finance, and the strong demand proves this to be valid!

People using private offices for car seizures are having continuous problems with their employees repossessing their cars in highly inappropiate manners. About 1.9 million repossessions took place in 2009, but some small businesses are becoming overly aggressive when it comes to collecting payments.

Car Repossessions have become quite the issue lately. In San Jose, California, a woman’s car was repossessed due to late payments while her 2 year old son was still in the vehicle. The police were called immediately, and half an hour later the boy was found at the car repossession office. According to reports, this has become a more common accurance. Other cases included incidents like fights, arrests, and use of weapons.

When dealing with auto loans, one needs to be very careful about who they work with. Leadpile works closely with our affiliates to avoid these types of situations, and we would certainly not engage in these kinds of unprofessional behaviors.

Planning on hitting the road this holiday weekend? You wont be alone, 28 million Americans plan to drive to their summer destinations, a 1.6 million-person increase from last year. With the nationwide average of gas decreasing $.10 per gallon and the average round trip airfare increasing 24% driving may not be a bad idea.

Auto Club AAA estimates families will spend an average of $809 on summer travel in 2010, compared to $876 in 2009. Most families are opting to stay close so they can avoid steep airline prices.

The Commerce Department stated that consumers spending was stagnant in April and it’s at its weakest level in seven months.

Many hotels and popular travel destinations are offering discounts on hotel rooms or special packages at amusement parks. The average hotel room is down slightly to $95 from $107 two years ago.

Until the job market improves people will continue to pinch pennies. What are your travel plans for summer 2010?

Just when we thought the auto industry was headed in the right direction, a recall happens with Toyota…. then another recall.. then another recall with Honda. I don’t know about you but this is scary for the auto (finance) industry that we very much work in. Going to a dealership was like going to a ghost town, and then things finally started getting better. This shake up with Toyota, and now Honda, could not have come at a worse time. The struggling auto industry was finally heading in the right direction, and then this all happens. The ironic thing about the recent recalls is the fact that the two companies now in the news were the ones that stayed out of the negative lime-light in the last few years. Kudos I guess to our nation’s automakers for already having gone through the “bad” part of the auto industry hiccups, but gosh when is the auto industry going to get a break? Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that the auto industry keeps moving forward, not backwards!

There seems to be some more positive news in the automobile industry. A recent report is stating the number of people that are going online to search for a car is up in 2009 versus 2008. This is great news considering the industry came to a screeching hault with the falling economy. Webpronews reports that people who depend on the internet to locate a vehicle rose from 40% in 2008 to 46% in 2009. More and more people are starting to bounce back from the struggling economy, therefore they are turning to the internet to tackle a lot of ground work at their fingertips.
The good news for companies like Leadpile and other auto loan lead generators, is that used car buyers visited third party website more frequently than other types of sites, including dealer websites. A large percentage (91%) of those that were searching say they visited at least one third-party website during their shopping process. So if people are doing their homework online first, then we all need to focus on providing as much information as we can to these consumers. I think this auto industry is coming back!

We all know that there are great deals to be had in automotive market right now. Many car dealers are willing to cut their prices and haggle much more than in the past. So buying a new car as a steal should be simple, right? Car dealers may be willing to work with you on price, but when it comes to giving you a loan, not so much.
Unless you are very money savvy or have a great job, buying a car with cash is not always possible. This day in age it is very common for the majority of people to take out a car loan and finance their car. With the market how it is, getting a car loan can be easier said than done. Its not that lenders do not want to give out loans, they are just being much more picky on who they will approve. Also, interest rates are very high at the moment and your credit can make a difference on if you are approved and what interest rate you receive. According to U.S.News, when trying to finance or get a loan for your new car there are a few key facts you should know.
1. Basics of Car Loans – know that you will have to pay an interest rate which includes principal and interest.
2. Car Loan Term – This is the amount of time that you have agreed on to pay the lender back. The car is not yours until you pay back the WHOLE loan and interest.
3. Credit Score – As stated above, interest rate is normally based on an individuals credit score. Usually, the lower the credit score the higher the interest rate.
4. Apply Several Times – Consumers normally apply to several different companies to get their loans. This will give you a better chance to get a loan that suits your exact needs.
At the end of the day it is by no means impossible to get a auto finance loans. LeadPile is also here to help. We match up consumers and lenders who meet each others needs. Hopefully, this helped you realize that with the right knowledge and steps, buying a new car with great financing is not as far out of reach as you may think.

There seems to be some momentum brewing in the auto industry. We all saw some positive response to the Cash For Clunkers program, and it appears there might be some light at the end of the tunnel with the auto finance industry. Leadpile has written about the increase in bankruptcies and the housing market still struggling, however there seems to be some little signs that people might be starting to look again for cars. This could be great news for consumers, dealerships, and and the lead generation industry who has seen some stagnant volume of leads coming in.

Recent conversations that I have been having with affiliates, indicates that there might be that demand again for the auto finance leads. This is potentially exciting news for Leadpile because now we can reach out to our publishers to bring in this lead type. Leadpile publishers can drive traffic to our auto finance offers, place a Microclick form on their website(s), use banners or do a host and post.
Let’s all cross our fingers that this is the beginning of the end of our struggling auto finance industry. If it is any indication by all the Ford commercials that are playing on our televisions, this industry it coming back!

Sad news in the auto finance industry today….. Cash For Clunkers will end today. This program has fueled great success in our nation’s dealerships, however that is ending today. I am curious to see the reported end results of this short lived program and see if this is something that be continued on in the future. Ask the dealerships and they say that this brought people into their dealerships that would never have come. Ask consumers and they say this was great because they earned more money for their cars, than they ever would without the program. Ask the government and they say???????
This program we know has brought more traffic to the online auto finance industry, and Leadpile loves the idea of this. Can we all say “let’s keep Cash for Clunkers” going?

In an effort to boost some new car sales, GM has teamed up with the online shopping marketplace eBay. Previously, eBay was a place you could purchase a car, however purchasing a brand new car was not necessarily available. The NY Times is reporting, “The venture will involve about 225 dealerships in California at first, but G.M. hopes to expand it nationally as soon as September.” Hopefully, in combination with the Cash For Clunkers program and this sort of exposure, GM will see some positive things happening. Many reports are showing that the Cash For Clunkers program has allowed more auto finance traffic to start coming in to lead generators. If that is the case, hopefully we will see a high acceptance of this lead type by our buyers.

Phoenix June 30th, 2009 — LeadPile, The World’s Largest Online Exclusive Lead Exchange announced today record results for its MicroClick Form (http://www.microclick.com) in June, 2009. LeadPile reports a record number of Lead Verticals being served by its MicroClick Form with Lead Sellers producing leads in 61 different verticals in the month of June. This makes the LeadPile MicroClick Form the most widely used Multi Vertical Lead Generation Form in the lead Marketplace and Lead Exchange Industry.

LeadPile’s Centralized Online Exclusive Lead Marketplace supports thousands of affiliates that use the exchange to sell to suitable lead buyers. By using the LeadPile MicroClick Form, Affiliates can focus on driving traffic to their pages and not on managing lead buyer relationships. Over 90% of LeadPile’s active affiliates are currently using the MicroClick form, offloading the responsibility for lead collection, management, technology infrastructure, and quality control to LeadPile.

Astoundingly, LeadPile’s MicroClick form has been used to produce leads as diversified as Tax Debt Relief, Home Improvements, Business Loans, Health Insurance, Equipment Leasing, Credit Card Processing, Cash For Gold and more.

Andrew Jacob, CEO of LeadPile says, “The LeadPile MicroClick Form allows us to handle leads across multiple verticals, including payday, starter credit, debt consolidation, credit repair, bankruptcy, auto financing, and homeowner. While the majority of leads currently being exchanged in the  Marketplace are in the Financial sector, the fact that Lead Sellers are using the MicroClick form to produce leads in over 60 verticals is very rewarding for our team.

Jacob adds, “I would like to personally thank our existing Lead Buyers and Leads Sellers for their business, and it is our promise to everything we possible can to help them in their efforts by continuing to provide the type of technology infrastructure and transparency that they have come to both expect, and deserve, from LeadPile.

To read more, please visit http://www.LeadPile.com/

Everyone knows eBay for it’s marketplace of buyers and sellers of all sorts of items. Leadpile Lead Exchange often times refers to itself as the “eBay” of leads. However, there is no affiliation to one another, yet many people know the concept of how eBay works and is considered a household name.

This household name is now expanding it’s portfolio of services it provides.  Ebay Motors is a division of eBay that provides a directory of automobiles. According to DMNews, eBay Motors has now launched an online classified section. This will allow sellers of automobiles to be connected with the buyers locally. The article goes on to state, “The new listing option is designed to connect car buyers and sellers within a 100-mile radius of their local market, and is being offered free through an initial promotional period ending July 15.” Pre-internet consumers utilized local newspapers to find a car, however this new enhancement of eBay motors will mirror that old school classified section, but be on your computer.  According to eBay, eBay Motors has 12 million monthly unique visitors, and they sell a car every minute. I guess this really means bye bye newspaper classifieds?

In addition to eBay Motors, eBay has a family of websites such as rent.com, half.com, kijiji.com, paypal.com, prostores.com and shopping.com.

Having so much negativeness about the auto finance industry, I thought I would shed some light on it.  In recent news, there was a car manufactured by Ratan Tata, which costs $2000!  Tata Motors is the largest automaker in India, and has finally rolled out the much anticipated Nano.
Business Week states that Tata Motors is going to be doing a lottery to determine who will be able to buy the first Nano cars. Experts are keeping an eye on Tata Motors (parent company is Tata Group) and if this is really going to be bringing in some additional revenue for the company. Because of the low low price, experts don’t plan on this initial roll out to produce high profits for the auto maker. Tata Motors recently payed just over $2.3 billion for Jaguar and Land Rover. Let’s see if this car price and size sparks an interest with the US auto makers, who seem to already have an eye on creating their own version.
The auto finance industry is an industry Leadpile Lead Exchange is always keeping an eye on, and possibly something like this can spark some interest in consumers going out to purchase cars again… that is if you think you can fit in a little car like this? ummmmmmmm?