In the Opening Keynote Panel for the National Remarketing Conference Wednesday afternoon, key remarketing executives from General Motors, AmeriCredit/GM Financial, Donlen and Subaru discussed the volume shortage and how each of their companies handles this challenge.

Executives sitting on this panel included Dan Kennedy, of GM; Dan Heinrich, of AmeriCredit/GM Financial; Gus Xamplas, of Donlen, which was recently acquired by Hertz; and John Manchin, of Subaru.

Manchin opened the discussion by saying, “Change is something no one likes, but that is all we did this year.”

He said Subaru has been dealing with some big supply issues. The volumes are so low that Manchin said he has auctions scheduled through December, but said he isn’t so sure about early next year. He noted he has  been trying to corral units together to continue to hold closed sales for dealers, but that it’s getting to the point where he will be remarketing everything online. Volumes are that low.

He said the auctions have been doing a good job of ensuring dealers know how to log in and bid online.

“If they can attend virtual, it works,” Manchin said.

According to Xamplas, “We will be remarketing depreciating assets again in the very near future.” He is referring to the significant run up in average wholesale prices.

Heinrich noted that his company had to reduce the number of sales at some auctions from two a month to one, given the volume.

Meanwhile, Kennedy said it is a challenge being able to provide enough volume for GM dealers to supply their certification programs. He started to see more vehicles coming back in September and October, but said volumes are declining again.

“Dealers are going farther to find vehicles and paying more,” Kennedy pointed out.

He’s noticed dealers buying deeper in the open sales to meet demand. Furthermore, his company has stepped up to recondition vehicles that it normally wouldn’t in the past.

While many of the executives on the panel were seeing these low volumes, Donlen is apparently another story.

“We have had a pretty consistent supply of off-fleet vehicles,” he pointed out. And he’s seeing dealers go after them, spending more than they would have in the past.

The executives all agree that auctions have gotten much more creative in driving dealers into the lanes to bid on the sales.

“They have really been trying to draw the dealers back to lanes,” Heinrich said, sending the auctions kudos.

But the one thing the low volumes have given the executives is more time. Manchin said his company is using this time to improve the process and make the changes the team had previously been too busy to do. This is so that when the volumes do come back, the remarketers are ready.