OPENLANE Says Certified Auction Program Continues to Gain Ground

In the first three weeks of the new year, OPENLANE said its Certified Auction Partner program has continued to gain steam as it builds upon the progress made since its fourth-quarter 2009 roll-out.

More than 45 auction partners have joined CAP following its launch and the company expects to see more expansion this year. OPENLANE also has additional partnerships in the works.

Basically, CAP gives independent auctions another online remarketing avenue via OPENLANE.com. Partners have access to simultaneous multi-channel marketing and sales opportunities. Furthermore, they can utilize CAP to generate more exposure for their vehicles.

OPENLANE says its current CAP partners post about 2,000 vehicles each day to the company’s website.

Listings have apparently shown significant gains during January’s first three weeks, officials pointed out. There has been about a 400-percent year-over-year increase in CAP sales.

“The success of the CAP program since its inception has been truly remarkable thanks to the willingness of our program partners and consignors to explore new ways of marketing and selling vehicles that bring the best of both the physical and online auction processes together,” stated Greg Lubrani, OPENLANE’s business line director, independent auctions.

“The continued momentum of the program and high volumes of vehicles that are being listed on a daily basis underscore not only OPENLANE’s dedication to creating innovative programs that help to serve everyone in the remarketing value chain, but that also have a proven impact on the bottom line for all participants,” he added. “We are looking forward to another exciting year of working with our auction partners and expect to see considerable growth in the number of auctions joining us nationwide throughout 2011.”

Continuing on, explaining how CAP can benefit dealers, consignors and auctions partners, officials noted that these three parties can tap into one another’s sales channels. For example, OPENLANE has more than 25,000 dealers as part of its network to which CAP participants can reach out.

The parties can utilize the service offerings OPENLANE provides, like marshaling and reconditioning, just to name a few.

“Many CAP program participants have been able to leverage OPENLANE’s services to expand their own service offerings, working with local dealers to list and inspect vehicles still on the lot,” the company pointed out.

Thanks to having additional inventory at their disposal and being able offer more services, independent auction providers have more revenue-generating opportunities and a more efficient way to work with dealers in their area. This, of course, can help drive more profits.

“I’m very satisfied with the OPENLANE team and with my purchases from ABC Birmingham through the CAP Program,” said Mahmoud Azab, president of Car Values. “Everything was represented correctly, the pictures were very descriptive and accurate and the team walked me through the entire purchasing process.