When Patsy Staub drove by Manheim Pennsylvania auction 28 years ago, she wasn’t sure exactly what went on all day at the mammoth facility that stretches for acres upon acres of Lancaster County.

“And then I saw a job advertisement, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll go in and check it out,’” Staub said. “If anybody had told me I would spend my career here, I would have thought, ‘You’re crazy. I know nothing about cars; I’m not a big car nut or anything like that.’”

But that’s exactly what happened — and it has been an exciting time these past few decades, said Staub, who is a manager in the commercial accounts department. The auction celebrated its 70th anniversary last week, and Auto Remarketing made the trip to southeastern Pennsylvania to get an inside look at what is said to be the largest auto auction in the world. 

“It has grown and changed,” Staub said. “And even though you’re doing somewhat the same process every week, there’s always something different.

“There’s always something new to learn, especially over that time period," she added, referring to her now 28-year tenure at the auction.

Additional opportunities in wholesale

The kind of change that has swept through the auction business and particularly these last few years, certainly brings with it challenges — but also opportunities. 

That appears to be the case at Manheim Pennsylvania.

Take, for example, some of the areas of this auction (or any auction, for that matter) that go beyond the buying and selling of cars, like its reconditioning facility or post-sale inspection center.

In fact, the auction was expecting to do between 1,500 and 1,800 post-sale inspections during its anniversary week.

Areas like this can bring additional business opportunities for the auction beyond the actual sale, which could be even more important down the road as the Internet continues to change how cars are bought and sold in the physical environment.

Manheim Pennsylvania general manager Julie Picard said that with dealers backing off, to some degree, from the reconditioning aspect of the business and focusing more on the sales side, the auction has a chance to boost its business through avenues like its paint-and-body shop and detail shop.

“We’ve had some larger dealerships contact us and want us to start doing the reconditioning work in order to make them front-line ready,” Picard said, noting that staffing needs would have to be a big focus to be able to potentially expand the number of shifts in the paint/body shop and the detail shop.

“So, there’s a lot of opportunity there, there really is, to be a 24-7 (resource) for our dealers in any way, shape or form that they need,” she added.

On sale days, those dealers travel from places as far away as Seattle or Dallas, California or Montana. Or right at home in the Keystone State.

“There just isn’t one state, I don’t think, where we don’t sell to, every week,” Picard said.

Long-tenured wholesaler 

One of the folks from whom those dealers might be buying is Bob Adcock, the chief executive officer of Adcock Bros. Inc., a wholesaler located less than a half-mile from the auction.

Adcock, who has been coming to Manheim Pennsylvania for 43 years, started out just selling a handful or so cars a week at the auction, only to grow and grow over time. 

Today, the company goes beyond just wholesaling, and handles things like auto transport and reconditioning, just to name a few of its additional specialties. According to the company, Adcock Bros. buys and sells between 500 and 700 cars each week.

 “It’s not easy, the finding and buying. It takes a lot of effort, and you’ve got to be there,” Adcock said of being a wholesaler. “You’ve got to be consistent with your dealers.

“And they start relying upon you,” he added.   “And that’s our benefit … we help them, same as they’re helping us. We’ve got the check right there for them … and that business is behind them now, and then they can go to the next case.”