The fact that the date of his upcoming retirement, April 1, coincides with the prank-happy holiday is purely a coincidence.

“To start with, that’s not an April’s Fool’s joke,” Ricky Beggs told Auto Remarketing by phone on Tuesday afternoon in his first interview since his retirement was announced. 

Yes, the senior vice president and editorial director at Black Book is retiring after 34 years with the company. He and his wife, Vicki, plan to “catch our breath and enjoy it.”

Certainly well-deserved for someone who’s been one of the most recognizable and respected voices of an industry. And it’s a two-way street — the respect garnered by Beggs among his remarketing peers is mutual.

Calling the remarketing business the best part of the auto industry, Beggs said that “it’s new and fresh every day; it’s always changing.”

His favorite part of the business? “The excitement of the industry and the people that are in it,” he said.

Beggs said the decision to retire was tough. He began thinking about it three years ago and ultimately decided last year.

“This has been my life. To step away from that was a challenge,” he said. “It was hard.”

In his three-plus decades in remarketing business, there have been some big changes overall, including the amount of information that’s out there, where that info comes from and how it is delivered, he said.

One thing that won’t change, Beggs said, is the level of service his company provides, with Anil Goyal heading up editorial and analytic operations and Kevin Giddens set to lead the day-to-day editorial operations.

“They won’t skip a beat with the knowledge and insight we have here,” he said.