The nation’s first auto auction is celebrating its fifth time taking home GM Financial’s top auction award. As part of the lender’s annual nationwide Auction of Excellence program, Rawls Auto Auction was named the 2013 Auction of the Year.

GM Financial reviewed its 44 participating auctions for their performance in areas including customer service, marketing promotions, pre-sale activities and overall auction success. After the evaluation, it deemed Rawls the winner.

The auction also won this award from GM Financial in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

“The road to Auction of the Year is a difficult one. Rawls makes it seem relatively simple,” said Brad Bollman, vice president of remarketing solutions at GM Financial.

“Throughout our relationship with Rawls, they are a consistent force in the rankings. They have shown excellence in marketing and brand awareness throughout the years,” Bollman continued. “From the moment a unit is consigned, you can see the care Rawls takes with getting our vehicles through the auction process.”

GM Financial announced this and other Auction of Excellence program awards at its annual Auction Summit in Dallas.

Accepting the award for Rawls Auto Auction was business development and marketing manager Angela Williams.

“We’ve won several times now, and we continue to strive to be the best. We’re the first established auction in the U.S., and we’re still independent. For us to be a small auction and win a major award means so much to us,” Williams said.

“This is a win for independent auctions. We have a great team, everyone works well together, and this is what we strive for,” she added.

GM Financial also announced 2013 regional winners. Rawls took top honors in the Southeast region, where it won regional Auction of Excellence awards for each quarter of 2013. It then competed with the four other regional winners for Auction of the Year honors.

Additional 2013 regional winners were:
— Northwest: Grand Rapids Auto Auction
— Northeast: Manheim Harrisonburg
— Southwest: ADESA Austin
— West: Brasher’s Sacramento Auto Auction

GM Financial named Tracy Ross of ADESA Syracuse as the Inside Coordinator of the Year award and named Jason Alldrid of Manheim Georgia Outside Coordinator of the Year.

Editor's Note: Auto Remarketing recently profiled Rawls Auto Auction as it celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2013. To read more about the history of this auction, see our story here.

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