This week, Black Book editorial director Ricky Beggs sat down with International Automotive Remarketers Alliance president Levi McCoy, and IARA executive director Tony Long for the second time to discuss developments in the pre-owned market, including multiplatform selling.  

This week’s “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report touched on insight from the two IARA leaders on the current strength of the market, supply levels, technology, education and more.

Beggs began by focusing on used supply, as the recent influx of off-rental vehicles are flooding the wholesale market these days.

McCoy began by pointing out a comment Manheim senior vice president and chief strategy officer Joe George made at the recent NAAA/CAR/IARA event in Las Vegas. George asked the industry: it's raining cars, now what do we do?

McCoy said the increased used supply is “a good thing, but there could be downside to that, like a supply-and- demand type of situation. But we expect strong volume, at least for now.

“We had a strong first quarter with lots of ordering (on the fleet side of the business), which means we will eventually have those cars on the remarketing side. Q1 has been good, and we expect continued success during the rest of the year,” McCoy continued.

He predicted prices will remain strong for 2014, allowing for seasonal adjustments, of course.

Last week, market conditions continued to bring softer values in both the car and truck segments after tax-season highs, said Beggs. Last week, only 41 percent of the price changes were increases, which marks the lowest percentage of price hikes since the week ending Feb. 21.

The conversation then switched to another hot topic in the business: multiplatform selling.

Long explained that the biggest implication of the switch to multiplatform selling is increased transaction speed.

“Multiplatform selling and the implications of AutoGrade bringing consistency to that process, is a major thing … the one big thing that I think is going to make a difference is speed. Everything is going to be so much faster with the implementation of multiplatform,” Long said.

“We are going to find outlets for the vehicles that maybe haven’t found an outlet before, and they are going to find them faster. Buyers are going to be able to fill their retail orders in a much quicker manner,” he continued.

He explained with this increased speed, challenges will moste likely pop up in the transportation and inspection side of the business.

“There are a lot of moving parts in this, and it is going to affect the market, but overall … I think this will make it better for everyone in meeting the needs of the customers and moving those vehicles a little quicker than we’ve been able to. Speed is the word right now,” Long said.

To watch the full interview, see the latest “Beggs on the Used Car Market” video report above.

To check out part one of Beggs' interview with IARA leaders, see the Auto Remarketing story below:

IARA Leadership Enthused About Current Growth Path