In 28 years with Ally Financial, Robert Stahl has done a little bit of everything.

He has worked a repo lot, had multiple leadership tenures in remarketing, ventured into subprime finance and was involved in helping the SmartAuction online platform get off the ground.

But one lesson that has stuck with Stahl since his first job at Ally in the repo and collections arena is this: it’s the car and the customer that matter.

“The main thing that I have to keep telling myself is that it’s all about the car. That’s a slogan that we’ve used a lot around here, and we mention it a number of times when we start looking at new technologies or new innovation or consider pursuing this direction or that direction … it’s all about your relationship with the dealers and vendors,” said Stahl, who is executive vice president of remarketing at Ally Financial.

“For the most part, over the years, I’ve learned that dealers are going to go where the cars are,” he continued. “And I think that’s what made SmartAuction a success; we had cars that they wanted — off-lease cars, repossessions and GM cars. And regardless of where they’re at, as long as you’ve got a good supply, dealers are going to show up and buy them.”

That mindset, plus many others, has led to a successful three-decade career in the auto business and high respect from his peers in the business. And Auto Remarketing and Used Car Week recognized Stahl as the 2014 National Remarketing Executive of the Year, presented by ServNet, on Wednesday during the National Remarketing Conference.

“The National Remarketing Executive of the Year, presented by ServNet, is highly respected within the remarketing industry. Auto Remarketing and the National Remarketing Conference are very proud to be a part of this tradition and proud of this year’s recipient, Robert Stahl,” said Bill Zadeits, publisher of Auto Remarketing and Used Car Week conference chair.

Patty Stanley, who is owner of Carolina & Indiana Auto Auctions and the president of ServNet, had this to say about Stahl:

“ServNet congratulates Robert Stahl as National Remarketing Executive of the Year,” she said. “Robert has been a partner and friend of our industry for many years, and we applaud his tireless efforts to maximize remarketing opportunities.”

R. Charles Nichols, owner of BSCAmerica Auctions and chairman of the board at ServNet, added: “In the auto finance sector for most if not all of his career, Robert has quietly and unselfishly pushed the remarketing industry in new and creative channels, all while serving his company, investors and the dealers they serve.”

Early Days on the Repo Lot

Stahl has been with what’s now known as Ally the entirety of his career. And it all got started back in the mid-1980s in south Florida, where he began working on the repossessions side of the company’s collections operation.

“You worked your own accounts, repossessed your own cars in the afternoons or when you were on your way home a lot of times. It was a fun time back then,” he said.

In fact, the site where Stahl worked had its own repossession lot where dealers would come to buy cars wholesale. In 1986, he said, there wasn’t as many auctions around in that area.

So, when vehicles were repossessed in south Florida, the company would often take care of remarketing the cars themselves from the repo lot (although they did take some vehicles to auction).

This experience, Stahl said, taught him a great deal about the wholesale and used-car market from that experience. So how did auction sales at the on-site repo site work?

“It’s kind of funny when you think about it now. It was a closed-bid sale. So, we would sell about a 100 to 150 vehicles a week. They would come in, they would get cleaned up, and we would do our reconditioning. And the dealers would come in a day before,” Stahl said.

“Back then, the lots were full the day before the sale because nothing was sold online. All the dealers would come in and kicked the tires and make sure they knew which vehicles they wanted to buy. And then, they would submit their closed, sealed bid to us,” he continued.

Once it was time for the sale to close, all the bids were gathered and entered into an IBM computer. Bills of sale were created, and winners were announced.

“High bid won. There was no auctioning off on an auction block back then for that particular sale,” Stahl noted. “It’s totally different now.”

Different, yes, but much of what Stahl learned then still applies today.

In addition to the importance of the car and the customer, Stahl said another lesson he gleaned was that, “you’ve got to always maintain integrity and look for win-win solutions with your people and with your vendors.”

Much like any auction today, the repo lot where Stahl worked had many vendors, who specialized in anything from reconditioning to wheels and tires. Each of these vendors, plus the buyers, sellers and the auction itself, has a certain financial goal and deals with financial pressures.

“It’s always a challenge that you face in any industry, from time to time. I learned early on that as long as you deal with them in an honest and up front manner and build those relationships and look for win-win solutions, those guys are great partners and always interested in helping you succeed,” Stahl said. “So, I look for ways to help them succeed, while we can succeed at the same time.”

And, of course, the relationship with the dealer is huge — and has been throughout every area of the business in which Stahl has worked.

“Without the dealers, we’re not selling any cars. Without the dealers, we’re not receiving any retail business,” Stahl said. “Our whole business model is built around dealers buying and selling vehicles, and us being able to finance them and us being able to dispose of our repossessions and our off-lease vehicles. The relationship you build with those dealers goes a long way.”

Even the personal relationships matter a great deal. Sometimes, he said, dealers will come to the auction simply because of the rapport you build with them.

“They like showing up there to see their friends and talk about the industry and network. And it makes a big difference if you’re good at building relationships with your dealers,” Stahl said.

What’s Big in 2015

In the past two to three years, there has been a great deal of interest and discussion at industry events around multiplatform remarketing.

“There’s rumor in the industry (that) a couple of the major auctions are working on a new platform. The one that’s out there now provides for multi-listing, and the deal comes off the other platforms once you receive the floor bid on one platform,” he said.

“A multi-bid solution is being discussed at a high level as a next step; however, details have not been introduced to the marketplace at this time. We welcome innovation to the market that might improve the experience for our dealer customers,” he added.

Another hot topic in the used-car business this year has been the increasing level of supply. This trend has been particularly interesting to Stahl, who was on the remarketing side of the business in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before moving to another area of Ally’s business and coming back to remarketing in 2010.

“When I came back, the market started changing, unlike it ever did before, with the supply in the market and the economy … what we see is that right now the market is returning to more normal levels,” Stahl said. “It’s made us all look like heroes in the last couple of years, because the market has been really strong — based on historical levels — and it’s still strong now.”

That said, there certainly are challenges that come with fluctuations in vehicle volume. But the business has adapted.

“The industry has adjusted to the lower volumes that were coming back, and now they’ve done a great job adjusting to the higher volumes,” Stahl said.

And increased supply impacts all parties involved. With higher volumes of vehicles in the market, that means higher volumes for transport and logistics companies, a greater number of vehicles that have be processed by inspection companies, and so forth.

“We’ve been planning for that for the last couple of years,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a nice, robust used-car market with a lot of supply.”

Beyond the multiplatform and return to normal vehicle supplies, one of the focuses that Stahl said Ally has is maximizing technologies and innovation to benefit not only their company, but also their clients, as well.

“Our main focus is on ‘what else is out there? How do we develop? How do we partner with the auctions, the transportation companies and all the different vendors in the industry to provide new and creative solutions to our customers?’” he asked. “And our customers are our dealers, for the most part. How do we get dealers in front of our cars, bidding on our cars?”

There are always new solutions and products hitting the market, so Ally has a team that examines those innovations to see if they can help bring about more efficiency.

“That’s what makes this business fun. Everything is always changing. I’m excited about the next couple of years and all the changes in the industry. I think five years from now, it’s going to be totally different again. When I was out of the remarketing for six years, it totally changed,” Stahl said.

“When we started up SmartAuction and the online piece, there was a lot of skeptics out there thinking that cars won’t sell online, dealers have to kick the tires. And now you see how well the online market has blossomed. I think it’s going to continue to grow,” he added. “A lot of people didn’t think it would change; and it continues to change.

“It continues to change at a faster rate, and we’re trying to keep up with that technology and provide the best solutions we can to our customers,” he concluded