Waverly, N.Y. & San Antonio, Texas -

The owners of the 31 ServNet Auctions locations met up at the end of October in Waverly, N.Y. for the Fall Owners’ Meeting. The event, which took place Oct. 23 through Oct. 25, was hosted by the Barber family at State Line Auto Auction. The family, as part of the founding members of the auction group, is moving into its third generation of ownership and management.

“This year’s meeting was outstanding,” said ServNet president Patty Stanley, who owns Carolina Auto Auction with her husband Henry. She and Henry also own Indiana Auto Auction with their son Eric Autenrieth. 

“We decided to start a new tradition for the fall meeting that includes visiting a ServNet auction facility. It is refreshing to get back to our roots in seeing how other high performing businesses operate in our industry,” Stanley said. 

The meeting took aim at several tasks, the first to endorse the membership of Winchester Auto Auction, the newest ServNet location. A significant focus was made on discussing multi-platform selling, along with other strategies. The success of two new programs that began in 2014 was also reviewed, including ServNet’s 20 Group and ServNet’s Fleet/Lease Manager Conference.

“Programs such as these bring tremendous value to our member auctions,” Stanley said, “as they allow us to share best practices and discuss both common challenges and successes.”

Several other topics were covered, including the succession plans for ServNet’s leadership team.

News from Sparkling City 

Nearly 2,000 miles away, in San Antonio, Texas, the Sparkling City Auto Auction announced a couple of expansions to its sales plans, including the opening of a sixth lane and a second sale day.

“Needing more room to grow is an exciting opportunity for us at Sparking City Auto Auction of San Antonio,” said Wade Walker, the auction’s owner. “We started out with four auction lanes and added a fifth lane just last year. Now four years in operation, we’re adding our sixth lane and have added a second sale day on alternate Thursdays to keep up with rising demand and to best serve our customers.”

The auction’s sixth lane opened for the first time on Nov. 11, while the auction hosted its first Thursday afternoon sale the week before.

“Our new Thursday afternoon sale starts at 4 p.m. and features fresh consignment, giving our customers a second opportunity during the week to purchase the best inventory available in the San Antonio market,” Walker said. “We’ll be holding this Thursday afternoon sale every other week through the end of the year, and then expect to hold it weekly in January.”