You may have seen LinkedIn posts this week involving Manheim.com, OVE and the vehicle listings from independent auto auctions.

On Friday, Auto Remarketing connected with Joe Kichler — senior vice president, digital and supply chain at OVE and Manheim parent Cox Automotive — to get some clarity on the decision made by the company and how all parties will be impacted.

Here’s what has changed:

In a move that started earlier this week, Manheim.com now only includes Manheim-facilitated vehicles. There will no longer be inventory from other auctions.

OVE will remain the “leading online marketplace aggregator” and include listings from independent auto auctions, Kichler said.

OVE will still include Manheim vehicles as well as inventory from the company’s auction partners.

“We’re keeping all the Manheim inventory on there. So if the buyer prefers that channel to see everything, it’s still all there for them to see,” Kichler said.

Manheim.com, then, is for buyers who just want to view Manheim vehicles. That would include everything from Manheim’s Simulcast vehicles to timed-sale inventory and upstream platform inventory — “everything where we’re responsible in essence for all the billing, the payments, the (arbitration) processes,” he said.

“So that means all that inventory now (on Manheim.com) is backed by Manheim’s people, our policies, special protections we may do versus others’ (policies) and our arbitration policy,” Kichler said.

“We thought that was very important for us being Manheim, that Manheim needs to have our ability to do that.”

Through market research prior to the change, Kichler said the company found some customers visiting Manheim.com were unaware that not all vehicles were under Manheim policy.

“So, if you go to Manheim.com, you think you’re buying from Manheim,” Kichler said of the confusion under the old format. “But we don’t control the policies across the board for all the independent auctions. And some of them do things a little differently.”

The goal, essentially, is to “clean up the consistency,” since outside auctions may have policies that differ from Manheim’s.

“We also think that because of that, once we separate, we can also allow more transparency and consistency in how folks want to do business, especially for us to control,” he said. “And this will also allow some more flexibility for the independents that they may not have had in the past.

“Another big one is that sometimes with features and capabilities, there may be things Manheim wants to do and it may not make sense for an independent,” Kichler said.

Some of the product and technology investments on the Manheim.com side might not work for the company’s independent auction partners, which can cause “strain,” he said.

“So, we thought the easiest way to clean that up was instead of having all inventory on both sides, just make it crystal clear where the inventory sits,” Kichler said. “And allow us to then do different things with OVE in the future to actually help the independents if they want to change things, do things differently than Manheim, and continue to invest because they are such a vital, important partner for us as we move forward.”

To be clear, OVE will still have all the Manheim inventory, in addition to inventory from independent auto auctions.

But instead of OVE and Manheim.com having the same inventory, Manheim.com will just have Manheim vehicles.

“We’re just changing what Manheim.com has to give more ability for us to influence the policies and procedures and technology that we want to do and that the independents may not always have wanted to do in the past,” Kichler said.

It also allows for OVE to be nimbler, he said.

“It gives us a lot of flexibility, new capabilities as that aggregator of all the inventory, where we can be much more specific and custom to the needs of the independents versus trying to make everyone fit in to what Manheim wants to do or historically has done.”