It’s already been an eventful 2019 for the XLerate Group. The auction company announced a pair of acquisitions on Friday, adding Morton Auto Auction (MAA) located in Morton, Ill., and Southeastern Auto Auction (SEAA) based in Savannah, Ga. With these acquisitions in the portfolio, XLerate Group now operates 12 auctions with sales in California, Florida, […] [Read More]

KAR Auction Services executive Peter Kelly has been named president of the company, a newly created position. In a news release Tuesday, KAR said the new role is, “aimed at aligning KAR’s strategy and execution to streamline operational integrations, enhance product development, and accelerate growth,” and follows years of investments and acquisitions that have significantly (and […] [Read More]

Black Book’s latest wholesale observations — both its Used Vehicle Retention Index for December as well as its Market Insights report recapping the opening week of 2019 — highlighted softening prices, reinforcing what one auction told editors that tax season might be “more of a myth than a reality.” Beginning first with the December Used […] [Read More]

You might have read in my prior editorials that I don’t believe the current physical auction is the wave of the future. Counters and their inherent lines should be a thing of the past, with counters creating the “them and us” mentality. My view is that customer service representatives should be floating through all aspects […] [Read More]

Make that 23 locations in the ServNet family. The auction group closed its 30th year by bringing in FastLane Auto Exchange, in the Michigan town of Mount Morris, which is north of Flint. This gives ServNet a presence in the Upper Midwest. “The ServNet auction owners welcome yet another new facility to our ranks,” ServNet […] [Read More]

Lake Charles Auto Auction finished 2018 on quite a high note. On Dec. 12, the operation located in Lake Charles, La., celebrated the grand reopening of its new main office building that consists of 4,000 square feet. The auction offered more than 700 vehicles and sold more than 400 units with an average value of […] [Read More]

A winner of Auto Remarketing’s Certified Pre-Owned Dealer of the Year Award was the location for Manheim’s latest growth initiative in the Midwest. In a move the company described as being “committed to meeting local dealer needs and establishing operations in underserved markets,” Manheim established Manheim Iowa, its first mobile auction site in the state. The […] [Read More]

Auto Auction Services Corp., which is also known in the industry as AutoIMS, has named a new chief executive officer. Replacing the retiring Mike Broe in this post is Venkat Krishnamoorthy, who was most recently the company’s chief operating officer. Krishnamoorthy has been with AutoIMS since 2002. “I’m delighted that the board has promoted Venkat. […] [Read More]

In an episode recorded at Used Car Week in late 2018, ADESA president John Hammer sat down with Joe to talk about the challenges and opportunities for auctions, where ADESA is finding the next generation of talent and the investment in brick-and-mortar. Plus, how ADESA decides whether to build or buy, the trends driving major purchases by […] [Read More]

Late-model auction volume showed some decline heading into the final month of 2018, according to the latest Guidelines report from J.D. Power Valuation Services. Through 11 months, however, year-to-date volume was still beating year-ago figures by 4.7 percent, the report said. For context, late-model auction volume had climbed 5.3 percent through 10 months of 2018. As […] [Read More]