REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — OPENLANE and HomeNet Automotive entered into a partnership Wednesday with short-term incentives geared to help dealers list and move their aged inventory on the wholesale market.

Dealers using HomeNet's flagship product — the Inventory Online Internet Marketing Suite — can publish used-vehicle inventory on OPENLANE's Open Auction. Officials contend the listings can assist these dealers in selling their available wholesale vehicles to a nationwide audience of more than 25,000 franchise and independent stores on a 24-hour basis, seven days a week.

As an added bonus, OPENLANE is offering a special incentive to HomeNet dealers who use the service during July and August. Management explained all HomeNet dealers that utilize IOL to list and sell three vehicles through OPENLANE's Open Auction through Aug. 31 will receive a $300 AMEX gift card.

Through this partnership, executives believe HomeNet users now have a quick and seamless way to control the distribution of both retail and wholesale units from one convenient tool. They assert the tool should save dealers time and money, while providing maximum exposure for vehicles for sale.

From within IOL, HomeNet pointed out selling dealers can publish their wholesale used-vehicle units to OPENLANE's Open Auction with one click and manage their entire online inventory from one centralized location.

"Partnering with OPENLANE provides HomeNet's dealers with an efficient way to list their wholesale vehicles, any time, any day, while they're still on the lot," explained Andy McBride, chief operating officer of HomeNet Automotive.

"By allowing dealers to market their vehicles to both a retail and wholesale market simultaneously, dealers can maximize their alternatives — and their chances of a quick sale while reducing depreciation and transport costs to and from physical auctions," McBride continued.

In addition, OPENLANE reiterated that it handles the sales from end-to-end, including all payments, title transfers and arbitration. HomeNet users can also utilize a single sign-on so they can transfer vehicle inventory from IOL directly to OPENLANE's listing with one online process.

"Integrating the HomeNet Inventory Online suite with the OPENLANE platform helps unite the retail and wholesale sides within auto dealerships, reducing turn time, which has become more and more critical to efficient operations," stated Andrew Iorgulescu, vice president of business development for OPENLANE.

"Partners like HomeNet bring an even fuller set of value-added services to the dealers who rely on OPENLANE on a daily basis to source their inventory," Iorgulescu added.