ADDISON, Texas -

Coinciding with the company saying it has reached record-breaking levels of dealer enrollment on its automated instant wholesale vehicle trade platform, CarOffer appointed one of its existing executives as chief operating officer.

According to a news release distributed on Friday, CarOffer made the move effective immediately to install Scott Johnston as COO.

In his new role, the company said Johnston will oversee all CarOffer operations, customer service and support. Additionally, he’ll continue to manage and execute strategic initiatives of the company, ensuring resources are matched to product and operational growth goals.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Scott for several years and his expertise and insights have helped fuel our successful growth trajectory,” CarOffer founder and chief executive officer Bruce Thompson said in the news release.

“In the more than 25 years of starting and running companies, I’ve never been around a better operator. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for what CarOffer has become and will be in the future,” Thompson continued.

The company noted that Johnston previously served two years as CarOffer’s chief strategy and partnerships officer, where he played a critical role in managing operational activities and overseeing third-party partnerships, as well as the company’s most recent partnership with CarGurus.

Before the launch of CarOffer, Johnston served as vice president of operations for Pearl Technology Holdings, also led by Thompson, and oversaw the rollout of the Pearl products VehicleXchange, Pearl Proximity, ShowroomXpress and Pearl360.

Prior to that juncture, Johnston was with CDK Global for 22 years where he held multiple leadership roles in implementation and business operations.

“I am very excited for this opportunity. I believe CarOffer truly differentiates how dealers buy and sell vehicles,” Johnston said. “It’s a privilege to work with such a talented team of associates who are dedicated to helping our dealer customers become even more successful.”

Johnston takes over as COO during an exciting juncture in CarOffer’s existence that’s only been since August 2019.

CarOffer highlighted that dealer enrollment in the platform — which can enable dealers to buy and sell vehicles using real-time instant offers — totaled more than 1,400 new dealer rooftops in March and April, the highest level of enrollment over any two-month period to date.

The company explained the enrollment figure reflects that CarOffer and the applicable dealer have signed an enrollment agreement to participate on the CarOffer platform and CarOffer has entered such dealer’s rooftops in its sales management system.

Thompson attributed the growth in part to a pandemic-fueled rise in pre-owned demand coupled with new-vehicle microchip shortages.

“The unprecedented demand for used vehicles is a constant source of stress for every dealer today. Dealers struggle with how to source used vehicles beyond their local market and with operational efficiency to maximize profitability,” Thompson said in the same news release.

“The CarOffer platform gives dealers access to used vehicles not just in their vicinity, which is often limited, but regionally and even nationally. Beyond the number of dealers jumping onto our platform, our transaction volume has increased an average of more than 50% over the last two months, and May is off to an even better start,” Thompson continued, as the company mentioned that transaction volume includes dealer-to-dealer transactions, OfferGuard, and 45-day guarantees.

“The more dealers on the platform that are buying and selling, the more options there are to acquire used inventory and offload aged vehicles. We are thrilled to offer shelter in the ongoing used inventory struggle,” Thompson went on to say.

CarOffer reiterated that its platform is geared to works much like an online stock trading application, mimicking the 24/7 ability to set buy or sell preferences and let the automated system source vehicles or buyers.

Here is how that’s supposed to function:

• To buy vehicles, dealers can place limit orders and quotas for units they wish to acquire through a user-friendly interface that allows them to set desired pricing, equipment, mileage and condition of the vehicles they want to purchase; the automated technology fulfills the orders seamlessly.

• To sell vehicles, dealers can log in to see pending live offers on their inventory units and accept offers they want and check out via a familiar shopping cart checkout process. The system automatically can place binding offers on hundreds of thousands of vehicles each day, creating the first instant liquidity trading platform for vehicles.

“All CarOffer dealer customers benefit from a streamlined logistical support process that includes the handling of transportation, titling and inspections all delivered on one bill of sale,” the company said. “This facilitates nationwide trading to maximize inventory selection and efficiency.”