ATLANTA and CARMEL, Ind. -

Todd Wittbrodt is a prime example of how wholesale market activity is continuing to shift online. Wittbrodt owns Todd’s Car Team, an independent dealership established in 2004 that primarily sells late-model Honda and Toyota vehicles in Nashville, Tenn.

A Northwood University graduate whose experience includes time with Toyota and Lexus stores as well as owning and operating a Chrysler dealership, Wittbrodt turns to the Web to find inventory that can be sold as certified pre-owned units through CarMark Certified.

He keeps a modest inventory of less than 30 units, but keeping up that level remains a challenge in an auction world that just posted its first increase in volume since 2006.

“I have resorted to buying cars with methods I never thought I would,” Wittbrodt said. “I’m very particular about what I buy, so I’ve had to branch out to buy my cars. I buy a whole lot of cars online. That process is not perfect, but I could not make a living buying what I need to buy at my local auction. I have to branch out considerably to make it work.”

Auction companies are gearing their online capabilities to dealers just like Wittbrodt. No longer is a once-a-week trip to the physical location enough for most stores. A daily regimen of scouring online listings is often part of a used-car manager’s responsibilities.

“One significant outcome of the Internet has been that you can access many, many more markets,” said Joe George, senior vice president of product development at Manheim.

“It used to be that you’d go to the auction and whatever inventory was at the auction and whatever lanes you were able to cover, that was your exposure to the market,” George continued.

“Now through proxy bid capabilities, even at the auction you attend, you are able to cover more ground. You can get outside of your market to access inventory regionally or even nationally. It gives you a lot more opportunity to source the vehicles you need.”

George as well as Tim Zierden, senior vice president of dealer services for ADESA, offered some advice so all dealers can be successful in finding vehicles they need through online avenues.

1. Use the Web to Be More Efficient

George pointed out the wide array of tools now available that dealers can use to leverage the capability of the online wholesale marketplace, especially when it comes to research and transportation.

“Look to make yourself more efficient and effective by fully taking advantage of not only the great physical auction, but also utilize the mobile and Web-based utilities,” George said.

“Look to new ways to make the transportation process easier once you have purchased the cars physically or digitally,” he continued. “There’s some interesting offers out there allowing transporters and dealers to interact and actually bid on transportation work.

“There are quite a bit of tools out there that dealers can take advantage of to make their wholesale experience more efficient and more effective, too,” George went on to say. “You don’t have to travel. You have more time in the dealership to sell more cars so you can obviously buy more cars.”

Zierden also emphasized how used-car managers — especially the ones who are in charge of buying inventory — should familiarize themselves with how these websites work and understand the capability of inventory management tools.

“If you have questions, we have a lot of folks who are dedicated to really help our buyers become more effective with the sites both at our physical locations and over the phone in our operations center,” Zierden said.

2. Distinguish Between Retail and Wholesale Markets

Another point Zierden touched on focused on how dealers should keep in mind  the differences between  the retail and wholesale world. He explained how online platforms make these variations even more apparent.

“We talk to dealers a lot about the wholesale marketplace not being the retail space and what they are used to. With their retail cars, they’re shot-gunning them out to as many different places as they can, not paying particular attention,” Zierden said.

“In the wholesale auction marketplace, it is a little bit different,” he continued. “They need to pay more attention and manage their inventory a little bit more. We have people who can help with that.”

The most important element to be aware of, according to Zierden, is pricing units effectively for the wholesale market sale.

“It’s really a wholesale transaction space,” Zierden said. “Posting cars with retail pricing really doesn’t help anybody, either them as the seller or frankly the buyers who are looking for cars they need to fill their inventory.”

3. Leverage Depth of Info and Volume Online

Both ADESA and Manheim receive millions of unique visits monthly. George said Manheim averages 5.7 million monthly. Zierdan indicated ADESA’s level should be climbing, too, since OPENLANE technology integration should be completed in both the U.S. and Canada by this summer.

George explained that, “For us, there’s no distinction between physical and digital anymore, because we’ve enabled the ability for dealers to be able to put in simulcast bids via their mobile device. They can be standing in the lanes and bidding on a car three lanes over via their mobile device while being in the lane they’re standing in. What’s a digital transaction and what’s a physical transaction? It’s a really exciting time.”

Zierden insisted there is “just lot more breadth” to the online wholesale marketplace now.

“We’re putting more cars into those platforms. There’s more information in the platforms. We’re getting more guidance from guide books and stuff like that around the inventory and trying to provide the buyers with more tools and sellers with more tools,” he said.

“For a lot of people, it is a very efficient way to do business because they can see a much broader perspective of inventory in one place and with integrated transportation can get those cars delivered right to their doorstep without ever having to leave their office, which is a great advantage,” Zierden concluded.

Editor's Note: This story appears in our March 15-31 print edition of Auto Remarketing as part of our Spring Used-Car Market Report. For more comprehensive coverage of the wholesale and retail used-car markets, see this story and several others in our print and digital editions of the magazine.

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.