HILTON HEAD, S.C. -

As luxury units remain scarce this fall season, one new dealer-to-dealer sales website aims to “ease the burden” of finding quality, highline vehicles for franchised dealers.

Highlinesale.com, a site dedicated to wholesale luxury vehicles, touts 10,000 pre-screened luxury vehicles and is “expanding daily,” Cliff Varn, vice president of sales told Auto Remarketing. 

And of those vehicles, 30 percent are certified pre-owned, while the rest are in-warranty.

And sites like this may be a welcome tool for dealers specializing in the luxury market, as AutoTrader.com recently noted that last month's supply trends found that, once again, vehicles in this segment remain elusive.

According to September’s installment of vehicle scarcity data that is provided monthly to Auto Remarketing by AutoTrader.com, CPO luxury vehicles, in particular, are becoming increasingly scarce nationally.   

On top of potentially easing the task of finding quality, used luxury inventory, Varn explained the site’s model aims to “fix the problem arising from having a front-line vehicle on the wrong lot.”

Ned Nielson, president of the site headquartered in Hilton Head, S.C., who has also been working on the Highlinesale.com model for over two years, gave the following example:

“For example, if a Honda dealer trades for a Corvette, it looks good on the dealer’s lot, but it may just sit there. In that time span, the dealer may have been able to sell at least two Civics. With Highlinesale.com, that Honda dealer puts the Corvette on the site and perhaps that unit can find the right lot where it will sell immediately,” Nielson said.

On the site, which company officials note is set up in an auction format similar to eBay Motors, dealers can also post on the “Want List,” which broadcasts what cars they are in the market for and in what area.

“Every dealership is always looking for vehicles,” Nielson said. And with this feature, a dealer can post what their store is looking for, and “our system will e-mail you when those vehicles are located,” he added.

The Cars that Make It

Nielson and Varn also explained to Auto Remarketing the in-depth screening process and point system the cars are labeled with once they make it on the site.

Varn said that the site “pre-screens every vehicle for damage history, low mileage, and a valid in-service date.

"On our site you can also pull back the original factory Monroney label with factory options and prices on every car so you know exactly what you are buying," he added.

And after the screening process is completed, the cars are given a five-star rating, “so dealers can be assured that our vehicles are low-mileage, front-line ready, in-warranty, accident-free and in possession of a clean title,” Varn said.

“So basically we're taking the guess work out of car buying online so they don't even have to go to the auction … Our site finds the right car on the wrong lot and  helps dealers turn inventory fast,” he continued.

Dealers can also use the site’s recall link to investigate any recalls on vehicles that they are purchasing.

And as for pricing, Highlinesale is connected to Black Book’s CPI Value Guide. Moreover, auction-price data is provided on pricing drop-down boxes for posted units and feeds directly from “NADA Daily and its feeds from ADESA, MMR, ABC, ServNet and key independent physical auctions," Varn said.

“We are using Black Book Daily providing up to the minute pricing information,” he added.

For more information, see Highlinesales.com.

Editor’s Note: For more information on the new Highlinesales website, see the Dec. 1–15  issue of Auto Remarketing.