Barrett-Jackson’s got a momentous celebration in the works to celebrate its 45th anniversary, scheduled for the last nine days of January.
Best known for its collector car auctions, Barrett-Jackson has already announced several headline listings for its event slated for January 23-31 at WestWorld in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Two of these collectibles will include a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K and Boyd Coddington’s 1938 Lincoln Coddington V12 HEMI, otherwise nicknamed “The French Connection.”
The auction is already filling its docket with more than 1,500 rare and collectible vehicles.
“Our 2016 Scottsdale auction is particularly meaningful because it celebrates our 45th anniversary,” said Craig Jackson, chairman and chief executive officer of Barrett-Jackson. “My father, Russ Jackson, and his friend, Tom Barrett, started the auction with one auction and a few select cars. More than four decades later, Barrett-Jackson has become the premier collector car auction company for enthusiasts around the world. Of course, our 45th anniversary is as much about our future as our past and that’s why we continue to bring new assets to our events, such as the Experts’ Symposiums.”
Interested in attending the event? Find more information on available packages here.
Thirty-three percent – that’s the increase in lease maturities expected to possibly return to market in 2016 compared to this year – which translates to roughly 800,000 additional units on a year-over-year basis.
That’s according to J.D. Power’s estimates provided by Larry Dixon, the senior manager of market intelligence at NADA Used Car Guide.
Perhaps the most interesting angle of these anticipated lease returns, as mentioned in Auto Remarketing’s recent analysis of used-vehicle supply increases, is that the majority of vehicles expected to come back in 2016 don’t exactly fall in line with what’s selling right now.
According to Dixon, the off-lease supply in 2016 will be split as follows:
- 56 percent cars
- 44 percent trucks
But if you look at the broad-segment breakdown of current year-to-date new-vehicle sales, you’ll see that the opposite is the current trend in shopping interests:
- 56 percent trucks
- 44 percent cars
Let’s dive a bit deeper into those figures.
Compact and midsize cars, in terms of those two segments’ total share of lease maturities for 2016 to 2017, will average 33 percent. As Dixon points out, these two segments have experienced particularly soft pricing in both the new- and used-vehicle markets.
J.D. Power’s current year-to-date figures for those two segments, for used vehicles up to eight years in age, reveals a depreciation rate of 14.6 percent, compared to the overall market depreciation of 11.7 percent.
And Dixon says dealers can expect additional softness in used-vehicle prices next year as these off-lease vehicles return to market and inflate supply.
As expected, the vehicles returning next year will be predominantly three years of age, falling in line with what is typically the most-popular lease term.
Data from J.D. Power’s Power Information Network (PIN) reveals that lease terms between 36 and 41.9 months made up 79.4 percent of the lease originations made in 2013. That share stands at 80 percent CYTD.
Consolidated Asset Recovery Systems’ fourth appearance on the Triangle Business Journal’s annual Fast 50 list is also its first time coming in at No. 1, representing the top of the top of the fastest-growing private companies in the Raleigh-Durham area.
The company was founded by two software supply chain experts, Steven Norwood and Terry Groves, in 2005.
“We have a long history of growth and profitability,” Norwood said. “Our financial stability in the industry makes us the partner of choice for many service providers such as repossession, skip trace, door knock and auction agents. We are extremely grateful to our employees, customers and partners for helping make us the number one company on this year’s TBJ Fast 50 list.”
The Triangle Business Journal selects and ranks its Fast 50 winners annually based on a formula that counts revenue growth and profitability in the preceding three years – in this case, 2012 through 2014. The results and rankings were analyzed and verified by PwC, an accounting firm.
To find out more about CARS, visit its site here.
Dealer’s Auto Auction of Huntsville brought its year-to-date tally of charitable donations over $80,000 following its recent donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation that was announced on Thursday.
During a fundraising sale benefiting Make-A-Wish supported by local dignitaries and civic leaders along with dealers, the event raked in $32,775 in donations.
“For the past several years, we have used special event sales to give back to some very deserving charities that impact our community,” said Roger Fields, general manager of DAA Huntsville. “2015 is our biggest year to date, and it’s because our dealers and our staff care about more than just selling vehicles.”
How were the funds raised? The company says it was a combination of money acquired from auction fees, donations from partnering dealers, a silent auction of country music memorability, and contributions from the numerous companies that fall under the City Enterprises umbrella (DAA Huntsville’s parent company).
“The fact that these auction partners were willing to support us locally speaks volumes about DAA of Huntsville,” said David Andrews, City Enterprises’ president. “Because of their overwhelming generosity and support, the lives of the children in the Make-A-Wish community will benefit.”
Following the presentation of the donation, Fields addressed the auction crowd with a warm heart.
“This means that in Athens, Alabama, our little auction has accounted for $80,000 in fundraising this year,” Fields said. “We may be small, but we have the heart the size of the biggest auction you’ll find. I love you guys from the bottom of my heart, thank you for attending today, it means a lot to my team and to the people who receive your generosity.”
Want to learn more about the Dealer’s Auto Auctions? Check out their site here.
Liquid Motors today launches a fleet marketing service to assist fleet management companies in the remarketing process. The company also recently announced several enhancements to its One-Click wholesale service.
First off, Liquid’s fleet marketing service includes an easy-to-use mobile inspection application for drivers to perform self-inspections on vehicles about to be turned in, as well as a secure online portal for drivers, employees, grounding dealers and wholesalers to use to purchase the vehicles when they’re being grounded.
The vehicle can also be listed online via Liquid’s One-Click wholesale service.
Michael Daseke, Liquid’s president and chief executive officer, says his company was approached by several fleet management companies seeking to leverage its upstream wholesale marketing services.
"The results of those discussions culminated in the development of a comprehensive fleet marketing service to overcome the challenges of getting photos of the vehicle and vehicle condition data for fleet vehicles and to help sell more fleet vehicles earlier in the remarketing process,” Daseke said.
Here’s how it works, according to the company: When a vehicle is about to be turned, its driver is sent a notification about when they need to complete an inspection. Via a mobile inspection app available for both Android and iPhone, the driver uses the app to confirm the VIN and color of the vehicle, current mileage and then takes specified photos and answers various questions about the vehicle’s condition.
"Fleet management companies are looking to provide more value to their customers." said Cynthia Meyer, vice president of sales at Liquid Motors. “Selling fleet vehicles to drivers and employees provides a great employment benefit to their customer’s employees and selling more vehicles earlier in the remarketing process provides a large financial benefit as well.”
In other Liquid Motors news, the company also announced a partnership with several independent auctions in the U.S. to provide a new service to dealers. Using One-Click, dealers can list aged units on the wholesale marketplace with no monthly subscription required.
"For the past year, we have piloted an outside the gate program with some of our independent auction customers." Daseke said. "This new service is the next step to growing the program to a broader dealer audience."
Dealers will have access to manually list their aged vehicles or use “auto-launch” to automatically push the units. The only requirement for using the program is that the dealer must list their aged inventory, the vehicle must be listed within a reasonable percentage of the Manheim Market Report value and one of the participating independent auctions must be selected to facilitate the transaction.
Speaking of MMR, Liquid also announced this week its added support of MMR pricing on its One-Click service. MMR pricing is now listed on the manual listing screens and is also available to reach a figure for the program’s “auto-launch” feature.
"We are very pleased to work with Manheim to improve the quality of the pricing of vehicles listed from our One-Click Wholesale Service." Daseke said. "We believe the integration of MMR pricing will fuel additional success for our customers."
For more information about Liquid Motors, visit its site here.
Canadian auto tech company Selectbidder, best known for its auction-centric dealer trade networking platform, has been busy lately with the signing of three new auction locations on the Eastern Seaboard.
Selectbidder signed Bloomsburg Auto Auction in Bloomsburg, Pa., a couple weeks ago, and penned an agreement with Acadia Auto Auctions on Tuesday. The latter has two auction locations that will be serviced by Selectbidder: Port City Auto Auction in Richmond, Maine and Acadia Auto Auction in Carmel, Maine.
Auto Remarketing caught up with Sean Liptay, Selectbidder’s chief executive officer and owner of the Great Northern Auction in Moncton, New Brunswick, to learn more about the additions.
“We’ve been really focused on proving the model fit in the U.S. and we’re having really good success,” Liptay said. “We’ve signed up four auctions in different markets and we’re really immersed in getting the up and running right now.”
That fourth auction, Space Coast AA, was signed as Selectbidder’s first U.S. client following the NAAA Convention at the end of September. Liptay says the Melbourne, Fla. auction is still building its dealer network but really excited to completely roll-out the system.
According to Liptay, the relationship with the Acadia auctions was stirred up the old-fashioned way: by doing the legwork.
“Originally the Maine auto auctions we had popped in to visit them way back when we had the concept of rolling it out to other independent auto auctions,” Liptay said. “Unfortunately, they weren’t even there at that time so we had to circle back to them. But we had really good conversations with them and just basically picking up the phone and calling them. That’s the way these relationships have started, really.”
Looking back at Selectbidder’s home auction of Great Northern Auction in Canada, the only location where the Selectbidder system is completely rolled out, Liptay says the response from his own auction staff and the dealers utilizing the network has maintained its strength since it officially hit the ground in April.
“We’re still getting new signups and the auction sales people are still loving it,” Liptay said. “And loving being out there helping dealers move their trade-ins quicker.”
He also says the auctions really love the idea of the auction being the center of the dealer-to-dealer network.
“We hear that a lot,” he said. “Especially on the buying side of it, they’re really happy to have the auction and the infrastructure within the auction providing those extra services for this dealer-to-dealer network with the auction as the central hub. We hear that time and time again.”
Stay tuned to Auto Remarketing’s sister publication, Auto Remarketing Canada, as we next take a closer look at Selectbidder’s operations in its home country in our November-December issue.
KAR Auction Services chairman and chief executive officer Jim Hallett reiterated that it’s unlikely the company will close any more acquisitions before the end of the year even though he described the activity pipeline as “active.”
Hallett expanded on the point during the company’s latest quarterly conference call by stating, “I can tell you that the senior leadership team at KAR has been very much focused on really reviewing our strategy and clearly identifying what we believe fits and also what we believe doesn’t fit within the KAR strategy as we go forward.
“And I would say that probably my major focus right now is on expanding the buyer base and increasing our market share at ADESA,” Hallett added.
The second part of that comment triggered a series of follow-up questions from investment observers who dissected KAR’s third-quarter performance, which included year-over-year gains in revenue (13 percent to $666.7 million), adjusted EBITDA (9 percent to $163.1 million) and net income (10 percent to $52.3 million, or $0.37 per diluted share).
Hallett revisited the moves KAR already has made to boost its market share, including the acquisition of Pittsburgh Auto Auction earlier this year as well as the new facility in the Chicago market expected to open next year after management broke ground back in September. He insisted the company will continue to pursue brick-and-mortar auctions.
“By adding these brick-and-mortar auctions, there is no question as you go into a new market, you pick up new buyers and not only do you pick up new buyers for the physical auction, but there is a direct correlation with online buyers as to where you have the physical presence,” Hallett said. “So we believe that through these physical auctions we pick up the physical buyer and the online buyer.”
He added: “We’ve taken an opportunity to take a look at our buyers at IAA, take a look at our buyers at ADESA and where they overlap and is there an opportunity to get more the buyers from each of those segments buying in the other segment. We’ve absolutely proved that there is an opportunity to bring buyers from one segment to the other.”
Headwinds at IAA
Hallett acknowledged there are some “headwinds” being experienced at Insurance Auto Auctions. Among them during Q3 were a 17-percent rise in the cost of services. Still, IAA managed a 13-percent rise in revenue to $246.2 million in Q3 as gross profit climbed from $82.1 million to $87.3 million.
However, what’s impact IAA’s performance most is the deterioration in scrap metal prices. Hallett outlined some figures to illustrate the drop-off.
He indicated a crushed car body was selling for about $312 in January of last year. By December, the amount declined to approximately $198. Then when KAR’s third quarter closed on Sept. 30, Hallett pinpointed the sales amount at $124, marking a 60-percent decrease during the 21-month span.
That trend left IAA with a 3-percent drop in revenue per vehicle.
“There is no question that the management team and Insurance Auto Auctions are constantly reviewing their fees, and looking at their service offerings and certainly trying to offset the impact of scrap metal prices, but certainly haven't been able to increase the fees to a level where it completely offset the scrap metal prices,” Hallett said.
Yet another headwind Hallett touched on was the difference in currency rates between the U.S., Canada and other nations.
“As you know, the U.S. dollar is very strong compared to foreign currency, and this reduces the value of the local currency for our foreign buyers,” Hallett said. “These buyers are still very active. They’re still bidding. They’re bidding just as much.
“But unfortunately with their currency being devalued, they’re not able to pay as much for the vehicles as they've been able to pay in the past as they compete with the U.S. dollar,” he continued.
Perhaps these conditions might change soon, impacting IAA’s performance potential?
“I think that we’re going to continue to deal with scrap prices here for some time. I think we're going to continue to deal with foreign currency for some time,” Hallett replied.
“The management team at IAA is very focused on continuing to expand its opportunities working with expanding the buyer base and expanding some of the services that we were providing to the insurance companies,” he continued. “One of the areas that we're really focused on right now is the Total Loss Solution that we are working with the insurance companies that can really accelerate the turn times that it takes for a vehicle to come in and make its way back to the marketplace.”
More developments at TradeRev
During his opening comments, Hallett touched on developments associated with TradeRev. ADESA acquired a 50-percent stake in TradeRev last August. Toronto-based TradeRev began offering its services to dealerships in the Carolinas and Florida this summer.
“TradeRev remains a very, very high priority for me, and we’re allocating more resources to support the U.S. rollout,” Hallett said. “In fact, we are now tapping into some of the talent we have within the OPENLANE organization to assist us with the rollout of TradeRev here in the U.S.
“You know, it wasn't that long ago that OPENLANE was rolling out a technology product here in the U.S., and I think they have a lot of experience with rolling out a startup technology company,” he continued.
“I think there is a lot of similarities between the rollout of OPENLANE and TradeRev, and I think where it would be very wise to use that talent we have within the organization,” Hallett went on to say.
Then on Tuesday, TradeRev announced it hired two regional directors to drive the expansion of the company’s United States operations. TradeRev president and co-founder Mark Endras tapped Tim O’Rourke as the Southeast regional director and Michael Niebling as the Midwest regional director.
As the new regional directors in the United States, TradeRev highlighted O’Rourke and Niebling will be responsible for building and strengthening relationships with dealers and hiring in their respective targeted locations, as well as focusing on expanding the company’s overall U.S. footprint. O’Rourke’s work will focus in the Southeast region, where the company has been establishing a presence since this summer. Niebling will focus on building a TradeRev presence in the Midwest states.
“Tim and Michael bring years of knowledge and experience in effectively managing and growing companies in the automotive industry, and we are confident they will successfully lead our growth in these strategically selected markets,” Endras said.
“We’ve been focused on building and growing our footprint in the Southeastern United States for the past several months, and bringing Tim on as regional director to take over this ongoing expansion was the next logical step,” Endras continued.
“We also identified Chicago as a key place to share our game-changing technology next, as it is dense with car dealerships and partners, and centrally located among several different Midwest automotive hubs,” Endras went on to say.
Prior to TradeRev, O’Rourke was most recently the vice president of automotive at Netsertive, a Google premier partner, where he oversaw the development of an entire sales organization focusing on the automotive market. This included developing KPIs, establishing the ramping strategy, staffing, hiring and training processes.
O’Rourke also was the regional sales manager for Autotrader, where he was directing a team of more than 100, and then became the general sales manager for Manheim’s largest market, which included Manheim’s flagship auction, where he was responsible for building the outside and inside sales teams. During his time at Manheim, he influenced the development of sales teams from South Carolina through New England. He has a bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville University.
Niebling was previously the regional sales manager for Dominion Enterprises, where he was responsible for building and strengthening profitable business relationships with potential customers and business partners for product promotion. He was also the vice president of CompuCredit and was the director of sales for HSBC Bank. Niebling has a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University.
“As TradeRev continues to expand its footprint in the U.S., we needed two successful and experienced individuals on the ground, building and leading our teams in these two key regions,” said Peter Kelly, president of KAR Digital Services and chief technology officer of KAR Auction Services.
“The response from dealers in these markets to TradeRev’s unique and innovative technology has been overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to sharing it even more widely with Tim and Michael leading the way,” Kelly went on to say.
European visit
Hallett also mentioned that about a month ago, he made a trip to Canvey Island, England to visit with the newest part of ADESA (UK) Limited — HBC Vehicle Services — which the company acquired back in June.
HBC Vehicle Services provides efficient salvage collection and disposal services for some of the U.K.’s top insurance, fleet and accident management companies. Hallett used the visit to meet with management and other employees.
“I can tell you that these commodity prices are having a stronger impact, more negative impact on our U.K. operations than here in North America,” Hallett said. “As you know, and I think previously mentioned or stated on the call about 90 percent of our vehicles with HBC are purchased vehicles so the impact is being felt heavier.
“But the good news is I was very pleased while I was there,” he continued. “The management team had prepared for my arrival and they had actually outlined the strategy of how they plan on shifting the business model both for the seller and the buyer in terms of the pricing and they've actually made a shift in that respect
“I think they've got us in a good position going forward, and I think we'll be pleased with the outcome as we head into 2016,” Hallett went on to say. “But there has been no question in terms of our timing on acquiring that business and scrap metal prices being what they were, we got off to a difficult start.”
The visit also confirmed Hallett’s belief in supporting the team HBC Vehicle Services has in place.
“I think one thing that we've learned from our international relationships is, people very much appreciate allowing the local culture to kind of manage the local culture and not have people from the U.S. and North America come over and tell them how their business model should work. And at this point in time, we have no plans on changing or disrupting that model,” he said.
Sorry, fellow “Back to the Future” fans. No flying cars (yet).
But take heart. Here’s a vehicle-related prediction for 2015 that has a more immediate impact:
The year will finish with more than $1.2 trillion in combined revenues from used- and new-vehicle sales, according to TrueCar.
In an entry to the company’s Insights blog (published, appropriately enough, on Oct. 21), TrueCar says the industry will likely see a 7-percent gain in combined used and new revenue this year to reach this never-before-seen height.
Pushing this lofty sum, the company says, are “the highest transaction prices on record and robust total market volume.”
So, how much of a role will used cars have in all this? Well, even beyond your run-of-the-mill DeLorean sale, they’ll play a pretty big part.
TrueCar anticipates $640 billion in used-vehicle revenue (up from $599.7 billion a year ago) with 38.4 million used cars sold, a 3.8-percent increase over 2014.
(That unit sales figure includes franchised dealer, independent dealer and private-party sales).
As far as the current month goes, it should be fairly solid, as well.
Before the clock tower strikes 12 on Halloween night, the month's used-sales figure will likely have reached 3.14 million units (Pi, anyone?). That October sum, predicted by Edmunds.com, would beat the 3.04 million used sales the company calculated for September.
The resulting used-car SAAR for October would be 37.2 million, Edmunds says, down from 37.9 million last month.
Going back to the full-year 2015 predictions, the market may be well on its way to achieving that used sales figure TrueCar is forecasting.
According to data provided by the National Automobile Dealers Association, there were 30.71 million used sales in the first three quarters of the year, which is 1.8 percent higher than the 2014 pace.
There were just under 3.80 million used cars sold in September alone and 4.34 million sold in August, says NADA.
Both of those figures are up from 2014, when 3.61 million used cars were sold in September and 3.90 million were sold in August.
Putting the auction at the center of the retail trade-in process — sounds odd, right?
Not to Selectbidder, a Web platform and smartphone app that aims to utilize the auction’s traditional role of dealer network and bring it to the front end of the retail process to help get the dominos dropping a bit faster.
Based out of the Canadian city of Moncton, New Brunswick, Selectbidder has recently taken its first official strides into the United States market by signing its first U.S. wholesale partner, Space Coast Auto Auction, over 1,800 miles away in Melbourne, Fla.
It’s only fitting that that relationship was also auction-facilitated — in this case, at last month's National Auto Auction Association Convention in Orlando, Fla.
So how does it work? To put it simply, Selectbidder takes an auction’s already established network of dealers and connects those with recent or pending trade-ins to interested buyers.
With the primary objectives of speed and transparency at the forefront, the aim is to spread the auction’s role from the middle of the process to the very beginning, making it clear to everyone involved in the process what a fair trade-in price will be and minimize the discrepancy that can sometimes result between the trade-in price and the at-auction price.
According to Sean Liptay, Selectbidder’s chief executive officer, it took a bit of experimenting to decide to make the auction the center of the environment.
“The trials and tribulations of trying to start a tech company,” Liptay said in a conversation with Auto Remarketing at the convention. “It took us to this point to find out the right product and market, and it turns out it’s having the auction at the center of the ecosystem.”
The company reached that point after three years of building its dealer-to-dealer platform.
After growing up in the wholesale business and serving as the second-generation owner of The Great Northern Auction (TGNA), the largest public auto auction in Eastern Canada, it makes sense that Liptay would understand the role auctions have always played as the “original dealer network.”
Kevin Berry, Selectbidder’s chief operating officer, says that Liptay saw the future of brick-and-mortar auctions in peril. After TGNA launched its pilot with three dealers in April and put the program into full deployment in May, the company said that Selectbidder has helped the auction gain more customers and more touch points, and has increased traffic through its lanes.
“And as we started doing that, started experimenting with dealers, we realized that the auction actually provided a lot of the value-added services to it,” Berry said. “And we started talking to dealers, too, who had tried other dealer-to-dealer platforms, and we realized that that was a key component missing and that the auction is the local market maker.
“They provide that trusted mediator to be able to facilitate a lot of these transactions. From the pickup, to the detailing, to the title services. The financing for the buying dealers. Arbitration. The list goes on. So we did a pivot and said, ‘you know, we’re going to do a dealer-to-dealer platform for the auction,’ really realizing that the auction is the original dealer network.”
Logan Keirstead, serving as both a business development representative for TGNA and a marketing and sales rep for Selectbidder, says that the latter system not only helps speed up the process — which can take as little as 20 minutes (and sometimes less) to start receiving offers — but can also take the dealership away from being the “bad guy” during a trade-in.
“We understand that the trade-in process is painful for most people … It needs to be a quick turnaround, because the consumers really want a price as quickly as possible. So we tried to make it instant.”
She later added: “The used-car manager is no longer the bad guy. He can turn and say, ‘These are the real offers coming from the auction where it’s going to go. This is what I can offer you for your trade-in.’”
Berry distilled the difference between how most dealers approach trade-ins and how they work with the Selectbidder system, pointing out how it can help make customers feel more at ease with the offer they receive.
“Right now a dealer will look it up in a book or online and say, ‘Black Book or Blue Book or whatever says it’s worth this much.’ My grandmother doesn’t know what that means,” Berry said. “Or they can say, ‘I called four wholesalers, and this is the best number I got.’ That customer doesn’t know whether or not to believe them.
“But with this, it’s a real system; you can show it and say, ‘here’s five offers from five real dealers.’ And it shows the condition reports, too, showing, ‘here’s the reasons why you might not be getting as much as that car you saw on Autotrader. You know, your check engine light’s on, you need new tires, you’ve got a cracked windshield.’ It takes them right through that.”
Liptay says the company has aspirations to take the system across the entire continent.
“The beauty of the product is that it can be up and running within a week in any location in North America, based around surrounding independent auctions,” Liptay said. “So it doesn’t matter if it’s the local auction in Florida versus the local auction in Louisiana, they can be up and running because they already have the relationship network built.”
Editor Joe Overby contributed to this story.
On a hot, sunny September afternoon in central Florida, Daniel Zendano of BMW Financial Services and Manheim Orlando account coordinator Edna Mack are out on the auction’s expansive lot.
Zendano is making sure his company’s consignment is ready to run in an upcoming sale at the auction, taking care of any final touches before the cars run down the lane the next day.
And these days, he’s got time to do this and not be in a rush about it.
There’s no log-jam on the lot and no waiting in a long line to get the cars photographed.
The auction’s Enhanced Vehicle Imaging Suite is making a big difference when it comes to efficiency.
“It was a well-oiled machine before the EVIS building,” Zendano said. “It’s even better now.”
Walk in to the imaging suite to which Zendano is referring, and one might even mistake the white background and elevated lights for a Hollywood commercial studio.
While that sort of magic may be more akin to the nearby theme parks, what’s happening at Manheim Orlando — and, arguably, all over the auction business — is all about efficiency and exposure, plus providing buyers with more photos and fostering greater confidence.
Manheim’s Enhanced Vehicle Imaging is now available at 22 of the company’s locations, with Orlando most recently getting the largest state-of-the-art system, the company said.
According to a fact sheet provided by the auction, the double-bay booth can accommodate split imaging, meaning two photographers can split the 15 to 18 pictures for each car, thus doubling the capacity. It takes only six-and-a-half minutes to photograph the exteriors and interiors of four vehicles, and it’s designed so that it has room to fit a vehicle of any size.
The booth includes computer-controlled LED lights, sealed rooms to prevent bleed from outside sources, plus remote-control, high-speed doors and curtains as well as Android-controlled cameras.
The Orlando location launched the EVIS building on Aug. 3, and since then, has seen the speed in which it is able to get cars photographed has increased.
Previously, said Manheim Orlando assistant general manager John Eriksen, the auction was operating a photo booth within its lanes and might have gotten somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 or 80 vehicles photographed on a good day.
With the dedicated EVIS facility — located just outside the detail shop, which helps drive a quicker work flow — the number is now in the triple-figures. For example, there was one day when Manheim Orlando had several hours of training in the photo facility but still managed to photograph 120 vehicles (with 1,752 pictures, by the way). And that was early on.
In the week-and-a-half leading up to Auto Remarketing’s Sept. 21 interview with the auction’s management, Manheim Orlando has ramped up the booth’s productivity “to where we’ve been waiting on cars to come to the photo booth because of how much more efficient we’ve gotten,” Eriksen said.
This is just one of several examples of the remarketing industry blending technology with the in-lane and online worlds.
There’s a company emerging out of southern California called ConditionReports.com that offers software-as-a-service cloud technology to produce, publish and host online condition reports.
Those reports include everything from high-definition photos and damage information to paint-meter readings and OEM-specific details, the company said on its website.
Brian Schear, the president of ConditionReports.com, said the company can license the software to auctions or to OEMs for upstream sales. The company will also license it to rental car companies for things like managing inventory and remarketing.
Additionally, it can provide “boots on the ground” to physically conduct the reports. The company is currently working with four Manheim facilities in California, Schear said.
And a technology-heavy approach is not limited to the corporate auction companies. Independents, like the team at Dealers Auto Auction of the Southwest, have made it a big focus, as well.
In a column written this spring that was recently posted on Auto Remarketing’s website, DAASW vice president Jim DesRochers emphasized that all lanes at his auction include simulcast sales, and there is a condition report and multiple images with each vehicle, plus video presentations on some cars.
The auction also went completely paperless this spring, plus released a mobile app that, among other features, includes 100-percent simulcast capabilities, paperless gate releases and automatic bidder badge assignment to a smartphone when entering the auction.
And there’s even been collaboration between the corporate and independent entities.
For example, it was announced in September that KAR Auction Services subsidiary Openlane has agreed to build a private label website for Auction Edge, utilizing Openlane’s proprietary technology platform.
The EDGE Marketplace, the name of the private-label website created for Auction Edge, has been in the works since early last year. Auction Edge plans to offer it to independent auctions early next year.
“We are honored that Auction Edge has chosen Openlane to create this online selling tool for its almost 200 member auctions,” Peter Kelly — president of KAR’s Digital Services Group, which includes Openlane — said in a news release.
“These auctions will now be able to sell their vehicles on the industry’s premier private label platform,” Kelly continued.
Auction Edge president Scott Finkle added: “A private label platform has been in our plans for some time. Utilizing Openlane’s technology is a win-win-win for the Auction Edge auctions, their selling consignors and their buying dealers.”
This story appears in the Oct. 15 issue of Auto Remarketing as part of a special section on Digital Trends, Tools & Strategies in the wholesale market.
