North Bay Auto Auction in Fairfield, Calif., is the newest member of ServNet Auction Group, and ServNet president Bruce Beam is happy that the group will be represented by the auction in “the all-important Northern California/San Francisco Bay Area market.”
Don Morrow founded North Bay Auto Auction in 1993 as a public auction facility. It outgrew its original site and moved to a larger facility in 2000 before becoming a wholesale-only auction in 2001.
Business was strong, and the auction added a second sale day in 2003. In 2007, it purchased an adjoining 22-acre parcel and added a 100,000-square-foot indoor service center.
That center houses the auction’s mechanic shop, detail center, condition report center and indoor storage area.
“As an organization with strong core values, a commitment to superior service and a focus on developing technology, North Bay Auto Auction is an ideal representative of the ServNet brand in the region,” Beam said in a news release.
Beam continued, “Led by founder Don Morrow, North Bay Auto Auction is a well-respected and growing enterprise, with a great reputation among the dealer body as well as with bank and fleet clients. We welcome Don to the ServNet owners’ table and look forward to working with him and his team.”
Morrow said North Bay Auto Auction is the sole NAAA independent auction between Los Angeles and Seattle. Joining ServNet, he said, “is an exciting move for us at North Bay Auto Auction.”
“The ServNet designation signals to our customers that we are equipped to handle their business at a superior level, and that we share the high standards that ServNet auctions are known for throughout the industry,” Morrow said.
He continued, “ServNet is a group of independent auctions of the highest caliber, with a tremendous impact on the marketplace. ServNet’s commitment to service pairs well with our own philosophy that ‘by combining consistency and flexibility, we can ensure that each and every customer receives the value of our best efforts, regardless of the size of that customer or the task at hand.’”
The auction holds a sale every Tuesday and Thursday in six auction lanes. Customers also preview, source and purchase vehicles online at North Bay Auto Auction via EDGE Pipeline and on OVE.com.
Major consignors include CAC, Consumer Portfolio Services, GSA, Location Services, Merchants Fleet, OneMain Financial, Repo Remarketing, Travis Credit Union, UACC, U-Haul, and Westamerica Bank, along with many of Northern California’s largest dealer groups.
Those dealer groups include Hansel Group, Sullivan Group, Putnam Auto Group and Antioch Auto Center.
ServNet said North Bay Auto Auction has been recognized three times as the top auction in the nation for Consumer Portfolio Services.
“We are honored to carry the ServNet brand at North Bay Auto Auction and look forward to an exciting future as a ServNet auction,” Morrow said.
After loading up on cars during the first few weeks of 2020, dealers appear to be turning their inventory-management attention to trucks and SUVs.
Data and anecdotes from representatives working the lanes contained in the newest Black Book Market Insights report offered more details as the spring market begins to show stronger indications of arrival.
“This week, cars took a backseat to trucks and SUVs as the larger vehicles showed their first real signs of spring-market strength,” Black Book executive vice president of operations Anil Goyal said in the latest report.
According to volume-weighted data, Black Book determined overall car segment values decreased by 0.11% this past week. That reversed the prior week’s movement, which included an uptick of 0.04%.
After four weeks of increases, analysts noticed the midsize car segment leveled off and decreased by 0.14%.
Looking again at volume-weighted information, Black Book reported overall truck segment values (including pickups, SUVs, and vans) softened by just 0.03% last week. Analysts indicated this dip is the smallest week-over-week change since last May.
In the truck world, Black Book mentioned values of the affordable sub-compact crossover segment continued an upward pattern as they now have climbed four out of the past five weeks.
As far as what Black Book representatives shared from attending nearly 60 sales nationwide, the highlights included that shift toward trucks and SUVs. Here is the rundown:
— From Indiana: “Had a lot of off-lease and rental units in the sale today and they all sold pretty well. Prices seem to be experiencing an uptick.”
— From Tennessee: “Crossovers were hot today. Dealers tell me that January was just OK, but February has started off better.”
— From Pennsylvania: “We had higher sales percentages this week with SUVs and trucks leading the way.”
— From Georgia: “The sale rate was down to around 50%, but the vehicles that sold brought strong money.”
One of the consignors that uses Motley’s Richmond Auto Auction rewarded the operation for its wholesale performance with a high honor.
C&F Finance Co. named Motley’s Richmond Auto Auction as its 2019 Auction of the Year Award recipient, highlighting the operation posted the highest combination of retention and volume among the 26 auctions in 20 states used by the consignor.
C&F Finance provides automobile, marine and RV financing in multiple states throughout the U.S. from its headquarters in Richmond, Va.
“We appreciate the great relationship and partnership with the Richmond Auto Auction team and the effort they put forth. We look forward to continued growth and what we can do together in 2020,” said Mike Wilson, chief operating officer of C&F Finance and C&F Remarketing.
Richmond Auto Auction averages 500 vehicles during its sales every Friday and is a subsidiary of Motleys Asset Disposition Group.
Operating on 35 acres of land, Motley’s Richmond Auto Auction offers the ability to run seven simultaneous lanes, plus full reconditioning and mechanical facilities, in-house body shop, enhanced vehicle imaging, in-house transportation, AutoIMS and full integrated online capabilities.
McConkey Auction Group president and chief executive officer Bob McConkey says his company is seeing more dealers in their 20s, 30s and 40s as of late.
“We’ve also got a great team of young leaders emerging throughout our company,” McConkey said in a news release.
He continued, “The Rock & Roll Sale’s 25th Anniversary will be a great time to showcase a new generation of international headliners as well.”
Weezer is one of those performers, and that rock band known for hits such as “Beverly Hills,” “Buddy Holly” and “Africa” will perform at the Rock & Roll Sale’s 25th Anniversary, which will take place July 15 and 16.
DAA Northwest says that before this year, the auction has featured headliner acts from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
“This summer, Weezer will catapult the event into a new era,” the company said.
Formed in 1992, Weezer has sold more than 35 million albums worldwide, and they have won Grammys and MTV Video Music Awards.
Just months before DAA’s Rock & Roll Sale, Weezer members Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell and Scott Shriner plan to release their next record, “Van Weezer,” this spring.
DAA Northwest’s Rock & Roll Sale includes a 1,000-unit Wednesday sale, a Wednesday evening private catered party and concert for DAA’s customers and guests, a 3,200-unit Thursday sale and thousands in post-sale prizes.
Global online vehicle auction company Copart has opened its fourth Indiana location.
The new 25-acre location in Fort Wayne “has increased our capacity to store vehicles for our sellers and buyers,” Copart chief executive officer Jay Adair said in a news release.
Copart Fort Wayne general manager Sheila Mason added, “We look forward to providing our buyers and sellers with the best customer service, made possible by our outstanding people, processes and technology.”
Auctions at Copart Fort Wayne take place at 9 a.m. (CT) every Monday. Using Copart’s patented online auction platform, VB3, eligible buyers can bid on current inventory.
While it still might be a mixed bag for some dealerships on the retail front as we approach the midpoint of February, Black Book already is seeing managers pad their inventories to be ready when customer activities warm up like the thermometer reading.
According to the latest installment of the Black Book Market Insights report, car values moved counter to what they had done in both December and January, triggering Black Book executive vice president of operations Anil Goyal to make this assertion.
“It looks like the spring buying is already in full swing,” Goyal said. “Dealers are bidding up prices on car segments with even the sporty cars getting an early interest.”
The latest report indicated that based on volume-weighted information, overall car segment values increased by 0.04% to start the month of February. In January, analysts noticed that values averaged a decline of 0.21%. The December average decline was even higher at 0.78%.
Among cars, Black Book mentioned the midsize segment appreciated for a fourth week in a row.
Over with trucks, analysts said their volume-weighted data showed that overall truck segment values (including pickups, SUVs, and vans) decreased by 0.19% last week. That’s nearly the same as the four-week average, which was 0.18%.
Looking deeper at trucks, analysts determined values of subcompact crossovers continued on an upward pattern, increasing three out of the last four weeks.
Beyond the data, Black Book’s representatives stationed in the at nearly 60 sales nationwide provided a more vivid glimpse at what dealers are encountering — both trying to secure inventory and retailing vehicles. Here is the rundown:
— From Indiana: “The market seems stable. One dealer commented that his retail was pretty good, but he is challenged by the quality of the trade-ins he is receiving.”
— From Massachusetts: “The dealer lanes enjoyed good activity today, which brought a welcome change. The money was strong for commercial accounts, as well.”
— From Wisconsin: “Dealers are reporting that their showrooms are very quiet which is not abnormal for early February in Wisconsin. We had a lot of no-sales as sellers raised their floors, knowing that dealers are trying to build inventory.”
At Used Car Week 2018 as well as last summer’s gathering of the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA), Andrea Amico described risk many automotive-industry segments face in connection with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) stored in a vehicle’s technology system.
On Friday, Amico — founder of Privacy4Cars.com — described the headway his firm made in reducing that risk thanks to a newly formed relationship with America’s Auto Auction. The group’s 23 auction locations now will offer a personal information deletion service to vehicle consignors, including OEMs, captives, banks and auto lenders, rental and business fleets and dealers through the use of mobile process available from Privacy4Cars.
“We are excited to partner with such a leader in the auto auction industry as America’s Auto Auction,” Amico said in a news release. “We often see consignors bringing vehicles to auctions that still contain the previous drivers’ personal information stored in their electronic systems (garage door codes, home addresses, phone identifiers, contact lists, call logs, text messages, etc.)
“Now thanks to this relationship, consignors can rely on America’s Auto Auction to dispose of the personal information stored in their vehicles, whether it’s to be compliant with internal record disposal guidelines, to provide peace of mind to their customers, or to meet the requirements of privacy and security of connected devices laws in a growing list of states,” Amico continued.
Launched in the summer of 2018, the Privacy4Cars app can delete personal data retained by modern vehicle infotainment systems quickly and efficiently.
America’s Auto Auction assistant vice president Matt Arias also leads the auction standards committee at both the National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) and IARA. Arias elaborated on how this service can benefit auction group customers.
“It would be a mistake to underestimate how challenging it is to standardize and efficiently perform the clearing of the personal Information,” Arias said. “This is a manual process and there is nothing standard about the vehicles that are consigned.
“We realized we needed a consistent method to efficiently clear all of the information. In short, we needed this tool. Privacy4Cars’ is the best solution,” Arias continued. “Not just because the operators get step-by-step directions on how to clear the systems, but also comes with detailed and on-demand records we can rely on to both provide proof of work to our consignors and operational metrics to efficiently run the process.”
Amico reiterated some of the points he made during Used Car Week and other wholesale industry events to emphasize the importance of Privacy4Cars aligning with America’s Auto Auction.
“We know from multiple studies what data is collected and how often is left behind. We also know may consignors are growingly frustrated by this issue and the associated risks and are looking at auctions to help. We also know that even skilled operators in single-make consignments have a hard time getting the deletion of the Personal Information right, vehicle after vehicle.” Amico said.
“Seeing one of the world’s largest auction chains embracing our patent-pending process is an incredible validation of what we do and the value we bring to the industry,” he went on to say.
Founded in 2005, America’s Auto Auction has 23 locations, including four in Texas, three in Pennsylvania and two apiece in Illinois and Florida.
“This relationship with America’s Auto Auction and Privacy4Cars allows us to serve a growing number of auction guests who are already asking for the service, and sends a simple message to the rest of the industry: if you want to delete consumers’ personal non-public data, we are ready,” Arias said.
With the IRS beginning to accept tax returns this week, no doubt dealers are eager to have potential vehicle buyers arrive at their stores with refunds in hand to make down payments.
And stemming from what Black Book is seeing in the lanes, dealers also are looking to acquire the inventory that will satisfy those possible buyers.
“The used market continues to recover with higher demand from buyers in the auction lanes,” Black Book executive vice president of operations Anil Goyal said in the latest installment of the company’s Market Insights report.
“Both inventory and sales percentages were reported to be rising,” Goyal added in the report.
Delving into the volume-weighted data, Black Book determined overall car segment values declined by just 0.13% last week. That’s less than half of what analysts computed as the four-week average drop of 0.29%.
Again perhaps reflecting preps for those tax-season buyers, Black Book reported values of sub-compact cars, midsize cars and full-size cars all increased.
According to its volume-weighted truck data, Black Book indicated overall truck segment values (including pickups, SUVs, and vans) values declined by 0.28% last week. While not as much as in the car arena, analysts did point out that drop came in below the four-week average decrease of 0.37%.
Among trucks, analysts also noted the values of sub-compact crossovers and small pickups increased, too.
Black Book closed its latest report with anecdotes from its nearly 60 representatives stationed at sales nationwide. Here is the rundown:
— From Georgia: “The auction was really good today as the attendance and consignment were more than we expected. The fleet/lease lanes were selling, but the dealer lanes had difficulty getting buyers to visit their lanes.”
— From Michigan: “Clean 4- to 5-year-old vehicles with good miles are drawing some attention, but the 2- to 3-year-old vehicles are the most in demand.”
— From California: “A strong sale with action on the floor and online.”
— From Tennessee: “Our market is moving in the positive direction with trucks leading the way.”
IAA’s relocation of its Baton Rouge, La. branch adds capacity to the Gulf of Mexico region.
In that area, catastrophic weather events occur regularly, said IAA chief executive officer and president John Kett.
IAA said the move supports its growth in what it described as an expanding market.
The new location, at 5978 Hwy 75, Carville, La., increases the branch’s capacity by approximately 60%.
“We will continue to invest in the resources our customers need in this growing region,” Kett said in a news release.
The company’s website at iaai.com shows a listing of preview days and sales days at the branch.
Evidently, dealers are not rushing to the lanes to acquire inventory like consumers are hurrying to retail stores and websites to purchase holiday gifts.
Multiple Black Book representatives stationed at sales noticed lighter buying activity even as analysts spotted wholesale prices falling at rapid paces. Black Book executive vice president of operations Anil Goyal elaborated about the conditions in the latest installment of the Market Insights report.
“Steeper decline of used-vehicle values continued into December,” Goyal said in the report. “Average weekly depreciation in the last eight weeks is over three times the average weekly depreciation seen year-to-date.”
Looking first at car segment, Black Book reported that its volume-weighted data showed that overall car segment values decreased by 1.04% last week. That figure topped the previous four-week average, which was 0.96%
Among cars, analysts said values of compact cars and sporty cars declined the most, sliding by 1.38% and 1.23%, respectively.
Meanwhile, in the truck world, Black Book determined via its volume-weighted data that overall truck segment value (including pickups, SUVs, and vans) decreased by 1.18% last week. That amount marked a significant jump from the four-week average drop of 0.84%.
Analysts indicated values of minivans dropped the most, softening by 1.65%.
Whether it was frigid outside or still somewhat pleasant, two of Black Book’s representatives mentioned soft dealer bidding during sales they witnessed.
First originating from Florida, “Attendance both in the lanes and online was lighter than usual. Prices were down across the board on passenger cars, trucks and SUVs.”
And then out of Michigan, “You would think that the dealers would now be aggressively purchasing vehicles after the recent sharp drop in values, but that is not the case.”
Black Book closed by sharing comments from an auction owner in Ohio, who might have summed up the entire situation.
“Trucks and SUVs are picking up steam as snow is falling. Our sales percentages typically drop slightly during this time period because we have some sellers and buyers sitting out in anticipation of the big tax push early next year,” the auction owner said.
“Our biggest competition for the next few months will be Mother Nature,” the owner added.
