Central Auto Auction now is being overseen by a new auction manager who has been in the industry longer than the operation itself.
Announced earlier this month, the new auction manager at Central AA is Anthony Jasiak, who has more than 25 years of experience. Jasiak started his career as the AGM with ADESA New Jersey and most recently was the general manager of Grand Strand Auto Auction in South Carolina.
“Anthony’s strong sales and operation experience is just what we need at Central Auto Auction,” president Peter Saldamarco said in a news release. “We look forward to having him be a key asset within the organization.
“We are honored to have someone with the experience and industry knowledge that Anthony has join our team. I have all the confidence that Anthony will continue to assist us elevating us to the next level,” Saldamarco continued.
In his new role at Central AA, Jasiak will oversee the day-to-day operations, which include dealer sales, commercial sales and lot operations.
“I am very excited to be a part of the Central AA team. They have an established brand here and I hope to continue with the direction and success they have experienced over the year,” Jasiak said.
Central Auto Auction was founded in 2006 and operates on more than 10 acres, with four lanes, and offers full reconditioning, including mechanical, in-house transportation, title services, AutoIMS and Velocicast.
For more information, visit www.centralaa.com.
Alexis Jacobs, a former National Auto Auction Association president and former owner and chief executive officer of Columbus Fair Auto Auction, passed away Friday, according to a message from NAAA.
Jacobs, who was the NAAA’s president in 1995, led CFAA until 2019. The XLerate Group acquired the auction in 2019.
Jacobs was named NAAA Industry Pioneer in 2011 and inducted into the association’s hall of fame in 2014.
She was among Auto Remarketing’s 2010 Women in Remarketing.
Funeral arrangement details are forthcoming, NAAA said.
We begin this auction news roundup in the ServNet group, where member auction DAA Northwest announced the headliner for its Rock & Roll Sale: Sammy Hagar and the Circle. Hagar is perhaps best known as a former frontman of Van Halen, along with his longtime solo career.
There will be an auction, party and concert on July 20, followed by another sale July 21.
“People talk a lot about the ‘new normal’ these days. Well, this is about the old normal for me — rock and roll at its core on our stage in July!” said Bob McConkey, chief executive officer of DAA Northwest parent McConkey Auction Group, in a news release.
Elsewhere in the group, Akron Auto Auction announced a few personnel changes:
- Chrissy Grabill is new the assistant general manager
- Jason Miller is now repossession department manager
- Brigette Shepler is now sales manager
- Will Lutes has been added as floorplan finance specialist
Over at Carolina Auto Auction, the team has opened a new inspection center and mechanic shop that includes 28 bays. It houses the condition report and mechanic areas, while also providing a larger commercial drop-off area. The latter is designed to reduce the strain on the main gate and aid in traffic flow throughout the facilities.
The 30,000-square-foot facility is complemented by 16 acres of paved parking, an additional guard house and state-of-the-art equipment, the auction said.
It opened May 9.
“We are excited to announce the opening of our new Carolina Auto Auction inspection center and mechanic shop. The new facility will provide increased efficiencies that will allow us to continue to drive industry-leading service excellence for our existing and future customers alike,” assistant general manager Vann Humphrey said.
KAR upgrades CRs for BacklotCars
Next, KAR Global has teamed up with tech consultancy Thoughtworks to develop enhanced condition reports for KAR’s BacklotCars platform.
The upgraded features, which include engine audio recordings, are designed to provide CRs that are “more accurate, more consistent and easier to understand,” thus improving experience on the online wholesale platform.
“Vehicle buyers want increased consistency, accuracy, trustworthiness and reliability in the inspection process, and this highly-innovative iteration simulates seeing and hearing a vehicle in person,” BacklotCars chief operating officer Josh Parsons said in a news release.
“Thoughtworks helped us combine the best features and functionality of the BacklotCars and CARWAVE inspection frameworks while identifying areas to streamline across the platforms,” Parsons said. “The result is a single, enhanced condition report framework that accelerates sales for sellers and provides buyers with comprehensive condition information that is easy to understand.”
Thoughtworks North America chief executive officer Chris Murphy added: “We are excited to partner with BacklotCars on its journey to revolutionize wholesale automotive with next-generation digital experiences for its dealers. The expanded digital inspection process will help the company operate more efficiently while helping dealers make the most informed buying decision possible.”
IAA expands UK office
Over at IAA, the company said Wednesday its UK-based operations is relocating and expanding its head office in the southern UK.
The current facilities will now be utilized as a customer service center.
“The expansion and relocation of our southern UK head office demonstrates IAA’s continued commitment and investment in its UK business,” said Tom Rumboll, UK Managing Director for IAA and CEO of SYNETIQ, in a news release. “In addition to building capacity to support the company’s growth in the UK, the new office will create a more dynamic working environment that underlines IAA’s focus on attracting and retaining the most-talented people in the industry. This transition is vital to IAA’s further expansion in the UK, enabling us to meet the needs of our growing customer base.”
As the firm does each quarter, AutoIMS shared its AutoIMS Industry View for the first quarter of 2022 on Thursday.
The company has described the report as a “compendium of metrics featured in the AutoIMS Sales Scorecard that reflects the AutoIMS database (with a few needed exclusions) — a vast majority of the commercial sales volume at wholesale auto auctions in North America.”
Below is a rundown on some of the key metrics from the most recent report.
Q1 conversion rates, which AutoIMS measures as the percent of vehicles sold on the day they were offered, fell on a year-over-year basis, dropping from 70.92% to 61.40%.
However, conversion rates showed some progress at the end of the quarter, climbing from a level below 60% in February to 65% in March. That’s still well below the 75% rate in March 2021.
Looking at vehicle sales volume, those remained down on a year-over-year basis during the first quarter, but the gap did narrow towards the end of Q1.
In January, the year-over-year difference in volume was north of 30%, but that gap improved, and in March, it was less than 20%, according to the AutoIMS data.
Average sale prices climbed from $14,340.92 in Q1 2021 to $16,356.31 in the most recent quarter, the company said.
In terms of gross sales price and a percentage of floor price (only including vehicles which had a floor price in AutoIMS), that metric fell from 101.5% to 98.3%.
Average vehicle grade, determined by the final condition report grade when the vehicle was sold, dropped from 3.07 to 2.96. Average mileage came in at 88,792, up from 78,820. The average damage on a vehicle jumped from $1,686.66 to $2,089.06, according to AutoIMS.
The average total time it took for a vehicle to go from arriving at the auction to selling fell from 28.6 days to 27.5.
Westlake Financial announced its 2021 Auction of the Year Award winner on Monday, along with Top Regional Auction honorees.
Taking home top honors was Manheim Dallas, which was also the regional winner in the South Central U.S.
Other Top Regional Auction honorees included:
- Midwest Region: Manheim Milwaukee
- Southeast Region: Rawls Auto Auction
- Northeast Region: Manheim Baltimore-Washington
- Southwest Region: ADESA Salt Lake City
- Pacific Region: ADESA Golden Gate
Manheim Dallas, Rawls, Manheim Baltimore-Washington and ADESA Golden Gate were repeat winners.
Honorees are determined by an average score calculated from the consignor’s remarketing unit sales from last year. Auctions that sold Westlake vehicles at the highest Manheim Market Report book value percentage received recognition.
“Westlake is proud to work alongside the top auction performers in the country,” said William Walters, vice president of remarketing for Westlake Financial Services, in a news release. “I look forward to seeing their continued growth and success!”
Manheim Dallas general manger Rich Curtis added: “Our team at Manheim Dallas is truly honored to be named the 2021 Westlake Financial Services Auction of the Year.
“We thank our team for taking great pride in servicing our clients and helping them achieve their goals,” he said. “We value our long-standing partnership with Westlake and appreciate this prestigious recognition.”
Not only is it challenging for dealers to find used-car supply, the number of competitors vying for that supply in the auction lanes has increased.
According to the latest Wholesale Market Update from J.D. Power Valuation Services, there have been 1.37 million wholesale auction sales of vehicles up to 8 years old through four months of the year.
That’s down from …
Read more
We start this auction news roundup with the latest news from Black Widow Imaging.
The company, which specializes in high-quality automotive imaging, said Wednesday it has partnered with Orlando Longwood Auto Auction, which will use the company’s imaging services and imaging marketing services.
Orlando Longwood Auto Auction is part of the Auto Auction Holdings group.
“Orlando Auto Auction is excited to begin Auto Auction Holdings partnership with Black Widow. OLAA stives to deliver our customers thee tools they need to have confidence in buying online,” OLAA general manager Josh Lorenz said in a news release.
“Black Widow’s technology is industry leading and will provide high-quality images for our online and in lane buyers. Black Widow will also allow us to maintain our efficiency as we will run thousands of cars a week through the booth,” Lorenz said.
Black Widow Imaging chief operating officer Darren Kemper added: “Black Widow Imaging is thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Orlando Longwood Auto Auction to provide their customers with the most consistent and transparent vehicle images for their online and in-lane sales.
“We can’t wait for Orlando Longwood to experience first-hand how our system can drastically improve their image capture process that will generate new incremental sales, reduce labor costs and arbitrations, as well as remove the worry of not getting all your dealers vehicles imaged.”
Next up, Greater Rockford Auto Auction announced the headliner for its fifth annual GRAA’lapaloozza Anniversary Sale, which is slated from July 26-27.
Performing after the auction’s sale on July 26 is country music artist Niko Moon. The auction will also have a sale on July 27, which will feature more than 1,000 vehicles from fleet/lease and dealer consignors, along with $10,000 in giveaways.
“We are very excited to have Niko Moon headlining GRAA’lapalooza 2022. We are looking forward to a fantastic event for customers and employees, filled with cars, music, giveaways, and excitement,” GRAA general manager Chad Anderson said in a news release. “We are grateful to celebrate 48 years in the auction business with the best customers in the industry who have supported us along the way.”
Merchants Fleet not only received three Stevie Awards as part of the 20th annual American Business Awards, the fleet management company also recognized its Top Overall Auction for 2021.
Claiming the auction accolade for the second year in a row from the fifth largest fleet company in the U.S., according to a news release from ServNet, is North Bay Auto Auction.
“Our entire auction team is thrilled to again be named the top auction in the U.S. for Merchants Fleet,” said David Aahl, partner and general manager at North Bay Auto Auction.
“This award is evidence of the care and attention we devote to our customers. Lease returns never let up even in the height of the pandemic, and Merchants Fleet has been an important partner during a tumultuous time,” Aahl continued in the news release from ServNet, of which North Bay Auto Auction is a member.
Aahl acknowledged the role that Ashley Sackett, the fleet lease representative at North Bay, played in the auction’s success with Merchants Fleet.
“Ashley provides the boots on the ground for Merchants Fleet, making sure that all areas of quality control are met,” Aahl said. “She touches every vehicle, and it is due to her efforts that we know that condition reports are accurate and that all the details of sale preparation and sale are managed with care.”
North Bay Auto Auction has been handling vehicles for Merchants Fleet since 2015. In addition to winning top honors for the account in 2020 and 2021, the auction also won its Top Line Service Award in 2018.
“Merchants Fleet recognizes its top auction based on service, performance, and a variety of metrics, including timeliness of days to sale and conversion rate,” Merchants Fleet remarketing manager Bill Boutwell said. “A group of us determines our annual award recipients, and the decision to name North Bay as our Top Overall Auction was a unanimous one.”
“The team at North Bay does everything you’d hope an auction would do, going out of their way to process our vehicles and get them sold,” Boutwell continued. “While we can only look at photos of our off-lease units, they can really see what’s going on, and they’re proactive in communicating, with status reports, follow up and vehicle assessments. They’ve proved an invaluable part of the remarketing process and have set a standard of excellence for our auctions all over the country.”
As a family-owned independent auction founded in 1993 by Don Morrow in the region stretching from Los Angeles to Seattle, North Bay Auto Auction is situated on 33 acres near the I-80 corridor in between San Francisco and Sacramento in Fairfield, Calif.
The auction holds a sale twice weekly, on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and Thursday at 10 a.m.
Honors for Merchants Fleet, too
Meanwhile, the fleet company also announced three members of the Merchants’ senior leadership team have received Stevie Awards during the 20th annual American Business Awards.
According to a company news release, Merchants chief executive officer Brendan P. Keegan has been named Thought Leader of the Year in the Business Services category.
Senior vice president and chief financial officer Jerry Pavelich has been awarded with an Achievement Financial Services Management
Vice president of strategic alliances Rick Bell has been recognized for Achievement in Transportation Management.
The company highlighted that all three are tenured fleet professionals whose experience and expertise in the industry are the driving force behind Merchants’ meteoric growth.
In 2021 the Merchants portfolio of vehicles grew by nearly $500 million to a total of value of $2 billion — a 34% increase, with 20,000 vehicles on the road and 4 million packages per day delivered in a vehicle managed by Merchants.
“Innovation is at the core of everything we do, and it’s no secret that Merchants is setting the standard for excellence in the transportation industry,” Keegan said in the news release. “We are incredibly proud to be recognized by the American Business Awards, and to be part of the award-winning Merchants team.”
Nicknamed the “Stevies” for the Greek word meaning “crowned,” the American Business Awards received more than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes. Each year, more than 230 professionals worldwide participate in the judging process to select this award winners.
“We are so pleased that we will be able to stage our first ABA awards banquet since 2019 and to celebrate in person, the achievements of such a diverse group of organizations and individuals,” said Maggie Miller, president of the Stevie Awards.
The awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on June 13.
Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2022 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.
IAA has added a new director to its board, the company said Friday, and also launched an operations committee, which it said will be tasked with “driving operational performance.”
Additionally, the company said it has come to a “constructive resolution” with Ancora Holdings, LLC, one of the company’s stockholders, but no further details were provided in the news release regarding that resolution.
Ancora had released a letter last month regarding IAA’s leadership, and IAA issued a letter in response.
As far as board move, with the appointment of Michael Sieger to the board, IAA now has 10 directors. Nine of those directors are independent.
From 2015 to 2021, Sieger was claims president at Progressive Insurance, a company he joined in 1990 and held various leadership posts.
“We look forward to Mike joining the board,” IAA board chairman John Larson said in a news release. “Mike brings decades of valuable automotive insurance industry experience and has a track record of driving growth through his strategic leadership.
“We are also pleased to have reached a constructive resolution with Ancora Holdings Group, LLC and look forward to an ongoing dialogue with them,” Larson said. “We are excited to benefit from Mike’s contributions, as we work alongside the management team to advance our strategic plans, navigate a dynamic market environment and drive profitable growth.”
Ancora Holdings Group chief executive officer and executive chairman Fredrick DiSanto said in the release: “We appreciate the collaborative and constructive dialogue that we have had with IAA’s board.
“We believe IAA has a solid foundation to build upon and operates in an attractive market with significant growth opportunities. The addition of Mike and the formation of the board committee will be beneficial in guiding the company forward and ensuring we achieve our common goal of creating the most value for stockholders.”
Country star to headline 'Guitars & Cars'
Elsewhere in the auction industry, America’s Auto Auction Kansas City announced the headliner for its annual Guitars & Cars Sale: country music artist Chris Janson.
The auction made the announcement before its Hogfest April Promotional Sale on Thursday.
The event is set for Aug. 10-11 in Kansas City, Mo. It begins with a dealer and corporate consignment sale (along with giveaways) the morning of Aug. 10, with a concert performance from Janson that night.
The morning of Aug. 11, there will be an additional sale event with promotions and $20,000 in post-sale prizes.
“Our artist announcement has become a much-anticipated event. As the announcement date approaches, excitement starts to build amongst the dealers and our team mates and everyone tries to guess who the artist will be,” America’s Auto Auction Kansas City general manager Doug Doll said in a news release. “This year’s announcement didn’t disappoint.”
The National Auto Auction Association is making it easier to connect with arbitration experts.
The association said Thursday it has launched the “NAAA Arbitration Policy Troubleshooter,” an online tool designed to provide unbiased, expert guidance when arbitration issues arise.
To use the tool, a user types in specific vehicle details, the sale it was sold under, where it was bought/sold and a description of the issue.
The answers in the form are sent to industry experts in conjunction with the site the vehicle was sold.
Through this troubleshooter tool, the association said it is aiming to, “provide non-binding prescriptive advice and to inform users of the NAAA Arbitration Policy. It will also help with better decision making that is unbiased.”
Auctions will be able to ask experts about issues dealing with arbitration and receive unbiased advice that is separate from the buyer/seller. Meantime, customers will have a better understanding of why their claim is valid or not valid.
“NAAA would like to thank its Auction Standards Committee Co-Chairs Matt Arias (America’s Auto Auction), Ed Ammar (ADESA), Kevin Cook (Manheim), and Tommy Rogers (BSC America) for their efforts in making this new tool available and for all their support and service to our industry,” the association said in a news release.
