Copart has expanded its locations in both Candia, N.H., and West Warren, Mass., the company announced on Tuesday.
"We have grown our business in New England and across the Northeast and are proud to announce these expansions," Copart chief executive officer Jay Adair said in a news release. "They enable us to continue to provide outstanding service to our customers."
The Candia location’s online car auctions are held every Tuesday at 10 a.m. (ET) and the West Warren location hosts its sales every Wednesday 10 a.m. (ET).
At both locations, auctions are accessible through computers, tablets and other mobile devices. And bidding kiosks are also available at each location, according to Copart.
Buyers interested in either locations’ inventory can also attend Copart's evening auctions, called "Night Cap Sales." These sales occur each week, Monday through Thursday.
Both locations’ inventories are represented in the Eastern Region auctions at 9 p.m. (ET).
Editors turned a phrase for this week’s Black Book Market Insights report, highlighting that “a mixed bag of vehicle valuation strength” summarized the activity in the lanes.
Black Book noticed that some cars and trucks produced a “widening” gap in strength with compact vans and luxury cars generating price gains. But editors also found that several other segments saw “larger-than-normal” depreciation on the week.
“Sales reports from various auto auctions were generally positive as buyers showed interest in clean vehicles from commercial consignors,” said Anil Goyal, Black Book’s senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics.
According to volume-weighted data, Black Book reported overall car segment values decreased by 0.36 percent last week, higher than the average weekly decrease of 0.27 percent in values seen over the previous four weeks.
Editors indicated the compact car, midsize car and full-size car segments declined the most by 0.87 percent, 0.45 percent and 0.37 percent, respectively.
Looking again at that volume-weighted data, Black Book determined overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans — softened by 0.23 percent last week, a bit above the average weekly decrease of 0.14 percent in values over the previous four weeks.
Compact van was the best performing truck segment while the full-size luxury crossover/SUV segment declined the most.
Moving over to the anecdotes Black Book’s representatives collected from the lanes, the theme of “mixed bag” continued as activity picked up a bit coming out of Fourth of July.
One busy place was not far from Black Book’s headquarters in Georgia, where the observer shared, “Volume was higher than normal. Dealers were positive about the market even though there were more ‘if’ sales than normal.”
Nearby in North Carolina, a similar scene unfolded as the story went like this: “A good crowd today that came prepared to buy. They sold more than they have been with an average amount of no-sales.”
Meanwhile, the three other lane watchers who reported back to Black Book described softer action.
From Pennsylvania: “Based on the fewer dealers in the lanes, this should have been a poor sale but the online bidders saved the day with their purchases.”
From Michigan: “The market needle didn’t move either way today. It was a smaller consignment so the sale was short with an average sales percentage.”
And finally out West in California: “A below normal sale today even though there were cleaner vehicles in inventory, bringing really strong money.”
On Tuesday, KASP Auto Auction announced the appointment of Michele Pierog as its vice president of national sales. An industry veteran with over 15 years of experience, KASP highlighted that Pierog brings a wealth of experience in all facets of the auction business.
Pierog started her career in 2002 with Auto Auction of New England, where she was first hired to run dealer registration. After experiencing great success and fostering leadership potential in that role, she was promoted to the sales and marketing department where she spent more than a decade in various roles ranging from sales support to director of sales and marketing.
During the latter part of her career, Pierog has served as director of national sales working with both dealer consignment and commercial accounts. She is goal-oriented with a drive to succeed and create value. She became a Certified Automotive Remarketer in 2015 and has been active in several committees including the certification committee with the International Alliance of Automotive Remarketers (IARA).
KASP is the largest independent auto auction in Kentucky and is part of the Auction Management Solutions (AMS) group of independent auctions.
“Pierog brings a vast knowledge of industry operations, innovative solutions, a broad vision toward strategic planning and creative marketing initiatives,” said Brian Williams, general manager of KASP.
“Michele’s commitment to the customer experience is a perfect fit for KASP and we are excited to have her join the team,” Williams continued. “We are celebrating our 35th year in business, and have spent a lot of time building a great base of dealer consignment business over the years, as well as some fleet /lease and repossession business including the AVIS RAC account and U-Haul, and feel that Michele can really help us expand our footprint with national consignors. We feel that Michele can be a great help to achieve our goals.”
KASP was started back in 1982, and is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. KASP offers a live weekly sale every Wednesday morning across four auction lanes on more than 40 acres of land. The operation currently offers 350 to 400 units weekly.
KASP also is a full-service auction with full reconditioning, light mechanical services and in-house transportation.
And now the operation has Pierog as part of its team.
“We are very excited to be working with Michele. Jim and his sons have built a very strong auction in the Southeast, and consignors are looking for strong independent auctions to partner with,” Auction Management Solutions president Tom Stewart said. “One of our goals here at AMS is to focus on providing our customers with the best service we can, while working through a proven sales strategy to help them grow their business.
“Michele will not only be working directly with me, but will also be working closely with Jamye Carpenter and Shelly Frank from our team, continuing to build relationship within the industry,” Stewart added.
For more details, go to www.kaspautoauction.com.
J.D. Power Valuation Services might have sounded like the firm formerly known as NADA Used Car Guide was repeating itself when analysts shared both their assessment of used-vehicle price movement in June and their projection for July.
According to the latest edition of Guidelines, J.D. Power Valuation Services reported that wholesale prices of used vehicles up to 8 years old softened by 2.2 percent in June, a dip in line with analysts’ expectations.
And it turns out when looking to what might happen in July, J.D. Power Valuation Service is predicting that wholesale prices for these vehicles will again drop by 2.2 percent, a reading not quite as dramatic as what analysts recorded during that month a year ago.
“At the segment level, mainstream losses are expected to be relatively consistent across the board,” analysts said in the report. “Midsize and large pickups continue to perform very well and are forecast to outperform the industry average.
“Losses for all premium segments are forecast to fall by slightly more than the industry average for the month,” analysts continued.
Looking toward full-year expectations, J.D. Power Valuation Services predicted that used-vehicle prices should decline by about 6 percent, which would be 2 percentage points higher than the final decrease of 4 percent seen for all of 2016.
“Ongoing increase in supply, higher incentives and a normalizing retailing environment — including credit conditions — will ultimately dictate losses,” analysts explained in the report.
J.D. Power Valuation Services arrived at its full-year projection after reviewing June’s movements, which analysts pointed out typically land at about 2.2 percent dating back over the past five years.
The June reading also left the J.D. Power Valuation Services’ Seasonally Adjusted Used Vehicle Price Index unchanged at 111.1. While staying flat on a sequential basis, the June index reading is 7.6 percent lower than what analysts recorded last June (120.2).
Looking closer at the June information, J.D. Power Valuation Services noted that prices decreases for subcompact, compact, midsize and large cars all settled between 3.2 percent and 3.4 percent.
Also of note, the 3.4 percent drop for large cars led the entire car segment and it also was the largest decrease for those kinds of vehicles since June 2001 when analysts noticed a 3.7 percent tumble.
“Most of the large car segment’s makes and models had a fairly average performance in June,” analysts said in the report, while adding that sharp price drops for the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger from the 2010 to 2013 model years triggered much of the overall movement, and in particular the 7 percent fall-off for the 2010 Dodge Charger.
Meanwhile, J.D. Power acknowledged the June decreases for subcompacts and compacts were not “outside historical norms” as declines of about 3 percent for these segments have been seen during the past five years.
As far as price declines for the utility segments, analysts classified them as “scattered” in the June report. Midsize utilities averaged a 1.5 percent price softening in June as prices for compact utilities dipping slightly more at 2.2 percent.
Analysts added prices for midsize vans declined less than 1 percent in June.
As far as trucks go, J.D. Power explained these units are “continuing their run of wholes price dominance.” The report indicated prices for large and midsize pickups ticked up by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, in June.
“Over the past five years, pickup prices have performed well compared to the rest of the industry on average,” analysts said in the report. “That stated, prices typically declined slightly during the period.
“While sales were strong across the board in the midsize pickup group, 2015 Chevrolet prices were exceptionally strong and increased by an average of just below 3 percent,” analysts added.
J.D. Power Valuation Services closed its latest price discussion by touching on the luxury side of the market, noting that all premium segments outperformed the overall industry average in June.
Analysts pointed out that luxury midsize utilities did experience their largest price drop so far in 2017 by dropping by an average of 2.1 percent in June. However, the report mentioned that figure was nearly identical to what’s been recorded in June for these units going back five years.
Other segments of note in the luxury categories included June prices for luxury large cars dipping by 1.2 percent and June prices for luxury midsize cars softening by 1.8 percent.
KAR Auction Services chief economist Tom Kontos continues to be intrigued by the special slice of wholesale data he began to share three months ago that’s produced a consistent trend counter to the overall price reading.
But first, let’s look at that overall movement.
According to ADESA Analytical Services’ monthly analysis of wholesale used vehicle prices by vehicle model class, wholesale used vehicle prices in June averaged $11,067 — down 0.7 percent compared to May but up 4.7 percent relative to June of last year.
Kontos explained in this video that’s also available at the top of this page that compact and full-size pickup trucks and minivans showed significant average price gains for the month, while most other model classes registered month-over-month declines or modest increases. He reiterated that the year-over-year growth in minivan prices is exaggerated by newer models as discussed in January’s report.
And now to the other data trend garnering Kontos’ attention. Kontos indicated average prices for both of the two “bellwether” car and truck segments were down by about 4 percent year-over-year, reflecting growth in off-lease supply.
Prices for midsize cars that are 3-years-old with mileage reading between 36,000 and 45,000 miles dropped by $515, or 4.3 percent, to $11,474. And prices for midsize CUVs and SUVs at the same age and mileage declined by $809, or 3.9 percent, to $19,723.
“Average wholesale prices in June were down versus May but up on a year-over-year basis,” Kontos said. “However, drilling down into the data once again clearly reveals price softening on a year-over-year basis when accounting for sale type, vehicle age, model class and mileage.”
Kontos went on to mention that average wholesale prices for used vehicles remarketed by manufacturers in June were down 1.0 percent month-over-month and down 1.9 percent year-over-year.
He added that prices for fleet/lease consignors dipped 1.1 percent sequentially and up 3.2 percent annually.
Kontos went on to mention that average prices for dealer consignors ticked up 0.9 percent versus May and up 7.7 percent relative to June of last year.
ADESA Wholesale Used-Vehicle Price Trends
| |
Average |
Price |
($/Unit) |
Latest |
Month Versus |
| |
June 2017 |
May 2017 |
June 2016 |
Prior Month |
Prior Year |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Total All Vehicles |
$11,067 |
$11,140 |
$10,571 |
–0.7% |
4.7% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Total Cars |
$8,808 |
$8,955 |
$8,562 |
–1.6% |
2.9% |
| Compact Car |
$6,744 |
$6,836 |
$6,465 |
-1.3% |
4.3% |
| Midsize Car |
$7,781 |
$7,967 |
$7,658 |
-2.3% |
1.6% |
| Full-size Car |
$7,747 |
$8,395 |
$7,367 |
-7.7% |
5.2% |
| Luxury Car |
$13,817 |
$13,767 |
$13,078 |
0.4% |
5.6% |
| Sporty Car |
$14,420 |
$14,310 |
$14,274 |
0.8% |
1.0% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Total Trucks |
$13,194 |
$13,247 |
$12,595 |
–0.4% |
4.8% |
| Minivan |
$9,243 |
$9,117 |
$7,830 |
1.4% |
18.0% |
| Full-size Van |
$12,859 |
$13,360 |
$12,500 |
-3.8% |
2.9% |
| Compact SUV/CUV |
$10,567 |
$10,877 |
$10,882 |
-2.8% |
-2.9% |
| Midsize SUV/CUV |
$11,702 |
$11,860 |
$11,118 |
-1.3% |
5.3% |
| Full-size SUV/CUV |
$13,995 |
$14,077 |
$13,657 |
-0.6% |
2.5% |
| Luxury SUV/CUV |
$19,186 |
$19,321 |
$18,842 |
-0.7% |
1.8% |
| Compact Pickup |
$9,651 |
$9,368 |
$8,718 |
3.0% |
10.7% |
| Full-size Pickup |
$16,953 |
$16,778 |
$15,836 |
1.0% |
7.1% |
Source: ADESA Analytical Services. May data revised.
instaVIN, a provider of vehicle history and title information, has launched a revamped website, parent company KAR Auction Services announced Wednesday.
Chief executive Jim Irish explained some of the upgrades in a news release.
“At instaVIN, we are focused on simplifying vehicle history research for our customers and providing them with the most detailed and up-to-date data possible,” Irish said. “Our newly enhanced vehicle history reports are easier to understand and include cautions and warning indicators for various events.
“New functionality and responsive design allow customers to request and view free VIN checks and buy reports on computer, tablet or any mobile device on any browser platform,” he said.
Included on the new website is an interface designed to help customers create accounts and order vehicle history and title reports more easily.
Customers also can access a streamlined report dashboard with additional functions; dealers and commercial customers can now order reports on as many as 100 VINs at a time. New filter settings let customers order condescend reports. Through new HTML functions, users can embed links from web ads.
Additionally, for an additional charge, customers can choose to add an original factory window sticker with build data to their car history reports.
NAAA Safety Day
In other news from KAR, the company is hosting the National Auto Auction Association Safety Day at its ADESA Boston location on July 25.
At the event, NAAA-member auction leaders will gather to discuss response to safety risks. KAR and ADESA Boston leaders will also be demonstrating their safety protocols. The day will also include a tour of ADESA Boston’s design elements aiming to promote safety.
“The safety of our employees and our customers has always been a top priority at KAR—and my own personal mission,” KAR chairman and CEO Jim Hallett said in a news release.
“After recent events, several independent auctions reached out to us looking for additional best practices on auction safety,” he said. “We are proud to team with NAAA in uniting our industry and working together to develop innovative, collaborative new approaches to safety.”
All NAAA-member auctions are allowed to attend. However, space is limited to 75 registrants.
Additionally, there will be presentations on OSHA’s course regarding industrial workplace safety as well as NAAA’s own safety certification program.
The agenda will also feature presentations on OSHA’s 10-hour course to improve industrial workplace safety and NAAA’s safety certification program.
“It is NAAA’s goal to help make every auction, in every location, as safe as possible,” NAAA CEO Frank Hackett said in the release. “We are very pleased with the level of interest and engagement around this event and the willingness of our membership to rally around this important issue.”
More information can be found here.
On Friday, the McConkey Auction Group announced that it has formed an executive team to oversee the strategy, operations, national sales, finance and marketing of its auctions in the Spokane, Wash., Kansas City, Mo., and Seattle markets.
The new seven-member team includes:
—David Pendergraft, DAA Northwest general manager
—Doug Doll, KCI Kansas City general manager
—Dave Blake, DAA Seattle general manager
—Greg Mahugh, senior vice president of operations
—Jennifer Leocardi, vice president of national sales
—Jerome Rauen, vice president of finance
—Mitzi VanVoorhis, vice president of marketing
The executive team will be charged with instituting best practices, nurturing and growing the group’s unique culture, vision casting, goal setting and mentoring the organization’s next generation of leaders.
“While we are not an auction chain, we are a single auction family with a unified team and consistent core values,” president Bob McConkey said. “Our auctions share many national account customers, and we know the remarketing community needs effective, consistent communication.
“We are being very intentional about providing that as part of our value proposition, and it enables us to compete in the marketplace at the highest levels,” he continued.
“Each of our locations bring specific strengths that are becoming best practices across the board. Simply put, we are learning from each other and are putting what we learn into practice,” McConkey went on to say.
All three locations of McConkey Auction Group are ServNet auctions, powered by Auction Edge.
Manheim is opening six new physical auctions, which will be located in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas and Utah, some of which have already launched.
The auction company, making the announcement Thursday, said these locations are smaller, one- to four-lane facilities.
The six new auctions are:
— Manheim St Louis Gateway in Bellville, Ill.
— Manheim West Texas in Lubbock, Texas
— Manheim Montgomery in Montgomery, Ala.
— Manheim Lilburn in Lilburn, Ga.
— Manheim American Fork in American Fork, Utah
— Manheim Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C.
A Manheim spokesperson said all of these locations will be open by the end of August, and a few have already done so.
Manheim Lilburn started operating on June 12, with a grand opening set for Aug. 21.
In addition to these new physical locations, Manheim is expanding its mobile and digital services to new areas of the U.S.
“Our local and mobile strategy meets the needs of independent and franchise dealers through multiple sales channels, giving clients choices to do business when and where it serves them best,” Manheim vice president of mobile and local Randy Beil said in a news release.
Though smaller, these facilities will provide multi-consignor auction sales, Simulcast, inspection and reconditioning services, NextGear Capital financing options and DealShield assurance packages, the company said.
Manheim attributes the growth to being “dealer-driven.” For instance, the new North Carolina facility follows 10-plus years of the company hosting mobile auctions at two locations in Wilmington. The current host is D&E Mitsubishi, which is partnering with Manheim to build the two-lane facility that’s located at the same address at the dealership.
Likewise, Rosenthal Automotive Group is working with Manheim to develop a 4.5-acre auction in Chantilly, Va. that will sell vehicles from the dealer group and other sellers in the region. A Manheim spokesperson said the Virginia auction is currently being developed; though the auction isn't ready for opening, the company plans to open it later this year.
“Our expansion decisions have been dealer-driven,” Beil said. “In many cases, clients collaborate with us to open facilities because they want an open, transparent marketplace that delivers better pricing and vehicle retention than typically available at traditional dealer-to-dealer sales, such as bid lot sales or dealer self-hosted lot auctions.
“In addition, through Simulcast and OVE, we are able to extend the buyer base and increase the sales percentage,” he said.
UPDATE: Story has been updated to clarify opening dates for Lilburn auction.
With Fourth of July influencing the measurements, the newest Black Book Market Insights report indicated both car and truck values remained relatively stable week-over-week.
Out of both segments, editors noticed six vehicle categories maintained their values as depreciation was unchanged, with one additional vehicle category, full-size vans, increasing its value by 0.01 percent.
“Wholesale prices remained stable last week as dealers reported good sales during the Fourth of July weekend,” Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics, said in an analysis .
“Bidding was active in the auction lanes for clean vehicles,” added Goyal, who will be one of the many industry experts on hand for Used Car Week, which begins on Nov. 13 in Palm Springs, Calif. Early bird registration for Used Car Week is already available.
Looking at volume-weighted data, editors determined overall car segment values decreased by just 0.17 percent last week, better than the average weekly decrease of 0.31 percent in values they spotted during the previous four weeks.
Midsize car, full-size car and prestige luxury car segments declined the most by 0.28 percent, 0.28 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively.
Again analyzing volume-weighted information, Black Book indicated overall truck segment values — including pickups, SUVs and vans — decreased by only 0.05 percent last week, better than the average weekly decrease of 0.16 percent in values registered during the previous four weeks.
Full-size luxury crossover/SUV and subcompact luxury crossover values decreased the most among truck segments by 0.14 percent and 0.11 percent, respectively.
As Goyal referenced, Black Book’s representatives in the lane spotted aggressive bidding activity in many places, including:
From Pennsylvania: “The market here is still relatively good with auctioneers rarely having to fish for bids. Dealers are anxious to buy vehicles.”
From Colorado: “Good sale that was similar to last week as the dealers need inventory for the summer market push.”
From Georgia: “Attendance was average and the supply of inventory seemed slightly higher. There was not a lot of haggling between the final bidder and seller as most vehicles were being sold.”
The other two anecdotes from the lanes that Black Book shared stemmed from dealers being mindful of their floor-plan funds before the hammer dropped.
“I had dealers telling me that decent vehicles are very limited. Prices here are surprisingly high,” said Black Book’s representative in Illinois.
And Black Book’s observer stationed in Florida added, “Active sale here today but buyers were really concerned about overpaying. Sellers seemed to sense the normal post-holiday lull and were willing to negotiate in order to sell vehicles.”
It’s turned into a month of celebrating Auction Management Solutions (AMS). First, the firm’s one-year anniversary and now confirmation that earlier this month AMS has partnered with Rea Brothers’ Mid-South Auction (RBMSA) for business development consulting.
AMS recapped that the Rea family has been in the auction business in Mississippi since 1972. In 2010, the Rea Brothers auction was purchased by the American Auto Auction Group, later becoming part of the XLerate Group in 2014.
Last year, the Rea family decided to once again become participants in the wholesale independent auction industry and repurchased the auction, making it a family business. AMS insisted the dealers of Jackson, Miss., and the surrounding area are obviously thrilled to have Jimmy Rea and the family back home on their 48-acre, state-of-the-art facility located in Pearl, Miss.
RBMSA is a full-service auction featuring full reconditioning, light mechanical services and in-house transportation.
“We are excited to be back home, doing what we love, and now being a part of the AMS auction group is going to help us accelerate the process of providing the services that our regional automotive community needs. We are confident that our new working relationship with AMS is going to provide real dividends for our auction,” Rea Brothers’ Mid-South Auction Managing Partner John Rea said.
AMS was created with main focus of partnering with independent auctions to assist in growing their business, helping them to maximize their footprint in the market and to increase profitability. That goal is to provide strategic business development services, with an emphasis on business processes and profitability that aid in the growth and success of client/partner businesses.
AMS was started by industry veterans Tom Stewart and Richard Curtis, who along with Jamye Carpenter and Shelly Frank, provide consulting and recruiting services to the automotive industry that includes independent auto auctions, service providers and vendors.
