Manheim announced that it is hosting a grand opening of Manheim Little Rock, its first location in Arkansas, on Wednesday as part of its strategic plan to expand into underserved areas in the U.S. this year.
The company said it made the decision to open the Little Rock location after considering dealer demand in the area and distance from the company’s existing locations.
“Our goal is to quickly fill a void that has long existed in this area,” Manheim vice president of Local/Mobile Randy Beil said in a news release. “We hope to do this by focusing on the efficient processing of client vehicles in a collaborative environment that mirrors the look and feel of other traditional locations.”
In January, Manheim Little Rock hosted its inaugural sale. The event drew 260 onsite bidders and 110 online buyers to the three-lane wholesale remarketing operation.
Four full-time staff members make up the Manheim Little Rock team.
Currently, the team offers wash and vacuum services and post-sale inspections to Steve Landers Group, Everett Buick GMC and Superior Chevrolet, the three largest dealers in the area, according to Manheim.
“As we are getting to know our client’s needs, we are adjusting operations to fit the local dealer culture and provide a hometown feel while delivering Manheim’s signature brand of customer service,” Beil said.
“For example, we will begin offering free local inbound transportation to make it easier for clients to get us their vehicles as early as possible. We’re confident adjustments like this will help us gain momentum as we establish ourselves in the market.”
The Manheim Little Rock facility is located at 5809 S. University Avenue and hosts sales on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m.
Last year, Manheim invested in three similar small-sized locations in Cleveland, Norfolk, Va., and Wichita, Kan. New locations in Des Moines, Iowa; Lubbock, Texas; and other cities are expected to open this year.
Continuing education provider Auction Academy — which starts sessions for its two-year program on April 6 — announced that this is the first year it has opened enrollment to commercial account representatives and dealers.
Auction Academy’s program began as a course of study just for the children of independent auction owners in 2012.
“We have successfully expanded and diversified each class group to date, and this is a logical progression in a move to include all industry groups that participate in wholesale automotive remarketing. This grew from interest in the coursework from different segments of the industry,” Penny Wanna, Auction Academy president, said in a news release.
Participants who join the program next month will make up Auction Academy’s fifth class group.
“So much information is shared among the student participants that a more diverse Class Group will further enhance and elevate the experience for everyone. We truly feel the addition of commercial account and dealer participants to the group will continue to make Auction Academy a very unique training and learning experience,” Wanna added.
The program’s curriculum entails an overview of the auto auction process and features visits to multiple auction sites and auction and remarketing process presentations delivered by industry experts, according to Auction Academy.
In the last five years, Auction Academy said it has provided training to all levels of staff at independent auctions which have included participants from Manheim and ADESA as well as related industry services such as transport, reconditioning services and floor plan companies.
Enrollment is currently open for the two-year program. The first of eight quarterly sessions begin on April 6 in Nashville, Tenn.
TPC Management Co. developed the continuing education program for professionals in the auto auction industry.
For more information about the program or registration materials contact Wanna at (615) 591-4544 or [email protected].
Along with releasing its latest weekly price movement update via the Black Book Market Insights report, the firm’s data also indicated the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2011 through 2015 depreciated by 0.8 percent in February.
Editors noticed cars overall produced depreciation of 0.8 percent versus trucks, which saw 0.7 percent depreciation. Black Book said all vehicles are averaging a 12-month depreciation change of 17.9 percent.
In February, editors noticed small pickups performed the best, increasing their value by 0.2 percent. Vehicles in the small pickups segment include the Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado, Nissan Frontier and Honda Ridgeline. Their data showed vehicles in this category finished the last month with an average segment price of $19,138.
Black Book added that the small pickup segment also managed to retain its value compared to year-ago levels the best, only depreciating 7.1 percent from the 2016 value of $20,597.
Editors continued on to highlight that two segments saw a monthly depreciation of 1.8 percent in February, the highest depreciation for the month. Those segments include premium sporty cars and midsize luxury CUV/SUV.
Premium sporty cars finished the month of February with a value of $38,039, a 19.5-percent decrease from last year’s value of $47,239. Vehicles in this segment include the BMW 6-Series, Chevrolet Corvette, Jaguar F-Type and the Lexus RC350.
Midsize luxury CUV/SUVs ended last month with an average segment value of $21,479, a 20.1-percent drop from year-ago levels ($25,869). Vehicles in this segment include the Buick Enclave, Infiniti QX60, Land Rover LR4 and the Lincoln MKX.
Editors went on to note that prestige luxury cars had the steepest decline in value in comparison to a year ago. The segment, which ended February with an average value of $37,294, saw a 25.6-percent fall in price from its year-ago value ($50,115). Vehicles in the prestige luxury car category include the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Lexus LS 460, Audi A8 and the Jaguar XJ.
“Vehicle retention values have held relatively strong for the second month in a row this year, except for some luxury segments,” said Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics at Black Book.
“Consumer confidence scored above the expected rate for February, and this coupled with the tax rebate season could be having a positive influence on the retention of vehicle values since there are more sales of smaller vehicles taking place,” Goyal continued.
Weekly update
Meanwhile, the Black Book Market Insights report showed that vehicles in the sub-compact crossover, compact van, sub-compact car and full-size pickup segments retained their values best last week.
Out of all segments in both car and truck categories, editors determined prestige luxury cars showed the largest depreciation while compact vans had the strongest retention.
“Tax refund checks have begun to arrive, prompting increased interest in small cars. This has led to better retention in values and higher auction sale percentages for these vehicles,” Goyal said.
Looking at volume-weighted data, Black Book said overall car values decreased by 0.51 percent last week. This figure is higher than the average depreciation rate of 0.39 percent seen in the previous four weeks.
In car segments, editors noted prestige luxury car, luxury car and premium sporty car segments declined the most, dropping by 0.98 percent, 0.65 percent and 0.52 percent, respectively.
Again reviewing volume-weighted information, Black Book indicated overall truck values decreased by 0.31 percent last week. This reading is similar to the average depreciation rate of 0.33 percent spotted during the previous four weeks.
In truck segments, editors pointed out midsize luxury crossover/SUV and full-size luxury crossover/SUV segments declined the most, dropping by 0.56 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively.
Rounding off its latest update, Black Book also relayed the observations of its representatives stationed at auctions throughout the country. With tax-refund money evidently coming into possible buyers’ accounts, dealers responded.
From North Carolina, the story was, “very little online buying today but on-site dealers were busy. Units below $5,000 were selling quickly.” And on the opposite side of the nation in California, the scene was “good consignment here today with above normal amount of buyers.”
In between, the situation was mixed as in Tennessee lane action was, “good sale today. Smaller cars actually had a lot of attention with the number of buyers being above average.” At another sale in the Volunteer State, “lots of lookers here today with clean compact cars in demand.”
Down in Georgia, the action unfolded this way: “Nice sunny day here with a normal amount of consignment but a bit low on buyers.”
And finally up in Washington, Black Book’s lane watcher said, “Prices in this location still seem high on most pickups and SUVs.”
Insurance Auto Auctions announced its expansion of auction locations in Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Pennsylvania and Oregon in order to meet and anticipate increasing customer demand. Its facilities which now occupy 173 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
The salvage vehicle auction company says its plans for growth within the seven states exhibits its commitment to providing additional space for everyday seller storage and maintaining reserve storage for potential inventory increases due to natural disasters and catastrophic events.
"Our increased land capacity enables us to proactively meet the growing inventory needs of our vehicle sellers," IAA chief executive officer and president John Kett said in a news release. "We continuously evaluate opportunities in strategic locations and add resources and capacity where our customers need it most. We're proud of our diverse and expanding presence, and we look forward to serving our customers in these important and active markets."
The expanded locations will also give IAA the ability to offer both live and online buyers an increased selection of vehicles, according to the company.
Buyers can preview vehicles either onsite at the individual auction locations or online through IAA's newly redesigned vehicle details page.
The IAA expansions announced include IAA-Fayetteville, Ark., IAA-Boise, Idaho, IAA-South Bend, In., IAA-Shreveport, La., IAA-Gorham, Maine, IAA-Bridgeport, Pa. and IAA Portland West, Ore. The following is a list of the expansions along with branch details for each location's live and live-online auctions:
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IAA-Boise, 3707 East Linden Street, Boise, Idaho — auctions held biweekly on Fridays at 9:30 A.M.
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IAA-Bridgeport, 396 E Schuylkill River Rd., Bridgeport, Pa. — auctions held every Thursday at 9:00 A.M.
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IAA-Fayetteville, 2801 E. Pridemore Dr, Lincoln, Ark. — auctions held biweekly on Thursdays at 9:00 A.M.
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IAA-Gorham, 9 Moody Drive, Gorham, Maine — auctions held every Monday at 10:30 A.M.
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IAA-Portland West, 10498 Vancouver Way, Portland, Ore. — auctions held every Tuesday at 9:00 A.M.
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IAA-South Bend, 25631 SR2, South Bend, Ind. — auctions held every Tuesday at 10:00 A.M.
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IAA-Shreveport, 4836 McGee Rd., Greenwood, La. — auctions held every Monday at 9:00 A.M.
Other strategic expansions and new locations IAA has scheduled for the year include Fredericksburg, Va., Kansas City, Kan.; Flint, Mich.; Ogden, Utah; and Spokane, Wash.
Additional details and information regarding each IAA branch location can be found at www.iaai.com/locations.
Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb explained why February’s wholesale price data reinforced a possible market moniker — stability.
Manheim reported on Tuesday that wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage-, and seasonally adjusted basis) fell by 0.2 percent in February. However, Webb pointed out that given a sharp decline in pricing in February of last year, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index showed a year-over-year gain of 1.1 percent as the index reading stood at 124.6 for February.
“Although wholesale prices rose in only one month out of the last seven, stability remains the watchword for used-vehicle values given that all of the declines were small,” Webb said in his commentary that accompanied the latest index update.
“In the face of heavy new-vehicle inventory and incentives, the stability of used vehicle values is a credit to the retail market that continues to provide dealers the ability to quickly retail wholesale acquisitions at reasonable grosses,” he continued.
Webb’s observer colleagues from Cox Automotive — Kelley Blue Book’s Alec Gutierrez and Autotrader’s Michelle Krebs — as well as Jessica Caldwell from Edmunds — recently discussed the new-vehicle market’s impact on potential used-vehicle sales performance, too. This Auto Remarketing report highlighted how those analysts noted challenges franchised dealerships face in finding buyers for their new models — which in some cases are taking the amount of days to turn not seen in almost eight years.
Pricing trends by market class
Price declines and rises split evenly within the six vehicle segments Manheim tracks for its monthly update, again showing the cut between cars and trucks.
Each of the three segments to post price gains in February were in the truck category as prices for pickups rose 6.5 percent, prices for vans climbed 4.9 percent and prices for SUVs and CUVs moved 2.0 percent higher.
Conversely, prices in the three car segments all softened in February, led by luxury cars (down 2.2 percent) and closely followed by midsize cars (down 2.1 percent) and compacts (down 1.6 percent).
“Although it remains the case that pricing for trucks, CUVs, and vans remains up year-over-year while cars are down, the weakest of the car segments (compacts) has actually tracked the overall market the past three months,” Webb said. “It is risky to say that compacts reached their bottom because there have been so many false bottoms over the past couple of years, but there are promising signs.
“On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, sports cars were the only segment that was up, but the February lift was much less than normally occurs,” he continued. “As such, the seasonally adjusted price for sports cars in February was down more than any other major segment. This might have been one area where reduced tax refunds did have an impact.”
Rental market update
Manheim reported that the volume of rental-risk units actually sold grew during the first two months of 2017, even though conversion rates were a “little weak,” according to Webb.
“Given that new-vehicle sales into rental were down during this period, it suggests that the rental companies were getting their fleets right-sized,” he added.
Manheim indicated a straight average of auction pricing for rental risk units in February generated a 5-percent lift from a year ago.
“But much of that reflects mix shifts and mileage changes as well as a temporary weakness in the market last year,” Webb said.
“Our index of rental risk pricing that adjusts for broad changes in mix and mileage was down both sequentially (1.2 percent) and year-over-year (3.8 percent),” he continued.
Manheim went on to mention the average mileage on rental risk units sold at auction was 39,100 miles, “which is very close to what it has averaged since the summer of last year,” Webb said.
With a growing network of auctions and what it calls a reputation for making it easier to consign and sell vehicles at auction, AutoIMS has plans to deliver increased upgrades and modernization to its infrastructure this year, according to an outline released on Tuesday announcing the AutoIMS leadership team’s strategy for the year.
AutoIMS has adopted a comprehensive “Technology 2020” plan detailing innovation goals that will help the team continue to provide custom work and new add-on modules that streamline processes and connections.
“We are constantly thinking of new ways to drive value to our growing network of auctions, consignors, and 3rd party partners,” AutoIMS chief executive officer Mike Broe, said in a new release. “Thankfully, there is no shortage of creative ideas. Our clients continue to call us early in their process as they transform or improve their remarketing operations.”
Key components of the newly incepted strategic plan include:
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Enhancing client experience through investments in employees and CRM tools
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Expanding and strengthening industry connections, connecting AutoIMS member auctions and consignors with more industry partners
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Improving employee engagement, ensuring AutoIMS is an employer of choice for years to come
Last year, AutoIMS partnered with IARA and ChromeData to create the build data repository, welcomed 11 new whole car auction members, four salvage auctions, and 18 new consignors.
The technology service provider for commercial vehicle consignors and auto auctions also expanded its connectivity and features. Updates include new consignor-specific build data tools, batch inventory update customizations, as well as custom workflow, repair approval and sale audit tools.
The following is a list of the new whole car auction members and salvage auctions AutoIMS added on last year:
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Auctions in Motion
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Bar None Auctions (Portland, Ore., Riverside, Calif.; and Sacramento, Calif.)
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ADESA Chicago
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Copart CrashedToys
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GB Auctions
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Insurance Auto Auctions (Boston, Chicago West, Louisville North, Shady Spring)
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Lake Charles Auto Auction
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Mid Kansas Auto Auction
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Value Auto Auction
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Manheim Vancouver
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ADESA Windsor
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Wisconsin State Auto Auction
General Motors Financial recently launched two new floor plan program updates for participating dealers that the company thinks are “competitive differentiators in the industry.”
GM Financial — which reported that it had 792 dealerships in North America leveraging its commercial offerings as of the close of 2016 — highlighted the two floor plan updates include:
—$3,000 GM Financial DealerSource buy fee credit, which can be applied towards GMF DealerSource off-lease buy fees.
—30-day interest-free period for dealers who purchase off-lease vehicles on GMF DealerSource and finance with GM Financial's floor plan.
The company mentioned that other exclusive remarketing perks GM Financial floor plan dealers can receive include reduced buy fees on GMF DealerSource inventory, a grounding dealer purchase incentive on GMF DealerSource purchases (which is also tied to Dealer Dividends) and reduced selling fees in GM Financial’s lane at physical auction sites.
“The recent rollout of new and unique remarketing programs for floor plan dealers represent true competitive differentiation for GM Financial from others in the industry,” said Nick Heinz, GM Financial vice president of remarketing. “We offer a very compelling value proposition to all GM dealers but these enhancements add to the already rich suite of benefits available to our most important dealer relationships.”
More details can be found through this website.
TradeRev announced on Tuesday that New York state, Pennsylvania and Dallas auto dealers will now have access to its real-time car auction mobile app that allows dealer users to create a live appraisal auction at any time.
“TradeRev creates a simplified, transparent, real-time automotive exchange for dealers, and we are thrilled to bring our technology into New York, Pennsylvania and Dallas,” Keith Crerar, executive vice president of TradeRev USA, said in a news release. “These three major automotive markets have highly-concentrated networks of savvy dealers. We look forward to empowering their sales through the TradeRev platform and to expanding our footprint and growth across the U.S.”
TradeRev said the live and open bidding mobile app is designed to simplify the resale process as well as create transparency between parties.
After a dealer posts a vehicle on the app, it will broadcast to all TradeRev user dealers and can begin generating live bids within minutes.
The platform aims to bring in bids and offers as soon as a vehicle goes up, it uses text, mobile and e-mail alerts to notify potential buyers of new auctions and auction status.
Auctions on the app stay active for one hour.
"At TradeRev, we believe buyer and seller dealers should both come out winners in vehicle transactions,” added Crerar. “We’re confident our mobile app will help dealers in New York, Pennsylvania and Dallas price and sell used and trade-in inventory more quickly, accurately and effectively.”
The TradeRev app is available on iOS, Android and desktops.
Subprime auto finance company Consumer Portfolio Services recently announced its top performing auctions for 2016.
The event, attended by the 2016 winners along with CPS remarketing manager Mike Scott and senior vice president of asset recovery Laurie Straten, was held at the CAR Convention last week in Las Vegas.
Award winners for 2016 are as follows:
—CPS Top Gun Award (Best Overall Auction): ABC Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala.
—CPS Heavy Hammer Award (Best Sales Retention): Tie between 166 Auto Auction, Springfield, Mo., and North Bay Auto Auction, Fairfield, Calif.
—CPS Operational Excellence Award: ABC Toledo, Perrysburg, Ohio
—CPS Online Sales Award: Manheim Central Florida, Orlando, Fla.
—CPS Top Gun Award (CPS small market): ADESA Seattle, Auburn, Wash.
“CPS would like to thank all of their partner auctions on a productive 2016 and look forward to an exciting 2017,” the company said.
Automotive industry veteran Richard Howse has joined KAR Auction Services as its new chief commercial officer, the company announced on Wednesday.
Most recently, Howse served as senior vice president of marketing and business development at Volkswagen Credit.
Howse’s automotive industry leadership background spans over 30 years.
“Rich has led growth and change in a variety of customer settings, so he has first-hand experience designing and implementing solutions across diverse operating models,” Don Gottwald, chief operating officer for KAR said in a news release. “He’ll work closely with our existing sales leaders to help unlock and deliver the full force of the KAR platform.”
In his new role, Howse will focus on developing customer solutions that integrate KAR’s capabilities and businesses.
“Under his direction, cross-functional teams will focus on expanding communication channels and creating a direct conduit between customers and KAR’s innovation, data science and product development teams,” KAR said in a news release.
Additionally, he is responsible for implementing new processes to enhance collaboration within KAR’s whole car and salvage auction business units, as well as the company’s diverse ancillary and related services subsidiaries.
Howse will report to Gottwald.
At Volkswagen Credit, Howse also served as the director of remarketing before becoming senior vice president of marketing and business development.
Within his career, Howse has had leadership positions with JD Power, Audi of America, Honda and General Motors.
