TradeRev, a mobile app and provider of a vehicle appraisal and auctioning system for dealers, announced on Monday the company has launched its operations in the Northeast region of the United States with employees on the ground in Boston as well as Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine.
In making the announcement, TradeRev executive vice president Keith Crerar said, “Since we launched our aggressive expansion into the United States, getting boots-on-the-ground in this key automotive region has been a major focus.
“Launching in the Northeast gives us the opportunity to reach a new market of dealers and introduce them to our ground-breaking solution that will ultimately change the way they do business,” Crerar added.
TradeRev is planning to fill 10 market sales manager positions in the Northeast region. Hiring is currently in play and will continue until all positions are filled.
TradeRev is designed to harness the power of digital technology to enable dealers to launch live, real-time, one-hour auctions, while empowering buyers to purchase vehicles from wherever they are, from the palm of their hand, and featuring a daily sale at 3 p.m.
The company believes this technology has revolutionized the remarketing process, making it more productive and profitable for dealers, allowing them to close more new deals, minimize risks during the trade-in process and sell vehicles quickly, all at a reduced expense.
To learn more about TradeRev, go to traderev.com.
Following a study conducted by the Best Companies Group, Auto Remarketing has announced the honorees in the inaugural Best Auto Auctions to Work For.
Auto Remarketing, teaming with Best Companies Group (BCG) in Pennsylvania, underwrote the workplace study.
BCG staff administered all of the surveys, then analyzed the data from the group of auctions choosing to participate and developed metrics and standards based on that data to determine which auctions would be named to the list of Best Auto Auctions to Work For.
It’s either pass or fail, and ONLY those auctions that passed were included in the results, which are unranked.
For an auction to have been considered, the general manager/leader of the auction had to opt in.
Manheim and ADESA supported and participated in the Best Auctions study by including a sample group of their auto auction locations from across the country.
“Congratulations to everyone earning Best Auto Auctions to Work For. It’s a great accomplishment and something you should take pride in,” said Auto Remarketing publisher Bill Zadeits. “We would also like to thank all the auctions who participated and the Best Companies Group. This is a great list of leading auto auctions and we hope we can build on it for years to come.”
The 2016 Best Auto Auctions to Work For honorees are listed below, alphabetically:
Perhaps contrary to dealers who do not have unlimited floor-plan availability, Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb said “wholesale pricing is not exceptionally high” even as the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index moved higher for the fourth consecutive month.
Wholesale used vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage- and seasonally adjusted basis) increased in July by 2.3 percent, leaving the latest index reading at 127.0. It’s the highest point for the monthly reading in more than five years. The last time Manheim put its index mark at 127 or higher was June 2011, when it came in at 127.5.
“Although there was a near-universal expectation that wholesale prices would suffer in 2016 due to growing wholesale supplies, current auction values are not abnormal relative to several long-term historic relationships,” Webb said on Friday in his commentary that accompanied the latest Manheim index.
“Most notably, with respect to new-vehicle pricing (when looked at using both the new-vehicle consumer price index and average transaction prices), wholesale pricing is not exceptionally high,” he continued.
“Monthly payment differentials and other financing terms (such as the typical down payment) also support the current new/used price relationship,” Webb went on to say. “And, as is oft noted, narrowing margins mean that all of the increase in wholesale pricing is not being totally borne by the retail used-vehicle buyer.”
When taking a closer look at the six vehicle segments Manheim tracks to compile its monthly index report, Webb pointed out the weakness in compact car prices abated a bit in July. Prices for compact models decreased by only 1.4 percent in July, a fraction of what analysts spotted several times in the past few months when the drop would be several times that figure.
“Although compact cars remained the weakest of all the major segments over the past year, their pricing over the past three months outperformed the overall market,” said Webb, who again will be back as one of the experts at Used Car Week, which runs from Nov. 14-18 at the Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
“Modest price improvements and better inventory levels on the new-vehicle side helped,” he continued.
“Sports cars, pickups and mid- and full-size SUVs are the only segments with significant increases in wholesale pricing over the past year,” Webb added.
In July, prices for midsize cars edged lower by 0.2 percent. But prices in the other four segment climbed year-over-year, including luxury cars (up 1.6 percent), SUVs/CUVs (up 2.3 percent), vans (up 4.6 percent) and pickups (up 6.7 percent).
Also in the wholesale space, Manheim indicated that lower mileage and better mix drove rental-risk prices up in July.
“As was the case in June, a straight average of auction prices for rental risk units sold in July jumped substantially (up 21 percent) from a year ago because of significantly lower average mileage (down 21 percent) and a richer mix of units sold,” Webb said.
“After adjusting for mileage and broad shifts in the mix of market classes, rental risk prices were up less than 1 percent on both a month-over-month and year-over-year basis,” he added.
Recapping July retail sales
Elsewhere in his commentary, Webb mentioned information from the National Automobile Dealers Association that indicated total used retail unit volumes increased 5 percent in the first six months of the year with franchised dealers registering a 4-percent rise and independent stores generating a 7-percent lift.
“Preliminary numbers and channel checks indicate the gains continued in July,” Webb said.
“It is true that the streak of 27 consecutive quarters of same-store retail used unit sales gains by the seven public dealer groups came to an end in the second quarter of this year, but that was due to the high level of stop-sale units,” he continued.
“It is expected that the repair of those units will speed up as the third quarter progresses, and that will support further retail sales gains,” Webb added.
On the new-model side, Webb explained that five weekends and tactical incentives push July sales higher.
Webb noted new cars and light-duty trucks sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17.8 million in July. That was up “considerably” from June’s 16.6 million pace and the first half rate of 17.1 million, according to Webb.
“We still consider the new vehicle environment to be relatively benign with respect to used vehicle values,” Webb said.
“Sure, incentive spending jumped at a double-digit pace in July, but much of it was tactical, and some of it was temporary. And, more important, it worked,” he continued. “Both inventory levels and balance ended the month better than where they started.”
Copart has announced the expansion of its location in San Antonio. Earlier this year, Copart purchased locations in Temple and Wilmer, bringing the total number of Texas locations to 14.
“We are excited to expand our location in a community we are already a part of,” said Jay Adair, chief executive officer of Copart. “This spring, our dedicated team of catastrophe relief experts responded to the hail storms in San Antonio, and helped the community recover from the storms so they could resume their daily responsibilities.”
Copart’s San Antonio location at 11130 Applewhite Road, hosts online auctions at noon (CDT) every Thursday. Copart’s inventory is not limited to vehicles, but also includes a wide collection of boats, RVs, ATVs, motorcycles and more.
“We are excited to expand in this area,” Adair continued. “We strive to provide our members with convenience, great customer service and an unmatched experience.”
Copart’s patented VB3 technology links sellers to more than 750,000 members across the globe through Copart’s multi-channel online platform. Members can participate in multiple online auctions around the world simultaneously via mobile, tablet and desktop. Similarly, Copart's Mobile App provides members with an easy way to stay connected with multiple live online auctions and allows members to place bids and view vehicles.
As part of ongoing community efforts, Copart offers local law enforcement, fire departments and similar government agencies a safe training environment. Copart locations are most commonly used by law enforcement agencies as a controlled environment to train K-9s to track narcotics and explosive devices.
Local agencies are encouraged to contact the general manager of Copart’s San Antonio location to learn about conducting training there.
It’s not just the retail operations of dealerships that are being impacted by the Takata airbag stop-sale.
There is also a “backlog” of cars that would otherwise be hitting the wholesale market, KAR Auction Services chief executive Jim Hallett said during his company’s earnings call Wednesday.
KAR is the parent company of auction company ADESA. During the Q&A portion of the company’s call, Hallett was asked by an analyst if the stop-sale grounding much of the used-car inventory for dealers was affecting KAR’s business in a measurable way.
“I’m not sure how we can quantify it. I can tell you, we do have some vehicles sitting in our inventory that are on recall … the vehicles in our inventory were really at the direction of the seller,” Hallett said.
“Some of these sellers want to hold the vehicle until the recall is completed. Other sellers will sell the vehicle with an announcement that it does have an open recall. And then obviously there are some cases where there are laws that prohibit you from selling cars at all, which are the rental vehicles.
“In terms of the dealers, and you talk about the stop-sales, I do believe their inventory is backing up on the dealers’ lots,” he said. “And I believe that there were a number of vehicles that the dealers were not able to ship to the auction, and as a result, there is a backlog. The good news is, at some point in time, the backlog will get released and these vehicles will make their way to the physical auction.”
Until then, they have to play the waiting game.
Much like the dealers and dealer groups.
At Penske Automotive Group, CEO Roger Penske said in last week’s quarterly call that about $57 million of the group's U.S inventory right now is on a stop-sale related to the ongoing Takara airbag recall situation.
At Asbury Automotive Group, the retailer is being affected to the point that some company stores are running out of available space to park impacted vehicles.
According to Asbury chief operating officer Hult, stop-sales tied up 10 percent or roughly $16 million of Asbury’s inventory in the second quarter. That’s up from $14 million in the first quarter.
About a third of the automotive group’s more than 80 stores are affected by stop-sales. At some stores, as much as 40 percent of inventory is impacted.
“We’ve been told by our partners that they’re going to take care of the customers first, inventory second,” Hult said. “We are being compensated.”
As far as how the OEMs are making up for vehicle depreciation, that varies, he said.
“Every OEM is different. On some of them, there will be no economic impact. On others, there will be probably some loss that we’re going to suffer by the time we get these lots cleared.”
How fast the lots get cleared, of course, depends on how fast the replacement airbags arrive. Recent estimates indicate that only a fraction of the 70 million or so recalled vehicles in the U.S. have been repaired.
“They’re (the airbags) coming in on a very light flow, but not what we expected by this point. And what we’ve heard most recently is we shouldn’t expect to see them in any kind of volume until later in the third quarter, potentially early fourth quarter,” Hult said.
Craig Monaghan, president and chief executive officer, chimed in on a scenario in which “40 percent of your inventory is on stop-sale, and we’re running out of space.
“In some cases, we’re looking for nearby lots to park these vehicles,” he said. “It has become very disruptive. But they are vehicles that, when we get the airbags, that we think are going to be very marketable. So we are holding on to them for the most part, and we’re just going to ride this thing out.”
The situation is similar over at Sonic Automotive. Executive vice president of operations Jeff Dyke pointed out he’s been with the dealer group for 11 years and can’t remember a quarter when a single factor impacted used-vehicle retail sales as much as the stop-sales associated with the Takata situation.
“We can’t get the airbags in fast enough to get them out on the lot and ready for sale so it's certainly playing an issue here,” Dyke said.
“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he continued. “Hopefully in particular with BMW and Honda, we’ll get that cleaned up here in the coming months and put this behind us. But it certainly has been a bit of a challenge for the stores.”
Moving to AutoNation, CEO Mike Jackson said roughly 20 percent of used-car inventory is on hold due to open recalls, 75 percent of which are Takata-related.
He believes that used inventory on hold will peak toward the end of the year, but the thing is, VIN numbers of impacted vehicles are still coming in.
The good news, Jackson said, “is that devices are beginning to arrive. And we’re at the point with certain manufacturers where we can batch-order devices and not go VIN by VIN. And we’ll begin to repair those vehicles, we’ll begin to sell those vehicles and we’ll begin to recognize the compensation that is due on those vehicles from the manufacturers … that would tend to say the worst is over.”
However, Jackson said, there were millions more Takata airbag-affected vehicles announced in the second quarter. And AutoNation does not have the VINs on those yet, Jackson said. Those are scheduled to arrive in the second half of the year, with parts coming in the first half of 2017, he said.
In other words, the coast isn’t clear. As Jackson said, “we’re going to repeat this whole movie over again for this next wave.”
Staff Writers Sara Schweiger and Nick Zulovich contributed to this report.
Commercial consignment for ADESA was up 24 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, helping to lift the auction company’s vehicle sales by double-digits, parent company KAR Auction Services said Wednesday.
The number of vehicles sold via ADESA climbed by 18 percent year-over-year in Q2. Excluding numbers from acquired locations, sales were up 9 percent, with commercial consignment climbing 17 percent.
“The cyclical recovery at ADESA continues. We’re seeing increasing volumes of off-lease cars, and they’re expected for the remainder of this year and then for the next few years,” KAR Auction Services chief executive Jim Hallett said Wednesday during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
“In fact, leasing continues to increase as a percent of new-car sales. And as we’ve said before, the increases in commercial volumes, especially the off-lease and the repo vehicles, may cause dealer consignment volumes to decline in the future,” he said.
In Q2, dealer consignment was up 9 percent when acquisitions were included, but down 3 percent when they were not.
During the Q&A portion of the call, Hallett also touched on the rental-car segment of ADESA’s business, an area in which volume is expected to pick up heading into the third quarter.
“It’s the smallest portion of our commercial business, but we continue to receive rental vehicles. And as we start to approach Labor Day and the Labor Day weekend, that’s usually a time that these rental companies start to de-fleet,” Hallett said. “It’s just a seasonal thing; kids are back at school, holidays are over. There’s less demand and the de-fleeting starts.”
Year-to-date, ADESA’s sales volume was up 18 percent (up 13 percent when excluding acquisitions). Commercial consignment climbed 23 percent in the first six months of the year (up 19 percent excluding acquisitions). Dealer consignment volume was up 9 percent (up 2 percent excluding acquisitions).
With a couple of pockets where dealer activity in the lanes seemed a little more upbeat, Black Book summarized that wholesale prices moved at a “humdrum pace” to close out July.
This week’s Black Book Market Insights report noted car segments depreciated at nearly double the percentage of trucks this past week. Also, midsize car segments and compact crossover/SUV segments saw the greatest depreciation during the week.
“The wholesale market values continue to depreciate at a humdrum pace as dealers report slow sales in retail,” said Anil Goyal, Black Book’s senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics, who will make multiple appearances during Used Car Week at the Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from Nov. 14 to 18.
Volume-weighted, Black Book editors determined overall car values decreased by 0.47 percent last week, similar to the average depreciation rate of 0.46 percent seen in the previous four weeks.
In car segments, the midsize car segment declined the most, dropping by 0.91 percent.
Volume-weighted, editors found that overall truck values decreased by 0.26 percent last week, slightly better than the average change of 0.35 percent seen in the previous four weeks.
In truck segments, Black Book said the compact crossover/SUV segment declined the most, softening by 0.48 percent.
When Black Book representatives reported back to headquarters from the lanes, two auction watchers relayed these reports:
—In Florida, it was a “good sale today at this location, dealer lanes were very busy."
—In California, “the market has slowed down a little in this area, but all lanes still seemed to do pretty well.”
While the lane recaps in those sunny locales conveyed an upbeat sentiment, a Black Book representative in Tennessee said, “Dealers reporting that sales have been very slow this week on their lots, leaving very little to send to auction. Plenty of no-sales here today.”
Up in New Jersey, the theme was “slow retail and wholesale in this market location.”
And finally in Washington, the sentiment from the Northwest was: “Prices are down on most everything here. Consignment was better than last week but still low compared to normal.”
Specialty markets update
As it does monthly, Black Book shared trends associated with the specialty markets. Editors’ thoughts are as follows:
—Collectible cars: Black Book indicated the automotive events held in the middle of August on California’s scenic Monterey Peninsula have become the year’s “most important gathering for high-end car collectors and enthusiasts.”
—Recreational vehicles: Editors described the wholesale market as “very consistent” last month, with motorized units and towables not only moving in the same direction, but changing in similar amounts.
—Powersports: Black Book noticed values in the powersports market moved down across the board this past month. “With the end of summer upon us, many dealers have begun to draw down their inventory of street bikes as we head into the fall,” editors added.
—Heavy duty: Black Book noted the volume of available used trucks continues to grow, “which ensures good buys at HD auctions for most.”
—Medium duty: In the medium duty truck wholesale market, editors said they “saw the older models decline more and the newer trucks decline less.”
Columbus Fair Auto Auction's recent decision to establish a compliance department was an easy one, given the arguably dizzying pace at which regulatory issues across a variety of domains have accelerated since the 2010 signing of the Consumer Financial Protection Act and the bureau that grew out of it.
“We recognize our consignors, customers, partners, vendors and employees all need a unified resource with streamlined communication regarding our compliance in areas that range from employee and guest safety to how we protect our data,” Greg Levi, CFAA chief operating officer, said in a July news release. “The auction environment is surprisingly complex, and an efficient solution to compliance is in high demand.”
To that end, the auction named Angela Whitt to be its compliance officer. Her job is to act as a conduit of information between the various departments in the family-owned auction, which is an independent member of the National Auto Auction Association.
Auto Remarketing caught up with Whitt for her take on the biggest regulatory issues facing auctions, challenges in meeting those regulations, and where she plans to focus her efforts in the coming months.
“The issues that are hot button for us are those that are indirect to the auction,” Whitt said, adding that the creation of the CFPB has provided a lot of unknowns.
“What we know is that as they (third parties doing business with the auction) have this heightened level of scrutiny on them, we as an auction have to work harder to also hold ourselves to that level of scrutiny."
And that has meant delving further into the CFPA and figuring out how exactly what this higher level of scrutiny means for consignors, financial institutions with whom Columbus Fair partners, downstream partners and dealers. That can be anything from data security to FTC requirements.
Vendor Management Program
Whitt envisions a heavy focus on two areas in the coming months. One is improving the auction’s vendor management program.
“We’re looking at upstream and downstream partners, with the CFPB really focusing on compliance for them, and (ensuring) that they have compliant relationships with people like us at the auction level,” she said. “We don’t want to look at OHSA regulations or FTC requirements as a minimum. We want to be a step above that. We want to have a higher level of compliance for them.”
The other area is something Whitt described as novel for auto auctions, especially one of CFAA’s size and service offerings: an environmental stewardship program. That includes an EPA-compliant disposal program and a reduction of the auction’s waste footprint.
“We are a full-service auto auction. We have all of the challenges of a traditional auto auction (driver safety, vendor security) with the additional concerns that you get out of a traditional mechanic shop,” Whitt said.
“We have a full body and paint center and a full-service reconditioning center. Making sure we’re recycling, partnering with vendors of products that are environmentally friendly whenever possible, as well as making sure that we’re watching EPA and OSHA regulations. We’ll be looking closely at this over the next year,” she continued.
Keeping current on compliance issues is a challenge, Whitt acknowledged.
“Regulations are always changing. A lot of legislation gets packaged and bundled. (That means asking) how does this apply to us? To our consignors? Making sure that we can be a valued partner for them. Having access to great resources like NAAA, NIADA, ” she said. “Really watching legislation and understanding how that impacts what we’re doing, how we operate.
“The landscape is constantly moving. It can be a stumbling block for auto auctions if you’re not in front of it.”
‘Embedded in every decision’
Compliance is never far from Jason Poulos' mind.
“It’s embedded in every decision we make,” said Poulos, who was hired as Manheim’s chief compliance officer in 2013.
Prior to when he came on board three years ago, “the company had been doing compliance in various ways, kind of in ‘silo’ fashion,” Poulos said.
“What Manheim did in 2013 with the advent of my position was to create a chief compliance office,” he said. “They hired me to head up that office and sort of amalgamated all of the compliance functions into one office.”
Today, Poulos is assistant general counsel/chief compliance officer for Cox Automotive, Manheim’s parent company.
In terms of the top regulatory issues for auctions, Poulos mentioned safety is a big one.
“You’ve got hundreds and hundreds of very large machines moving around at the same time. Coordinating that and making sure both customers and employees are safe is very important to us,” he said. “We have a director of safety who collaborates with my office to make sure that we have that at the foremost of their minds.”
Environmental issues are a key compliance component as well, he said, as well as maintaining the integrity of the marketplace. “That entails lots of things," he said, "such as overseeing the integrity of the titling process and the odometer disclosure process."
Poulos also cited the importance of assisting Manheim’s customers with their compliance responsibilities.
“We are a vendor to our customers, and this is both upstream and downstream — in other words, the sellers and buyers,” he said. “They’re under a lot of scrutiny from various regulators. We spend a lot of time trying to make sure that they are comfortable that as a vendor, we are helping them stay compliant with their regulatory requirements.”
What about challenges?
“The one thing that’s unusual about this marketplace and this industry is that as a lawyer, I traditionally have dealt with single streams of commerce. In the auto auction industry, you have multiple streams going on at any given time,” he said. “You’ve got lots of activity going on.”
In the end, Poulos said, every decision that comes to him means keeping an eye on the bigger picture.
“I have to think beyond the issue at hand. It could be a buying dealer has a particular concern about a vehicle (e.g. something with the titling process). So I have to deal with the issue at hand, but I have to consider how today’s decision is going to affect future situations.
“Whenever I think about resolving something, I’m thinking about it in a way that will guide the future," he went on to say. "We try to treat similar situations similarly, and that’s a real difficulty because each dealer situation, each issue that pops up can be unique.”
While it’s not exactly the case where crickets are chirping in the lanes, Black Book representatives from several parts of the country noticed soft activity at the auction.
Along with recapping the year-over-year differences in full-size pickup prices, this week’s Black Book Market Insights report revealed what dealers are experiencing when making their trips to secure inventory.
In Texas, Black Book’s representative said, “The market has been dropping the last several weeks and continues to do so in this area.”
Two different accounts from Tennessee relayed similar sentiments as one Black Book lane watcher pointed out, “Full-size pickups are in demand but overall, sales are slow,” while the other added, “Buyers say retail is slow in this particular area.”
Down in Florida, the story was, “The market trend in this area is steady to slow,” according to Black Book personnel.
And to the North, it wasn’t much better as Black Book’s representative in Pennsylvania shared, “This week was the poorest buyer response I have seen for this time of year with perfect weather.” In Illinois, the situation was slightly more positive, but Black Book reported back saying, “Prices remain stable at this location even with low attendance.”
Out West, the hammer wasn’t coming down as often in Washington: “It was a below average sale this week with prices down on most models.”
Getting into more detail about prices, Black Book editors decided to shine a spotlight on the full-size pickup segment, which has shown just a slight depreciation curve over the last 16 weeks. Editors explained that what’s interesting here is that a year ago during the same time, this segment showed stronger retention with an increase in value in the same time period.
“Luxury car values decreased at a steeper rate than mainstream brand cars, while pickup trucks continue to show retention strength. Several locations reported slower sales and low attendance at auctions,” said Black Book senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics Anil Goyal, who will be making multiple appearances during Used Car Week at the Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from Nov. 14 to 18.
Volume-weighted, Black Book indicated overall car values decreased by 0.53 percent last week. This reading is higher than the average depreciation rate of 0.43 percent seen in the previous four weeks.
As Goyal previously mentioned, luxury cars led the decline by 0.85 percent, followed by the near-luxury car and sub-compact car segments dropping by 0.79 percent and 0.77 percent, respectively.
Volume-weighted, Black Book determined overall truck values decreased by 0.37 percent last week. This movement is similar to the average depreciation rate of 0.35 percent seen in the previous four weeks.
Pickups and full-size crossovers/SUVs retained good values, according to editors.
An interactive tool that can allow clerks to hone the skills they need to deliver a virtual version of the tradition auto auction experience to online dealers is the newest addition to the National Auto Auction Association’s Education and Training Library.
The tool is designed to establish performance criteria to create consistency, reduce block errors and incite participation. One of the biggest advantages is that clerks now have the ability to become fully trained prior to approaching a live auction block.
The Clerk Training Simulator, introduced by NAAA member AuctionVcommerce (AVC), was debuted at last year's National Remarketing Conference and released in April.
Since then, several auctions have had the opportunity to take advantage of the system. The results of the training provided the data that prompted AVC to approach the NAAA for support.
“The training demonstrated a large variation in completion times from clerk to clerk,” said Kelly Bianchi, president and founder of AVC. “This meant that the skill level and/or technique of each participant proved to be extremely inconsistent — a fact that could easily be substantiated by monitoring the live auction screen, or calculating block errors.”
AVC advocated providing this solution to all auctions, a message that resonated with NAAA chief executive officer Frank Hackett.
“The AuctionVcommerce training will put a focus on the important job performed by our auction clerks and improve the online auction experience,” he said.
Bianchi came up with the idea for the Clerk Training Simulator several years ago while working at an auction. She felt that expectations for clerks tend to be low, and the perception is that the position requires no skills beyond having the ability to “listen” and “click a mouse.”
“I remember being told this by an auction, and immediately responding, ‘And you want someone to buy a $5,000, $10,000, $20,000 item based on that criteria?’” Bianchi recalled. She also said that the high turnover rate and poor performance levels are the bi-products of this perception.
“Certification provides a sense of accomplishment, and is also a proven method for increasing productivity and longevity,” she continued. “Clerks are on the front line of the online initiative, and every time an error occurs, auctions are asking vendors to improve the technology. You have to improve the users of the technology.”
The simulator, which uses real auctioneers, is broken down into three levels, with an optional bonus round. The user must achieve at least 90 percent accuracy in the three levels, plus 30 points for engagement. The percentage drops as clerks fail to provide a correct response in a timely manner.
“In the game, clerks are penalized for poor performance,” Bianchi said. “Who is penalized when an untrained clerk is on the block?”
Auctions who have trained clerks,and/or are scheduled for training: Lone Star, 166, Columbus Fair, Greensboro, DAA Southwest, Auctions in Motion, Carriage Trade and America’s Auto Auction Pittsburgh.
