ServNet has added Winchester Auto Auction in Bunker Hill, W. Va. to its list of members. The auction has been owned by the Angelicchio family, also owners of Pittsburgh Auto Auction, since early 2014.
Patty Stanley, ServNet’s president, believes the auctions ownership and ideal location will make it an ideal fit into ServNet’s auction family.
“The Winchester Auto Auction is well-suited to represent ServNet, which now includes 31 auctions nationwide,” Stanley said. “Under the leadership of the Angelicchio family with its years of experience and success in the industry, the auction is distinguished by a commitment to excellence and customer service that sets a high mark in the region.”
The auction’s location on the Virginia/West Virginia border puts it in a prime location for auction-goers in both states, according to Dave Angelicchio, the auction’s owner.
“Winchester Auto Auction is the new hub for dealers in West Virginia and Virginia,” Angelicchio said. “Focused on strong relationships and superior customer service, our family is putting decades of experience in to practice to cultivate the perfect atmosphere for dealers to buy, sell and network at our new auction facility.”
Weekly dealer-only auctions are held on Fridays, which can be attended in person or remotely via simulcast feed.
The Russ Darrow Group announced this week the acquisition of Amato Mazda in northwest Milwaukee. The inventory from Amato Mazda will be relocated to an all-new Russ Darrow Mazda Milwaukee, expanding the Russ Darrow family in the area, according to the group’s president, Mike Darrow.
“With the addition of this new Mazda dealership, we will now have two Russ Darrow Mazda locations in Metro Milwaukee along with a third Russ Darrow Mazda on the east side of Madison,” Darrow said. “This new facility has enough capacity to easily service the current and future growing Mazda owner base. We truly believe in the Mazda brand and the quality and performance of its vehicles.”
The new dealership will include a full-service maintenance and repair department, for all makes and models, including quick oil changes, as well as a parts and accessories department. Collision repair will be offered at an offsite facility.
Aside from the new amenities, the dealership is also hiring an estimated 30 new employees for sales and technician positions. More information can be accessed via the Russ Darrow Group’s website.
AutoLoop said this week that it has integrated its two equity mining tools, Quote and XRM. The latter — which AutoLoop acquired along with the CRM tool’s parent company (CAR Research) in June — is now useable with access to Quote from the program, according to Steve Anderson, the chief executive officer of AutoLoop.
“Dealerships who use XRM are now able to access equity customers from Quote within the XRM program,” Anderson said. “Since Quote now feeds data directly to XRM, dealers can manage sales quotes and benefit from equity mining without switching back and forth between the two programs. And because of this direct integration, dealerships can now build custom workflows to ensure proper process is followed by their sales team.”
Anderson believes AutoLoop is on the cutting edge by integrating the two technologies, giving dealers a tool that helps them save time.
“No other company has a product that integrates with XRM like our Quote product does,” Anderson said. “We are making dealers’ jobs easier by streamlining their software solutions. Being able to seamlessly access Quote data from within XRM is invaluable.”
For more information on Quote & XRM, visit their site here.
Digital marketing solution provider Search Optics announced this week the acquisition of DigiGo, the internet marketing division of KPA. After its sale, KPA announced in a statement that it will now focus on expanding its environmental health and safety and human resources management product lines for various automotive markets.
Some may know DigiGo by its former name, TK Carsites.
Search Optics plans on using DigiGo as a separate business unit under the name of DigiGo, a Search Optics company. According to David Ponn, Search Optics’ chief executive officer, the absorption of another like-minded entity will increase the overall effectiveness of the business.
“The Internet marketing space is evolving rapidly in the automotive sector and the needs of global OEMs are taking center stage and must be addressed with a results-driven strategy and the most creative and advanced solutions available,” Ponn said. “With our industry-leading integrated digital marketing platform, Search Optics has already emerged as a clear frontrunner. We’re aligning with industry innovators such as DigiGo and leveraging true responsive design and other next-generation technologies to further transform automotive marketing, with new offerings set to launch in the weeks and months ahead.”
Vane Clayton, the president and chief executive officer of KPA, believes DigiGo is in good hands and is now aiming his energy at the company’s renewed areas of focus.
“Search Optics is a strong digital marketing company that will meet the needs of DigiGo’s clients, empowering them to optimize sales and drive success for their business,” Clayton said. “Moving forward, we will focus on drawing from our 28 years in the automotive industry to continue refining our core products and consultation services. By building on our industry expertise, we will continue to ensure our clients have the best resources available to maintain safe and compliant working environments as well as efficient HR processes.”
To learn more about Search Optics, visit their site here. To learn more about KPA, visit their site here.
Group 1 Automotive has announced the acquisition of a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Boerne, Texas, which will operate as Mercedez-Benz of Boerne. The dealership, which also includes a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter commercial vehicle franchise, is expected to generate an estimated revenue of $135 million annually.
“We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Mercedes-Benz and further expand our scale in the San Antonio metropolitan market,“ said Earl Hesterberg, Group 1’s president and chief executive officer.
Further west, Larry H. Miller Dealerships announced the acquisition of Quality Toyota in Corona, Calif. The dealership, which will be the group’s first in the state of California, will maintain all of its current employees, according to Dean Fitzpatrick, the group’s president.
“Employees are vital to the success of a dealership and we consider the team at Quality Toyota part of the asset,” Fitzpatrick said. “We always work to ensure that current employees transition with the store, and we have training programs in place to encourage their success.”
The dealership has been renamed Larry H. Miller Toyota Corona.
As part of its long-term growth strategy to invest in emerging markets, Manheim announced Tuesday that it has purchased a majority stake in CarBizz, an auction operation based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The company highlighted this investment in Brazil — what executives consider to have one of the fastest growing automotive markets — supports Manheim’s plan to expand its global footprint, while providing dealers with greater access to its broad range of remarketing services.
This deal marks Manheim’s first move into the Brazilian market.
Owned by SGC Investments, CarBizz specializes in the vehicle remarketing of used trucks and large fleets. CarBizz employs a staff of nearly 50 people and will be operated by Carlos Domingues, who will serve as general manager.
Domingues comes to CarBizz from Manheim Portugal’s Porto operating location, where he has served as auction manager since 2007. He has 15 years of auction experience, including the past seven with Manheim Portugal.
Domingues previously served as north sale manager for SLV, a Portuguese auction company acquired by Manheim International in 2007.
“We are excited for the opportunity to enter the Brazilian and South American markets,” said John Bailey, president of Manheim International within Cox Automotive.
“As a global vehicle remarketing leader, Manheim welcomes the opportunity to extend our brand and deliver results for our customer base,” Bailey added.
Manheim Statesville to Host Car Raffle In Support of Relay For Life
In the spirit of giving back to the local community, Manheim Statesville employees have formed a team to participate in the local American Cancer Society Relay For Life.
In addition to participation in the annual Relay For Life, the employees have organized a raffle that will also raise funds to benefit the charity.
“We are so pleased that the employees of Manheim Statesville have dedicated their time and resources to support Relay For Life and the American Cancer Society,” said Brooke Moose, senior manager for the Relay For Life in the South Atlantic Division of the American Cancer Society.
“With so many worthy charities in greater Charlotte and North Carolina, we are honored to receive their commitment,” Moose continued. “This fundraiser will support services and programs for individuals with cancer and their caregivers along with cancer research.”
An American Cancer Society fundraiser, Relay For Life events are organized, overnight community fundraising walks that teams of people participate in as team members take turns walking around the track.
Relay For Life events in the Statesville, N.C., area are held annually during the third weekend in May.
Since 1985, Relay For Life participants have raised more than $5 billion, according to officials, who added more than 1.7 million participants and 150,000 teams are projected to raise $305 million this year.
The American Cancer Society said this year’s funds are expected to help save more than 250,000 lives in 2014.
As part of the fundraiser for Relay for Life, a 2011 Chevrolet Aveo LT will be awarded at the conclusion of the raffle. Tickets are available at a cost of $20 for one, $100 for six and $200 for 13 tickets.
Contact Luann McLeod at Manheim Statesville at (704) 876-1111 or [email protected] to purchase tickets with cash, check or credit card. The drawing will be held at Manheim Statesville on Aug. 29 at noon ET.
“We are extremely proud to continue our partnership with the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life,” Manheim Statesville general manager Joey Hughes said. “I am proud of our employees for continuing this tradition in support of this worthy cause.”
Manheim Statesville employees first began supporting Relay For Life last year and participated in Relay For Life held at the Iredell County Fairgrounds in Troutman, N.C., in May that raised $13,644.
6 Classic Sports Cars on List at Manheim PA’s Next Public Sale
As a part of the auction’s public sale of vehicles offered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Manheim Central Pennsylvania plans to run a half dozen classic sports cars down the lanes that might pique dealer interest.
Among the classic vehicle included in the lineup of 400 units are:
— 1966 Chevrolet Corvette 427 Convertible
— 1968 Chevrolet Camaro SS Clone
— 1987 Buick GNX
— 1988 Ford Mustang Convertible
— 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK500
— 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
The public sale also includes of variety of compacts, midsize cars, trucks and SUVs from Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and Chrysler.
The event is set to begin at 10 a.m. on Aug. 19 with preview days running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 15 through Aug. 18.
For more details, contact Manheim Central Pennsylvania at (717) 469-7900.
KAR Auction Services already shelled out $30 million to acquire a 50-percent stake in online vehicle remarketing system, TradeRev. And investment analysts wondered if KAR is ready to bring out the company checkbook or credit card again to buy the remainder of Toronto-based wholesale solution firm or another company outside of its current portfolio of ADESA, Insurance Auto Auctions and Automotive Finance Corp.
While also reminiscing about his franchised dealer days when discussing TradeRev, chief executive officer Jim Hallett mainly kept company strategy close to the vest when KAR conducted its quarterly conference call this past Wednesday.
“We do have other deals in the pipeline in our other businesses as well, but nothing that we're in a position to discuss today,” Hallett said during his opening comments of the call that later consisted of plenty of discussion about how TradeRev and ADESA can boost both service for dealers and profits for the company.
Later, Hallett touched on the acquisition issue again when questioned by the investment community, which cheered the company’s overall second quarter performance that included increases in revenue, adjusted EBIDTA, net income and adjusted net income.
“In terms of other acquisitions, I think we're always looking at different businesses, how they fit both from a strategic standpoint, as well as how they might fit from a technology standpoint, and then perhaps the geographic standpoint. We're evaluating these businesses … one at a time,” Hallett said. “We prioritize them. They don't always go down as we think they’re going to go down.
“But at the end of the day, there are a number of businesses that we continue to focus on that would tuck-in very nicely,” he went on to say.
Besides the solution’s wholesale market capabilities, KAR chief financial officer and executive vice president Eric Loughmiller pointed out valuable parts of the TradeRev acquisition deal are the possibility that KAR can acquire the remaining ownership portion as well as keeping the previous management team in place — similar to the strategy when KAR bought OPENLANE.
“We have some rights at the right time to perhaps increase our ownership. And we'll see how that plays out,” Loughmiller said. “And at any point in time, you can always buy the rest of it if they’re willing to sell it at the right price, right? But being part of this it's really important to us in keeping the management team in place, the founders and their technology skills and their knowledge of the market.”
Hallett elaborated about the value of TradeRev’s management, which includes president and founder Mark Endras.
These guys first got started in 2009, so this is technology that they've been working on and developing and have learned a lot of lessons as they’ve developed it,” Hallett said. “And it was really critical for us to keep them in the deal. Keep the founder in the deal, and he kept his entire management team in place. I think that's what they bring to the table,
“From the ADESA side, when you think about our locations and our people and our resources, we can really pour the gasoline on this thing and get it to the market and hurry,” he added.
ADESA already entered into a joint marketing agreement with TradeRev to assist in expanding its footprint in the dealer-to-dealer online space in the U.S. and Canadian markets.
The company highlighted ADESA will be the exclusive provider of certain products and services to TradeRev’s customers. Officials added that ADESA will also leverage its 65 auction locations across North America and the company’s strong online auction presence and dealer network to support TradeRev’s diverse dealer offerings.
“TradeRev is a company that we identified that was operating in Canada. We thought it was a unique business model, and saw that it was focused on what I would call an addressable market that we currently didn't feel that we were getting a slice of. It was just opportunistic that we got involved in conversations, and we ended up acquiring 50 percent of the business. It was really the strategic rationale of bringing this component of the business into the KAR family,” Hallett said.
“I believe that the combination of TradeRev and ADESA will create opportunities to expand our buyer base throughout the entire organization,” Hallett went on to say. “TradeRev creates private, customized network of buyers and sellers to move fresh trades. TradeRev is a solution that addresses the 20 million units to 22 million dealer-to-dealer transactions that don’t currently come to a physical auction. We estimate that as many as half of these vehicles are sold on a dealer-to-dealer basis, and what TradeRev will do is TradeRev will stand in the middle of these transactions much like we do in our online and physical auctions.”
Since Hallett is a former dealer, he also described how TradeRev is a solution geared to make things easier for busy managers. Dealers can get started by scanning the VIN and taking a few pictures with their mobile device. Then, the auction process is in motion.
“Dealers are going to have the ability to close more sales because they're going to have stronger appraisals on these cars. And they're also going to reduce the risk of loss at the time when comes to selling those trade-ins,” Hallett said.
“And I can tell you that, as a former franchise dealer, I would absolutely love to have a tool like this,” he continued. “When I think about my time and the efficiency that I spent calling wholesalers and trying to get bids and trying to get appraisals on cars, and then when I think about the lost opportunities, the number of deals that I wasn't able to close because I wasn't able to get what I would call an accurate appraisal on the car, certainly it prevented me from getting some deals done.
So, with TradeRev, I think this is a good example of the type of strategic growth that we are pursuing,” Hallett went on to say.
Continuing a flurry of significant industry moves, KAR Auction Services announced Tuesday that its business unit ADESA has acquired a 50-percent stake in Toronto-based Nth Gen Software and its online vehicle remarketing system, TradeRev.
KAR officials indicated the total purchase price for the transaction is approximately $30 million in cash.
ADESA also announced that it has entered into a joint marketing agreement with TradeRev to assist in expanding its footprint in the dealer-to-dealer online space in the U.S. and Canadian markets.
The company highlighted ADESA will be the exclusive provider of certain products and services to TradeRev’s customers. Officials added that ADESA will also leverage its 65 auction locations across North America and the company’s strong online auction presence and dealer network to support TradeRev’s diverse dealer offerings.
ADESA president and chief executive officer Stéphane St-Hilaire explained TradeRev is an online automotive remarketing system where dealers can launch and participate in real-time vehicle auctions at any time from their mobile devices or desktop.
“TradeRev allows dealers to obtain instant bids while the retail customer is sitting in the showroom by providing a private, customized network for buyers and sellers that quickly and efficiently moves fresh trades,” St-Hilaire said.
“We acknowledge that dealers are using technology more and more to buy and sell cars,” he continued. “In that regard, TradeRev is a natural evolution in the dealer-to-dealer space which includes approximately 20-22 million transactions a year.”
Mark Endras, the president, founder and creator of TradeRev, and the company’s management team own the other 50 percent interest in TradeRev.
“We have long admired ADESA’s ability to deliver simple, consistent solutions in the used-vehicle market and the company’s capability to provide a broad network of users across Canada and the United States,” Endras said.
“TradeRev has always believed in providing dealers and wholesalers cutting-edge technology to enable them to create new efficiencies within their operations,” he continued. “Partnering with ADESA will allow us to share our innovative TradeRev technology with even more customers across North America.”
Registered dealers list vehicles in a TradeRev auction, and participating buyers get an instant notification of new vehicles as they are posted.
“This system also has a variety of sales tools, as well as immediate analytics for accurate vehicle appraisals,” officials said.
Founded in 2009, TradeRev currently operates throughout Canada and in some U.S. states.
The news involving ADESA and TradeRev comes on the heels of AutoTrader.com naming Jared Rowe as its new president and Gannett Co. signing an agreement to become the sole owner of Cars.com. Those reports from Auto Remarketing can be found below:
Rowe Named President of AutoTrader.com
Cars.com Sold for $1.8 Billion
KAR’s Q2 Results
In other company news, KAR also reported its second-quarter performance on Tuesday, highlighting jumps in revenue, adjusted EBIDTA, net income and adjusted net income.
KAR’s Q2 revenue climbed to $585.6 million, up from $541.4 million for the second quarter of 2013, marking an increase of 8 percent. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter that ended June 30 increased 10 percent to $154.1 million, compared to $140.2 million for the second quarter of last year.
The company’s Q2 net income spiked 52 percent to $50.8 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, as compared with net income of $33.4 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, in the second quarter of last year.
KAR also mentioned that its adjusted net income per diluted share for the quarter increased 24 percent to $0.42 versus adjusted net income per diluted share of $0.34 in the second quarter of last year.
Group 1 Automotive announced this week the acquisition of two dealerships located in Houston: Munday Chevrolet and Munday Mazda.
The two dealerships, which will continue to do business with their current names, are estimated to yield $225 million annually.
Earl Hesterberg, the president and chief executive officer of Group 1, believes the acquisition of two of Houston’s big hitters will greatly improve the group’s market appeal.
“Munday Chevrolet is the second-largest Chevy dealership in Texas and sixth-largest in the country,” Hesterberg said. “We are delighted to add this high volume store to our growing family of dealerships in our hometown of Houston. The addition of Chevrolet and Mazda expands our scale and brand offerings to a total of 17 brands across 19 stores serving over 300,000 customers in the greater Houston metropolitan area.”
In other Group 1 Auto news, the collective disposed of Long Island-located Hassel Volvo at the end of June.
Go Auto Exchange announced Monday it has purchased United Auto Auction in Houston, giving the company its third location and bulking up its presence in the Southwest.
United Auto Auction — a four-lane location on 11 acres that has been in existence for more than 25 years — has been renamed Go Auto Exchange Houston.
The Texas auction joins Go Auto Exchange’s existing locations in Phoenix and Atlanta. A fourth facility is planned for Orlando this summer.
“We are very excited about the sale and look forward to working with the Go Auto Exchange team as they continue to grow the sale for local dealers,” said Isaac Williams.
Isaac and Jennifer Williams have owned United Auto Auction for the past decade and will remain with the company after the sale to help with the transition.
United Auto Auction general manager Steve Swinford will join Go Auto Exchange and stay in the GM role.
“Our acquisition of United Auto Auction in Houston supports our goal of continuing to serve the lower-value vehicle segment in key markets, while providing independent dealers with added convenience,” said Tim Janego, president of Go Auto Exchange.
