In some overseas news, Whann Technology Group said it has broadened its work with UK-based Paragon Remarketing.
According to British publication Fleet News, Paragon is now overseeing the remarketing Volvo Car UK’s end-of-term cars. That story, which WTG provided a link to in a news release, can be found here.
In WTG's news release, Whann Technology Group vice president of business development Peter Levy said: “We have always enjoyed a great working relationship with Paragon and are especially proud to have provided technology that played a role in them being able to expand their remarketing relationship with Volvo Car UK.”
Car Lister announced Monday the launch of its fully transactional e-commerce platform that allows dealers to buy, sell, trade and ship inventory to each other.
The Dealer Wholesale Platform is now available for dealers to create national wholesale groups to manage movement of vehicles between members.
According to Car Lister, the platform allows dealers to pre-select their buying preferences. The platform then automatically searches the Car Lister inventory to source vehicles from private consumers, dealer wholesale inventory, and other industry related inventory.
The program then allows dealers to keep sell and buy fees in-house, as well as allowing them to place an electronic deposit, confirm title, schedule an inspection, arrange shipping and finalize payment with ACH funds transfer.
Bryan Harmon, the founder and chief executive officer of Dreamware Inc., Car Lister’s parent company, compares the Dealer Wholesale Platform to the stock market, saying that dealers can use it to buy, sell, trade and track inventory while also viewing inspection reports and ship.
He also said the product has the potential to facilitate the vehicle trade process in a way that lessens the pain points involved in the traditional wholesale process.
Harmon went on to add that through its services, “dealers will have full control over how and when they bring new inventory onto their lots by fully harnessing the power of technology and the Internet. Our vision for wholesale is to be proactive, not reactive. That's why we validate the title and inspection reports before a vehicle is shipped, thus eliminating any problems before they occur."
For more info on Car Lister, visit our previous write-up here.
MyDealerOnline announced Wednesday that it bolstered its funding by receiving $1 million right before the start of the new year.
Having now received a total of $3.25 million in funding, the digital solution that allows dealers to broker wholesale inventory straight from their own websites says the additional funds will help it focus on increasing its subscriber base, encourage growth among its partnerships, and expand international efforts.
“MyDealerOnline helps dealers engage with more retail customers by offering greater inventory selection to a wider audience,” said Scott Stephens, the company’s vice president of business development.
According to MyDealerOnline, the B2B service provides dealers with access to greater inventory selection without increasing their working capital requirements or overhead availability. The service secures inventory from local auctions around Philadelphia, nationally and from auctions abroad.
To learn more, check out its site here.
A new auction simulcast solution has officially hit the market — and it is one that was developed by the pair of brothers who were brought in to design AuctionPipeline.com in 2005.
Auction Frontier LLC, a company founded by Scott and Brad Suchomel that focuses on online auction solutions, announced Tuesday it has launched Velocicast.
“After many years of watching auctions struggle with existing simulcast technologies, we determined that there was a need for a next-generation solution,” said Scott Suchomel, president of Auction Frontier. “Following targeted development and extensive field testing, we are pleased to introduce Velocicast to the industry.”
Brasher’s Auto Auctions owner and director Ben Brasher had this to say of the product: “Customer feedback has been very positive. As we contemplated different simulcast options, we were introduced to Velocicast.
“It was a no-brainer for us to give it a try, and we're glad we did. We have been particularly impressed with how responsive Auction Frontier has been during the process,” he said. “They are clearly committed to making Velocicast an industry-leading simulcast product.”
According to the Velocicast website, the Suchomel brothers “were approached to design and create AuctionPipleline.com” a decade ago. Auction Pipeline was purchased by Auction Edge in 2012.
In 2010, the Suchomel brothers had begun exploring ways to create their own simulcast system, and in 2014, decided to develop it, according to the company.
With a new online program set to launch next month called the Factory Pre-Owned Collection, General Motors through its dealers will sell low-mileage GM lease, daily rental and company-owned vehicles, GM chairman and chief executive office Mary Barra announced today.
“We know that many of our customers who are shopping for a used car want to complete more of the process online, and that number is growing,” Barra said in a news release. “GM is already a leader in online new-car shopping with our Shop-Click-Drive service, and we are expanding it with the Factory Pre-Owned Collection, making GM the first automaker to offer this choice to consumers.”
(It should be noted that consumers are actually the vehicles from the dealerships themselves, and not directly from the OEM. GM explained that its dealers buy the cars wholesale, and then the retail customer buys the car from the dealer, who sets the final price).
The nationwide online inventory will include more than 30,000 vehicles. Each of the cars will have mileages of less than 37,000 and include an extended factory bumper-to-bumper warranty.
There is a three-day/150-mile exchange program included, plus a three-month trial of the OnStar Guidance Plan and the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio All-Access Package.
Roadside assistance and courtesy transportation are also provided during the warranty period.
Once a shopper finds the vehicle he or she wants on the site, they select a participating GM store and reserve the car using the Shop-Click-Drive experience.
The shopper then finalizes the purchase and takes delivery from that dealership.
When shopping for used cars on the site, consumers will be able to use the Kelley Blue Book Fair Market Range for price comparisons. They will also be able to obtain a Carfax Vehicle History Report.
“Kelley Blue Book’s mission is to provide this type of trusted valuation and car shopping information to help consumers make the best possible purchase decision,” said Jared Rowe, president of Cox Automotive Media Division, of which Kelley Blue Book is a part.
GM North America president Alan Batey noted: “Technology and consumer demands are disrupting the used-car marketplace, and GM is leading the way in transforming the way used cars are sold.
“The Factory Pre-Owned Collection creates a simpler, easier experience for our customers and offers them more choices, less hassle and greater peace of mind. It’s also great for our dealers and GM because it introduces new buyers to our brands and increases residual values. Everybody wins,” he added.
When it comes to selling wholesale vehicles online, there are a few important factors to bear in mind. Among those keys are pricing and marketing the cars correctly.
But what else helps to move those cars online?
In this video interview from Used Car Week, we asked Steve Kapusta, the vice president of dealership online services and remarketing at Ally SmartAuction, to share his thoughts.
Auto Remarketing also chatted with Kapusta about Ally’s milestone 5 millionth car sold online, changes in technology, growth opportunities in online wholesale and more.
To see the full interview, check out the video above.
During a late October interview in his office at Cox Automotive's Atlanta headquarters, Jared Rowe was asked to name examples of innovation at dealerships that he finds particularly interesting.
Rowe quickly rattled off close to 10 dealers and dealer groups, before saying: “I’ll be honest with you, there’s so much interesting innovation going on at the retail level that it’s hard to put my finger on one, because they’re all really good operators who have figured out a niche.
“And they’re focused on that and exploiting that niche, all in very different ways,” he said.
Among those: the Schomp Automotive Group’s “One Price. One Person. One Hour.” model. AutoNation Express. And many more.
While the “disruption” model certainly has impacted the way consumers shop for and buy used cars — heck, you can buy a car from a vending machine, thanks to Carvana — dealers aren’t simply getting out of the way.
For instance, Vroom — which is part of the online direct-to-consumer model — opened up its services to dealers last month and already had a couple handfuls of dealerships involved in beta testing.
And many dealers, it seems, are taking advantage of the available innovation that allows them to use disruptive technology to hone in on addressing specific needs.
“There’s a common thread … it’s really market-focused,” said Scott Ehlers, Cox Automotive Media Group’s vice president of product, told Auto Remarketing during the same interview with Rowe. “They have leveraged their strengths in the market where they’ve found a need.”
And sometimes it’s simply responding to a paradigm shift in the way consumers shop — for cars or otherwise.
One such dealer is North Carolina-based Bryan Honda, which used Cyber Monday as a launching point to begin selling cars in real time via Facebook.
Bryan Honda was launching the new sales tool by beta testing a few of its new and used models for sale.
The dealership has been working to stay at the forefront of tech evolution in auto sales, and Bryan Honda general manager Tim Roussell explained the store has taken cues from some of the online sales giants. Think Amazon shopping for cars.
“We’re always trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology,” he said. “We studied and modeled our dealership from companies like Amazon, Netflix and Zappos, and then we integrate our processes and systems to emulate them. You could call us Hondazon.”
Even former dealers are moving in this disrupter-type direction. Last year, Joe Neiman — who had been an Albany, N.Y.-area dealer — launched ACV Auctions, a mobile wholesale auction platform for dealers.
“We have created a mobile-based platform … that allows for new-car dealers to virtually instantly sell off their wholesale inventory to a ready marketplace of used-car dealer buyers,” Neiman said in a phone interview with Auto Remarketing last month.
As far as how it works, he added: “If you were a new-car dealership — let’s say you’re a Honda dealership — and you take in a 2001 Toyota Camry with 140,000 miles. It’s still a good car but clearly not something you’re going to retail.
“You go out to that car, you open our app, scan the barcode. It pulls up all the VIN data — we’re powered by Black Book data. And it walks you right through a simple condition report. So, you describe the car and you take photos — our app walks you right through what photos to take, so you end up taking between 20 and 30 photos of the car,” he added. “And when you’re done with that, you press send to auction. That process takes about five minutes.”
Once the dealer hits send to auction, Neiman said, smartphone push notifications are sent to ACV's network of dealers. Then there’s a live 20-minute online auction to sell the car.ACV’s buying dealers are primarily independents, but there are some franchised dealers and wholesales mixed in, as well. For now, only franchised dealers are allowed to be sellers.
Going back to the industry at large, how well does all of this innovation and adapting to the disruption model actually work for dealers? Well, consider what AutoNation chief executive officer Mike Jackson had to say during his company’s third-quarter earnings call.
Jackson sparked several inquiries when he reported AutoNation generated more than 25 percent of its total vehicle sales in the third quarter from its own websites.
“I think that the third quarter is uncontestable proof that the strategy we’ve been talking about investing in has been validated and that we’re getting tremendous benefit from it,” Jackson said about projects that include AutoNation’s transaction website mentioned above.
“No question we’re a company that zigs when everybody else is zagging. I mean, that’s indisputable,” he continued.
“Here is the way I think about it. I came to conclusion several years ago that building a brand with genuine attributes was the only way to compete and win in this marketplace and not be disrupted and become a warehouse fulfillment center for others. That’s really where I didn’t want to end up. So, then when you say you have brand, the brand has to stand for something,” Jackson said.
Jackson emphasized that AutoNation’s websites are not just “informational; they’re transactional.”
He also acknowledged that it “took a lot of money and effort” for AutoNation to reach this stage.
And for the industry at large, it will also take a continued willingness to adapt and take advantage of disruption.
Editor's Note: Staff Writers Sarah Rubenoff and Nick Zulovich contributed to this report. Part I of the story can be found here.
Canadian auto tech company Selectbidder, best known for its auction-centric dealer trade networking platform, has been busy lately with the signing of three new auction locations on the Eastern Seaboard.
Selectbidder signed Bloomsburg Auto Auction in Bloomsburg, Pa., a couple weeks ago, and penned an agreement with Acadia Auto Auctions on Tuesday. The latter has two auction locations that will be serviced by Selectbidder: Port City Auto Auction in Richmond, Maine and Acadia Auto Auction in Carmel, Maine.
Auto Remarketing caught up with Sean Liptay, Selectbidder’s chief executive officer and owner of the Great Northern Auction in Moncton, New Brunswick, to learn more about the additions.
“We’ve been really focused on proving the model fit in the U.S. and we’re having really good success,” Liptay said. “We’ve signed up four auctions in different markets and we’re really immersed in getting the up and running right now.”
That fourth auction, Space Coast AA, was signed as Selectbidder’s first U.S. client following the NAAA Convention at the end of September. Liptay says the Melbourne, Fla. auction is still building its dealer network but really excited to completely roll-out the system.
According to Liptay, the relationship with the Acadia auctions was stirred up the old-fashioned way: by doing the legwork.
“Originally the Maine auto auctions we had popped in to visit them way back when we had the concept of rolling it out to other independent auto auctions,” Liptay said. “Unfortunately, they weren’t even there at that time so we had to circle back to them. But we had really good conversations with them and just basically picking up the phone and calling them. That’s the way these relationships have started, really.”
Looking back at Selectbidder’s home auction of Great Northern Auction in Canada, the only location where the Selectbidder system is completely rolled out, Liptay says the response from his own auction staff and the dealers utilizing the network has maintained its strength since it officially hit the ground in April.
“We’re still getting new signups and the auction sales people are still loving it,” Liptay said. “And loving being out there helping dealers move their trade-ins quicker.”
He also says the auctions really love the idea of the auction being the center of the dealer-to-dealer network.
“We hear that a lot,” he said. “Especially on the buying side of it, they’re really happy to have the auction and the infrastructure within the auction providing those extra services for this dealer-to-dealer network with the auction as the central hub. We hear that time and time again.”
Stay tuned to Auto Remarketing’s sister publication, Auto Remarketing Canada, as we next take a closer look at Selectbidder’s operations in its home country in our November-December issue.
The International Automotive Remarketers Alliance has issued an open letter to the industry designed to “advocate for the establishment of a cross bidding multi-platform online remarketing solution,” a position the alliance says 20 of 23 responding IARA consignors supported in a recent survey of its U.S. consignor members.
The IARA lists 13 consignor member it says have added their names to the letter as supporters of the initiative.
The alliance noted that seven additional ones “expressed their strong support for the cross bidding multi-platform system but could not add their name to this letter due to internal company policy.”
IARA indicates that three of its consignor members “responded saying they did not actively support this initiative.”
Eleven surveyed members did not respond.
The letter, which was authored by the IARA Standards Committee, states: “Led by our consignor members and our Standards Committee we remain devoted to the creation of a central interface that allows consignors to offer vehicles on various online sites at the same time with continuous bidding across all venues.
“This not only creates efficiency for the consignor, but allows buyers to source a larger selection of vehicles in one consolidated location. Web-based purchasing has become increasingly popular in the remarketing space, and the committee believes that a cross bidding multi-platform site is a certain, and necessary, remarketing solutions tool for consignors and buyers across the nation,” it continues.
“Consignors have the need for a centralized interface to facilitate online sales activities across their chosen auction platforms. This increases efficiency for consignors when selling their inventory, while also helping drive standardization among condition reporting language, vehicle grading systems, photography standards and auction times,” the letter adds. “In addition to market consistency, the central interface will create a competitive bidding environment and improve sales results by ensuring that a vehicle is being exposed to the highest number of buyers possible — more eyes on more cars.”
The entire letter can be read here.
Xcira has obtained a strategic equity investment from Ritchie Bros., an international industrial auctioneer company.
Xcira, which is a technology supplier for the traditional auction business, has had a relationship with Ritchie Bros. for 14 years. However, this equity stake changes the game a bit.
The company said the investment will allow it to invest more in its multi-segment technology platform, and allows Xcira to “be better positioned to develop technologies that cater to the needs of auction companies and their bidding customers,” Xcira said in a news release.
“This transaction is a natural evolution of our close working relationship. We look forward to developing our next-generation auction technologies alongside Ritchie Bros.’ vast auction experience,” said Nancy Rabenold, Xcira’s co-founder and chief executive officer.
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers CEO Ravi Saligram said: “Xcira’s market leading technology and approach to online auction innovations were key factors in our decision to acquire an equity stake in the business. The strength of their systems was, and continues to be, an important contributor to Ritchie Bros. success.
“In fact, nearly $1.7 billion of equipment and other assets sold through Ritchie Bros. auctions during 2014 transacted on Xcira’s ‘Online Ringman’ software platform,” Saligram said.
In its news release, Xcira emphasized its commitment to “serving all auction segments” and has plans to finalize partnerships with “auction companies in other industries” to aid in further building its technology platform.
Xcira plans to “operate business-as-usual under its current branding,” with the existing team continuing to offer the company’s services.
