As part of the roll out of KAR Auction Services’ new operating segment — KAR Remarketing Services — one of the top executives from ADESA Canada has a new position.
As part of this organizational alignment, on Thursday Lisa Scott was named president of PAR North America, which is a U.S. provider of vehicle transition services with coast-to-coast solutions for recovery management, skip-tracing, remarketing and title services.
“It’s an exciting time to be part of KAR, and I am thrilled to take the lead at PAR North America,” Scott said. “I worked very closely with our customers at ADESA Canada, and I’ve seen and heard their needs firsthand. I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to develop the next generation of integrated remarketing solutions.”
Prior to this role, Scott held a variety of positions at ADESA Canada, including senior vice president of sales, marketing and operations, general manager, and, most recently, chief client officer. She has also served on several industry boards, including chair of the Canadian committee of the National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) and co-chair of the Canadian chapter of the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA).
“Lisa was a visionary leader for ADESA Canada with a strong track record of creating deep customer relationships. Her 25 years of experience, broad understanding of the marketplace and her passion for our industry will continue to benefit our company and our customers,” Vignes said.
Scott takes the place at the top of PAR North America in place of Jerry Kroshus, who departed the company after nine years to become president and chief executive officer of Auto Approve, a refinance company that specializes in helping consumers find the best possible vehicle interest rates through its national network of credit unions, banks and finance companies.
Meanwhile, top company officials explained that KAR Remarketing Services is designed to align their AutoVIN, Dent Demon, High Tech Locksmiths and PAR North America businesses. Picked to serve as president of this new operating division is David Vignes.
“KAR’s goal is to provide a simplified, seamless experience across its end-to-end remarketing platform,” Vignes said. “The alignment of these businesses allows us to deliver the full range of inspection, recovery, reconditioning and repair services both in the lanes and on the road.
“We look forward to building on our successful foundation and expanding our integrated offerings to serve our diverse whole car, salvage and buyer and seller customers,” he continued.
Vignes previously served as KAR’s executive vice president of enterprise optimization, and has been promoted to the role of president of KAR Remarketing Services. In addition to his new responsibilities, Vignes will continue to oversee KAR’s enterprise safety efforts. Vignes also led the development of KAR’s “Safe T. Sam” program, which is available to all National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) members.
Top-line quarterly results
In other company news this week, KAR also reported its second quarter financial results for the period that ended June 30.
The company’s total revenue jumped 9 percent year-over-year from $788.5 million to $858.0 million.
However, KAR reported a 7-percent softening in net income, landing at $57.2 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, as compared with net income of $61.8 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2016. Management explained Q2 net income was negatively impacted by $17.3 million, net of tax ($0.13 per diluted share, net of tax) resulting from the company's refinancing activities.
Looking at figures through the first six months of the year, KAR highlighted an 11-percent gain in revenue to $1.7246 billion as net income rose 3 percent to $126.4 million, or $0.91 per diluted share.
“KAR continues to execute well on the fundamentals of our business,” KAR chairman and chief executive officer Jim Hallett said in a statement. “Our second quarter results reflect the level of performance we expect, our ability to generate cash, and the strength of our diversified business model.”
KAR also announced a cash dividend this of $0.32 per share on the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on Oct. 3 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on Sept. 20.
Earlier this year, Canadian online car auction eBlock brought on Jason McClenahan as chief operating officer and Brad Hart as director of commercial accounts.
McClenahan started with the company March 1 and Hart joined on April 3.
Joined by eBlock chief executive officer and president Ryan O’Connor, they talked with Auto Remarketing Canada by phone in mid-April about the changing nature of the wholesale auto industry, their goals for eBlock and more.
Goals for new positions
As COO, McClenahan aims to expand the company’s sales and operations team while also broadening the company’s Canadian presence. Eventually, the company also plans to move into the U.S.
Meanwhile, Hart will focus on the commercial side, building and working on relationships with the various players in that space.
“The unique thing about eBlock is that it isn’t just a one-size-fits-all platform,” Hart said. “There are several auction formats, and eBlock has the ability to be quite agile and to customize the platform, depending on the specific needs of the customers.
“So that really plays into the commercial side of the business. I also hope to be involved, to a certain degree, in providing input on product features and design, as well as some of the operational processes. So, just trying to support Jason and his initiatives, as well,” he said.
eBlock is also rebuilding its platform, a project that is scheduled to be completed in July. Later in the year, the company plans to launch in the U.S.
As for the rebuild, O’Connor said it’s based on customer feedback.
“With our current platform, we’re doubling in size. Right now, year-over-year, we’re up over 100 percent. The feedback was, we realized there’s other things that we needed to be able to do, more than just an auction,” O’Connor said.
“One of those is the trade appraisals, where trade appraisals are completely separate from auction cars or grounded trades. On our new platform, where if the car is running as a trade, it better have white plates on it, because we’re really focused on getting dealers good money fast for their live trades. That’s our key focus.”
The auction element of it, O’Connor said, has “been our bread and butter,” and will have enhancements with the relaunch.
Digital wholesale in Canada
Both McClenahan, who started with the company March 1, and Hart (on April 3) have deep backgrounds in Canada’s physical auction world.
McClenahan worked in management positions for ADESA auctions, while Hart held various positions with Manheim (including its vice president of operations in Canada). They also have backgrounds in the online auction space, having both worked for TradeRev.
“The physical auctions that are going to win and are going to stay around, to be honest, are going to be the ones that are complemented by the best technology,” McClenahan said.
And that’s the aim of the company. He emphasizes that eBlock is not telling dealers not to use physical auctions.
But brick-and-mortar auctions might not have the same growth rate as they did in the past, McClenahan said, and he anticipates cars will be sold through upstream, online and dealer-to-dealer channels.
“And I truly believe way more dealer trades are going to be sold at the time of live appraisal right from the retail public, as opposed to making them down to the physical auction lanes,” he said.
“And what that means for customers is, really, choice. Especially in Canada, they’ve really been pigeon-holed to a couple of providers. Having competition is good. It’s going to give customers the ability to have choice and to run their businesses more efficiently and effectively, and desk more new-car deals,” McClenahan said.
“I believe a big piece of this is building your own brand and your own reputation in your own auction, which is what you do when you host your own online auction from your dealership. And if you just go stand in the auction block every week, you’re really just building up that auction’s brand and not your own. And I believe new-car dealers need their buyer base, when they need it most at their fingertips, is when they’re desking a new-car deal.”
Increased digital appetite
Asked what’s driving the digital wholesale appetite, O’Connor said that for dealers, it’s largely about having control and possession of the physical asset and the quickness of the sale.
McClenahan points to the growth of the online auction in the past decade and the significant and growing percentage of vehicles that are now sold online. The online environment gives dealers more time at their office, plus more time to make decisions. And it broadens their potential wholesale buyer base, he said.
Hart points out the demographic change in the market with the younger generation: “That change in and of itself drives more to the online world,” he said.
“It’s not just the desktop anymore. It’s mobile. So all of these new applications are mobile-formatted and we, more and more, are having mobile technology in our hands, 24-7. Also, the cost efficiencies,” Hart said.
Copart recently announced a new agreement with Promutuel Insurance, which provides coverage across the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, allowing Copart Canada to better serve the Eastern Canada market and expand its footprint throughout the region.
“We are thrilled to welcome Promutuel Insurance. This agreement gives us more diversity and coverage in the Eastern Canada region and allows us to expand our offerings to our buyers,” Copart Canada managing director Steve Macaluso said in a news release.
“We provide several benefits to our insurance clients, and I’m excited for Promutuel Insurance to experience Copart Canada’s national footprint and global buyer base.”
The new agreement with Promutuel Insurance benefits both Copart Canada’s buyers and Copart’s international buyer base, according to the vehicle auction company.
Copart Canada currently operates in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, London, Montreal and Moncton. For more information, visit Copart.ca.
Impact Auto Auctions, a subsidiary of Insurance Auto Auctions and a business unit of KAR Auction Services, recently launched Impact AuctionNow, a mobile app that allows buyers from across Canada and beyond to place bids both live and online.
Impact AuctionNow is compatible with iPhone, Android and tablet devices, and according to the company, it is currently granting free guest access to anyone interested in testing out the new app.
"Impact Auto Auctions is committed to continuously improving and simplifying the bidding experience," managing director of Impact Auto Auctions Terry Daniels said in a news release. "The AuctionNow mobile app allows bidders the ability to search and source specific vehicles with both speed and precision.
"This ultimately provides app users greater access, allowing them to bid from anywhere with confidence and convenience. Customer interest and response has been positive — the number of downloads has by far exceeded our expectations within the first 90 days of launch."
With Impact AuctionNow, buyers can both participate in auctions in real-time, which are simulcast live with audio and video, and monitor ongoing bidding and inventory updates straight from the app.
Additionally, users also have the ability to search for comprehensive vehicle information and view vehicle damage estimate reports on the new platform.
Impact AuctionNow can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
To begin using the app, participants must first register as a guest at www.impactauto.ca/Account/Register.
As the industry continues to gather for the Auto Remarketing Canada Conference and the Women & Automotive: Canadian Leadership Forum, platinum sponsor TradeRev announced on Tuesday a series of exclusive relationships with some of Canada’s largest dealer groups.
TradRev highlighted the collection includes the Dilawri Group of Companies, AWIN Group, The Humberview Group, Open Road Automotive Group, Weins Canada and The MIERINS Automotive Group.
Officials explained the agreements were signed in partnership with ADESA, a 50-percent stakeholder in TradeRev and business unit of KAR Auction Services. The arrangements make ADESA the exclusive physical auction partner and TradeRev’s mobile app the exclusive online remarketing tool for these large geographically diverse dealerships.
TradeRev chief executive officer and co-founder Mark Endras pointed out the groups represent more than 100 dealerships across Canada and will add tens of thousands of vehicles to the inventory available through TradeRev’s broad network of buyer and seller dealers.
“We’re tremendously proud to have earned the trust and confidence of some of Canada’s largest, most successful and most technologically sophisticated dealer groups,” Endras said. “Today’s news is a big step forward for our company, our mobile app solution and the wholesale used-car industry in Canada.”
TradeRev’s technology is designed to build transparency and convenience into every automotive transaction by placing live, real-time bidding auctions into the palm of dealers’ hands. The company insisted its intuitive, easy-to-use mobile app can provide a fast, efficient and accurate way to obtain true market value for trade-ins and used-vehicle inventory.
With the added volume of vehicles from these agreements, Endras added dealers will have increased access to a broader range of used vehicles that fit their unique dealer profile and business model.
“The ADESA-TradeRev partnership and KAR’s diverse platform of capabilities will provide these progressive dealer groups with a true end-to-end remarketing option,” he said. “This huge value-add is not something that’s typically available at the dealer level.”
ADESA Canada chief client officer Lisa Scott elaborated about the development, saying, “We have strong, longtime partnerships with dealer groups in Canada, and we’re always looking for new, innovative ways to deliver value.
“With our combined services and offerings, we have the ability to streamline the used-vehicle lifecycle and generate better outcomes for dealers,” Scott went on to say.
To learn more about TradeRev’s new Pro and Standard plans go to DealerEndorsed.com.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has a new remarketing in Canada: John Tamminga, who has been with the company for nearly nine years.
Earlier this month, Auto Remarketing Canada connected with Tamminga via email to chat about the new role and the Canadian remarketing industry at large.
Below is our Q&A.
Auto Remarketing Canada: Tell me a bit about your background in automotive, how you came to Chrysler, got into remarketing, etc.
John Tamminga: I grew up in the automotive industry, starting as a teenager at a dealership in Mississauga. I worked there for about 10 years with the majority of this time spent in the service department. I was a service advisor at the dealer when the opportunity to work at Chrysler Corporate presented itself; and I have worked there ever since.
I am working on nine years with FCA and have held both new-vehicle sales and fixed operations roles in the Eastern Business Center in district and area manager roles.
My relationship with the dealers, strategic mindset and strong work ethic is what contributed to me being hired into this role. My extensive knowledge of the dealer network and the inner workings of a dealership are so important to where we want to see remarketing at FCA go.
ARC: What are your goals for the news position?
JT: It is important that before I make my personal stamp on the position, my priority must be to build on the relationships and processes that have already proved successful at FCA. FCA has a strong presence in the remarketing world and there are many exciting projects on the go that continue to grow each year.
One of the primary goals right off the start would be to bolster the FCA dealer network’s buying power. There are immediate improvements and efficiencies to be gained using my vast knowledge of our dealer network.
FCA wants to push ahead of the natural progression of OE remarketing and stay ahead of the curve. This means that beyond the usual sales and residual targets; my preference to think outside the box and find ways to push the market with game changing ideas will be a perfect fit.
Technology and digital advancements are providing some amazing opportunities to push remarketing into an entirely new era and I am excited to be a part of the challenge to stay ahead of it with FCA.
ARC: From a remarketing standpoint, what are some of the top challenges that automakers and captives are facing in Canada this year?
JT: If I can quote an article from my favorite remarketing media source http://www.autoremarketing.com:
“There were a record 4.3 million vehicles leased last year, according to an Edmunds report, which said 31 percent of new-vehicle sales in 2016 were leases. Lease volume has climbed 91 percent over the past five years, and lease penetration — like lease volume — has been on the rise since 2009”.
As leasing in the U.S. continues to grow, we will start to see the export advantage of our lower Canadian dollar lose some of its potency as the auctions fill up with lease returns. It will become that much more important for FCA to take action and conquest stagnant buyers here in our own market and help push the Canadian used-car market to higher potentials and efficiencies.
ARC: In what ways is online/digital impacting the remarketing operations of automakers/captives?
JT: Online/digital has become the number one focus of the dealers as well as the automakers. We can see a clear shift towards online buying and we know from the data provided to us at several different auctions that a large majority of our buyers are buying online as opposed to physically being in the auction lanes. It is no longer an option to NOT be tech savvy when approaching any business let alone the rapidly changing remarketing landscape.
This healthy “disruption” of the remarketing landscape is going to present some amazing opportunities to push the envelope and be creative.
Dealers have gotten used to doing their purchasing online, however we are also seeing a shift in the end customer buying habits. As general consumers are becoming more and more comfortable in purchasing large ticket items online accompanied by a few detailed high resolution photos; we are seeing this same trend in our industry. Digital showrooms have thus become paramount in their impact on a dealer’s business.
In remarketing, we are just scratching the surface of what can be done in the digital world, in and out of the dealer’s physical showroom, to capture the attention of consumers and help our dealers tap into this market.
This is forcing our hand to stay ahead of the curve and, as a part of our strategy moving forward, push our dealer body into selling from these digital outlets rather than just buying from them.
Although it remains fully functional and accessible, we are currently updating our website (http://www.fcacanada.ca/fleet/en/remarketing) to reflect some of these initiatives moving forward.
RVI Group’s latest quarterly report put a number regarding how much analysts expect used-vehicle prices to soften by 2020.
According to the latest installment of the RVI Risk Outlook, analysts first mentioned that real used-vehicle prices in Canada decreased in February on a year-over-year basis. In February, the exchange rate was $0.75 USD/CAD, down from $0.76 USD/CAD in January, while gas prices declined 4.5 percent from the previous month.
Analysts continued that Canadian GDP slowed down in the fourth quarter of 2016 to an annual rate of 2.6 percent. RVI Group pointed out that new-vehicle sales are starting the year strong, with 1.9 million units (SAAR) sold in the month of January.
So what about those wholesale prices?
RVI Group indicated real used-vehicle prices decreased 0.6 percent in February from the previous month, and are down 3.0 percent compared to the same time last year.
“We expect that a stronger Canadian Dollar, along with the growing supply of off-lease vehicles, will continue to put downward pressure on used car prices, which we are forecasting to decline by 10.8 percent by 2020,” analysts said in the report that can be downloaded here.
Steve Langdon, who most recently was president of RSR Global, is returning to ADESA.
It was announced that he will take on the role of senior director of business development for ADESA Canada, a newly created position.
“As our business has grown and evolved, we have developed a suite of innovative products and services that offer tangible benefits to our national client base,” said Trevor Henderson, chief operating officer of ADESA Canada. “The used-vehicle industry — and the remarketing business specifically — has become increasingly sophisticated. There is a desire for better data, tools and integration across partners and platforms, which presents numerous opportunities for ADESA. Steve will lead a wide range of strategic initiatives aimed at deploying ADESA’s analytic and reporting capabilities throughout our online, public and mobile auction solutions.”
Before his time with RSR, Langdon had various tech, commercial sales and dealer sales leadership posts with ADESA and Onlane (OPENLANE’s predecessor).
“Steve’s experience and deep industry relationships are true assets to our customers and our company,” said Lisa Scott, chief client officer for ADESA Canada. “We have a comprehensive product and service offering for commercial sellers, dealers and consumers. Steve will play a pivotal role in how ADESA Canada brings these to market, and we look forward to having Steve’s expertise and energy back on our team.”
ADESA Canada is a presenting sponsor of the Auto Remarketing Canada Conference, which is set for April 3-4 in Toronto.
ADESA Canada has opened up new headquarters in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga.
Roughly 50 ADESA and AutoVIN employees will work out of the 10,583-square-foot facility.
ADESA Canada's sales, finance, tax, legal and human resources will be housed in the Mississauga headquarters, along with AutoVIN training and development, customer service field operations and executive departments.
The facility is located about 30 minutes from downtown Toronto.
ADESA has 14 Canadian auction and 77 locations throughout North America.
“The addition of this new office allows our ADESA and AutoVIN teams to work closely together for the benefit of our mutual customers,” ADESA Canada chief operating officer Trevor Henderson said in a news release.
“Our prime location is not only more convenient for our customers, but we are also near our Toronto auto auction and other KAR companies located in the area,” Henderson said. “The diverse teams and functions at this facility and the collaborative work environment it creates will also help us attract and retain Toronto’s best and brightest talent.”
As Henderson noted, several of their KAR Auction Services sister companies are also in the Toronto area, including ADESA’s online auction subsidiary OPENLANE plus TradeRev and Impact Auto Auctions.
Henderson is one of the speakers at next month's Auto Remarketing Canada Conference, which is being held April 3-4 at the Westin Harbour Castle in downtown Toronto. ADESA Canada is one of the presenting sponsors.
Editor's Note: Location of OPENLANE has been corrected from earlier version.
RVI Group’s latest analysis of the Canadian wholesale market indicated used-vehicle prices declined in January.
Looking first at the real view of the RVI Used Vehicle Price Index for January, analysts noticed a decrease of 2.4 percent from January of last year.
Turning next to the nominal of their Used Vehicle Price Index, analysts determined prices decreased by 2.6 percent in January when compared to same month in 2016.
RVI Group pointed out that more than half of the vehicle segments saw a decline in prices on a year-over-year basis.
“In January, sub-compact cars performed better than the market average on a year-over-year basis,” analysts said about the segment that posted a 9.8 percent year-over-year gain.
Other noteworthy year-over-year comparison from the RVI Group’s latest report included:
—Full-size SUVs: up 3.5 percent
—Minivans: up 1.4 percent
—Full-size pickups: down 3.4 percent
—Small sedans: down 7.0 percent
