August 2018

UPDATED: ADESA Assurance geared to streamline eligible vehicle returns

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, 04:18 PM

By Auto Remarketing Staff

CARMEL, Ind. -

ADESA is looking to make returning a vehicle back to the auction as easy as what dealers might experience when those shoes or pants just don’t fit correctly.

On Wednesday, the business unit of KAR Auction Services, launched a new return guarantee product called ADESA Assurance. The company highlighted the new service can allow participating dealers to return eligible vehicles within 21 days for a full refund of the purchase price and associated buy fee.

The program is available to dealers at all 60 ADESA physical auction locations in the U.S. as well as DealerBlock and LiveBlock, ADESA’s online and simulcast auction platforms.

“Everything we do at ADESA is aimed at simplifying the auction experience for our customers,” ADESA president John Hammer said in a news release.

“ADESA Assurance gives dealers greater confidence and flexibility in their purchases to help them keep pace with the always changing market conditions,” Hammer continued. “By reducing the risk of wholesale transactions, ADESA Assurance will help our dealers stay fast, focused and successful.”

Across ADESA, there are thousands of vehicles up for auction at any given time, the duration of which can vary from a few days to just seconds. To capture the inventory they want, dealers often make purchasing decisions with incomplete or deficient information regarding market conditions, a vehicle’s condition or potential reconditioning needs.

The company explained the ability to return a vehicle through ADESA Assurance is aimed at alleviating the uncertainty of these transactions and helping dealers deploy their capital and shift their inventory more quickly.

For customers who enroll in the subscription service, ADESA Assurance will be automatically applied at the time of purchase to all eligible vehicles purchased at ADESA physical auctions, LiveBlock, ADESA UVA and ADESA mobile auctions.

The company added that buyers who only purchase DealerBlock vehicles on ADESA.com can add protection on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis at the time of check-out.

ADESA Assurance applies to vehicles 21 years or newer with a maximum sale price below $100,000 and fewer than 250,000 miles on the odometer.

In a separate message to Auto Remarketing, Hammer responded to an inquiry regarding what kind of feedback from dealers regarding vehicle returns ADESA has receive that helped to cultivate this program.

"ADESA currently offers several different products that help our customers buy with confidence — helping reduce the risk of purchasing a vehicle with undisclosed damage or problems," Hammer said. "We have had a version of ADESA Assurance within our upstream marketplace providing return guarantees to a select sub-set of our inventory. However, we didn’t have a similar product offering for customers buying at our physical auctions.

"Our customers have been asking for this kind of product for some time — our buyers want to buy with confidence. We were able to use our upstream version of ADESA Assurance as a template and customize the product for our in-lane customers," he continued.

Hammer indicated that the company began to develop what now is ADESA Assurance back in January. He described the hurdles ADESA had to clear during the process to get to Wednesday's official launch.

"ADESA Assurance is a combination of two products — upstream and physical auction offering. It took participation from many areas of the company to create a product that is fully integrated into our various platforms and is part of a seamless auction experience," Hammer said.

"We were trying to increase conversion rates and remain profitable. ADESA Assurance gives our customers the confidence they need to make fast purchases in the lanes while alleviating the uncertainty of these transactions and helping dealers deploy their capital and shift their inventory more quickly," he continued.

Now that ADESA Assurance is in motion, Hammer also mentioned some of the metrics and trends the company might be watching to make sure the program is executing well.

"We will be looking at customer adoption and cancellation rates, claims rate percentages and expenses overall and by dealership and the overall financial performance of ADESA Assurance," he said.

"Just like any product at ADESA we are fully committed to its success and the success of our customers who use our products. We will continue to listen to our customers and create programs and solutions that improve their auction experience," Hammer went on to say.

For additional details or to enroll in the subscription service, visit ADESA.com/Assurance.

Carvana grows footprint with 4 new Michigan, Indiana markets

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, 12:41 PM

By Auto Remarketing Staff

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -

Drivers residing in four Midwest markets can now buy a car online and arrange for its delivery straight to their home or office.

Carvana announced Wednesday that it has expanded its free, as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery service to include residents of the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Lansing and Flint, and of Fort Wayne, Ind.

The used-car retailer's growth in Michigan and Indiana comes just on the heels of Carvana announcing recent market launches in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and three other cities in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

“Consumers in the Midwest are responding favorably to the new way to buy a car,” Carvana founder and chief executive officer Ernie Garcia said in a news release.“We are proud to provide an easy, convenient car buying solutions to Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint and Fort Wayne residents by expanding our presence in those cities.”

Car shoppers residing in the company's four new markets can now shop Carvana’s more than 10,000 vehicles and schedule free vehicle delivery, all online.

With the addition of its four new markets, the company said that it now has a presence in more than 75 cities across the country.

Carvana first launched its services in Indiana in November of 2016. Meanwhile, the retailer more recently first launched in Michigan, with the addition of Detroit as a new market in July of last year.

Wholesale prices prove used cars still appeal in a utility-driven retail arena

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, 11:35 AM

By Auto Remarketing Staff

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Black Book explained why used-car managers should not get frustrated when they see new utility vehicles frequently rolling over the curb on the new side of their dealerships. Turns out, those cars lined up in used inventory are a pretty valuable asset nowadays.

This week’s Market Insights report from Black Book illustrated the continued support of wholesale prices with cars demonstrating greater overall strength than trucks despite America’s appetite for trucks and SUVs.

“Another banner week for used-vehicle values. While consumers prefer SUVs to cars in the new market, cars are in strong demand as the more affordable option in the used market,” said Anil Goyal, executive vice president of operations at Black Book, who also is among the experts on tap to be a part of Used Car Week 2018 that begins on Nov. 12 at the Westin Keirland Resort and Span in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Volume-weighted, Black Book indicated that overall car segment values decreased by just 0.06 percent last week. That’s just a fraction of the comparison as editors mentioned values had decreased at a rate of 0.15 percent per week during the previous four weeks.

Among car segments, Black Book reported full-size car values increased by 0.22 percent or $25 last week. The most noticeable car decline involved subcompacts, which saw prices soften by 0.35 percent or $21.

Again reviewing volume-weighted information, editors noticed that overall truck segment values (including pickups, SUVs, and vans) dipped by only 0.16 percent last week. That’s on par with what Black Book reported during the previous month when the rate came in at 0.15 percent per week.

Within truck segments, editors pointed out that small pickup values increased by 0.40 percent or $64 last week, showing that used trucks still will command attention.

Let’s turn next to some of the highlights of what Black Book representatives stationed at nearly 60 sales observed in the lanes. The top anecdotes covered the major regions of the country, reinforcing the ongoing challenge to keep that used-vehicle inventory appealing.

—From Florida: “The market here remains steady, but there were a lot of no-sales in the dealer lanes.”

—From California: “Prices were holding strong with an above-normal number of buyers. We have seen very good sales for several weeks in a row.”

—From Illinois: “The institutional lanes did very well today. One of the independent used-car dealers stated that his business is doing very good on lower-priced vehicles.”

—From Georgia: “There were few no-sales in the highline sale. The dealers continue to complain about a shortage of nice vehicles in the auction lanes.”

iHeartMedia announces partnership to provide market-specific sales insights tool for dealers

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, 10:31 AM

By Auto Remarketing Staff

NEW YORK -

Dealership sales and marketing strategies can now benefit from a new solution that delivers sales insights and market share data.

A new tool that offers real-time analytics and insights is now available exclusively through iHeartMedia, which claims to have over 131 million social followers and reach roughly a quarter of a billion broadcast listeners each month.

iHeartMedia has partnered with internet marketing service provider AUTOFLYTE to create AUTOFLYTE EDGE, which provides dealers with daily sales and market share data from their local area, the companies announced in a news release Tuesday.

“We are committed to technology-driven innovation and having the ability to offer even more targeting solutions for our advertisers that leverage the unparalleled local reach of radio,” iHeartMedia executive vice president of automotive business development and partnerships John Karpinski said in a news release. “AUTOFLYTE has partnered with the industry authority for automotive sales statistics to create the most powerful and credible insights tool available, and we have partnered with AUTOFLYTE to bring this revolutionary technology to the market.

“With the new AUTOFLYTE EDGE platform, we will provide our auto partners the ability to break free from previous automotive marketing confinements and use timely information to precisely target new buyers,” said Karpinski.

Furthermore, AUTOFLYTE EDGE is designed to optimize auto dealers' advertising campaigns to help dealerships market both smarter and speedier. Using the new solution's daily sales insights, such as the most recent market dynamics and trends, dealers can easily customize and update their sales and marketing strategies, according to iHeartMedia.

“With iHeartMedia and AUTOFLYTE’s exclusive real-time insights and data, this new tool is nothing short of a game changer for how we do business at our dealership,” said Steve Hurley, owner of Stingray Chevrolet of Plant City, Fla. “For the first time, we are able to specifically tailor our marketing plans based on what our customers want today versus months ago. We’ve been waiting for something like this and are already seeing success.”

iHeartMedia’s move to exclusively provide AUTOFLYTE EDGE and other services stems from iHeartMedia’s ongoing focus to provide brands and marketers solutions for reaching consumers across its roughly quarter of a billion monthly broadcast listeners, the news release said.

In addition to iHeartMedia Analytics, which the company launched in May, other marketing optimization tools iHeartMedia provides include SoundPoint, a programmatic real-time radio ad buying platform and SmartAudio.

Dealertrack announces Utah office spaces for DMS team

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, 01:57 PM

By Auto Remarketing Staff

DRAPER, Utah -

Dealertrack now has some new space in the tech scene out West.

The company announced that a 112,000-square-foot facility based in Draper, Utah will serve as office space to support the Dealertrack DMS team.

The Dealertrack DMS team was previously in South Jordan, Utah.

Employees will start working out of the facility in early February. Teams from fellow Cox Automotive brands, like Xtime, will also be stationed there.

Cox Automotive’s latest investment in the Utah technology scene provides space for over 500 team members with room to grow.

“We’ve been closely tracking Utah’s growth as a burgeoning technology hub, and our new office move is another milestone in our commitment to innovation within our state," Randy Kobat, senior vice president of Cox Automotive brands vAuto, HomeNet, Rebates & Incentives and Dealertrack DMS said in a news release. “As our growth continues, we wanted to expand our reach to better serve our clients and attract new employees. This new, state-of-the-art facility will also help the local economy, as we strive to give back to the ‘Silicon Slopes.’”

In addition to meditation rooms, on-site gym, open collaboration spaces and game rooms on each floor, the new Draper offices feature on-site electric vehicle charging stations and state-of-the-art technology throughout the facility.

Updated and edited for clarity.

Suzuki Brazil agrees to implement digital marketing with Search Optics

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, 01:38 PM

By Auto Remarketing Staff

SAN DIEGO -

Search Optics is a new partner that has taken on an integrated digital marketing strategy with Suzuki dealers throughout the Brazilian market.

The company recently announced that Suzuki Vehicles of Brazil chose the digital marketing provider to be a part of its new single-source digital marketing program, which aims to foster a more connected customer experience and a more unified brand message for Suzuki Brazil.

“The Suzuki brand is already well known in Brazil, and we’re proud to offer them this new results-driven integrated strategy,” Suzuki Brazil digital program head Eduardo Cortez said in a news release. “We’re confident that it will foster greater success for their dealers through a more consistent, unified and amplified brand message.”

In addition to being designed to help Suzuki dealers accelerate their sales processes and more effectively reach sales goals, “A major focus of the Search Optics initiative is the addition of inventory data to Suzuki dealer websites in Brazil for the first time,” the company said in a news release.

Search Optics said that a previous initiative that is similar to what the company has launched in Brazil led to an 87-percent increase in appointment requests, a 69-percent boost in website conversions and website traffic growth of 50 percent.

According to the company, it supports over 60 automotive OEM programs worldwide and provides integrated digital marketing programs to 29 Asian, European and North American automotive brands.