With auction volumes down throughout the country and more and more dealers turning to online sales and retail view to fulfill inventory needs, Manheim recently made the decision to consolidate and merge some auctions together in the larger metro markets.

Specifically, all auctions impacted had a common denominator, according to Mike Broe, Manheim’s executive vice president of operations. They are all in markets with multiple locations, he told Auto Remarketing in an exclusive interview.

For instance, Detroit had two auctions, therefore, Metro Detroit was moved into Detroit Auto Auction.

In Atlanta, there were three locations. Metro Atlanta was consolidated into Manheim Georgia. Metro AA’s truck business went to Manheim Georgia, while the cars went to Manheim Atlanta.

Over in Denver, the company had Colorado Auto Auction and Manheim Denver. Colorado was merged into Denver.

Over in Dallas, Metro Dallas (which is only six miles away from Dallas Auto Auction) was merged into Dallas AA.

Also, there were two sales in Las Vegas. There was Las Vegas Auto Auction, which was merged into Manheim Nevada.

As for the Nashville area, Manheim Tennessee was merged into Manheim Nashville.

“All operations went with the consolidation,” said Broe.

So if a facility had a Total Resource Auction offering, that was moved over as well. And in the instances where possible, Broe said Manheim kept the sale day the same.

Say for instance, at the closing auction the sale day was Tuesdays, but at the new auction it is on Thursdays, then Broe said in many situations, the company kept the original sale time, offering the units that formerly went through the old auction during the same time at the new auction.

Broe said the company was unable to relocate a lot of the employees impacted by the consolidations. However, Manheim did offer these associates severance packages commiserate with time at the company. Moreover, outplacement services were provided as well.

“It was about 3 percent of our overall population base impacted,” Broe told Auto Remarketing.

The idea, he said, is to still maintain a key presence in major markets but also evolve to better serve customer needs.

“Our business is evolving. We are managing in an ever-changing environment and industry. As much as I would like to say it’s over (the consolidations), as it’s not easy for any of us. We have to wait and see. It has impacted employees that have been with us for a very long time, and we feel that even in Atlanta,” Broe explained.

“But we have an obligation to the industry, and we’re working to make it easy for customers to find us and use us wherever they can. Our employee base all knows that we are continuing to manage our operations and will keep an eye on the situation,” he added.

Even with the consolidations, Broe said customers should not see any changes in services.

“We talked to our customers (consignors) up front. It’s a win for them. They will see more the type of buyers they need at the new location, rather than segmenting and separating as we had been. Customers have been tremendous and following and trusting us through this transition,” he stressed.

And another key factor that’s impacting the auction business, as well as almost every business, is the growing popularity and usage of the Internet.

“There is a clear desire on both the buyer and seller side to conduct more business in an online fashion,” Broe told Auto Remarketing. “For the seller, this translates into selling things faster. From a buyer perspective, there is a virtual inventory. The real question is how far and how fast will this grow?”

He even pointed to retail view, which a dealer can utilize if a customer walks into his store inquiring about a vehicle not on his lot. Say the customer wants a red Mustang. The dealer can look online, find a model at a Manheim auction, click retail view and then turn his computer screen around so the customer can see. If the customer says yes, that’s it, and I want to buy, the dealer can buy the unit knowing that he has a quick turnaround. The retail view removes much of the back-end information.

Broe explained Manheim’s online offerings are ramping into high-gear growth. For instance, one of the company’s latest initiatives is giving dealers the opportunity to buy via smartphones, such as Droid and Apple, as well as through iPads. He said there has already been a few takers, but the company is also offering specific information via these devices such as the Manheim Market Report.

With dealers on the go so much, Broe said this is a very valuable resource.

“This is a big draw. Dealers want to learn more about the car as fast as they can and connecting them to this data, such as the Manheim Market Report, is great. They can get feedback immediately to mobile device about that vehicle. There is a tremendous amount of interest in this,” Broe stressed.

And MAFS has been growing as well. When many of the lenders pulled back in 2008, Broe noted that MAFS stepped up to the plate, especially to help independents with floor planning.

“MAFS, we’ve had 15 years of a great program. We are growing this business as the need for inventory financing grows. We’re looking to ways to expand our program. Looking for dealers to increase utilization,” he pointed out.

And what makes MAFS unique, he also said, is that it’s specifically geared for independent dealers. While there could be a few franchised dealers doing business with the company as well, by and large, the bulk of business is done with independents.

“The independent dealer is really what MAFS is all about. We don’t offer much with franchised. The vast majority of our dealers who have MAFS as a financing source are independent dealers. MAFS has been dedicated to the independent dealer from the start,” Broe said.

In conclusion, Broe told Auto Remarketing, “It is our obligation to take action to meet the new demands and needs of our customers. As the industry changes and evolves, our goal is to lead it through that change. We want our customers and dealers to count on Manheim for whatever they need.”