Happy New Year, everyone.

Before I speak to simulcast, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bill Zadeits and his fabulous staff for an incredible and informative NRC 2015 and my panel members at the Executive Session, that each year step out of the box to address current items that are central to our understanding of the needs of our industry.

Regarding simulcast and the need for it to push down into older year, make and models, that process has been slow in coming even though the average age of vehicles on the road in this country is around 11.

Rarely do we get any data, as penetration volumes are reduced to percentages of growth and not to specific market segments, like rent-a-car, new off-lease, near-new or subprime.

In our NRC session, it was clear that costs for Internet uploads of older/subprime units were not only extensive and highly detailed oriented, but they had not yet had a clear return on investment.

There are, however, new and innovative ways in which we can address this issue — and if our PACs and industry associations push to remove Mexico’s import restrictions on older units, they can be highly effective in the simulcast arena.

First, ponder the basic needs: accurate and detailed condition reports, multiple and consistent images, an arbitration system that is tied to complete transparency, and finally, a state-of-the-art simulcast product.

We have those basic needs in the pipeline, and most auctions do an excellent job of CRs, imaging and related dynamics with the next thing being a more dynamic, or as everyone is saying today, a more “robust” simulcast experience.

If you don’t have one, consider systems that are both buyer and representative user-friendly; are driven from the auction end with state-of-the-art fiber, cameras and transmitters that increase video and audio quality; and help your buyers with their hardware needs to make it a better overall experience.

Use front and rear cameras at a minimum, and use your block clerk to stream information in real time about the car in the lanes, and show the next ones coming up.

One additional thing you can do is to go to the new mobile camera concept as we did for increased buyer detail through AWG and AuctionVcommerce.

Simply put, every consignor at every level of the auction marketing pipeline can have a greater return from simulcast selling, if the industry creates the standards that support it: CR’s on all dealer units and everything else that this space needs, and then price it accordingly.

Editor’s Note: Jim DesRochers is vice president at Dealers Auto Auction of the Southwest. As with any contributed content, the opinions expressed in this and other editorial columns are solely that of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Auto Remarketing or its parent company.