Used Car News 3/4/24

Used Car News

‘Mega-Wholesaler’ Continues Sales Streak

By Ed Fitzgerald

Kevin Esch is a mega-wholesaler who doesn’t even like the word “retail.” He does own a sales lot, which is located in Roseville, Michigan, but it’s called Kevin’s Marysville Auto Sales, named after a town almost an hour away.

Why? The B word: Branding.

“Back then everyone would call and just say “Hey, Marysville, hey Marysville, what cars do you have this week?’’’ Esch said. “They never called me Kevin. That regional lot failed but everyone knew me as Marysville so I didn’t want to give up the name. And I had to pay the

guy for that name.”

Because of Esch’s preference for wholesale, that lot in Roseville is now available for new-car dealers to store excess inventory at no charge. And it’s not small, it can hold 250 cars.

Fourteen years ago, Esch was wholesaling 500-600 cars a month. Lately, he’s been getting back to half that level, after a deep drop, along with everyone else, during COVID. In 2004, he held a sale marking his 10,000th car sold. On Nov. 16, 2023, Esch held an anniversary sale that celebrated his 78,000th sale.

“What has happened, the numbers are down on retail used cars but

I’m as busy as I was 10 years ago wholesaling,” Esch said. “These new-car dealers are pounding me. When the cars come in on trade, they want to know what I’m going to pay and when I can pick ’em up.

“They’ll call and tell me they’ve got 10 cars and when we get there, they’ll throw another five keys at me. They know my checks are going to be good and they’ll get top dollar.”

David Lawrenz, a dealer in Ottawa Lake, Mich., said Esch’s cars “stand apart.”

“I’ve been buying cars from Kevin for about 20 years,” said Lawrenz, owner of the Nice Car Co., which has a 200-car indoor showroom.

“Kevin really does wholesaling the right way. When he brings a car to the sale it’s always the nicest car in the whole sale. He takes a car, whether it’s a new car or 10 years old, and prepares it so the dealer that buys it can take it home and sell it. He’s the only person I know that does what he does. His cars just simply sell.”

Esch has a big sale coming up March 21 at Manheim Detroit in Carleton, Mich. The sale is billed as the “100 Nicest Sports Cars in the Country.”

Esch is old school and says he still misses his flip phone. He doesn’t like to text. He likes to talk in person.

“I’ve got a lot of questions about the cars: Tires, color, what does it need? I can’t get the full description in a text,” he explained.

The $64,000 question is how Esch gets such a huge inventory.

Photo by Ed Fitzgerald

BRAIN TRUST: From left, Justin Granger, Sherri Esch and Kevin Esch. Kaylee Collision helped Esch put operations “under one roof.”

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Economic News

Dealers, BHPH Face Headwinds in Today’s Market

By Jeffrey Bellant

The used-car market and buyhere, pay-here dealers face headwinds, according to Houston-based CPA Steve Carstens.

During an interview last month, Carstens, a partner with SGC (Shilson, Goldberg and Chung Associates), discussed the challenges ahead for the industry.

“Last year wasn’t good and this year probably won’t be great either,” he said. “With dealers, all the economics are going the wrong way.

“Interest rates have been so high and charge-offs have been significant for the past year.

Unfortunately, inventory hasn’t really come down.

“Whatever little bit inventory costs came down, parts and reconditioning went up equally as much due to parts shortages.

“So, all the major economic items that dealers can control are going the wrong way.”

In addition to his CPA work with dealers, Carstens has been a fixture in the auto industry for a while now and a frequent panelist at trade shows, including BHPH and subprime, giving him a pretty good sense of what’s going on in the market at the micro and macro level.

Carstens does see some silver lining, as he expects interest rates to start to come down and he expects better customers to enter the usedcar market as new-car dealers stop selling deep into the lower credit tiers as they have been.

Higher supplies in the new-car stores can also help used-car dealers.

“That should ease up prices on inventory,” Carstens said.

The bad news is the improvements won’t happen quickly.

“We’re hoping it happens in 2025, but it’s not going to be 2024,” Carstens said. “We’re still in the thick of it. These things all cycle through 3- or 4-year cycles and then it flips the other year.”

While BHPH struggles with the charge-off trend, the retail dealers end up struggling with the same problem.

“The finance companies that buy their paper are suffering high charge-offs which means they are going deeper on the discount,” Carstens said. “So, this affects BHPH

and retail in general.”

It will take another year for the economics to shake out.

For example, the industry has seen a number of independent finance companies collapse.

“Unfortunately, their interest rates went up and then the charge-offs went up,” Carstens said. “They’ve already bought the paper at a specific discount with specific assumptions in mind.

“So, when the charge-offs came –and they weren’t expecting it – and their rates went up, there’s no margin left. They’ve already bought the paper and they’re stuck with it and there’s no profit. So that affects retail dealers.”

Carstens searches for words to describe the troubles that dealers are going through.

“Probably half the financials we’ve seen have turned in losses,” he said. “The others were just mediocre at best. So, it’s been tough all around.”

BHPH faces another challenge.

“The thing that’s most concerning to us is the banks are getting very skittish (on the BHPH side) with the losses and the breaking of covenants,” Carstens said.

Floorplan companies are getting nervous as well, he said.

These trends affect lines of credit and worse, with some lenders issuing notices to dealers to find a new bank, Carstens said.

“Probably the oldest and most respected lender in the space – I won’t use their name – issued notices to all their clients saying, ‘At the end of your term, we will not renew you,’” he said.

“And they’ve been in the space 30+ years.”

To make his point, Carstens said this lender has provided $50+ million loans to his clients in the past.

“Those guys, who have all been with that bank for 20 years, have all had to scramble to find a new lender,” he said.

“Now, they are all the best of the best of the best, so they were able to secure new loans. But, you know, if the best bank is getting rid of the best dealers, that’s not great.”

It seems like dominoes with dealers reporting big losses and breaking covenants – while bankers have to report to regulators.

“It’s hard to explain that every one of their customers is turning in a default notice on their loan,” Carstens said.

“The banks are definitely on edge and that just affects the whole in-

dustry.”

Likewise, there have been a number of large finance companies which have failed – significantly dropping the price that they’ll pay for the paper.

“Well, when the bank makes a loan, their backup is if they have to take the portfolio, they’ll sell it to a finance company, even if a bank can’t easily sell the paper on the open market, or get a good price on it,” Carstens said. “But then the loan becomes less valuable because the collateral is less valuable.

“The bank doesn’t want to come in and run a BHPH store for four years to collect their money.

“But if the finance companies are drying up or significantly cutting the amount they will pay for the paper – all of these things go hand in hand.”

Meanwhile, with interest rates so high, banks think they can get a better return on a mortgage without dabbling in high risk loans like subprime, Carstens said.

It also means that many of the banks Carstens’ firm works for are getting tighter, ordering more filed audits and being more stringent with the customers they fund.

“They are watching closely,” he said.

The temptation in such a volatile market is for dealers to cut corners or worse. Carstens urges dealers to remain honest in these difficult times.

Already he has seen the first signs of dealers falsifying documents to their bank.

“We have seen that and had to

immediately resign from a client,” Carstens said.

He understands that it becomes tempting to “play games” in this market.

“Dealers are under significant financial pressure right now between the banks watching them so tightly and their businesses not performing well,” Carstens said. “There will be dealers who start to play games, thinking, ‘I’ll do it this month but make it up next month.’

“But you don’t make up it next month and now you’ve started down a road that just ends in disaster.”

The best dealers are ones who are honest with their banks, letting them know they have a loss or have broken covenant, but they are working on a plan to resume profitability in a few months, Carstens said.

“I think honesty is the best policy,” he said. “A bank has never complained about getting too much information.”

Often dealers get scared because they don’t know what their plan is, which makes it hard to communicate to the bank.

“I will say that now I’m encouraging dealers not to grow right now –just maintain,” Carstens said.

“I’d rather have them improve efficiencies and cost-effectiveness in their operations than expand.”

With the cost of capital and the rise in expenses, it doesn’t make sense to grow. It makes sense to be efficient, he said.

“My smaller dealers are still turning in profits,” Carstens said. “It’s the larger guys that are struggling

Continued on page 5 3

Photo Credit

EXPERT PANEL: CPA Steve Carstens (from left) discussed BHPH issues during a 2021 NIADA panel with Mark VanGeison and Mark Strand. Today, Carstens warns dealers about the challenges of today’s market.

Classic Cars

Classic Car Market Enters New Era

By Jeffrey Bellant

Classic cars continue to draw buyers, but some owners are becoming sellers.

Mike Kuhmann, a dealer rep for State Line Auto Auction in Waverly, N.Y., spent 30 years at a dealership before going to State Line. Right now he is looking for sports cars and classics for consignment at State Line’s annual “Antiques & Classics” sale May 10 followed by its “Corvettes & Convertibles” sale May 17.

“I’ve kind of got a good feeling for where these cars are lying, so I contact the owners and try to convince them to consign them. Which is going to be different this year.” he said.

“I’m a little bit of a connoisseur myself. I love my old cars. I buy and I sell and I trade. There are some guys making some moves now that are pretty interesting.”

Kuhmann said it used to be that

having one of these collector cars was like having “bars of gold or silver” in your garage, but they kept them.

“What I’m seeing now is some of these folks selling who used to not care whether they sold their cars or not,” Kuhmann said. “I don’t know if they’re getting pressure for their better half or what. But they’re looking at that car and thinking they may need that money. There are other guys – dealers – who are looking around and thinking they really didn’t sell a lot of cars in January and ‘I could use some cash in the account.’”

Kuhmann said reasons vary as to why a collector pulls the trigger to sell a treasure.

“When guys have these collections and then consider cashing them up, it makes you wonder.”

Sometimes it’s an economic decision and sometimes just a personal

one. To find classic consignors, Kuhmann makes sure he reaches out 4-5 weeks before the sale to prime the pump.

“The last few years, we’ve averaged over 50% sold with those classic cars in the May sale,” Kuhmann said.

Depending on the year, volumes for those special sales will run between 100 – coming out of COVID – up to 140 in recent years.

“What guys will pay for this stuff is mind-boggling,” said Jim Terwilliger, State Line’s general manager.

Kuhmann added that just when you think the prices couldn’t go any higher, they do.

“A few years ago, I was looking at some of my personal cars and thinking, ‘Well, they’re never going to be any higher than this, now is the time,’” he said.

“So, I unloaded a bunch of them – and then they went up again. And when prices did go up, it wasn’t $5,000 on a $30,000 car, it was $10,000. Now it’s a $40,000 car.”

As newer models of sports cars come out, the older ones become popular. The Corvette Z06 is one of those models that’s held its popularity and value, Kuhmann said.

He can’t help getting excited over these vehicles because Kuhmann is a collector himself.

At one point he said he had 18 cars, but it’s small potatoes compared to State Line Auto Auction’s owner.

“Talking about someone who has some cars, talk to our boss, Jeff Barber, good Lord,” Kuhmann said. “He loves them all.”

Kuhmann added that this market is generational, so demand might not be there for certain eras.

Terwilliger said buyers from the last two or three generations don’t want cars from the ’30s, ’40s or ’50s.

Kuhmann sees a new trend among younger people.

“I would call them ‘country kids,’” he said. “They’re all into what we call the square-body Chevy trucks (1973-1987). And a few years ago, you could have gone around and bought those for $1,000 to $5,000 in all different ranges and all types of conditions.

“Now, if you have a nice one, they’re worth $35,000 or $40,000.”

Those ‘country kids’ are now coming into money and they remember when their dads had those trucks, Kuhmann said.

Compliance News

3/4/2024

Ambiguity Clouds New State Law on GAP Agreements

Colorado House Bill 23-1181, which took effect Jan. 1, 2024, establishes a new statutory framework governing guaranteed asset protection agreements sold and financed in connection with consumer credit transactions subject to the Colorado Uniform Consumer Credit Code.

While many of the requirements under the new GAP law are the same as those previously required under the UCCC administrator’s Rule 8, the new law contains some significant amendments.

The amendments to Colorado’s GAP refund and cancellation requirements have raised questions for creditors as they attempt to comply with the new law.

On Jan. 2, 2024, the UCCC administrator issued an Interpretive Opinion Letter aimed at clarifying these requirements.

However, even with the interpretive guidance, creditors still face some ambiguity in the law regarding GAP refunds and cancellations.

The new law requires the original creditor to refund unearned GAP fees to the consumer upon the consumer’s prepayment of the finance agreement or if the vehicle is no longer in the consumer’s possession due to the creditor’s lawful repossession and disposition (this is quite a departure from the status quo in many states that address refunds of optional products like GAP).

If the finance agreement has been assigned to someone else by the original creditor, the new law requires the assignee only to send notice to the original creditor request-

ing the refund.

Upon receipt of such notice from the assignee, the original creditor must provide the refund to the consumer within 30 days.

If the original creditor has not provided the refund within 30 days, the new law requires the assignee to provide the refund to the consumer no later than 45 days after the original creditor or GAP administrator received notice from the assignee.

Creditors requested clarification from the UCCC administrator regarding the timing requirements for the notice and any required refund.

The UCCC administrator clarified that the assignee is required to send notice upon the consumer’s prepayment or the creditor’s repossession and disposition of the vehicle.

There is no additional time added under the new law. In reaching this interpretation, the administrator noted that the refund requirements under the new law are more flexible for assignees than under Rule 8.

The UCCC administrator also clarified an issue that creditors raised regarding the authority under the new law to charge a $25 cancellation fee.

The new law provides that a cancellation fee of not more than $25 may be charged to a consumer if the consumer cancels the GAP agreement more than 30 days after the effective date of the GAP agreement.

Creditors asked whether this fee is permitted only after a consumer’s cancellation or is also permitted after early termination of the finance

Headwinds – Continued from page 3

to turn in a profit. I generally see more profits out of my single-lot operations than my multi-lot operations.

“The reason is when you have multi-lot operations you have so many employees and overtime. You pay twice for everything.

“There’s just a lot more overhead and expenses, along with inflation and the cost of money.”

Dealers operating a single lot where the owners are active and do a lot of work themselves, save on payroll expenses and are still experiencing reasonable profits,

Carstens said.

With the big dealers, it’s hard to control for costs and they are under pressure to sell more, so they end up making bad sales.

Dealers who get smaller and more efficient can also reduce their debt, becoming more cash positive and looking better to the banks.

Part of the problem was that dealers grew so big during the pandemic, because there was so much available cash and customers were buying any car that was available.

agreement when a consumer prepays or the vehicle is repossessed and sold.

The administrator advised that the fee is permitted only after a consumer’s cancellation.

In advising on the applicability of the authority to charge a cancellation fee when a consumer cancels after 30 days, the administrator did not address the fact that the new law, like Rule 8, does not provide for a right to cancel after 30 days.

Except for the new cancellation fee authority, the new law does not address a consumer’s right to cancel or impose any refund requirements upon cancellation after 30 days. Rather, in addition to the refund requirements described above, which apply only in the event of an early termination of the finance agreement, the new law imposes a refund requirement only when a consumer cancels within the initial 30-day period.

In this way, the new law creates ambiguity regarding a consumer’s right to cancel after 30 days.

Does the new cancellation fee authority imply that GAP agreements must be cancelable after 30 days?

Is it implicit in the new cancellation fee authority that creditors now also have refund obligations if a consumer requests cancellation after 30 days?

When the legislature added the new cancellation fee authority, it certainly seems that the legislature presupposed that consumers have a right to cancel and a right to receive a refund after 30 days. While the new law is unclear on this issue,

the conservative approach may be to comply with any implied right to cancel and refund requirements.

That approach may serve creditors best in light of the UCCC administrator’s recent track record of active enforcement targeting creditors’ GAP refund practices.

As creditors adjust their GAP refund practices to comply with Colorado’s new GAP law, they should continue to proceed with caution.

*Catharine S. Andricos is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Hudson Cook, LLP.

© CounselorLibrary. Based on an article from Spot Delivery. Single print publication rights only to “Used Car News.”

“During COVID, everyone went mad, it was so easy,” Carstens said. “Some operations got really large and now the economics don’t support that size of an operation.”

Afterwards, dealers started shrinking, reducing the number of lots when some of those lots may have even been in the same area, even cannibalizing their owns sales.

Dealers can end up selling more cars with less cost, Carstens said.

He doesn’t want to say it’s about “survival,” but in some ways it is.

“Now is the time to become a

better operator and improve all your procedures and processes,” he said.

“Fine tune everything so that you’re healthy and ready for the next cycle.”

Over and over, Carstens urged dealers to avoid expansion in this business climate.

“Now is not the time to be shooting for the moon,” he said.

“The economics are just not there. I’d rather be small and well run rather than large and poorly run.”

Catharine S. Andricos

Used Car News

“People ask me all the time; how do you get so many cars? My cars go all over the country, Texas, California. It’s all Internet. That’s what’s changed in the last 14 years,” he said.

It also helps that Esch set up shop in the land of the Big Three. The employee discounts end up putting tons of cars into the market.

“Everyone talks about getting cars from Florida, but Michigan cars have better prices,” Esch said. “I get a lot of cars because the Detroit market sucks right now for used car sales.” Esch says the real key to his inventory is his reconditioning.

“My cars are near perfect so they love my cars. I average 20 percent over MMR (Manheim Market Report), which tells you the condition of the car and what it sold for. The guys buying from me don’t have to buy tires, pull dents, paint bumper covers or repair wheels.”

In the world of condition reports, the goal is a perfect 5.0.

“That’s what we strive for,” Esch said. “I don’t let a bumper cover out of here unless it’s perfect, just like the way the manufacturer would do it. I rarely have an arbitration issue because we do it right.”

Esch enjoys good relationships with his dealers.

“These dealers can sell these trade-ins themselves, but they want a check and be done with it,” he said. “At the auction, I’ll have 150 guys logged in online on my cars. The GM lane may have 50. The Ford lane may have 50. I have triple what they have.

“The dealers can’t get the money I can get,” Esch said. “You’ve got ACV and multiple dealer auction sites where a new-car dealer can list it themselves. But my reconditioning costs are half that of a new-car dealer. They have an idea what they can get for a car, but I can pay that same money and they don’t have to worry about arbitration or the sale fee. When they give me the Carvana

quote, I can beat it.

“A dealer calls me, I buy the car and it’s over and done for him,” Esch said. “The money is in the bank, owners like that. The dealers respect me and I respect them. They want me there.”

Esch has an office at a Chrysler dealer in the Detroit area. He points with pride to when they quit using him for two years and their newcar sales dropped. He says that was due to the fact they were not putting enough money into the trades to make the new-car deals. Because of the efforts of Esch and the dealer’s new used-car manager the sales went back up.

“With me, dealers don’t have inventory lying around. When I’m physically at the store appraising cars it frees up their used car manager to do other things.”

Twelve years ago, Esch bought Kaylee Collision, which allows him to make repairs a whole lot cheaper – and better.

“In the past, I had four different body shops doing work for me, and the quality of the work would vary. We talked about buying (Kaylee) for six months and now we’ve got everything under one roof.

“I closed three shops when I opened Kaylee and I gave them all opportunities to work here. One of the guys is still with me. Fifteen years ago, I was writing $100,000 a month to these shops for recon, now I’m still writing checks for that amount but it’s to my own companies. I used to spend so much time arguing with guys, telling them the work and prices weren’t right. That was eight hours a week spent negotiating that I didn’t have.”

Esch said he still sends out the mechanical work.

“Now we have a full-time wheel guy reconditioning wheels, taking out scratches and addressing curb rash. I run a CarFax on every car. These are 5.0s and the guys know it.”

Esch says he’s slowed down a little, but you wouldn’t know it when watching him work the phones.

“In the old days, when I was younger, I remembered every car and now I’ve got to write it down. But the other day a guy down in Florida called me on a car. I asked, ‘How’d you get my number?’ He said, ‘you bought a car from me eight years ago. A black Corvette.’ I said, ‘I remember that car. We took it out of your driveway because the battery was dead. We had nothing but problems with that car. We spent $3,000.’

He said, ‘it’s amazing you remember that.’ I said, ‘I remember that I paid you too much for that car. It was not as nice as you described it. So, I’m going to get some of that back right now,’” Esch recalled with a laugh.

“That dealer was in Florida so I asked him why he was calling me when the cars are worth more in Florida. He said, ‘But I trust you. You did me right the last time.’”

Esch also owns a lease company.

“We do 40 cars a month in leasing,” he said. “We deliver cars to doctors, lawyers, 800 credit scores and above. If their score is 700, my lease partner doesn’t even talk to them. We advertise in the Wall Street Journal, $10,000 a month and we get calls from all over the country. We deliver the car to their driveway and take their old car away. These are rich people who don’t have time to shop, or don’t want to shop. They call my partner every two years. He carries three phones. His phones go all day long, so does mine.”

Esch gives a lot of credit to his “right-hand man,” Justin Granger.

“Justin can do anything I can do. He knows what I’m thinking before I think it. I gave him a guarantee of what he would earn and he tripled that in five years.”

Esch said there are a couple of mottos he lives – and works – by: “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered” and “Lies always change, but the truth stays the same.”

He said much of his success is owed to the loyalty earned over the years with dealers and buyers “and that’s hard to find.”

Esch said he loves “the game.”

“But I can’t get out. Right before COVID I tried to get out but I came right back in. I’ll probably die writing a check.”

Kevin Esch

Retail Markets

ALABAMA

Randy Crump, owner, Friendly Auto Sales, Jasper, Ala.

“This is my 25th year here at this location. I’ve done this all my life, I’m a thirdgeneration dealer.

“COVID did change things. A lot of us were shut down, we went to work because the state made being a car dealer essential. With buy-here, pay-here, one of the questions we got was ‘would you still take cash.’ Well, yes.

“To be honest, COVID made a lot of people lazy. But for sales it was the best year ever. Employees didn’t have to work as hard. People had more money. They could buy their cigarettes and still make their car payments and still have money left over. It was great.

“We keep about $500,000 in inventory. As far as sales, with BHPH, we look at

working capital. That’s what I’ve concentrated on. In the last 5 years we’ve grown by about $2 million in receivables. That seems to be the sweet spot where we have enough payments coming in to give us working capital.

“Here in Alabama trucks are probably the No. 1 thing, but my inventory is mostly cars. We do have SUVs. I probably sell eight trucks a month. My average price-range car right now is around $8,000. It’s hard to find a truck – that’s working – at a good price.

“I still go to auctions in person. I’m old school, I still have to see, touch, smell the cars. Unless I get something from a wholesaler, I still do things in person.

“We’re 100 percent buyhere, pay-here. We use GPS on 100 percent of the vehicles, I don’t use starterinterrupt.

“The average down payment depends on the time of year. Looking at my board, the high last year was $1,868. The low average was $1,067. March was the high, during tax time.

“My reconditioning cost last year was $768 at the cheapest, and the high was $1,777. That’s just parts, that’s not labor, and probably $400-500 just for tires.

“The only things we do for advertising is on Facebook. Otherwise, we put up a lot of signs, every school, every ballfield

“I specialize in Toyotas and Hondas, with 120,000 miles or less. The last car I sold was a 2012 Toyota Camry with 78,000 miles.”

NEW YORK

Mike Rodriquez, owner, Mike’s Auto Sales, Rochester, N.Y.

“I’ve been in business 23

years in two different locations.

“I buy online. There’s a local Manheim Auction that I visit every now and then. Auto repair increased during COVID.

“I keep about 20 vehicles in inventory.

“We sell three or four a month, depending what time of the year. Tax time is good, of course. We sell a lot of SUVs, that’s what everybody wants these days.

“We sell more imports than domestics.

“We don’t do any buy-here, pay-here. I use two finance companies.

“Our customers put down an average down payment of $1,500.

“We spend about $500 in average reconditioning costs. We do the work inhouse. We’re more on the automotive mechanics side of the business.

“The only advertising we do is online.

“We’re looking for cars that are 2007 and up. We’re looking for mileage from 100,000, up to 200,000.

“We make the car shopping and the car buying experience fast, friendly, and easy. We’ve helped hundreds of customers get a reliable used vehicle.

“We have a convenient location (by the Genesee River) to serve the area with well maintained vehicles for all types of shoppers and budgets. We can help people find the perfect first car for the new driver in the family or a luxurious touring vehicle for their retirement.

“We have seasoned sales professionals who can tell customers about the features and options available, provide a vehicle history report, and show them flexible financing options.”

Wholesale Markets

3/4/2024

NEW YORK

Jim Terwilliger, sales manager, State Line Auto Auction, Waverly, N.Y.

“The start of this year is pretty equal to last year. The market is pretty close to what it was in the first seven sales last year. Maybe not quite as good, but I think there’s going to be more cars in the mix this year – more lease cars coming and more repos coming.

“After COVID, you couldn’t really predict anything. You almost started over, like before COVID and after COVID.

“We have eight lanes and GM Financial has more and more cars coming in, more lease cars. They run every other Friday here and might start running every week in the future.

“We also have Ally every single Friday in Lane 7 and

GM is every other Friday in Lane 8.

“We also run Credit Acceptance Corp., which is a great account.

“About 55% to 60% of our volume are commercial accounts.

“We’re averaging about 750 vehicles per sale. A good sale here is 900 vehicles overall. We’ve had two or three of those out of the seven sales we had this year (at press time).

“We’re right at 62% sold on average.

“We have about 700 total bidders for our sales and about 300 of those are online. We use EDGE Pipeline.

“Our average price across the block has fluctuated. Now we’re averaging between $12,000 to $15,000, but the numbers go up when GM runs.

“I think with all these repos coming back and (slow-

er retail sales) we’re going to have way more sellers than buyers – that’s just my gut. It’s going to be a buyer’s market.”

WASHINGTON

Joe Lemonds, general manager, DAA Seattle, Auburn, Wash.

“We’re a 10-lane auction, but we’re running eight lanes currently. We’ve been the beneficiary of a changing market in the Northwest by really sticking to our core values – customer experience, integrity, fun, etc.–throughout the adjustment coming into and out of COVID-19.

Eighteen months ago, this was a 500- to 600-car sale a week. Now, we’re running upwards of 1,000 to 1,100 a week and more than 1,200 on promo weeks. We’ve had great partners while doing this. We’ve got a solid team

committed to adjusting what we need to do to service the dealer base in more creative ways.

“We really feel like we’re getting into this good rhythm of consistency, fresh consignment and a high emphasis on converting sellers. It’s interesting because Washington State didn’t have a dealer in the lanes for over a year because of COVID. Even now, we have anywhere from 575 to 600 bidders a week, but 75% of them are still online.

“We just finalized a renovation for our auction. Now we have the ability to run 5 double-block lanes and it improves the general flow in the lanes, being safer and having more continuity in terms of the cars, the type of cars, where they’re at and they’re selling.

“We’ve seen guys who haven’t been in our lanes

Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant

physically for a while coming back into the lanes.

“We’re investing in our facilities, which is another one of our core values, to create a better buying and selling experience.

“I think at our sale today (Feb. 23), we’ll probably be near 65%.

“We place a high emphasis on our sellers on converting within the first, second or third time those cars run. We have conversations on evaluations and what is driving the seller’s expectations for a higher return than what the market is bearing.

“We also know that fresh cars sell. Our average price on the block has been $17,500, but we have something for everybody, from the subprime repo consignor to a strong dealer trade presence to off-lease/rental volume and even good Canadian sellers, as well.”

Where Consignors and Auctions Connect.

The Conference of Automotive Remarketing (CAR) connects the remarketing community, with more consignors in attendance than any other event of its kind.

From networking to an array of innovative sessions ranging from the state of the auction industry to adapting to EV’s, CAR 2024 delivers what your business needs to look towards the future, during a time of consolidation and change.

March 26-28, 2024

Hilton Phoenix Resort at the Peak Phoenix, AZ

Many readers may recall my predilection for cooking. Since the confines of a postwar kitchen kept me at my mom’s elbow as she pulled rabbits out of rationed hats, I’ve had a fascination for the subject.

It parallels my affection for painting or writing (duh!) as a form of creativity. But cooking for other people is a very sensitive gesture of being able to share; for the nutrition of family or the cementing of relationships with friends or soon-to-befriends. I found it most useful in courtship pursuits! Cooking confirms a commitment to a relationship, with one or many.

Recent readers will be acquainted with our move to South Carolina and the friendliness of our newfound neighbors. The universal language of hospitality has been extended

through invitations to share nibbles to gut-busting feasts, all in boisterous, bountiful company

Terry and I have become a pretty good gustatory team when it come to party planning; over the years we’ve produced some fairly memorable get-togethers for various occasions from weddings to holiday celebrations.

Here, down South, barbecuing is a vaunted skill. I have to admit, since the first day I was introduced to it in 1982 at the Nashville Auto Auction by Linda Dixon, the queen of the cafeteria, I’ve been hooked. It’s an addiction that’s easily fixed in Nashville – there are so many joints, some going back to the 60’s and today, there’s a new push to spread its popularity as restaurateurs extol the virtues of the various styles of BBQ. Judg-

ing by the proliferation, competition is a healthy thing.

It’s now personal! I’ve been trying to perfect my skills, albeit with far less than a side of beef or a whole hog. But I have invested in a fair amount of sundry machinery for its production at home. Smokers of different shapes and sizes replace the normal garden statuary and I can turn out everything from smoked salmon, cheeses, ribs from pigs to cows and I make my own bacon from fresh pork bellies.

My signature smoke is a Boston Butt or pork shoulder for shredding as BBQ on a Big Green Egg and while it takes a bit of effort, the ends justify the means.

This weekend I took on the beast of the barbecue – a Texas-style full packer brisket. It wasn’t huge, as

briskets go – about 13 lbs. and I’m a bit restricted as to what would fit on the Egg. With a little ‘MacGyvering’ I got away with it. I won’t bore you with all the prep details; suffice it to say that the process took 14 hours at 225 degrees. So my neighbors and I devoured the most delicious beef ever; tender, juicy, with a nice bark and smoke ring and a few ‘burnt ends’.

Everyone contributed some fabulous side dishes to compliment the Roast Beast and we ate like kings. The amount of friends we’ve made in such a short space of time is amazing. Food has certainly greased the skids for any excuse to get together.

I was delighted to find that The Culinary Institute of the South is right here in our town and I’ve already participated in some class-

• 50-year veteran of the

• President from 1997–2000 of ADT

• Served as ADESA’s executive vice president of sales and marketing

• Moorby & Associates

2006–present

• NAAA Hall of Famer

• IARA Circle of Excellence

To

Moorby,

es for different cuisines; Gullah food, Indian and Mediterranean to mention a few and of course, a whole bunch of new people to discover and share stories, always in a good-natured way.

“Laughter is always the brightest where good food is served.” Old Irish proverb.

Tony

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