Wholesale Markets

California

David Aahl, vice president, North Bay Auto Auction, Fairfield, Calif.

“We’re going to have an anniversary sale Aug. 24. It will be our 29th.

“We’ve seen the volumes creeping up. They’ve been going up about 5% a month. With the fleet/lease that we’re carrying, we expect to have some big months coming. It seems like volumes are coming back.

“On July 21, our regular Thursday sale, we ran 450 cars and that was coming off a five-Thursday month in June.

“Our volumes are probably 50/50 (dealer vehicles and fleet/lease).

“We’ve been averaging in the high 70s, even low 80s for sales percentages. I think a lot of it, we have smaller sales with more thoughtful consignors. The people that sell cars for us are typically good sellers who sell at the top of the market. Bidders see the action in the lanes.

“Retail has been good and solid here. Dealers seem optimistic about what’s coming. But guys are carrying some large inventories right now. They are worried about values dropping. That’s the No. 1 elephant in the room.

“We’re getting a couple of hundred bidders in the lanes, close to what we had pre-COVID. But we’re also seeing the same number online, which was not normal pre-COVID. We use Auction Edge.

“Our average price – the last time I looked – was around $9,400. We have nicer cars in the lanes now.

“We should have pretty good volumes in the lanes for at least the next three months. We’re also starting a new lane, an ‘X’ lane, as a credit-union-only lane.

“We have a GSA sale. It’s usually about twice a month. Our average sale is probably 150 cars and we’ll do at least one, or possible two a month. There’s a lot of government cars out there.”

Missouri

Justin Brown, general manager, Missouri Auto Auction, Columbia, Mo.

“We’re rounding out our 23rd year in business. We have five lanes and we’re running four.

“(Our volumes) are in the 400 to 450 range. I will say, those numbers – for us at this time of the year – are getting pretty close to normal. But we’re pretty heavy in dealer consignment, so we’re not dependent on manufacturer or lease volume.

“Our conversion rate is running at about 65%. That’s actually close to normal, what we were before COVID. During COVID, we jumped to 85%, which is not normal.

“Out average price in the lanes is about $10,000. Last year it was about $11,500, so pretty close to that. PreCOVID it might have been $8,000.

“We’re getting about 300 to 350 bidders in lane and online. It’s about a 50/50 split.

“Dealers in the lanes –across the board – are saying that retail is holding pretty solid. I think they expected that it would have dropped off. They’re getting more new vehicles in, though I don’t think they’re necessarily the exact ones they need. At a point, I think anything is better than nothing.

“Edge Pipeline is what we use for online sales.

“We have a scratch and dent sale, sort of inoperable, whatever you want to call it, on Friday morning before our main sale. We’ll get 30 to 50 (units).

“We also have a pretty strong equipment sale that we do quarterly. Our next equipment sale is Aug. 25, the last Friday in August. We’ll run utility-type of equipment. Utility trucks, backhoes and bucket truck, that type of equipment.

“We usually run about 100. We have a contract with Ameren Missouri, an electric utility. It’s an absolute sale. It’s a big draw.

“Heading into the fall, I don’t anticipate a major market shift. I think we’re still in a basic supply-anddemand model. It’s going to take a lot of inventory to change a lot of these things. I think it stays pretty stable through the rest of the year and for a while. I think it will be pretty stable.”