Used Car News, March 25, 2024

Used Car News

3/25/2024

IARA President Offers Peek at Future

By Jeffrey Bellant

As the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance prepped for this month’s Conference of Automotive Remarketing, its president looked forward to a big year for the group.

Doug Turner, president of IARA, is in the middle of his 2-year term and said 2024 should be a big one for the group.

Turner also recently took over as senior director of acquisitions and remarketing for America’s Car-

Mart, after nearly two decades at Byrider, serving as director of service operations.

“I made the move about two months ago,” Turner said during a recent conversation.

He’s been a member of IARA for 20+ years and has served on the board for about eight years.

“I started my term as president in August 2023, so the term ends in August 2025,” Turner said,

He’s described his time in the group and in leadership as being a lot of fun.

“It’s the networking, getting to

know everybody and the resources that IARA provides – it’s just so exciting,” Turner said.

IARA also hired a new executive director in the same year that Turner took the reins as president.

Mark Coleman was a 25-year veteran of the industry, including a stint on past IARA President Paul Seger’s team at GE Fleet (now Element) as co-leader of national sales for the company’s then newly formed third-party remarketing services.

“He is fantastic,” Turner said. “Coleman was a great, great hire. We also have a new director of growth and operations, Lauren Baker.

“So, we kind of rebuilt the whole leadership team that’s on payroll. They’re both doing a fantastic job. Can’t say enough about them.”

IARA took a step back over a year ago and enlisted a company to help the group analyze its identity and who it wanted to be as an organization. The first part of that will be a rebranding, which will be announced at CAR (March 26-28 Hilton Phoenix Resort at The Peak).

The group announced its intention earlier this month, stating in a press release: “Signifying a renewed energy and focus, the IARA is updating its branding to include a simplified name, a streamlined logo, a refreshed website and new website URL.

“The Alliance has also overhauled its website with simplified navigation and refreshed content for members, such as timely and topical podcasts, Webinars, and useful databases to drive member value.

“The Alliance has also rolled out the instant messaging platform, Slack, to its committees to facilitate rapid communication between

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Inventory

• Dealer Sentiment

• Retail Markets

committee members as they develop and deliver critical projects.”

Turner said IARA has also partnered with Joe Miller, a former longtime executive with AutoIMS, who has started his own business coaching firm.

Miller will give the keynote address at the conference and also is the subject for the March Used Car News Podcast.

IARA also has GROW (Global Remarketing Opportunities for Women) to “provide a supportive community to promote and expand the growth of women in automotive remarketing.”

IARA has continued to offer its Certified Automotive Remarketer (CAR) education program and its Audit & Compliance Training (ACT) program.

IARA wants members to take advantage of these resources and for non-members to be aware of what’s available.

Continued on page 5

Used Car News

ACV Exec Makes Finding Inventory Fun for Dealers

By Jeffrey Bellant

For many dealers, finding better ways to acquire inventory is frustrating, challenging and expensive.

But for Randy Barone, it sounds like entertainment.

For Barone, vice president of business development at ACV, acquiring inventory sounds like a magician pulling Toyota Camrys out of a hat.

QR codes? Car washes? These are inventory acquisition ideas that can work – and do work.

Barone led a session at this year’s NADA Convention in Las Vegas to help franchise dealers look at inventory acquisition in a different way.

“I did a used-car workshop called ‘How Does Your Used Car Department Score?” he said. “Dealers walked out with a scorecard that covered 50 different areas that they had to score.”

Barone said even though he works for an auction company, he knows one of the best places to acquire a vehicle is from a consumer.

That applies to an independent store, as well as a franchise.

“A franchise store obviously has more of an opportunity to buy a car out of service or trade for a car because they have so much direct traffic coming in,” he said.

“But being an independent today (it’s even more important) to be much more aggressive and to go out and acquire cars directly from the consumer higher up in that food chain.”

If not, the result is what’s happening now: the number of people coming into the dealership with a trade is declining.

Barone said pre-pandemic, newcar grosses were very low while incentives were very high. Dealers were packed with inventory.

“They were giving cars away,” Barone said. “They were relying on profit coming from trades and finance.

“Well, what happens when I tell you I’m going to pull the trade out and you’re not going to have a trade in the deal? That would be the kiss of death for a lot of franchise and independent dealers right now.”

Barone said this is happening on a grand scale.

So, Barone and ACV are training dealers how to buy. He speaks to several 20 group meetings a month and asks dealers how many cars they buy directly from consumers, not including trades or cars out of service.

“I get the same response – two, three, five, seven, nine – even with their own buying center,” Barone said. “Well, I have dealerships that are now buying 50 to 100 cars a

month directly from consumers. Some are buying 60% of their inventory directly from consumers, and that’s not including trades.”

He said multiply that out with auction fees, transportations fees, etc., and it adds up.

“Every one of these cars comes with a customer attached to it,” Barone said.

When dealers question those numbers, Barone points to the former Texas Direct (that was purchased by Vroom) which at one point was buy-

ing 100 cars a day from consumers.

“I tell dealers, if you think that opportunity has sailed, it hasn’t,” Barone said. It’s been barely touched.

Independent dealers can be successful just by being aggressive and creative.

Barone and ACV show dealers 40 unique methods of buying cars directly from consumers.

ACV has built tools around a dealer’s own branded website – for dealers to use, as opposed to a customer going to a third-party site in order to link to a dealer, Barone said.

He calls this strategy being “inventory independent,” which is more important than ever.

“If we do that, then the next shortage or horrible thing that comes up, you’re going to be in the driver’s seat, not waiting for traffic to come into the door,” Barone said.

Dealers shouldn’t be caught flatfooted again, because the dealers who were ready last time even became wholesalers because they had the inventory.

A dealer who does this can make money on both the retail and wholesale side.

Barone said inventory has bounced back some, but it’s not coming back quickly.

“I tell dealers it’s like a large snake has swallowed a small farm animal,” he said. “It’s got to pass through its system.

“So, when you’ve got 10 million cars that weren’t produced (dur-

ing COVID), what did that do to the market? We’re still in a massive used car shortage.”

Barone said the average used car price in a dealer’s inventory is about $29,000 – and considering that incomes haven’t kept up and interest rates have shot up – it’s the “kiss of death” for a dealer.

Finding the “bread-and-butter cars,” that are $15,000 or $16,000 cars, means going to auctions where “a million people” are bidding on them, Barone said.

Using tools to market directly to consumers who have a vehicle that a dealer wants and can sell is the key, he said.

One of the tips Barone has suggested involves car washes. Ask the owner to let you put a QR Code sticker on the window of the car wash that reads “Scan This QR Code, Get an Instant Offer on Your Car.”

Barone said many of those cars are going through the car wash so they can be put up for sale.

So, when they scan that QR code, it goes right into the dealer’s trade tool. The dealer tracks those QR codes and offers the car wash owner $200 for every car that he buys from that car wash.

“Now the car wash has let the dealer put these QR codes everywhere,” Barone said.

This can also work anywhere a customer is waiting.

Continued on page 8

Photo Courtesy of ACV CLASS IN SESSION: Randy Barone leads franchise dealers on how to score their used-car departments during a session at this year’s NADA convention. He presented creative ways dealers can acquire inventory from private owners through business partnerships, clever marketing and just plain hustling.

Randy Barone

Dealer Trends

Cox Reports on Dealer Sentiment

The Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index (CADSI) shows that current market sentiment improved slightly in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, increasing from 40 to 42, but remains well below the 50 threshold, indicating most dealers see the current market as weak.

The survey’s current market index is largely driven by profitability, customer traffic and costs. Of the three, profitability continues to weigh most heavily on both franchised and independent dealers, according to the latest report. At 33, the profitability index fell to its second-lowest score ever, behind only Q2 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. After peaking at 60 in 2021, the profitability index has continued to decrease, hitting a post-pandemic low for the second straight quarter in Q1, indicating most dealers see profits as weak, not strong.

For franchised dealers, the profitability index has declined significantly from the first half of 2022, when the index was near a record

high and above 80. Beginning in the second half of 2022, the index has dropped significantly and, in Q1 2024, hit 41 – the lowest point in the survey’s history excluding Q2 2020.

“The vehicle market in the U.S. is shifting from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, and dealers are feeling the pinch of tighter margins and higher costs,” said Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke. “After some highly profitable years for many dealers, 2024 will be a tough comparison. Dealer costs continue to grow and profitability per sale has dropped. As we often see in our surveys, spring is bringing some optimism, but dealers are clearly indicating the U.S. auto market is very different than it was just two years ago.”

While the current market index, and many of the factors driving it, remains weak, the market outlook index improved significantly in Q1, jumping from 41 last quarter to 51 in Q1. The market outlook index, which queries dealers about expectations for the vehicle market three months from now, typically enjoys a

‘spring bounce’ as automobile dealers look to the spring selling season.

The vehicle sales environment improved from Q4 but remains below year-ago levels.

According to U.S. auto dealers, the current sales environment for new and used vehicles has improved over last quarter but remains lower year over year. The new-vehicle sales index improved 1 point to 52, down from 57 one year ago. Likewise, the used-vehicle sales index increased 1 point to 40, but it is down from 44 a year ago and well below the long-term index average of 50. For franchised dealers, the used-vehicle sales index held steady near a record low of 51 in Q1. For independent dealers, the used-vehicle sales index increased by 1 point but remains well below longer-term averages.

Dealers have seen a decline in traffic and profits.

The overall traffic and profits indexes both declined from the previous quarter. The overall profits index hit an all-time high of 60 in Q3 2021 and has been sliding ever since. The overall profits index, at 37, is now at a new low point, excluding Q2 2020, when much of the U.S. economy was shut down. For franchised dealers, the profits index sunk to 51, down seven points quarter over quarter. The profits index for independent dealers at 32 marks the ninth consecutive quarter of a below-50 index reading.

Dealers say new-car inventory continues to grow.

The latest Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index suggests the mildly improving sales environment is being driven at least in some part by higher inventory levels, with the industry’s short-supply issues mostly in the rear-view mirror, particularly on the new-vehicle front.

The new-vehicle inventory index hit an all-time high of 75 in Q1, indicating that most franchised dealers see their inventory growing, not declining. The new-vehicle inventory index has shifted dramatically over the past two years. Now at a record high of 75, the index is up from Q1 2023 and Q1 2022, when low newvehicle supply was among the mostcited factors holding back business.

Unlike new-vehicle supply, the index for used-vehicle inventory suggests a majority of dealers see used-vehicle inventory as declining, not growing. The index score of 45 is equal to last quarter and has improved from year-ago levels. Franchised dealers are slightly more optimistic about used-vehicle inventory, with an index score of 53,

Continued on page 6

3/25/2024

Compliance News Recent Cases Spotlight Perils of Repossession Process

By Laura J. Bacon

Repossessing a consumer’s car is often a high-stakes undertaking; tempers can run high, and confrontations are frequent. Despite repossession agents’ best efforts to avoid volatile encounters, creditors risk a claim with every attempted recovery that the repossession was invalid due to a breach of the peace.

Under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a repossession is invalid if there is no present right to possession of the property.

Courts look to state self-help repossession statutes to determine if the enforcer of a security interest has the present right to possession or if it has lost that right through conduct that breaches the peace.

Three recent cases highlight that the line between lawful repossession and unlawful disturbance is often blurry and that a court’s holding may turn on minor differences in the parties’ conduct as well as variations in state law.

All three of these cases hinged on whether the consumer’s objection to a repossession was sufficient to trigger a valid claim that the agent breached the peace, but the outcomes varied.

In a case in New York, a federal appellate court upheld a trial court’s ruling that there was no breach of the peace when Faith Labadie’s car was repossessed. Labadie objected verbally to the repossession after finding an agent blocking her car in a shopping mall and told the agent that she needed to drive her son back to the Ronald McDonald House where he was staying for medical

treatment.

The agent permitted her to make the trip but stated that he would call the police if she attempted to drive anywhere else. The tow truck followed Labadie and her son to the facility.

Upon arrival, Labadie again objected to the repossession and only handed over her keys after the agent told her she would have to pay $400 for a replacement set. She filed suit and claimed that the repossession that took place after the agent blocked her car in a parking lot, threatened to call the police, and towed her car over her verbal objections was invalid under the FDCPA because the agent’s actions constituted a breach of the peace.

The New York appellate court found that Labadie’s complaint did not meet the standard for breach of the peace, which in New York is an act of violence, an act likely to produce violence, or an act that disturbs the peace and quiet of the community.

While the active use of police assistance to execute a repossession is not permitted by New York’s self-help authorization statutes, the court held that the agent’s reference to possibly calling the police was not a breach of the peace that invalidated the repossession.

Similarly, in Pennsylvania, a federal trial court held that a repossession was not invalid because it occurred over the car owner’s objections. Katherine McCarthy became delinquent on her car payments, and a repossession agent arrived at her home to take the car away.

McCarthy ran outside and verbally objected to the repossession, called the police, and attempted to

IARA – Continued from page 1

“We’re really looking to engage our members and always looking for committee members and board members to serve,” Turner said.

IARA’s Summer Roundtable in August will be held in Frisco, Texas, which will include two industry veterans leading the event.

“That’s when we roll out the full name change and brand change.”

Next year, when Turner ends his

term as president, Vice President Chris Clark will take the helm. Clark is director of marketing solutions, North America, for Holman.

Turner said IARA has helped in making him better at his day job.

“I think in any profession the more well-rounded you are, the better decisions you can make, whether it’s deep in the weeds or at 50,000 feet,” he said.

The group continues to grow its

physically block the repossession by standing in front of the tow truck.

When the police arrived, they told her that the agent was permitted to take the car. McCarthy sued for violations of the FDCPA and Pennsylvania’s self-help statute and for conversion, pleading in all three counts that the agent breached the peace, and, therefore, the repossession was invalid.

The repossession company moved to dismiss the complaint, and the court granted the motion as to all three counts, holding that Pennsylvania law imposes liability for breach of the peace when the defendant causes the breach.

McCarthy’s complaint instead centered exclusively on her actions of verbally confronting the agent, blocking the truck, and calling the police. The court held that taking a vehicle over the oral objection of an owner is not a breach of the peace absent other factors that indicate the repossession agent’s activities are of a kind likely to cause violence, public distress, or consternation and found that those factors were not sufficiently alleged in this case.

In contrast, a Florida plaintiff’s lawsuit against the repossession agent based on her claims that her objections to the repossession constituted a breach of the peace survived the defendant’s motion to dismiss. Jaiwana Byrd heard her car alarm sound and went outside to find a tow truck next to her car.

The operator of the truck stated that he was there to repossess the car, and Byrd told him to stop as she was calling her creditor to make a payment.

She sat inside her car while she made her payment and continued

to object to the repossession. The agent yelled at Byrd that he needed to take the car and ultimately towed the car away despite her repeated protests.

The court stated that the test under Florida law for a breach of the peace is whether there was entry by the creditor onto the debtor’s premises and whether the debtor consented to the entry and repossession.

While the defendant argued that there was no allegation that the agent had entered the debtor’s premises, and therefore no breach, the federal trial court said that Florida case law has also held that a debtor’s physical objection will bar repossession even from a public street. In this case, Byrd physically sat in her car to make her payment and made repeated and unambiguous objections with instructions to stop the repossession.

The court found that those acts, taken together, sufficiently alleged a breach of the peace under Florida law.

Automobile repossessions are often fraught with tension, and these cases show that the difference between legal and illegal attempts can turn on minor differences in conduct.

A breach of the peace can happen easily, so make sure that you, and your repossession agents, understand the nuances of your state’s laws.

Laura J. Bacon is an associate in the Maryland office of Hudson Cook, LLP.

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

membership base – targeting credit unions and auto dealers, for example – while also focusing on how to create more value for members, Turner said.

CAR certification and the ACT training are the type of programs that provide that value, he added.

“With Joe Miller, we also have the Hand Up initiative,” Turner said. “Our focus point here is that shift in

generations and how to we get more people interested in the remarketing industry (from the next generation).”

For now, Turner is enjoying his new role in his day job at America’s Car-Mart.

“I love it,” he said. “Great culture. Great environment. Really enjoy it.

“Doug Campbell is a great CEO. I’ve known him since his Avis/Budget days at IARA.”

Used Car News

3/25/2024

Dealer

Sentiment

suggesting more dealers see usedvehicle inventory levels as growing, not declining. Independent dealers, on the other hand, see used-vehicle inventory as declining.

The view of the economy is improving but remains weak in Q1.

According to the Q1 CADSI, dealers have a better view of the economy in Q1 than they did in Q4. The index score increased from 39 to 42. The index score is down one point from year-ago levels and down from 49 in Q1 2022, indicating a majority of dealers continue to see the economy as weak, not strong. The franchised dealers’ score of 46 held steady quarter over quarter, whereas independent dealers saw an improvement, moving up from 36 to 40.

The electric vehicle sales index dropped to a record low.

When asked how EV sales compare to one year ago, a majority of

– Continued from page 4

dealers say they are worse, not better. The index score for EV sales in Q1 dropped to 42, the lowest score since the question was added in the second quarter of 2021. The index score in Q1 was down from 48 in Q4 and lower than the 50 recorded in Q1 2023.

The outlook for EV sales tumbled as well, with the index score falling from 42 in Q4 to 36 in Q1. A year ago, when the index score was 53, a majority of auto dealers indicated that the EV market would be growing, not declining. That sentiment has changed. The Q1 score of 36 was the lowest score for the EV outlook index since the question was asked in 2021. In both indexes, independent dealers scored lower than franchised dealers. The gap between the two was very small for current EV sales, suggesting a consistent perspective across the board.

“The drop in dealer sentiment re-

lated to electric vehicles is understandable when we look at where EVs stand on the adoption continuum – shifting from early-adopter buyers to mainstream,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty. “In 2024, the Cox Automotive team expects the industry to fully acknowledge the fact that the average consumer needs to

be convinced on the merits of going electric, and many won’t be easily persuaded.

“The EV market is likely to see a rise in the number of models, incentives, discounting, and advertising. However, selling more EVs will require more effort on the part of dealers.”

Used Car News

3/25/2024

Inventory – Continued from page 3

Again, people could be at the tire shop to prep their car to sell, Barone said.

For dealers who retail a car, print off a certificate worth $1,000 and give it to a customer, letting them know that when they’re ready to sell that car they just bought, the dealer will give them $1,000 more for it.

“That kind of stuff is just driving more traffic to what we’re doing at ACV,” Barone said.

Texas Direct, for example, would advertise out in the marketplace and tell consumers that if they saw a car on the side of the road for sale or knew of someone looking to sell, to send the dealer the VIN number and if the dealer bought the car, the consumer would get $200 for the leads.

“Those guys weren’t even car guys,” Barone said, “So, sometimes we have to step out of our regular

thinking and think differently.”

That includes targeting people on their smart phones, tablets or televisions.

“This information is so good now that I can even buy the mobile advertising IDs, so for Toyota RAV4 customers, for example, I want to go after everyone and advertise to their mobile advertising ID,” Barone said. “I want to hit them with an ad that says, ‘I want to buy your Toyota RAV4.’”

When they click in, it goes to the mobile trade tool, he said.

Another method is to work with Uber and Lyft drivers.

“I took an Uber the other day and he had random coupons of pizza places on the driver’s seat,” Barone said.

If the consumer was taking that Uber to pick up a car from the body shop or the driver finds out the customer is looking to sell a car, that’s

a lead.

Barone said another Texas Direct example occurred when he went into a restaurant. When he came out to get his car from the valet, his keychain had a “Texas Direct Wants to Buy Your Car” trinket on it.

“Folded on the dashboard of my car was a little tent that said, ‘Texas Direct Wants to Buy Your Car,’” he said.

“I was so fired up when I saw this, I went back into the restaurant and asked them, ‘What did Texas Direct pay you to do this?’”

The restaurant rep said since Texas Direct supplied the valet materials like the key chain, they could put whatever they wanted on it.

Barone pointed out a past Super Bowl when a crypto company used a bouncing QR code on the screen during its commercial.

“Everybody at my Super Bowl party was trying to scan it, they didn’t

know what it’s for,” Barone said.

Imagine a commercial on a movie screen before a movie and imagine a QR code on the screen.

A similar idea can work on a gas pump.

Barone said he went to a restaurant once to ask them to put a QR code at the register or on the menu, but they scoffed at the idea, saying it was unprofessional.

“I say, ‘Well, off every car that we buy from this QR code on this menu or this checkout, I’ll pay you $200.

“They said, ‘Oh, Randy, we can definitely do that.’”

Ironically, COVID made that QR code popular and dealers can take advantage of a tool.

Getting new ideas is all about the power of people and the power of listening, Barone said.

“No one person has all the knowledge, but every person knows something,” he said.

Retail Markets

3/25/2024

OHIO

Lisa Marshall, chief exec-

utive

officer, North Main Motors, Marysville,

Ohio

“This is the 37th year for our dealership and my 30th year.

“We try to keep 100-125 vehicles on our website. Right now, we’re selling cars before we can get them listed.

Last month we had about 60, which is a good 50-60 from where we want to be.

“We like to be selling about 70 a month. In February we sold 67.”

“We sell a lot of Hondas.

The Accord factory is here and they are converting it to sell EVs, too. Customers like the accessibility to parts and repairs. But we sell lots of Ford and Chevy trucks, too. We also sell a lot of Subarus and Nissans.

“I go to auctions as much as possible but that has come down to ‘not much.’ We like

to go and touch them and smell them. My brother is our primary buyer and he is online, traveling and even flying to auctions. He needs to get about three truckloads at a time.

“We do a lot of buy-here, pay-here. That’s how our dad started this business. It’s been our meat and potatoes. We’ve transformed to about a 50-50 split.

“We put both GPS and starter interrupt on our cars. With starter interrupt people can contact us if they need a little more time with their payments. It keeps that communication open. It’s helped. Our collections are probably 97%.

“We do most of our reconditioning in house. If we can keep the parts and service under $1,200 on a typical vehicle we’re pleased.

“Building relationships with your customers, ven-

dors and fellow dealers is utmost in importance. Being involved in the community, too, has been one of the blessings of our success.

“Our staff is valuable to us. I think among our leadership the average tenure is about 21-22 years. The business itself is like a puzzle, there are a lot of pieces.

“I think the last car we sold was a ’16 Honda Pilot, which is par for our course: a $13,000-$14,000 vehicle with 130,000-140,000 miles. And we financed it inhouse.”

IDAHO

Jim White, owner, White Auto Sales, Marsing, Idaho

“We’ve been in business 29 years.

“I don’t think COVID changed things as far as the way I conduct business. We had challenges on inventory acquisition, but by and large

I’ve had the same model for years.

“I still go to auctions in person. Occasionally I buy cars online, most of my acquisitions are in the lane. Dealers Auto Auction of Idaho is just 15 miles away and then there’s ADESA in Boise.

“We usually keep about 20 cars in inventory, and we usually sell about 20 a month.

“Our share of sales for cars, trucks and SUVs are pretty even. Our customers don’t really care between imports or domestics. Imports are more popular in the sedans and trucks, of course, are more domestic.

“About 90% of my business is buy-here, pay-here. We use GPS, but not the starterinterrupt.

“Our average down payment is about $2,000. We’ve had a little bit of a bump from tax time, but since I’ve

Compiled by Ed Fitzgerald

been here we have a lot of repeat and referral business, so it stays fairly constant. Sometimes we’re selling to the grandkids of a customer.

“We spend about $1,000 in reconditioning per vehicle. I sublet the work out.

“We do online advertising and some local radio.

“We’re not looking for an average age of a car, more of a dollar amount, primarily around the $10,000 range. We’ll go up to 160,000 to 170,000 miles on some of the lower cost vehicles.

“I would recommend any new dealers starting out to see if your state association offers any education classes. I would also caution people to be careful when using floor planning. You don’t want to get over-leveraged.

“The last car I sold was a 2013 Dodge Dart with 93,000 miles. We sold it for $7,000.”

Wholesale Markets

3/25/2024

NEBRASKA

Ryan Durst, vice president, Lincoln Auto Auction LLC, Waverly, Neb.

“We have four lanes. We’re running between 250 and 300 cars. Volumes have been pretty good. Year to date, we’re up a couple of hundred cars.

“We’re averaging 82% conversion rates. We’ve always been fortunate to be a high percentage sale.

“We’re getting 200 bidders in-lane and another 40 to 60 online. Both have been really good.

“Overall, it’s been a good winter. Dealers are not complaining.

“But dealers had a good February and March has started out OK. Retail has been pretty steady surround here.

“Average price has been $6,307 through March 13. That’s up about $300 or

$400 from last year.

“During COVID, we’re north of $7,000 which was huge for us, but it was a product of the (pandemic market).

“We do a lot to get good consignment in here that sells. We don’t want to waste people’s time.

“About 90% of our volume is dealer consignment and 10% is fleet/lease/repo.

“With dealer consignment there is generally less babysitting than with commercial consignment.

“We also have a monthly GSA sale during the second or third week of each month.

“We’ll run between 30 and 50 and those percentages are really high.

“We had one of our best years ever last year. Now, we’re ahead of that by about 6%, which is great since last year was one of our best years.”

PENNSYLVANIA

Clint Weaver, general manager, America’s Auto Auction – Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg, Pa.

“We’ve got six physical lanes but we turn them into about nine during the day to create different specialty type lanes, in-ops and re-use them.

“At our (March 14) sale we ran just under 1,100, because the fleet/lease companies were a little lighter than they were over the previous couple of weeks. But it was a good mix of dealer consignment and fleet/repos.

“We ended the day at 66% sold.

“We had a decent January, while some weather slowed down the Northeast market in February. It hit us or it hit the Philly-Jersey area where a lot of our customers come from. It always seems to snow the day before the sale.

But March is off to a great start.

“We have a 60/40 mix –60% dealer consignment and 40% fleet/lease/repos. It’s getting back close to where it was with repos (volume). Our inventory has kind of flattened back out to where it should be

“We’ve been getting about 650 bidders and it’s been about 50/50 between inlane and online. We’ve been selling about 30% online. If you would have told me five years ago that we would be selling 30% online I would have said you’re crazy. COVID changed things.

“Our average price has gone up to about $8,000 a car. If you go back before COVID, it was probably $5,800 or $6,000. During COVID we were at $9,500 some weeks.

“In additional to the fleet/ lease, we’ve got some deal-

Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant

ers bringing some of that nicer stuff and we’re able to get that sold for them. So, they continue to bring them and that helps that average price.

“The retail dealers say it seems to be picking up a little bit. They’re starting to see a little tax money. We have our 43rd anniversary sale coming up on April 4.

“We’re expecting probably 1,500 cars at that sale.

“We also have a specialty sale and we’re going to roll that into the anniversary sale. That’s motor homes, class cars, motorcycles campers – a little bit of everything.

“Every week we do giveaways and drawings.

“So obviously for the anniversary sale we’ll ramp that up, with a bunch of giveaways at the sale, as well as free food and anniversary T-shirts.”

Tony Moorby

The thought of air travel these days fills me with dread. For a start, the concerns over equipment safety are all pervading, given that Boeing has recently had several failures in either design or manufacture. Couple that with increases in service and maintenance costs, you have to wonder how well the functions are being attended to, behind the scenes away from the slick operations of the terminal aprons.

I’ve been on several flights recently when the plane has been delayed for a mechanical issue or even cancelled because necessary parts aren’t available! If that itinerary involves a connection it can screw up all kinds of arrangements. I recently flew from Savannah to Indianapolis via Charlotte – a trip that was scheduled to take five hours, including the layover – it ended up

taking 12. The airplane that was supposed to take the second leg was withdrawn from service due to ‘hydraulic brake failure’ and we had to deplane from its replacement (which, by the way was miles away in another terminal) because of another repairable issue. I think I walked farther that trip than I actually flew.

The later in the day that you book a flight, the more you run the risk of delays through the hub and spoke design of airline routes, the efficiency of each flight being entirely dependent on the success of the prior one. Dominoes come to mind.

Then there are the people. Manners are as rare as hens’ teeth and tempers are stretched to the point of violence. Airport staff has gone from servile to surly, with the TSA staff setting about as bad an example as you

can imagine. I recognize that they have to deal with all kinds of folks and circumstances and varying levels of travel knowledge but officious, bullying attitudes don’t help. It seems that any authority figure these days wants to take their station to extremes.

Mind you, the public they deal with seems to be getting more raucous than ever. Any airport gate in the boarding process looks like the Bar Room scene from Star Wars, despite efforts to line people up in an orderly fashion. Have you noticed that people form lines across the terminal walkways instead of parallel?

The airlines have universally, financially incentivized people not to check their bags, so overhead compartments are now coveted real estate, with loading and unloading something akin

to a blood sport!

The terminal walkways look more like a Ben Hur chariot race with “rollalong” cases in all shapes and sizes being the weapons of choice. Packing skills are astonishing when it comes to getting a quart into a pint pot; one of my daughters has the facility to pack a whole wardrobe full of a week’s worth of ‘essentials’ into something that used to be described as an overnight bag! Charles Atlas would have trouble hoisting it into the overhead cubbyhole.

After pulling up to the gate, folks immediately vacate their seats and jockey and vie for a position on the aisle for a speedier exit. Really? I know the seats are not comfortable (and becoming less so) but better to stay put while people ahead have more room to negotiate their unloading, hoping

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that folks behind you would afford you the same courtesy – don’t hold your breath! These days I prefer to travel in my car but as I now live on the southeast coast I invariably need to deal with Atlanta. You know what they say, “If you want to get to hell, you have to go through Atlanta.”

Tony Moorby

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