UCN
Used Car News
5/9/2022
Haulers, Logistics Carry Industry Forward By Jeffrey Bellant
IN THIS ISSUE:
Rush - Dated Material
• Repossessions • R etail Markets • Black Book Numbers
Transportation and logistics have faced as many challenges as any segment in the automotive industry over the past two years. Companies are identifying those challenges and adapting their businesses to attack the next phase of this economy. Montway Auto Transport, based in the Chicago area, is a diversified logistics company that’s been in business 15 years, said President Dimitre Kirilov. Kirilov said the company, with more than 15,000 carriers, has flourished with the increase in Internet buying. “Our experience in private vehicle logistics where you ship one vehicle at a time helps a lot in this current market,” he said. Montway works with auctions, fleet management firms and rental car companies, Kirilov said. They will work with mom-and-pop operations that have one truck up to firms with 200 carriers. Joe Kichler, vice president of Manheim Logistics, said two things have been affecting dealers during the past year. “The first is that a significant number of carriers have gone out of business because of the pandemic,” Kichler said. The other trend Kichler is seeing from a carrier supply chain perspective is how dealers are acquiring inventory. Manheim’s digital transactions were running as high as 80% at the start of the year, compared to 40% to 50% prior to the pandemic, Kichler said. That helped during the pandemic when everything went digital. Mark Anderson, president and CEO of United Road, said his com-
pany is the “leading transportation provider in finished vehicle logistics.” He said there is a “huge sense of urgency and transparency” in his industry right now. The difficulty is in getting cars with inventory at an all-time low. With new-car stores pre-selling cars before they get to a lot, there is an urgency to get the vehicle to the dealership. The transparency piece is everyone wants their Amazon package to ship within 24 to 48 hours and to know where it is every step of the way. “Believe it or not, cars are not that way,” Anderson said. “But we’ve been working really hard to develop tools, so our customers have that transparency.” Anderson said United Road has over 2,000 company trucks and independent contractors running, as well as relationships with more than 5,000 prequalified carriers. “We move more than 4 million cars per year, and we’ve always prided ourselves with a strategy around diversification,” he said. Kirilov said the supply chain constraints have hurt but that problem has been “building up for decades.” The pandemic just brought the Continued on page 5
Announcing the winners of the 2021 Auction Excellence Awards. See back cover for more details.