February 20, 2017
www.usedcarnews.com
Manheim Takes Auctions to Dealers’ Lots
Photo by Ted Craig ANYWHERE: Staff from Manheim New Orleans auction off BMWs on a city street to demonstrate the company’s mobile auction offerings. The sale drew dealers attending the National Automobile Dealers Association’s annual convention, many of whom bought cars while standing on the sidewalk. By Ted Craig
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Manheim sees a big opportunity in the cars dealers don’t bring to auction. And they’re meeting this opportunity by bring the auctions to them. The Cox Automotive subsidiary has been growing its mobile auction service the past few years. It now serves more than 70 locations. Many of these are dealer’s own lots, but sales have been run at all kinds of locations, including a baseball park. Manheim brings a truck loaded with equipment and staf to run a sale that replicates what bidders
experience at a traditional auction. “We can bring the truck literally anywhere,” said Grace Huang, Manheim’s senior vice president of inventory services. The trucks spend their of time parked at Manheim auctions around the country. It’s these auctions that provide the staf for the trucks. They can serve dealers up to 200 miles away. Janet Barnard, president of Cox Automotive Inventory Solutions, said Manheim could set up a sale for a dealer the next day, but local regulations usually require a longer lead-time. Dealers have been running their
own auctions for years. The mobile auctions take this process up a step, adding loor planning and Manheim Simulcast bidders. The mobile auction sales bring plenty of motivated buyers, with retention rates above 70 percent. Scott Cahill, used-car manager at East Coast Honda Volkswagen in Myrtle Beach, S.C., has been using the Manheim mobile auctions for several years. The dealership runs sales of 175 to 250 units every 60 days. The inventory consists of aged units and trades that don’t it into the store’s used-car model. Prior to Manheim, the dealership
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used a smaller auction company to run sales at its store. Cahill said the other company offered far fewer services. The most important feature for Cahill is Manheim Simulcast. The East Coast sales usually draw 50 to 60 online bidders from as far as Michigan. This helps bring higher prices. “It’s not how many cars you sell online,” Cahill said. “It’s how many bids you get online.” Another advantage for the hosting dealer is that since the vehicles stay on the lot until sale time, they can retail them up until the day of the auction.