USED CAR NEWS
WHOLESALE MARKETS NORTH DAKOTA
Loren Hallwachs, general manager/owner, Central City Auto Auction, Carrington, N.D.: “We’re coming up on our second anniversary in mid-June. We just became a member of the National Auto Auction Association. You have to be in business for a year before you qualify. “We saw a need for a place on the western region of the state. This was a greenfield location. We have three lanes and eight acres. “We call our auction Central City because we’re in the middle of the four major cities: Minot, Bismarck, Grand Fork and Fargo. Anybody can travel to Carrington within two hours of those major cities. We also offer full arbitration and detailing. “When we started, we ran 50 to 70 cars a week. Then we built it up to 125 to 150 for several months. With the oil boom in a lull, we’re down to about 75 cars during a normal sale. Our
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conversion rates are about 40 percent. “We run a sale every Tuesday and run a public sale on the first Saturday of every month. “We draw about 30 dealers on average. We actually have more online than in person. We do a really good job with customer contacts and showing a walk-around. They don’t need to leave their desk if they don’t want to. “We use Xcira, which used to be OnLine Ringman. We’ve got a huge trust factor with our dealers. “Our volume is 90-percent dealer consignment. “Our average price overall is a little over $10,000. What brings that up is we’ve sold a lot of $40,000 to $50,000 units. Those are pick-ups. We sell probably 60 percent trucks. The rest of them are (less expensive) cars, really. “We run power sports every week at the end of the sale. We sell four-wheelers, side-by-sides and motorcycles. We’ve sold a ton of
Harley-Davidson motorcycles. We have a large Harley dealership just south of us. “We’ll also do a classic auto auction in the spring and fall. We’re working on one scheduled for May 21 with more than 50 classic cars consigned. “The future looks fantastic.”
OHIO
Jay Wilson, general manager, ABC Detroit/ Toledo, Perrysburg, Ohio: “This month, we’re celebrating our 16th anniversary. It’s kind of an anniversary month, but we’ll be having an actual anniversary sale on April 22. “We have six lanes run an average of 1,000 to 1,200 a week. That’s up certainly from last year. For the month of March, our conversion rate was 67 percent. The conversion rate is comparable to last year, but our volumes are up from last year. That’s kudos to my staff. “Including our simulcast
bidders, we have 675 to 750 bidder badges per week. “Our fleet-lease and repo business is probably 35 percent of our business. So 60 to 65 percent of our business is dealer consignment. “Dealer business is our bread and butter. But we’ve really ramped up the fleetlease volume over the year. “It’s the fleet-lease repos that have grown. We have Chrysler Capital (off-lease units). That entity helps bring in others. “Typically, it’s the gripes and moans that you hear (on the retail side). But there are a lot of guys that had some great Februarys and Marches. “(In the past), you used to have a true tax season. Now, dealers are buying those cars back in October, November and December and get floor planners to float them. So you don’t see the spike. “We are open to the public for our repossessions only. I see a little bit of a spike in the number of public buy-
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Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant ers in the months of February and March and then it goes back to normal after that. “We do simulcast (through Auction Edge). The Detroit market is the biggest concentration of the Chrysler Capital product. Our numbers are doing as good or better than the other sales (selling that product). “You have to reach out to simulcast people well out of this area to keep that product moving. “Last year at this time, we were probably selling five to 10 cars on simulcast. Now we’re selling more than 50 cars. “Producing a good condition report makes a big difference. Our condition report writers do a very good job. “Our average sale price is about $7,500. “I think it’s going to stay steady or we’ll see some increases the rest of the year. So we just have to keep our strong performance with our dealers.”
4/11/16 10:24 AM