Page 13 - GIADA-Dec 2017-Final

AUCTIONS

the intention of making the customer’s day feeding into a three-lane area. So that’s “There’s always a reason. And the third item
quicker and more efficient at the auction. when I started thinking about the circle, is that, ‘I’m not happy with my numbers. I
and coming in from the outside of the want to run in prime time and I want to run
The future? circle, around the front of the blocks, and in the meat of the sale, and I want to run
So what does the design of an auction look then back out behind the block. in 30 to 60,’ or whatever that might be,” he
like years from now? Perhaps Bob Wolfsen’s continued.“This addresses all those issues,
Auto Auction In The Round concept — “And I actually laid it out over there — this where the buyer will be in a position where
which has earned a patent from the United was, gosh, almost 14 years ago now — in he can bid on any car that comes through
States government — gives us a hint. paper and drawing it out on the floor. It was the building.
an empty building. It made sense. So that
Walk into most auto auctions today, and started the thought process” “That’s unheard of in this industry. Where
the arena where the sales happen has a the seller can (choose to) not be concerned
familiar appearance: rectangular with long The design was based on what dealers had about lane preference, because it doesn’t
lanes that extend from one side to the other. told him over the years. matter anymore. Every car has the same
exposure, availability.”
Wolfsen’s design shakes that up, making the “And it boils down to, ‘I missed some
arena — as the name would imply — round. opportunities. I wish I had the ability to be Just one of many ways auction folks are
Each selling arena in Wolfsen’s design is a in that other lane at a point because I really thinking differently. n
circular pod that includes anywhere from needed that car,’” Wolfsen said. “I hear this
eight to 12 lanes, he said in an interview more and more. I hear it every week here. Please visit our
with Auto Remarketing earlier this year. On the seller’s side, (they’re) never happy
with the lanes. ‘Oh it’s too far away from calendar of events
The vehicles enter and exit behind each the door. It’s too close to the end of the on page 5.
auction block. They come into the pod and building.’
go around to the front of the block, going
180 degrees before exiting out behind the
block. To get to the pods, attendees can
walk from the office down a “tube” hallway
and then select one of the pods to enter, he
explained.

The patent was approved on March 23. Auto
Auction In The Round is now operational,
and the official patent number is 9,691,100.

Wolfsen, whose company is based Chandler,
Ariz., is the transportation manager at
Metro Auto Auction in Phoenix.

Asked what prompted the idea, he said: “It
started when I helped put another auction
together here in Phoenix — Dealers (Auto
Auction of the Southwest),” he said.

Wolfsen and the team there shaped the
auction blocks into a V-shape, he said, “so
that the dealers could see all the cars at all
the blocks from any position.

“I wish I could take credit for that but I
can’t,” he said. “But it started me thinking
about, ‘How do I close the V to make a
circular pattern?’”

But closing the V would result in bunched-
up traffic, he said: “It would be six lanes
GIADA Independent Auto Dealer DECEMBER 2017 | 11