Page 50 - GIADA-June2017-Final 061517

AUCTION HEADLINES

Mobile Auctions Continue to Evolve & Attract

Dealers

BY CHRIS HART-WILLIAMS, AUTO REMARKETING
As the mobile auction format continues to we do it every other week, sometimes we do depend on the internet and our marketing
attract more dealers across the country, com- it once a month. It all depends on the vol- tools via the internet so people can check
panies within the industry are continuing to ume that dealership has.” out extensive pictures, pre-sale inspections
push the wholesale auction experience and — things of that nature, just to give them the
communicate the benefits that many used- Manheim has been expanding its mini mo- confidence to bid online and or show up in
car managers praise. bile product over the past six months, ac- person.”
cording to Biel.
“We’re averaging well over 60 mobile auc- Your Auction Mobile’s sales allow dealers
tions per month around the country right What differentiates them from a true mobile managers to remain in their stores and focus
now, and that’s a huge increase from just is it’s much more of a permanent auction, on retail as opposed to running the “gauntlet
barely over 20 a year and a half ago,” said such as a two, three or four-lane facility. of auctions,” he said.
Manheim’s Randy Biel. “Our core product is
what we call true mobile; that is where we “This is a basically a full on auction as far as “In today’s climate, post the recession, sec-
bring either a trailer or a bus fully equipped a dealer is concerned, often it’s a one, two, ondary lending became more aggressive and
to handle an auction, simulcast, and an auc- three-lane auction that we get into a mar- dealers started holding on to that c-paper.
tioneer.” ket and we open up a small auction and it’s Having the auction onsite gives you a chance
a stand-alone auction for all practical pur- to potentially retail some of those vehicles
Biel, who is vice president of local/mobile at poses, but internally from our standpoint it’s you'd otherwise be wholesaling weekly,”
Manheim, said a large part of what he and kind of like a satellite auction because its’s Rickey said.
his team does is to grow Manheim into dif- still managed by a parent auction,” he said.
ferent markets across the country where the Taking it to a higher level
company might not already have a presence. “We rely on the parent auction’s staff to help
support the functions of the satellite auc- Auctions In Motion (AIM) started in 2006,
“What we’re really trying to do is create a tion.” as a completely mobile sale. It was purchased
model to get into these markets, partner with by what is now known as XLerate in in 2012.
dealers we already do business with and try Of all the cars Manheim sells at its mini lo-
to get more of their low-end business,” Biel cations, all of the revenue and all of the ex- “We literally went to the dealers’ lots and we
said. “That’s exactly what we’ve done largely penses flow up to that parent auction. would set up our pop-up tent along with a
in our growth in the past year and a half.” couple of trailers that would support the
“We brand them and we market them, we auction,” said George Pero, AIM founder
He said Manheim has been able to get in advertise them, it’s a stand-alone auction and general manager at Corry Auto Dealers
many cities through existing partnerships that looks a like just an others,” Beil said. Exchange, an XLerate auction.
with dealer groups.
Mini mobile auctions bring in about 40 to “The business gained momentum,” Pero
The company’s mobile sales are launched 50 different sellers to each sale, while true continued. “First it was a bi-weekly sale and
by two different platforms it refers to as true mobile is usually one consigner, according then it was a weekly sale and then it gained
mobile and mini mobile. True mobile is its to Beil. so much attention and critical mass busi-
largest and core product. ness that we thought that the next step in
The fundamentals of mobile progressing the expansion and growth of
“You get 100 percent of what you see in the the business was to get a single free-stand-
auction but you bring it to the dealership, so Digital technology is a fundamental re- ing facility where we would run a one-lane
we bring the auction to the dealership, and source mobile actions depend on, says Ryan auction.”
that’s what we call true mobile because that’s Rickey, general manager of XLerate Group’s
exactly the core of our product,” Biel said. Your Auction Mobile sales. When asked about any challenges associated
with mobile sells, Pero said: “Challenges re-
“We bring that auction to the dealership and “Traditional brick-and-mortar, where deal- ally aren’t that many or significant; I would
we largely sell their trade-ins from that store ers go in and can check out cars week-in and say running out of space when you have a lot
or four or five stores at that auction. Some week-out, sometimes these mobile auctions of consignment.
locations host sales once a week, sometimes have a greater travel time. Rickey said. “We Continued on page 50

48 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer JUNE 2017