The Real Car Business

Just one year ago this week marked a point that I had never been before over a 30+ year career and it was a professional decison that had to be made. I was not healthy and I was not at the lofted level of dedication I'd held myself to. The decision was easy! I resigned. I committed to my team to a seamless transition and told them there would be no disingenous goodbye followed by an announcement on the competitor I was going to join. Resignation became dedicating more time to my family, friends, my health, and to the larger community that surrounds us all. Unencumbered by a business culture stalled in its own way, I relished "taking the high road" journeying thousands upon thousands of miles with eyes and ears wide open and no timetable. And there it was in front of my wife and I every trip we took: The door of opportunity swung wide open with one clear-cut decision. A year on now spiritually and bodily rejuvenated, I re-engage to be purposelful in mentoring ...

https://www.autoremarketing.com/wholesale/daag-enters-atlanta-market-acquisition Some debate yesterday on ATI about where the industry is heading, and the DAA Group indicates its more bricks. Digital seems to be showing signs of limitations in that the facilitation and logistics that are needed by large commercial consignors and larger dealer groups simply are not there. Let's see if the ACVA antitrust suit goes anywhere... and if AutoIMS is permitted... my theory may be proved short sighted.

Perhaps it's not a war, but more like a skirmish! And as discussed during Jay's YouTube, I defined three areas to consider as this works itself through: First- this is a legal matter and there is plenty to be determined so that in the meantime, know that everything else is just conjecture. Second- this is as much a reflection of the limitiations digital auctions offer to commercial consignors than it is about legal right. If the "digital product" was as strong as it says it is, then the market would flood toward it. The reality is that brick & mortar auctions have blacktop to park cars on... commercial sellers need blacktop! Third- that as the two offerings have this legal skirmish, the dealer body remains "fractured" because they don't have a complete 360 degree view of the market. They have to shop for commercial consignors vehicles in one mode, and dealers vehicles across another mode. The auction houses seem to either not know (or care) tha...

I have been attending and participating in a new podcast, "Auto Transport Intel" that Jay Wertzberger produces and broadcasts with Ty Thompson. It drills in on automotive transport and is dedicated to improving the industry. A topic I explored with them recently was focused on not how to get new business as a transporter but a revealing look at some of the reasons we can't get new business. The theme was that if we look at ourselves with open eyes and ask if we feel if we're putting our best foot forward, what little things could we do to improve our professional profile... and that triggered the theme, "reimagining service". Over the next several weeks, I'll define Reimagining Service in more detail, and we will dig in on the relationships that the car auctions have with vehicle transporters. Stay tuned!

2019 is on the doorstep and it's a knocking! The other sound you hear is the swirling, swarming change the auto auction business is going through and a major thrust came today from the venture capital market! Not new to the market any longer... far removed from the start-up it was referred to as... and now financially positioned to expand our technology and geographic scope, ACV Auctions is better positioned to put your wholesale, aged, and duplicate inventory in front of a variety and depth of automobile buyers that the wholesale auction market has never seen. 20-minute auctions, in depth condition reports, title services, and transportation logistics combined with the efficiencies of conducting your auction business from your phone are the game changes that Bain Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture... and dealers across the US are banking on to position their business for the dynamic that is in front of us the next 12 months. Are you in position to adapt? Contact me or any of ...

Tuesday on our Company sales call after returning from this years NADA, it struck all of us that were there how far ACV Auctions has come this past year. Overwhelmingly, the buzz at our area was palpable. You could see it and hear it... and for the majority of the show, we had groups of people from different dealerships all together listing to us demonstrate. From large metro-Houston group size owners to a small Ford store in VT., they all listened and asked the same question, "... when can you start my store...?" ACV has had explosive growth (400%++ year-to-year) and that growth has been delivered just as seamlessly as the first years sold units- if not even more smoothly with the integration of enhanced operations in Buffalo, the addition of experienced Auto Auction managers, financial experts, HR and Talent acquisition specialists, as well as nearly doubling the internal staff who are processing the over 350+ titles coming in the door every morning! The growth to us...

Earlier today on LinkedIn following a post I had made about a successful auction, a connection remarked, "they say you never have to sell anything if you can show someone you have a solution to a problem they have". This industry affiliate was commenting on what they have seen ACV doing in the wholesale car auction space by simply delivering up-front transparency in a low fee, time saving application from your hand held device. What I took from this comment supported what I've learned over the years and that's that you cant "tell" anything to a car guy about the car business he or she doesn't already know! What we are hearing now when OUR phone rings is that these same car guys are asking ! That's a big shift- a tectonic shift in the wholesale landscape! Maybe ACV is something they aren't exactly sure about... they haven't learned it yet. And that's the difference! As new users learn about the fees, the condition report, the ship...

As a college freshman, I enjoyed the mandatory Psychology 101 & 102 courses... but if I had known then that I would need to be counseling my customers now, I would have taken better notes! I'm telling you... seasoned and experienced auction pros are confused and conflicted with what is going on in this winter market and the joke is that they must need to see a "shrink". The chatter at the block is staggering! Nobody is comfortable with what they have in inventory, don't know what to add or deduct form that inventory, and aren't sure what anything is worth right now. Generally, the market is flat (if not down) and traditionally [it] should be ticking up in terms of the number of bodies in the lanes (the very best barometer). Rather, there is a noticeable number of missing buyers and that's the primary factor pushing the market index down. The question is, where are these buyers? For the balance of February... plod through your inventory and make adj...

Change is constant and right now this wholesale market needs to change to re-identify itself. The issue is that auctioning in-the-lane is not changing and a gruesome pattern exists. The imbalance between what you own a vehicle for and whats its ACV is at the block continues to widen and [the] most significant factor are escalating auction fees. This one pervasive objection as the reason NOT the buy and sell at auction is as strong as I can recall. A correction in the big economy (the "Trump" effect/the Dow at 19,535 and futures today at +18.00) is one fix. Over the next 12-18 months a growing optimism index, reductions in regulations, and lower tax burdens will strengthen both the new and used car markets... and at that point, fees are not as objectionable. But it is not just fees themselves that will siphon cars off the block. On-line transactions are growing as are the number of system and software capabilities available to large dealer groups to conduct their own ...

Walking through the auction lanes the last several weeks, not one single sole has brought up politics, so I need to ask, Is the political arena effecting the current auction marke t? Listening to talk radio, watching talk TV, and reading news publications, the pundits don't want to talk business because it doesn't fit their narrative. They perpetuate the tired, dragged out, politics-as-usual relying more on the dumbed-down electorate than truly demonstrating and offering solutions like strict constitutional adherence, fiscal conservatism, environmental protection reform, term limits, tort reform, and US military superiority. Politics ... long-term sitting Congressman and Senators with blotted staffs... offering zero debate on how to revitalize our economy . John Adams said that to serve the country means working to accomplish the betterment of the country and then returning to your farm to work. In 2015, we have a progressive chasm, painfully wedging us further apart f...

As it nears 90 today, my youngest son and I are in the office organizing things and trying to stay cool. He's patient with me and really just wants to go to Verizon for a tour of the new phone he has his eye on. I leave my phone turned off on Sundays to keep my mind at work with out that device. I am deliberating how to adjust my company fee structure and wrestle with making a slight increase. We are starting our eleventh year in business and have never increased our prices... yet all around me auction fees are increasing steadily. My expense structure is fairly flat, but costs such as Autoniq (NADA, Black Book, AutoCheck, and Carfax) are increasing. Verizon... the amount of data we use on the hand held devices... is also increasing and the two combined are justification for making the change to our fee. It's a growing pain more than anything, and for that I am pleased. Going on in to the remainder of July and peeking at August, only a continued weakness in retail sales...

With fruit, it's easy... it's either an apple or it's not. With cars, it's tough because an Accord is not an Impala which is not a Fusion which is not an Optima. Now take oranges (the color, not the fruit). If it's an orange XV Crosstrek it's good but if it's an orange RDX it's positively auction-proof. My point is, how can similar cars differ so much in value? Within one segment such as the Accord, Impala, Fusion, Optima sample... each of these sedans fit essentially the same niche. Yet, [a] group of 2012 Accord EX sedans sold at [a] auction on [one] day can vary $2,000. And the same can be said for the Impala, Fusion and Optima. Now consider a composite of vehicles; say a multi-franchise, multiple location new car dealers' entire pre-owned inventory that that dealers management calls its ACV at $11,450,000. That is to say, that if all 760 units in its inventory were cashed today, they would get a check back for the 11.4 million. What are ...

... at the end of this post, my conclusion will be that the weather this winter has had less to do with the market than you would think. Now... if you have 3 locations and 1,000 units in inventory... you will argue my point. Retail traffic is down. People are on their roofs shoveling snow off or they are inside out of the biting sub-zero winds. And because sales are reflective of how many people are walking in to show rooms, the sales curve in January and February will show a dip. The auction market has only suffered operationally with increased snow removal costs and to some effect, fewer inbound trucks delivering to auction the day prior to [that] auction because there was indeed a severe storm that week. The auction market itself (measured by %'s sold and $'s) has NOT taken note of the weather at all; 4X4 trucks, SUV's and the coveted 2008-2011 sedans from 40K-90K have clicked right along (dead batteries or not). Dig out you aged and duplicate inventory and get ...

@CTWillMorris is a relatively new addition to my services, and during an auction I do find a few minutes here and there when I am able to record, or "tweet" what I just witnessed. Follow me on Twitter for real time auction trends.

I am making a change... and for me, that says a lot because my professional career really spans just two "jobs": 16 years at Southern AA and 9 years at Sudden Services LLC. I've spent more time on LinkedIn recently and see "professionals" that are 5-7 years into a career and have been at three different companies in two different industries and that brings me to the realization that the "change" that I am referring to is really no change at all. What's changing is the enhancement I am making to my company and how I will be modifying [its] template to successfully build upon my stability and reputation. If you don't say enough good about yourself, either there isn't anything there or, your modest. For me, it is the latter and that is changing as well! I have a vast and expansive wealth of auction experience and a unique perspective on what makes auction utilization for dealers work (and not work). Over the next 11 to 15 months, I am g...

It has been there to see for nearly 8 months... the incredible strength in used car prices at the auction block. Right there along with that has been, "...when is this madness going to stop". Yesterday [SOUTHERN AA CT] we saw a decline in prices, but the more indicative trend is the decrease in %'s sold. As the conversion rate decreases (sellers not hitting reserve or floor prices) and %'s sold decrease, buyers feel a nervousness and change bidding habits. You watch others abruptly stop at $13,900 and not chase a car into the 14's . You watch the post gavel negotiation between buyer/seller/auctioneer in a fruitless attempt to have that vehicle escalate another $1000. Then there are the duplicates that I so often refer to such as Altima, Sonata, Accord, Escape etc. Combine a nervousness with the awareness that you already have 6 of those in inventory and this decline we see now was in fact quit predictable. If you are struggling at auction, feel free to ...

No auction today... a break in what has been a very busy 2 months with so much movement recently that a day away from the block is like a 2 week vacation! There is so much talk about where the cars are and what will happen next that taking this time to type away helps me balance out what I've seen since the snow melted. Most noticeable to me is the overwhelming demand for trucks... pick ups. Dodge/Ram pound for pound is the monster at market currently and if it is Cummins equipped, you cant guess high enough. Next are the half-ton Lariat and LTZ type Ford and GM trucks with gas motors, leather, NAV... chrome. Miles here aren't as important as equipment... the more the higher they go. The next segment of Dakota, Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado are equally sought after and because of lessor quantities, an 01 Ranger XLT 4X4 6-cylinder 4-door beauty with 54K miles still commands over $6000. The bottom line is that people are still working and need to move dirt and sheet rock and to...

By this time next week, we will have exchanged the 10,000th vehicle as a company! When we started off my only thought was to make it through that daunting 1st year and then to work my business plan through 3 years. Now in our 8th year, we are planning for expansion and continued growth. Recently, I presented to a NAAA group of independent auction owners who wanted to know how to make their customers better auction buyers and sellers. My response to them was simple and to the point: you must be highly organized. There are so many machinations and processes I see deployed in the lanes and I wonder how they keep it straight... which reinforces my theory and practice. The most effective auction users are those that are organized and keep it simple. Perhaps this is why we will fly by that 10,000th vehicle and continue to motor on ahead. If your dealership struggles at auction, fell free to call Sudden Services LLC.

This morning, I spent 4-hours updating my email, cell phone, computer, the house phone accounts, cable TV and the kids accounts. It is a miracle that any of us can remember that much user name password information! So I asked myself, how often do my customers update thier wholesale account? Think about that. Are you using the same proccess you did last year... or have been using for years? Recently, I have seen some very large multi-franchise new car dealers send everything to auction... and they are still running! They made drastic changes to the operation of thier entire organization by changing the direction of wholesale! It did'nt get advertised to the public, they did'nt sell it to a customer and deliver it, and they each had an internal fight about instituting it I gaurentee. And- thy're still running. So, are you up to making this year the year at your dealership? Go ahead- change your wholesale pattern, then call Sudden Services LLC. W/

... There has been chatter lately in the lanes about the competition from above. No, not the devine, but from the screen above the auctioneers head. The online bidder. It's become obvious that there is an increasing presence of online bidders and depending on how the auction displays its online bidders, chances are you recognize the dealership. The difference is that that bidder was a traditional "auction guy" and now, has moved toward staying in the store and buying from there. So what is triggering this migration? The cars online are not pre-selected, better quality cars... infact yesterday at Southern Auto Auction (CT) a 1990 Mercedes SL500 had on line activity (the antithesis to only the newest, lowest mileage cars sell online). There is a growing comfort level and the understanding that if an on line purchase arrives at your store not as described, the seller/auction will take it back. This combined with the tremendous travel time savings has put the on line b...