ADESA recently hosted a single digital auction event with vehicles in 22 different locations using the company’s Simulcast Plus technology. 

The sale was hosted on behalf of The Hertz Corporation and sold vehicles to buyers in 19 states across the country, ADESA said. Simulcast Plus is ADESA’s digital auction platform that simulates the competitive live auction environment in a fully digitized, highly automated, live streaming format. 

The technology allows vehicles to be offered from an auction, distribution center, dealership or multiple sites and facilitates fast, competitive bidding for buyers, according to ADESA.

“We launched Simulcast+ months ahead of schedule to support our customers during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and it has grown exponentially since then,” said Jim Hallett, chairman and CEO of KAR Global. “It’s faster than a physical auction, it’s safer than a physical auction, and it allows sellers and buyers to participate in live auctions anytime, anywhere.”

The Simulcast Plus technology was first utilized by ADESA in April 2020, and has since been used for more than 400 auction events. Over 11,000 buying dealers have participated in those events, casting over 400,000 bids and resulting in tens of thousands of digital vehicle sales. 

Simulcast Plus conversion mirrors results from physical auction sales and averages almost 20% more bids per vehicle than auctions using the regular Simulcast technology, the company said. Several KAR Global commercial OEM and financial institution customers are now using the technology as their preferred downstream auction platform, and several large dealer groups have also used Simulcast Plus to facilitate open and closed sales across their network. 

For sellers, the Simulcast Plus platform offers full control to set and adjust floors, pass on bids, post new asking prices and communicate directly with buyers during the sale. The integrated seller dashboard also captures comprehensive pricing, bidding and behavioral data that can be utilized to inform and market future sales. 

For buyers, Simulcast Plus provides the convenience and safety of bidding from any location and allows access to sales well outside their usual geographic auction market. It also delivers a more transparent bidding experience by clearly displaying every bid and every bidder on every sale.