REDWOOD CITY, CA – OPENLANE, Inc., a leading online auction company in North America for automotive dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles, announced the company has begun 2010 with significant momentum in both sales and the number of value-added programs it has rolled out to dealers and consignors during the first two months of the year. After a record-breaking 2009, the company’s continued momentum into early 2010 demonstrates the value of OPENLANE’s online auction, which provides the freshest inventory available faster and more efficiently.
A Banner Year
OPENLANE closed out 2009 with its most successful year in the company’s 10-year history of making vehicle remarketing easier and more streamlined by bringing the entire sales and transaction process online. The company listed over 1 million vehicles and sold approximately 400,000 total vehicles for the year and consistently surpassed quarterly and annual sales records both in the U.S. and Canadian markets. Value-added service programs such as OPENLANE’s iDEAL Open Auction Seller program, which enables independent and franchise dealers to market their vehicles nationwide including more than 25,000 dealers who are registered to buy and sell on OPENLANE sites, also saw great success during 2009. The iDEAL program also significantly exceeded its budgeted volume for 2009 and is already charting for fast growth in 2010. Additionally, OPENLANE has seen consistent selling percentage rates across all price segments in their Open Auctions.
“After a hugely successful year in 2009, we’re very excited to see that momentum continue into 2010 as the leading online wholesale automotive marketplace,” said Daniel Farrar, CEO of OPENLANE. “We continue to lead the industry in new, innovative programs designed to enhance the buying and selling process and overall experience for online customers. We have many exciting partnerships in development for this year, which will continue to provide dealers and consignors the most comprehensive, value-added services in the auction industry today.”
Better Value through Increased Efficiency
As the only independent, pure play online wholesale vehicle auction operating on the market today, OPENLANE provides a more nimble, agile way for dealers to procure used vehicles than the traditional model of traveling to physical auctions. Since pioneering online wholesale auctions more than 10 years ago, OPENLANE has transformed the way inventory is bought and sold by building an efficient, cost-effective procurement channel available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“OPENLANE offers me an excellent wholesale experience not to mention the high-quality of inventory and my own dedicated sales representative,” said Mike Thompson Jr., Montrose Auto Group, Kent, OH. “In the past, traveling to the physical auction without any guarantee of finding the car I was looking for consumed valuable time and money. Unlike many other online sources where the vehicles are just the ones at the local auction, OPENLANE gives me fresh access to vehicles located nationwide and affords me the luxury of buying and selling from the comforts of my dealership with even more promise of getting the exact cars I need.”
OPENLANE provides a better online experience by offering a comprehensive set of services that facilitates bringing buyers and sellers together. Any licensed dealer can reap the benefits of buying online at OPENLANE.com, including:
Significant time and cost savings – Vehicles are sold faster—and can remain on the lot for double exposure—without the need for transport to physical auctions. Dealers maximize their time at the dealership rather than traveling.
Dedicated sales team – OPENLANE’ s account managers work directly with buyers to match vehicles to specific inventory needs.
More inventory sources – OPENLANE operates the remarketing programs for over 70 percent of the automotive brands in North America so dealers can access the freshest vehicles available on the wholesale market. OPENLANE also operates the world class OPENLANE.com Open Auction, which includes not only captive finance and off-lease vehicles, but also major rental company, repossessed and dealer consigned vehicles offering a selection of approximately 10,000 vehicles daily online available to all dealers.
Nationwide, not local – Vehicles are sourced nationwide, not just regionally, for greater and fresher selection and generally before they are available for wholesale elsewhere.
End-to-end, value-added services – OPENLANE offers one-stop shopping and processing, including title processing, payment, arbitration, third-party inspections, floorplanning, vehicle condition and history reports and an integrated nationwide transport network.
Partner and Program Momentum
In addition to the variety of services already available on OPENLANE, the company also announced the following new programs this week:
OPENLANE Certified Auction Partner Program – A program aimed at giving physical automotive auction companies a sales channel to remarket vehicles that did not sell in the auction lane through OPENLANE.com, providing double exposure for vehicles to sell them more quickly.
Exclusive Transportation for Volkswagen Credit, Inc. – OPENLANE has been named the sole transportation solution for Volkswagen Credit, Inc., providing full service transportation management services for all Volkswagen and Audi Financial Services vehicles being transported to physical auctions nationwide.
Ford Rental Fleet Vehicle Availability – Ford Motor Company is now making Ford rental fleet vehicles available for purchase on Accelerate, OPENLANE’s private label auction service for Ford franchisees to purchase vehicles from Ford Motor Credit Company.
For more information on OPENLANE or the above programs, please visit www.openlane.com, call (866) 969-0321 toll-free or email dealer_info@openlane.com.
