“As a consistent consignor, we have watched our sales climb," said Joey Huang of Great Lakes Auto Group, who consigns at Manheim Cleveland, a similar-sized location which opened in 2016.
ATLANTA, July 13, 2017 —To drive dealer profitability in new and underserved markets, Manheim is expanding its physical reach and mobile sales opportunities. Today, Manheim announced the opening of six new locations in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, West Texas and Utah and confirmed the continued growth of its mobile auctions in new markets.
“Our local and mobile strategy meets the needs of independent and franchise dealers through multiple sales channels, giving clients choices to do business when and where it serves them best, “said Randy Beil, vice president of mobile and local, Manheim.
New Manheim Locations to Enhance Business Opportunities for Dealers
The new, smaller, Manheim auction sites offer multi-consignor auctions as well as Simulcast, inspection and reconditioning services. Financing options through NextGear Capital and assurance packages through DealShield are also available. Joey Huang of Great Lakes Auto Group, who has offered inventory at Manheim Cleveland since it opened last year, attributes these services, which are not available in local dealer-to-dealer sales, to wholesale business growth.
“As a consistent consignor, we have watched our sales climb. We are currently running about 50-60 cars every other week, which are mostly imported trade-ins under $7000,” said Huang. “The inclusion of Manheim’s condition reports on our listings has led to incredible in-lane and internet action.”
New site details
Manheim will hire full- and part-time staff to run these new one-to-four lane operations, making a positive impact on local economies through increased employment opportunities and visiting dealers’ spending in these markets when participating in sales. New Locations are:
Dealer Driven Growth
“Our expansion decisions have been dealer-driven,” said Beil. “In many cases, clients collaborate with us to open facilities because they want an open, transparent marketplace that delivers better pricing and vehicle retention than typically available at traditional dealer-to-dealer sales, such as bid lot sales or dealer self-hosted lot auctions. In addition, through Simulcast and OVE, we are able to extend the buyer base and increase the sales percentage.”
After more than 10 years of running a traditional mobile auction out of a custom trailer at two different locations in Wilmington, NC, Manheim is partnering with their current host D&E Mitsubishi to build out a two-lane auction facility to meet volume demand and offer new services. Pleased with the values it is receiving selling in the lanes at Manheim Fredericksburg, Rosenthal Automotive Group, in partnership with Manheim, is currently developing a 4.5-acre property in Chantilly, Virginia to serve as a multi-consignor auction offering inventory from Rosenthal Automotive and other regional sellers. This site will be a seventh new location for Manheim this year.
These collaborations stem from earlier successes such as Manheim Charlotte. This auction partnership between Hendrick Automotive Group and Manheim started in 2015 and has grown to more than 400 cars sold per week at this location for more than 40 Hendrick Automotive Group franchise locations from the Carolinas.
Mobile and Online Sales Shape Path to Profitability
In addition to expanding its physical reach, Manheim is ramping up its mobile and digital offerings in new areas of the country to help dealers be more profitable. These sales channels enable clients to sell inventory faster on their own lots, as well as save time and cut transportation costs.
In fact, dealers hosting mobile sales have experienced a 75-80 percent average sales conversion rate and growth of the wholesale side of their business. For example, Findlay Automotive was looking for a venue to better build its brand with wholesale buyers and began running a mobile sale in Henderson, Nevada.
“We were looking for a solution that would allow us to control the logistics of the sale, make sure we had dedicated support from the auction, and a location that was convenient for us. The Manheim mobile sale has allowed us to do all of these things,” commented Chad Leavitt, CAO of Findlay Automotive Group. “The metrics have exceeded our expectations on every level. Our sales percentage, attendance, and percent of MMR success have proven that we made the correct choice to do a mobile sale. This is exactly what our group needed, and we are happy to be partners with Manheim.”
Manheim has tracked a 52 percent growth in mobile transactions year-over-year. Mobile sales are hosted by a dealership and serviced by a trailer, RV or portable sales equipment. The events feature a live auctioneer and support team onsite at a dealer-selected location. Each month, some 70+ mobile auction sales are held at some 47 plus convenient dealer-hosted locations across the country.
“We are all about giving clients flexibility in the way they conduct business with us,” added Beil. “For example, we see strong participation from buyers participating in mobile auction sales via Simulcast and want to increase the opportunity for digital buyers to purchase these vehicles that have not been seen at a physical auction. To make this happen, we are piloting daily listings of vehicles from all mobile auction sales in the Carolinas on a Mobile Auctions Online Vehicle Exchange (MOVE), section on OVE.”
