What it does
Auctions let dealers buy wholesale inventory and sell units they don't want to retail. Options range from physical lanes with simulcast bidding to fully online marketplaces where cars are inspected at the dealership and sold in short timed sales.
Digital buying has grown fast. Condition reports with photos, audio of the engine and scan data let buyers bid without seeing the car. Trust in those reports decides everything. Ask how inspections are done, what arbitration covers and how disputes are handled.
Costs add up beyond the hammer price. Buy and sell fees, transport, title delays and recon all affect the true cost of a unit. Many dealers now source more inventory from their own customers and service lane, using auctions to fill gaps and move aged units.
Who in the store uses it
- Used car managers and buyers: buy and sell wholesale units.
- Inventory managers: decide which units to wholesale.
- Title clerks and office staff: handle titles and payments.
- General manager: watches wholesale gains and losses.
What it connects to
- Inventory management and pricing tools
- Valuation data and vehicle history
- Vehicle transport
- Title and registration tools
- Floor plan lenders and payment systems
- DMS (purchase and sale posting)
Auctions products in the index
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What to ask vendors
- How are condition reports created, and who inspects the car?
- What does arbitration cover, and for how long?
- What are the buy and sell fees at different price points?
- How quickly are titles and payments handled?
- Do you arrange transport, and at what cost?
- Can we sell from our lot without sending cars away?
- Does purchase data flow to our inventory tools and DMS?
- What reporting shows our wholesale results?
Signs it's time to switch
- Cars often arrive in worse shape than the report showed.
- Arbitration claims are slow or rarely go your way.
- Title delays hold up retail sales.
- Fees and transport costs keep rising.
- You can't see total cost per unit bought.
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