Used Car News

Openlane Inc. and American Recovery Association announced a joint program that allows ARA members to sell lender vehicles through Openlane's online auction site at www.Openlane.com. Through the Openlane/ARA Recovery Remarketing Program, recovery agents can now auction recovered vehicles online for lenders directly from their lots, rather than having to send the vehicles to physical auctions. By auctioning recovered vehicles directly from the lot, lenders are able to realize significant cost savings as well as reduced time to sale. This innovative approach also provides greater control and transparency throughout the recovery and remarketing process.

Prior to the Openlane/ARA Recovery Remarketing Program, vehicles typically were recovered and stored by a recovery agent then sent to a physical auction to wait for a sale through the lanes. Inefficiencies in the process, such as costs and risks associated with transporting vehicles multiple times, vehicle depreciation and cost of capital, and exposure to a limited market complicated the sales process. Now both agents and lenders, including lien holders and financial institutions, benefit from a remarketing channel that provides reduced channel costs, national exposure for their vehicles and a full set of value-added services including third-party vehicle inspections and clean up, title processing and arbitration, complete transportation options and analytics services. 

"Partnering with ARA to provide the Recovery Remarketing Program is another way that Openlane continues to provide streamlined processes and greater efficiencies to the wholesale market," said Zach Hallowell, Business Line Director, Openlane.  "We're always looking for new ways to bring value and vehicle choice to dealers and consignors, and adding recoveries to our already extensive inventory provides an even greater selection of vehicles for our dealers.

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The Recovery Remarketing Program also offers an estimated savings of approximately $300 per vehicle for lenders. Smaller lenders, in particular, benefit from exposing vehicles to a national market of more than 12,000 active dealers and increased transparency in the sales process, including full online reporting for all vehicle bids, offers and views. For recovery agents, the program offers the chance to retain and grow their lender base, as well as provide full-service recovery and remarketing programs to customers.

"As president of ARA, I'm pleased with the partnership and solution offered by Openlane," said Jim Hall, Owner of Hall Recovery Services and President of ARA. "The Recovery Remarketing Program allows recovery professionals to offer an expanded set of services, sell vehicles faster and increase a lender's financial return. Online auctions are a win-win sales method for recovery agents and lenders alike."