The first thing you might have noticed at Manheim Atlanta earlier this year was a countdown and buttons worn by employees that notified sale attendees that “a change is coming.”
That change they were specifically referring to was Manheim’s investment in a widespread technology update and redesign of some of its auction processes, a change the company called its largest ever.
But that “change” could also describe the broader approach by the auto auction industry as a whole to become more efficient and technologically swifter at its brick-and-mortar locations.
That’s evident everywhere from Atlanta to Chicago, North Carolina to Arizona and all points in between, as changing ways of buying and selling wholesale vehicles are met by an evolving industry striving to adapt.
That includes a Manheim mobile auction in Wilmington, N.C., transitioning to a permanent, two-lane location and a new Bel Air Auto Auction site that Ray Nichols, chief executive of parent company BSC America, says “will be able to accommodate continued growth in the marketplace and allow us to serve better our customers’ needs with ease and efficiency in a state of the art auction facility.”
East and west, corporate and independent — change is here in the auction business.
More efficient, leaner ops at Manheim
As of late September, more than half of Manheim’s auctions (including Manheim Atlanta) had been upgraded with the aforementioned enhancements, which include, for instance, centralized technology that would allow the administrative office at this Atlanta-area auction to complete title work for the Orlando location.
