Pub. 19 2020-2021 Issue 3

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S 19 new jersey auto retailer W W W . N J C A R . O R G minutes later, have your vehicle’s actual cash value to work your deal. Some dealers even sit with the current owners and watch the auctions together — you can see their excitement as another $100, $200 come in on their car. Each bid pushes them to think about the new car they will be leaving with. More trades with less wholesale loss exposure means higher actual cash value on those trades to win more deals. If you are not playing in the space, you are leaving deals on the table. For wholesale operation, acquisition and disposition of inventory, there are countless benefits of transacting digitally. When buying vehicles, dealers want access to as much inventory as possible in real-time and want to feel confident in the vehicles’ description. When selling vehicles, dealers want A-lane numbers to have the largest pool of potential buyers to bid and compete on the pur- chase. We all know 12 bidders will bring more money than three bidders. Transacting digitally opens up the floodgates for your business: Thousands of cars every day are running in digital lanes across the country, and thousands of dealers are bidding, buying and selling. What should you look for in a digital partner? Trust and trans- parency is a good place to start. Your top priority should be the quality and consistency of the condition reports. Who is writing them, how are they held accountable, who trained them, who do they work for, who offers the most detailed and complete vehicle descriptions? Inside/outside photos are easy. What about the check engine light, OBD codes, and paint? Have repairs been conducted and how good was the repair quality? What does the engine sound like? Is there a knock at a cold start? How’s the idle? What does the complete undercarriage look like? Answers to all of these questions should be provided before a buy- er hits the “bid” button on any online platform. ACV Auctions checks all of these boxes with its comprehensive and unparalleled True360 reports, Virtual Lift, the industry’s first mobile vehicle undercarriage imaging tool and Audio Motor Profile (AMP) tool, which allows all dealers on the ACV platform to hear engine sounds of vehicles they are considering buying. That is why NJ CAR has partnered with ACV to offer dealers a valuable service. What guarantees does a buyer have if the vehicle arrives and is NOT as described? Who is on the hook? How does the buyer get help and who do they call? There are providers today who run close to 90% green light and guarantee the car’s description. Shop us all, push us hard. Ask the hard questions and hold us all accountable. Quality condition reports need to be consistent and backed by solid arbitration terms and buyer guarantees. Digital is here and transforming businesses every day. Make sure you do your homework before selecting the platform that works best for your operation. Mike Waterman is Chief Sales Officer at ACV Auctions. He can be reached at mwaterman@acvauctions.com .