ATLANTA -

In a collaborative effort spanning the wholesale business, Auto Auction Services Corp. announced that it will be providing AASC members a new industry standard for vehicle condition data reporting — developed in partnership with Manheim — that is designed to foster consistency throughout the auction industry.

Thanks to a deal with the National Auto Auction Association, AASC said it will soon provide AASC member auctions with Manheim’s AutoGrade service. There will be no additional costs for the auctions.

As soon as the integration project is finished, the first entities to use AutoGrade will be ADESA, Bel Air Auto Auction, Greensboro Auto Auction and Tallahassee Auto Auction.

“We are very pleased to share this new technology with the industry, which was developed through our partnership with Manheim,” said Mike Broe, chief executive officer and president of AASC.

“AutoGrade will help auctions and sellers in North America maintain a consistent vehicle grading system and allow buyers to see condition report consistency across all channels.”

The tool lets auctions input vehicle damages to produce a score for the unit, while at the same time keeping certain vehicle data confidential.

In its statement announcing the product, AASC offered these bullet points on how this process happens:

•    Auctions collect and submit vehicle damage information to AASC via AutoIMS in much the same way they do today.
•    AASC will remove all vehicle data (including the VIN, year, make and model) along with the auction name, and transmit the data to Manheim.
•    Manheim then returns an AutoGrade™ score back to the auction via AASC.

Auctions must be AASC members to use AutoGrade.  As most are likely aware, AASC is a jointly owned auction industry consortium that “maintains the remarketing industry standard inventory management system — AutoIMS.”

AASC also touched on some of the overarching industry trends surrounding this launch: stronger wholesale volume, greater buyer acceptance of online platforms and demand from sellers for to create more consistent and transparent vehicle valuation processes across the spectrum of venues and regions.

Here’s the kicker about AutoGrade: it doesn’t matter if an auction has or does not have its own scoring methodology; the auction can offer AutoGrade on all their vehicles, regardless.

With AASC being the distributor of AutoGrade, the company said auctions will be able to “easily and confidentially adopt the AutoGrade methodology, ultimately improving condition report quality and consistency across the industry.”

AASC cited a vehicle sales data analysis showing that the likelihood that a vehicle posted online with an AutoGrade score will sell is three times as high than a car that doesn’t have such a score.

And executives around the industry offered their praise of the product.

“By using the AutoGrade service, our customers know that they will get consistent pricing for their vehicles,” said Jerry Barker, general manager of Greensboro Auto Auction. “The AutoGrade service will also provide greater consistency for our online buyers.”

BSC America president R. Charles Nichols said: “The AutoGrade score is acknowledged as the gold standard in the industry – buyers can consistently compare like-for-like vehicles and have the highest confidence in their purchase decision.”

“AutoGrade utilizes vehicle information to calculate a consistent objective grade the same way, every time, across auction locations and online platforms,” added Paul Lips, executive vice president of operations and finance for ADESA.

“This increases confidence for buyers and allows them to more effectively comparison shop vehicles. It also makes it easier for sellers to accurately price vehicles. Implementing AutoGrade as the standard for the industry should considerably improve the overall customer experience.”

Joe George, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Manheim and AutoTrader Group, said: “We feel AutoGrade will truly benefit the entire industry, and it’s our vision that one day all vehicles sold in the wholesale industry will be evaluated using AutoGrade.

“Dealers have told us that they have been frustrated with the inconsistency of vehicle condition data, so we have taken the lead by offering this established and proven grading system to the industry.”

Parties interested in registering for AutoGrade can contact Jay Cadigan at Manheim (jay.cadigan@manheim.com) or Broe at AASC (mike.broe@autoims.com).