Darrin Aiken, a recent college graduate at the time, had been working for Kmart at local stores in his area of Illinois for about a year in the 1980s, and decided to make a go at selling cars — a potential career he had been eyeing for some time.

So, like any young entrepreneurially minded and passionate individual, Aiken donned a suit, walked into an Oldsmobile dealership with resume in hand and told the store’s general manager he was interested in moving metal.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Why do you want to do that? You’ve got a college degree,’” Aiken said. “And I said, ‘I’ve wanted to sell cars my entire life.’”

Some three-plus decades later, that’s exactly what Aiken has been doing, moving from that Oldsmobile store to the fleet and remarketing business and finding a home at Wheels Donlen, where’s he has headed up remarketing since 2000.

His official title is Assist Vice President of Remarketing, but Aiken adds a new one this year: Auto Remarketing’s 2022 National Remarketing Executive of the Year.

As part of this awards program, which is presented by the Independent Auction Group, Aiken will be recognized on Nov. 16, during the National Remarketing Conference portion of Used Car Week.

In an industry that sees constant shifts, Aiken’s story is somewhat unique.

After selling fleet vehicles and helping to start Union Leasing, Aiken saw a newspaper ad for a regional sales manager position at Wheels. He interviewed for the job and eventually was hired as a regional sales manager on the West Coast, remarketing vehicles for the company.

It was June 1989 when Aiken started there. He has been there ever since, continuing to serve in the remarketing position.

Aiken was promoted to assistant vice president for remarketing in 2000 and has headed up all remarketing functions for the company the last 22 years. And with the merger between the two companies, Aiken now leads remarketing for both Wheels and Donlen.

“It’s been a heckuva ride, but it's crazy when I think about how fast it went,” Aiken said of his 33 years (and counting) at Wheels Donlen.

He expressed deep appreciation for the opportunity that the Frank family, who previously owned Wheels, gave him to start and continue to advance his career in remarketing. Aiken also is excited about the opportunities ahead with the combined Donlen and Wheels companies.

“It's the people, too,” Aiken said of what he enjoys most about the industry. “Think about the remarketing people. You’ve been to all these conventions. Some of these people I’ve known for over 30 years. Building the network and all the people that have helped me move up in the world. It’s not just me; it's all the people that have reported to me and all the people that are working for me now that keep accelerating and keep pushing as hard as we can.

“It’s been really fun, to be honest with you,” he said. “I love going to the conventions. I'm excited and honored about this award.”

Like any area of remarketing or automotive, in general, the fleet space of wholesale is not without challenges.

One, Aiken said, is preparing for what could be a higher population of electric vehicles.

He explained that this may pose a challenge, as many of the EVs that are being built are designed for retail, not necessarily for fleets.

“And we have an opportunity by working with some of them to make sure that it happens correctly for our customers, because (fleet) customers are really getting pushed into that from their senior leadership, telling them that they need to be compliant and they need to offer up electric vehicles,” Aiken said.

He also noted the challenge of personally identifiable information, which is of utmost important for fleets and other consignors who must remarket vehicles after multiple users.

Another has to do with the merging worlds of wholesale and retail automotive, particularly when it comes to price.

“I think the difference between wholesale pricing and retail pricing is starting to merge. And that’s because of the technology … and I think customers are going to start to expect opportunity to sell in the retail world,” Aiken said. “Now, we haven't been able to do that in the past, really, except maybe selling to drivers and employees.

“But that merger of that retail pricing versus wholesale pricing is starting to (happen),” he said. “And that is going to be a huge challenge, especially for dealerships with the franchise dealer laws that are across the country. I think that one’s going to be a huge challenge down the road.”

Companies with vehicle fleets, he explained, are starting to outsource their fleet departments.  And those customers may see that a retail price on one of their vehicles is higher than what it would fetch in wholesale. But it’s not necessarily a simple switch of selling channel, as there is a lot more complexity to the market than that.

Various wholesale platforms have emerged and it's unclear who might end up being the frontrunner, he said, “but I do believe, and I think the industry believes, we’re going to see more change in the next couple years in the remarketing world than we’ve ever seen in the last hundred.”

When he’s not working to address the dynamics of fleet remarketing, Aiken and his wife enjoy time with his family (including five grandchildren).

Aiken, who is a fan of trucks, and his wife have two pickups, a Jeep Wrangler, and a Honda CR-V.

He’s also a fan of the two-wheel variety of transportation.

Aiken has been riding motorcycles with the same group of folks, including friends and industry partners, for 30 years.

He has ridden a motorcycle back from Alaska, and has visited almost every state in the West via his steel horse. The lifelong Illinois resident is also a boating enthusiast since the age of 16.

A heck of a ride, indeed.