REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -

As OPENLANE prepares to launch new enhancements and special promotions at this week’s annual American Recovery Association convention, the company also shared how many agencies have registered to remarket repossessed vehicles since the beginning of the year.

OPENLANE executives indicated more than 80 recovery companies, representing hundreds of lenders and thousands of repossessed vehicles, are now using the online venue to remarket these units.

The company plans to highlight this growth and new features associated with its recently acquired subsidiary, Recovery Database Network, during this week’s ARA convention. The event begins Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.

What officials are looking to unveil to conference attendees is a new enhancement through RDN — a new single sign-on and real-time vehicle listing feature. They emphasize this new tool can allow recovery agents to post vehicles to OPENLANE’s online auction in real time and integrate existing lender accounts on both RDN and OPENLANE.

The company went on to explain the single sign-on is a new product feature that further integrates the OPENLANE platform with RDN’s technology. RDN users now can see a new “OPENLANE” tab on the RDN case management page. Furthermore, status updates to vehicles posted on the OPENLANE.com auction can now be viewed within the RDN software program.

Moreover, OPENLANE mentioned lender accounts can be easily matched and integrated, providing easy access to critical information within either system. In addition, this new feature can allow repo agents to push vehicles to OPENLANE in real time, also triggering an automatic third-party inspection order.

Launch of Remarketer of the Year Award

OPENLANE also announced it plans to hand out the first ARA Repossession Remarketer of the Year Award. The award is meant to recognize outstanding remarketing efforts and achievements by a recovery agent or service provider remarketing recovered vehicles online directly from the location.

Officials noted the winner will receive a plaque in recognition of the award and a free year of access for up to five users for OPENLANE’s Recovery Database Network. The access is to be available from October through next September.

“OPENLANE is a lead sponsor of the ARA convention and is working closely with ARA members to restore recovery agencies to their previous position as remarketing service providers to lenders,” company officials emphasized.

Special Convention Promotion

OPENLANE rolled out a special ARA convention promotion. Effective for all sales from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, ARA recovery agents are eligible for the following service fee rebates for units sold in a single calendar month:

—Up to five units sold: $25 per unit service fee rebate for units sold in October.

—Six or more vehicles sold: $50 per unit service fee rebate for all units sold in October

Also during the month of October, the company said ARA members are eligible to receive a $500 American Express gift card when they sell their first vehicle on OPENLANE.com. Officials stressed this offer is limited to first-time OPENLANE sellers only.

Featured ARA Speaking Sessions

OPENLANE’s vice president of analytics Nagi Palle is scheduled to be a featured speaker at the convention. Palle’s presentation on Thursday is titled, “An Overview of the Wholesale Remarketing Landscape — 2010 to 2013 — why it matters to recovery agents now more than ever.”

OPENLANE and RDN also are to be featured as part of the ARA’s breakfast with vendors session on Friday.

“OPENLANE is leading the industry in bringing innovative remarketing solutions to the recovery industry,” stated Zach Hallowell, business line director at OPENLANE.

“The introduction of our single sign-on feature for RDN, our participation at the ARA convention and new incentive programs for ARA members continue the momentum we established during the past year,” Hallowell continued.

“We look forward to bringing new remarketing opportunities to recovery service providers and lenders in the future,” he concluded.