In this wide-ranging conversation at Used Car Week last month in San Diego, Forrest Dougan — who is senior director of business intelligence at KAR Global — talks with senior editor Joe Overby about dealers using data in wholesale decision-making and where data science is headed next. Plus, Dougan, who worked at Zillow prior to […] [Read More]

LeasePlan USA and Wheels Donlen have completed their merger. Athene Holding Ltd. was the lead investor in the transaction and is the majority shareholder of the combined company. Leading the combined company is CEO Shlomo Crandus, while Matt Dyer — who had been CEO of LeasePlan USA — will be president and a board member. […] [Read More]

America’s Group CEO Cam Hitchcock plans to step down from his post and retire from the company on Dec. 31, the auction group said Thursday. Executive vice president and chief revenue officer Chuck Tapp will become CEO. XLerate Group acquired the America’s Auto Auction group late last year and rebranded the 16 XLerate auctions with […] [Read More]

Thanksgiving dinners with family and friends likely provided the main ingredient for a wholesale market recipe that prompted Black Book to report the lowest amount of value decline analysts have seen since the third week of July. Black Book’s newest installment of Market Insights indicated that wholesale prices softened by just … [Read More]

Mike Albert opened the week by naming a new president on Monday, welcoming Marty Kuhn, who the fleet, leasing and management services company said is a strategic leader with nearly 20 years of experience in both the direct-to-consumer and business-to-business spaces. The company also said through a news release that Marty Betagole will remain in […] [Read More]

CarGurus chief executive officer Jason Trevisan said the company’s third-quarter financial metrics “fell short of the low end of our guidance range” as the company did not adapt its wholesale operations to what Trevisan described as “rapidly evolving macro market challenges.” He said the shortfall was driven exclusively by the company’s digital wholesale business. However, […] [Read More]

Washington, D.C.-based Easterns Automotive Group uses Cars.com’s Accu-Trade appraisal technology, and Easterns’ president Joel Bassam said that appraising a vehicle now takes as little as 15 minutes compared to an hour previously. During the Cars.com (CARS) third quarter 2022 earnings call on Nov. 3, CARS CEO Alex Vetter mentioned Bassam and Easterns, quoting Bassam as […] [Read More]

Your nearby grocery store or big-box retailer might be bustling for the next several weeks as people get holiday gifts and meal ingredients. The scene at your favorite auto auction might be much less active, based on the projections Black Book shared on Tuesday through its latest installment of Market Insights. The foundation for that […] [Read More]

We begin this roundup of auction executive moves in the Pacific Northwest, where McConkey Auction Group has named Tammy Swofford as its vice president of national accounts. Swofford has previously been the national sales and marketing director at America’s Auto Auction. Her experience also includes time with Manheim. “We’ve known Tammy for a long time […] [Read More]

At a time when many technology companies are cutting back, ACV is investing in both organic growth and acquisitions. Though it expects the wholesale market to remain moribund, that investment will enable it to grow more quickly when markets regain momentum, said ACV executives. “Based on our internal analysis, we estimate that the U.S. dealer […] [Read More]