MT. MORRIS, Mich. -

Though digital technology puts buying and selling of vehicles at dealers fingertips virtually anytime and anywhere, the demise of physical auctions and its hands-on approach is greatly exaggerated.

That’s according to Jason McClenahan, a trained auctioneer and chief executive officer of E Inc., the Canadian retail tech firm that operates the EBlock digital wholesale marketplace. E Inc. gives its customers the option of doing business online or in-person at physical auctions or a combination of those venues.

“I’m a big believer there’s always going to be physical auctions, but in the future, more cars will sell online,” said McClenahan, during his stop at FastLane Auto Exchange, in Mt. Morris, Mich., to officially launch EBlock’s “Land meets Technology” strategy in late August.

E Inc. acquired FastLane in February.

“We’re not here to force dealers to buy digitally or physically, we’re here to give them a choice and an option. We want to provide both experiences in a single platform,” he said.

As part of that strategy, E Inc. is expanding its dealer-to-dealer auction reach into the U.S. by acquiring well-managed, independent physical auctions. The strategy also calls for keeping the owners of those auction companies on as managers and giving them the tools and technology to continue managing and growing the businesses they built, McClenahan said.

Replicating in-lane excitement and urgency

EBlock’s digital auctions replicate the urgency and excitement of physical auctions with live 60-second auction sales conducted without an auctioneer and without driving cars through physical lanes. Its digital offerings also include timed auctions that extend overnight or over the weekend, allowing dealers to check in on the bidding process.

FastLane’s former owners, Greg and Tonya Price, are its current managers and believers in the “Land meets Technology” strategy.

The positive relationships and well-known brand the Prices created for their customers,  FastLane’s location near the U.S. and Canadian borders, and its in-house program that facilitates and streamlines the process of cross-border buying and selling for U.S. and Canadian dealers, makes it a perfect fit for Eblock, McClenahan said.

Prior to being acquired by E Inc., FastLane sold “500 plus” vehicles a week, including about 35 to 40 vehicles in various online, upstream channels, Greg Price said.

But now, the auction’s website heavily promotes that dealers can buy FastLane units online on Eblock every Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., in addition to its weekly physical auction every Wednesday at noon.

EBlock sales attract consignment

“I think we’re on to something,” Greg Price said. “You’d think, because we’re selling cars online, we’re going to lose business in-lane, but we’ve actually gained consignment. Today, we’re running 1,100 cars (in-lane) and I would say that 80 of those cars are cars we’ve gained from connections with EBlock.

“So we’re getting interest from sellers we normally wouldn’t have had a chance to sell their cars. It’s been a win for both sides.”

In late August, FastLane’s weekly online sales hovered at about 145 vehicles, said Tonya Price.

The Prices crafted a competitive marketplace at FastLane and “we don’t want to change any of that; we want to enhance it,” McClenahan said. “We want to bring them tools and opportunities they didn’t have before to meet changing behaviors of consumers. Finding teams like that has been really positive and a big part of our acquisition strategy.”

U.S. expansion

E Inc.’s expansion and acquisition strategy is focused on three regions in the U.S., McClenahan  said. Its West Coast business is predominately in California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah and in June it acquired Louisiana's 1st Choice Auto Auction in Hammond, La., to focus on its Gulf States regional business.

FastLane enables the company to focus on its Midwest and Canadian regional markets.

It’s cross-border, dealer-to-dealer Canadian Registered Import Services Program — dubbed CRISP and spearheaded by Tonya Price — assists Canadian dealers who are selling and exporting vehicles to the U.S. dealers and U.S. dealers who are buying and importing vehicles from Canadian dealers.

Most vehicles imported from the eastern side of Canada come through ports in Windsor, Canada and Port Huron, Mich., and can be a complicated process, Tonya Price said.

Streamlining the export/import process

For example, odometer conversion is federally regulated, the state regulates the title process and U.S. Customs regulates the import process,’ she said. But FastLane, through its vendors, can help facilitate and streamline the process.

“We are not registered importers, but we have multiple registered importers, depending on the customer’s volume, and depending on their location, that we will associate them with,” Tonya Price said. “We facilitate it; we handle all the logistics.

“Odometer conversion is handled by an odometer conversion company; we make sure it’s done and completed by the time a vehicle gets to auction, we make sure it’s accurate based on the documentation.”

Getting used to using EBlock

Matthew Nester, executive manager and an owner of Don Nester Auto Group in Houghton Lake, Mich., and who attended FastLane’s physical auction in late August, said he likes EBlock and had been using it for “a couple of weeks.” But he admits its takes some getting used to.

“I’ve bought three or four cars off it and sold three or four cars off it,” Nester said. “It’s a great process the way the whole thing flows. You can see when the other bids come in; you can go in days ahead and set your auto bid.

“You can set it and forget it or you can sit there and watch it and bid live. It gives dealers a lot of options about how they want to bid on cars.”