Welcome to Auto Remarketing’s second annual High Performance Auto Auctions awards program.

Through a series of recaps, this special feature spotlights the auctions who have taken home “Auto Auction of the Year”- style awards from consignors, auction groups and other industry stakeholders over the last year and change.

Join Cherokee Media Group in congratulating these auctions that have been recognized by their partners for excellence.

GM Financial highlights 2021 Auction of the Year winners

Earlier this year, GM Financial named five regional 2021 Auction of the Year winners and a winner of Most Valuable Auction of the Year, which are part of the consignor’s annual nationwide auction of excellence program recognizing the highest-performing auction locations in 2021.

GM Financial said recipients were selected after reviewing each of the company’s 50 auctions’ performance in retention, operational metrics, presale activities and overall auction operations.

The regional auction of the year winners included:

—Manheim Texas Hobby, Houston
—ADESA Phoenix, Chandler, Ariz.
—Manheim Chicago, Matteson, Ill.
—Manheim Pennsylvania, Manheim, Pa.
—Manheim Orlando, Ocoee, Fla.

“In 2021, the auctions we work with navigated many obstacles and went to great lengths to help GM Financial and our purchasing dealers achieve success in a very challenging year,” GM Financial senior vice president of remarketing solutions Bob Winn said in a news release.

“With the influx in used-car prices, new-inventory challenges due to microchip shortages and ongoing restrictions from the pandemic, these top performers prioritized buyer safety and kept our vehicle sales strong. Congratulations to these top auctions of the year,” Winn continued.

And the Most Valuable Auction of the Year went to Manheim Pennsylvania.

“The entire Manheim Pennsylvania team is humbled and honored to have our location named as GM Financial’s Most Valuable Auction for a third consecutive year,” Manheim Pennsylvania vice president and general manager Joey Hughes said in the news release from GM Financial.

“I’m so proud of our team for their continued commitment to and focus on providing exceptional customer service and results. We look forward to continuing to work closely with GM Financial and building on their success for many years to come,” Hughes went on to say.

CPS honors top auctions

Over at CPS, it shared its award winners for 2021. Those included:

  • CPS Top Gun Award (Auction of the Year) – Rawls Auto Auction in Leesville, SC
  • CPS Top Gun Award (AOY CPS Small Market) – ADESA Las Vegas in North Las Vegas, Nev.
  • CPS Operational Excellence Award (Best Fleet/Lease Dept.) – ADESA Lexington in Lexington, Ky.
  • CPS Heavy Hammer Award (Highest Net Recovery Percentage) — Greensboro Auto Auction in Greensboro, N.C.

Ford Vehicle Remarketing spotlights 2021 Auction Service Award Winners

Next up, Ford recognized honorees in its Ford Auction Service Award Program for 2021. Auction winners are those “who outperform their colleagues on Ford’s standards critical to the success of the Ford Motor Company and our dealers,” and are top performers in key metrics.

There are two categories to the award. Starting with the Ford Motor Credit off-lease vehicles, those honorees were:

Manheim New York in Newburgh, N.Y.
Greensboro Auto Auction in Greensboro, N.C.
Manheim Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss. 

And for the non-off-lease vehicle category (like company vehicles and rentals) honorees were:

Manheim New York
Manheim Pittsburgh in Cranberry Township, Pa.           
DAA Seattle in Auburn, Wash.

“The winning auctions represent best in class performance with inventory handling, lowest days to turn and maximizing wholesale values in an unprecedented business environment.  Congratulations to the 2021 ASAP winners who ensured Ford Sponsored Auctions remain ‘the best play to buy,’” said Andrew Ashman, Ford US Used Vehicle Manager, in a news release.

Chase recognizes top-performing US auction partners

Late last year, Chase Auto recognized its top U.S. auto auction partners, spotlighting 10 auctions via Zoom for their performance in its annual Chase Cup for Auction Excellence program.

After reviewing 36 auctions for their respective performances in handling preparation, sales, invoice processing, transport requests, title processing and more, Chase awarded ADESA Kansas City the Chase Cup for Best National Auction Performance honors, while Manheim Orlando earned top honors as Best National Performance Service Delivery.

Also recognized were:

  • Best National Jaguar Sales – Manheim Atlanta
  • Best National Land Rover Sales – Manheim Dallas
  • Best National Mazda Sales – Manheim Milwaukee
  • Best National Subaru Sales – Manheim Nashville
  • Best National Maserati Sales – Manheim Dallas
  • Best Regional Performance, Midwest – Manheim Minneapolis
  • Best Regional Performance, Western – ADESA Salt Lake
  • Best Regional Performance, Central – ADESA Kansas City
  • Best Regional Performance, Northeast – Manheim Fredericksburg
  • Best Regional Performance, Southeast – Manheim Tampa

Credit Acceptance honors top auctions

Earlier this year, Credit Acceptance Corp. named its National Auction of the Year award winners for 2021.

The honorees include:

— ADESA Knoxville, National High-Volume Market

— Dealers Auto Auction Group of Huntsville, National Small-Volume Market

— 166 Auto Auction, Midwest Regional High-Volume Market

— ADESA Knoxville, Southeast Regional High-Volume Market

— ADESA Phoenix, West Coast Regional High-Volume Market

— Manheim Baltimore/Washington, NE Regional High-Volume Market

— Manheim DFW, Southwest Regional High-Volume Market

defi REMARKETING presents 2021 Auction of the Year

defi REMARKETING, the end-to-end remarketing services of defi SOLUTIONS, announced its 2021 Auction of the Year this spring.

The company’s top accolade went to ADESA Cincinnati/Dayton, as defi REMARKETING also recognized Manheim Dallas and Manheim Orlando as second and third place honorees, respectively.

Executives highlighted ADESA Cincinnati/Dayton has been a top performing auction for defi SOLUTIONS and its finance company clients for many years, taking top honors for three of the past four years.

ADESA Cincinnati/Dayton helps put cars, trucks, SUVs, boats, jet skis, four-wheelers and other vehicles in buyers’ hands through digital and physical auctions and empowers defi REMARKETING to lower costs, shorten turnaround times and maximize the resale price of off-lease and repossessed vehicles for its finance company clients.

For more than 30 years, defi REMARKETING has been providing comprehensive vehicle remarketing services that include vehicle valuation, title delivery, vehicle transport services, and premium sale lane placement that improves vehicle visibility.

During that, defi REMARKETING said it has been well-supported by experienced staff, leading technology, proven processes and strong industry relationships, such as its partnership with ADESA.

“We very much appreciate the excellence and high standards of the ADESA Cincinnati/Dayton team,” defi SOLUTIONS vice president of client services Steve Bissett said in a news release. “We look forward to building on the current relationship with these dedicated industry professionals as we continue to evolve our products and services and grow our client community.”

Mike Long is general manager at ADESA Cincinnati/Dayton.

“We are honored to receive this award again — it really showcases our team’s dedication to outstanding customer service and outcomes, day in and day out,” Long said in the news release.

“We’re especially proud of our many years of collaboration with defi and the results we’ve driven together — and we look forward to many more years of partnership and positive impact on our customers and industry,” Long went on to say.

Exeter honors top auctions

Exeter Finance announced its 2021 Exeter auction eXcellence and EMI awards at the CAR Conference in Las Vegas, recognizing auctions in divisions based on size and units sold.

Taking home the honors were:

Division III: DAA Seattle
Division II: Metro Phoenix
Division I: Bel Air Auto Auction

The EMI winner was Indiana Auto Auction.

“Our valued auction partners are a vital part of Exeter’s servicing arm. They are asked to transport, recondition and conduct redemptions of thousands of units, as well as – most importantly — market to our dealer base,” Exeter said in a statement. “The stronger the marketing of our brand, the more dealers that come into our auction lane and online to purchase our assets.”

The company added: “Congratulations on your eXcellence awards and for being the best of the best!”

Westlake Financial spotlights 2021 auction winners

Westlake Financial announced its 2021 Auction of the Year Award winner in May, along with Top Regional Auction honorees.

Taking home top honors was Manheim Dallas, which was also the regional winner in the South-Central U.S.

Other Top Regional Auction honorees included:

  • Midwest Region: Manheim Milwaukee
  • Southeast Region: Rawls Auto Auction
  • Northeast Region: Manheim Baltimore-Washington
  • Southwest Region: ADESA Salt Lake City
  • Pacific Region: ADESA Golden Gate

Manheim Dallas, Rawls, Manheim Baltimore-Washington and ADESA Golden Gate were repeat winners.

Honorees are determined by an average score calculated from the consignor’s remarketing unit sales from last year. Auctions that sold Westlake vehicles at the highest Manheim Market Report book value percentage received recognition.

“Westlake is proud to work alongside the top auction performers in the country,” said William Walters, vice president of remarketing for Westlake Financial Services, in a news release. “I look forward to seeing their continued growth and success!”

Manheim Dallas general manger Rich Curtis added: “Our team at Manheim Dallas is truly honored to be named the 2021 Westlake Financial Services Auction of the Year.

“We thank our team for taking great pride in servicing our clients and helping them achieve their goals,” he said. “We value our long-standing partnership with Westlake and appreciate this prestigious recognition.”

Merchants Fleet names top auction

Merchants Fleet not only received three Stevie Awards as part of the 20th annual American Business Awards, the fleet management company also recognized its Top Overall Auction for 2021. 

Claiming the auction accolade for the second year in a row from the fifth largest fleet company in the U.S., according to a news release from ServNet, is North Bay Auto Auction.

“Our entire auction team is thrilled to again be named the top auction in the U.S. for Merchants Fleet,” said David Aahl, partner and general manager at North Bay Auto Auction. 

“This award is evidence of the care and attention we devote to our customers.  Lease returns never let up even in the height of the pandemic, and Merchants Fleet has been an important partner during a tumultuous time,” Aahl continued in the news release from ServNet, of which North Bay Auto Auction is a member.

Aahl acknowledged the role that Ashley Sackett, the fleet lease representative at North Bay, played in the auction’s success with Merchants Fleet. 

“Ashley provides the boots on the ground for Merchants Fleet, making sure that all areas of quality control are met,” Aahl said. “She touches every vehicle, and it is due to her efforts that we know that condition reports are accurate and that all the details of sale preparation and sale are managed with care.”

North Bay Auto Auction has been handling vehicles for Merchants Fleet since 2015. In addition to winning top honors for the account in 2020 and 2021, the auction also won its Top Line Service Award in 2018.

“Merchants Fleet recognizes its top auction based on service, performance, and a variety of metrics, including timeliness of days to sale and conversion rate,” Merchants Fleet remarketing manager Bill Boutwell said. “A group of us determines our annual award recipients, and the decision to name North Bay as our Top Overall Auction was a unanimous one.”

“The team at North Bay does everything you’d hope an auction would do, going out of their way to process our vehicles and get them sold,” Boutwell continued. “While we can only look at photos of our off-lease units, they can really see what’s going on, and they’re proactive in communicating, with status reports, follow up and vehicle assessments.  They’ve proved an invaluable part of the remarketing process and have set a standard of excellence for our auctions all over the country.”

As a family-owned independent auction founded in 1993 by Don Morrow in the region stretching from Los Angeles to Seattle, North Bay Auto Auction is situated on 33 acres near the I-80 corridor in between San Francisco and Sacramento in Fairfield, Calif.

Additional Manheim honorees

In addition to the Manheim honorees named elsewhere in this section, the company said eight of its locations were honored in the 2021 Remarketing by Element awards. Those included:

  • Manheim Statesville – Gold Award
  • Manheim Fredericksburg – Above and Beyond – Mid-Market / Central
  • Manheim Atlanta – Above and Beyond – East
  • Manheim San Francisco Bay – Above and Beyond – West
  • Manheim Riverside – Outstanding Promotions Award
  • Manheim Baltimore – Washington – Silver Award – Northeast
  • Manheim Chicago – Silver Award – Midwest
  • Manheim Phoenix – Silver Award – West

Manheim also said its Manheim Lakeland auction was recognized by Holman as a Regional Auction of the Year.

Manheim spotlighted several of its own auctions with the M Award, which recognizes auctions for exceeding sales and digital volume targets. The award is given out each quarter. Winners are below:
 
The winners for the second quarter of 2022 were:

Manheim Portland
Manheim Phoenix  
Manheim West Palm Beach
Manheim Pittsburgh

The winners for the first quarter were:

Manheim Portland
Manheim Phoenix
Manheim Philadelphia
Manheim Pensacola

In another internal award, Manheim spotlighted facilities for proactively reporting “near-misses” before they occur, recognizing winners in a safety-themed bracket-based “tournament” dubbed Safety Madness.

Manheim San Diego was the winner, with semifinalists Manheim Seattle, Manheim Southern California and Manheim St. Pete.

In an overall company award, Manheim earned recognition as “THE Innovation Driven Company by the Technology Association of Georgia.”

More awards

Over at DAA Seattle, the McConkey Auction Group member was named the 2021 Ford Vehicle Remarketing Auction Service Award Program: Rental Sale Winner; and it also took home the 2021 Exeter Division III Excellence Award.

Down along the Southeastern coast, America’s Auto Auction – Charleston won the Stellar Performance Award 2021 from Lease Plan; while America’s Auto Auction – Savannah took home the Southeast Region Auction of the Year 2021 award from C&F Finance.

Further up the East Coast, Bel Air Auto Auction in Maryland share a few of the awards it earned for 2021:

Santander/Chrysler Capital 2021 Retail Auction of the Year (Northeast Region)

Santander/Chrysler Capital 2021 National Auction of the Year

Exeter Division 1 Excellence Award

Merchants Fleet 2021 Mid-Atlantic Region Auction of the Year

OVE Highest Digital Mix Award