ATLANTA -

After starting the pilot with two locations last week, Manheim will resume running cars down the lanes at 12 more auctions starting this week.

Added to the pilot program are Manheim Ohio, Manheim Dallas, Manheim Fort Myers, Manheim Lakeland, Manheim Pittsburgh, Manheim San Antonio, Manheim Albany, Manheim Cincinnati, Manheim Dallas-Fort Worth, Manheim Omaha, Manheim Texas Hobby and Manheim Nevada.

The company kicked off its pilot return to physically running cars down lane at Manheim Nashville on Nov. 10, with Manheim Daytona Beach added on Tuesday.

“During our first two live, physical sales at Manheim Nashville and Manheim Daytona Beach, we received very positive feedback from dealers who told us they were excited about the return of in-lane physical sales, despite running limited unit types,” Manheim division vice president Alan Lang said in a statement.

“We continue to be intentional with our decision to expand the program with health and safety remaining at the center of everything we do,” Lang said. “Should the data continue to support a safe environment for team members and clients, we anticipate adding more locations.”

In interview earlier this month, shortly after the Nashville and Daytona Beach locations were announced, Lang said the company had locations in mind, in terms of expanding the pilot. 

“A lot of that will be a mix of size of locations, scope … We've spent many, many days and nights talking to clients and deterining what their asks were and where could we go in and feel safe,” Lang said during that interview. 

Much of it also deals with where state/local madates are, he said. “We're seeing some pop back up, so we try to stay out of those hot spots where we anticipated potentially having to reclose a sale. We're monitoring that very closely,” Lang said.

The in-lane physical sales must abide by Manheim safety guidelines. Auction offices will stay closed, and dealers must wear face coverings, social distance and abide by state/local guidelines.   

Additionally, 21 locations now have Manheim's Lot Vision vehicle tracking system, and all of its sites allow on-site inventory previews.

On-site inventory previews began May 1. On June 8, Manheim started to allow sellers return to the auction block to rep vehicles. 

Manheim began piloting the return of in-lane bidding through Digital Block format, where the vehicle remains stationery and bidders view the car on a screen,.the week of June 22, gradually rolling that out to the majority of its auctions. 

Asked what led to the decision to return to cars running down auction lanes, Manheim president Grace Huang, who joined the call with Lang in early November, said during the interview: “What we've realized is that even though going digital was possible, we need to make it preferred.

“Through the last eight months, our dealers have been telling us, 'Hey, we're hanging in there … but we really would like to see some cars run thorugh the lane,'” she said.  “And at the end of the day, it just came down to, we're here to serve all of our clients. We have very large clients and we have a lot of commercial clients, but we also have a lot of small clients, both on the sell side and on the buy side. And we're a big marketplace and we want to be able to provide the best client experience for everyone.” 

However, Manheim does not plan on bringing back cars running through lanes at all of its locations. In fact, even before the pandemic, four auctions had already converted to Digital Block sales, Huang said. In June 2019, Manheim Tucson became the company's first auction to incorporate a 100% digital format, utilizing a four-lane setup where cars are parked in designated spots and sold to buyers both physically present at the facility and online. Other auctions have since been added. 

“We know we have certain locations where all the sellers and buyers have basicially said, 'We're good, thanks! We're fine,'” Huang said. “It's a huge change curve over the last eight months and some locations, the dealers latched on to the change faster than other locations. So, no, we don't necessarily see all of our locations going back to running cars through lanes.”