NEWS

Despite a used car market which has stalled due to inflationary challenges, Autorola Turkey had enjoyed a period of strong growth. This strengthening of Autorola Turkey’s operations began during the pandemic, when the closure of physical auction sites meant that the used car industry had to digitalise rapidly.

Autorola’s existing suite of powerful digital sales tools meant that it had a ready solution to keep the used vehicle market afloat during this time. The results generated during this period of transition have meant that partnerships formed during this time have strengthened since, allowing Autorola Turkey’s market share to flourish, even in uncertain times.

Autocom: a new product to facilitate used car sales for everyone

Launched to allow both the purchase and sale of used cars from private owners, Autocom is the latest product from Autorola Turkey, which works in a C2B, B2C and a B2B scenario.

Autocom allows a customer to value their vehicle online using the INDICATA lead generator platform. If the estimated price is accepted, the customer can book an inspection appointment at one of five branches across Turkey (four in Istanbul and one in Izmir), where the vehicle is inspected using Autorola’s in-house inspection technology.

If the offer made is accepted, Autorola pays the customer up front, before marketing the vehicle via its digital showroom, to B2B and B2C buyers to bid on and purchase.

This clever integration of different Autorola tools, combined for the benefit of both the trade and retail customer has allowed it to increase its brand awareness with the Turkish public, helped by a marketing campaign conducted on social media.

In the months since Autocom was launched, the response from the public has been strong, with several hundred sold via the platform and plans to roll the brand out further across Turkey.

A maturing marketplace supported by Autorola

Compared to neighbouring territories, the used car market in Turkey has still yet to mature. Autorola’s strong base of automotive solutions has been adding value to all customer businesses, whether buyers or sellers. Powerful, data driven products are providing trust and increased returns to customers as the market matures. The cross-selling of Autorola solutions to its customer base has been key to the growth of business in the region enabling it to serve the needs of the remarketing industry by 360 degrees.

New partnerships drive growth

Autorola Turkey, which now works with the top 10 global OEMs, continues to add value to the used car operations for franchised dealers with the complete range of ​​services it offers.

In the months to come, Autorola Turkey will continue to broaden its customer base outside of purely OEM clients.

Autorola has also announced multiple new insurance companies across Turkey, which use its INDICATA used car data to estimate valuations on their book of assets. At a time when there has been used car inflation in the country of over 100%, companies who are taking the residual risk on their assets are using the data to understand how this is impacting values.

While some internal processes have had to be adapted to meet the specific needs of these new customers, following the signing of three new companies in recent months, Autorola Turkey continues to penetrate this new market with INDICATA’s live used car data which has previously not been available to the market.

The result of the growth of business in Turkey has meant the growth of the Autorola team, and at the beginning of September, its team had grown to 201, with further expansion planned before its 10^th anniversary in April 2023.

Autorola Australia became a net carbon neutral company in February 2022 and as more corporates sign up to reducing their emissions working with a supply chain partner with similar ambitions has become vitally important.

Online remarketing is well known for being a more environmental way of selling used cars and Autorola employed the services of an independent advisor to measure this saving. For every 1,000 used cars it sells it can report a carbon footprint saving of 92.8 tonnes of carbon emissions. And that’s before the emissions saved by buyers not having to drive or fly to a physical auction are taken into account.

A good company to do business with
“It makes us a good company to do business with,” explained Autorola Australia general manager Philip Browne.

“More and more Australian businesses are becoming aware of their carbon footprint and not only is our business carbon neutral but the online service we offer is dramatically reducing emissions and costs when selling used vehicles.

“The first time a used car moves during the online auction process is when the buyer collects it, which also saves transportation costs for the vendor. It is a win win situation for everybody,” he added.

Growth in upstream selling
Australia has seen its number of fleet vendors grow as Autorola’s upstream selling continues to be a powerful proposition. Under the principles of upstream selling when a used vehicle is defleeted it already has a new owner.

Autorola inspects vehicles a month or so before they are due for de-fleeting which gives companies a chance to undertake repairs and where applicable make insurance claims to get them repaired and ready for sale.

Vendors receive payment on de-fleet day
“Vendors like the fact they are receiving payment for a used vehicle on the day it is de-fleeted. We liaise with the dealer supplying a new vehicle to ensure the handover process is totally seamless. When a driver receives their new car, we have a new buyer waiting for their old one. With the increased demand for used cars in the current market, upstream selling helps keep prices strong,” said Browne.

Autorola has onboarded its in-house Fleet Monitor asset management system for each of its vendor customers so it can track the different stages of a vehicle’s life. Fleet Monitor data reminds Autorola when a vehicle is due to be de-fleeted, and with new car delivery delays still in place they can liaise with the dealer on the delivery schedule of the driver’s new car.

Fleet Monitor gives Autorola a competitive advantage
It is a platform that gives Autorola an advantage over its competitors as it provides complete transparency on a vehicle asset from the time it joins a customer’s fleet until its disposal.

Like so many countries more vendors and buyers have moved to sell and buy used vehicles online since the Covid pandemic. It is now becoming the preferred way to sell and buy used cars in Australia with vehicles being inspected remotely and vehicle descriptions and images being uploaded onto the MarketPlace platform to be sold via an online auction.

Online auctions hosted by a live auctioneer
Australia’s online auctions are a little different to most as they are hosted by a live auctioneer. Buyers enjoy the atmosphere it creates, and it has found favour with an increasing number of fleet and OEM vendors, including Honda.

Despite the semiconductor challenges connected with new car supply Browne believes the daily rental companies are starting to recover from the pandemic and are now running fleets that are up to 90% of pre-pandemic levels. Over the past two years Autorola’s relationship with the rental industry has got much closer and it now provides three key services to the sector.

It sells used rental cars via MarketPlace online auctions which continue to make good money, it inspects and sells salvage cars across the country on the industry’s behalf which involves a remote inspection and selling it from where the car has been stored.

Refurbishing ex-rental cars
And Autorola manages the pre-sale repair process for multiple rental companies which ensures their disposal cars are refurbished ready to make the best prices in the used market.

“Our services fit well with the rental industry, and it has been a major growth area for us. We can help and support them to reduce their disposal, repair, and salvage costs at a time when they are still recovering from two years of uncertainty due to the Covid pandemic. It mirrors what we did with insurance companies and their salvage. We helped and supported them to reduce their disposal costs and optimise residual values which is very satisfying,” said Browne.

Used car inflation is slowing down across Europe according to the latest INDICATA Market Watch used car insights report.

European used prices were just 0.3% higher from the start of August moving into September compared with the high prices experienced in late 2021 and early 2022.

Discounting Turkey where mega inflation has forced used prices up by 117% points since the end of 2021 prices on average have risen by 9.9% in Europe during 2022. Austria (12.1%), Portugal (11.6%), Spain (11.2%), Belgium (11.1%), France (10.7%) and Italy (10.2%) have all experienced a double-digit price increase. Only the United Kingdom have experienced a price fall in 2022 of -3.6%.

Are used cars beginning to stabilise?
“We will have to wait and see whether this is an early sign that used car prices are beginning to stabilise. Used car sales continue to be compromised by stock shortages and some markets are reporting a softening in retail demand caused by a rise in inflation,” explained Andy Shields, INDICATA’s global business unit director.

“New car supplies remain restricted which is contributing to fewer ex-fleet and ex-rental cars hitting the used market. These dynamics are working together to shape a used car industry that has experienced huge change over the past two years.

Stock falls for third month running
“There are no signs that prices or demand will plummet anytime soon, but it’s the first sign we have seen in 2022 that the market might just be settling down at its ‘new normal’,” he added.

August sales in Europe were 10.6% lower than for the same period in 2021, partly hampered by stock constraints which fell for the third consecutive month, and consumers spending money going on holiday rather than buying a used car. Only France reported a year-on-year increase in sales (29.9%) which was fueled by a rise in manufacturer-backed registrations of sub-12-month-old used cars.

Starved of used cars
The Portuguese and Spanish market continue to be starved of used cars at a time when historically daily rental companies would be reducing the size their fleets at the end of summer. To reinforce the size of the problem, in Portugal dealer stock levels fell by 13.0% between 1 August and 1 September.

Used EVs which have been the source of many used car stories from INDICATA in 2022 saw a fall in sales based on a shortage of stock and soaring energy prices dampening demand. However, those used EVs that were in demand experienced a stock turn better than all other powertrain types.

Diesel stock turn remains strong
A boom in new hybrid car sales prior to the pandemic continues to satisfy current used car demand, while diesel stock turn remains strong despite falling from favour with many buyers.

“It is another market anomaly where the high price of EVs is putting off some drivers from going electric while others cannot get into an EV quicker enough. The next two or three years of the used market look set to be very interesting,” said Shields.

For a free copy of the latest INDICATA Market Watch report go to www.indicata.com

The first half of 2022 has proved to be a busy and successful one for the Autorola Group. With the ongoing semiconductor shortage causing supply issues globally, the used car market has continued to be pressurised by high demand, and low supply.

Autorola’s full suite of services allowing car dealers and fleet vendors to maximise their returns at such a time which we have brought to life in our latest newsletter articles.

Autorola UK Group update:

This month we hear from Autorola UK which has doubled the size of its business as more buyers and vendors move to buying and selling used vehicles online. Neil Frost, Group Operations Director explains how Autorola has become the online used car destination supported by a sales team who collaborate closely with dealers to locate and secure the right stock for their business.

Marketwatch:
In this edition, we have the latest INDICATA Market Watch report, which goes into detail on how the used market is responding to its current challenges, and how the profile of vehicles is changing as a result. Diesel sales continue to fall year on year in-line with increasing restrictions on this fuel type in many territories, however used BEV sales have increased by 27% year on year, it is also now the fastest selling powertrain, closely followed by hybrid and petrol models.

Fleet Monitor:
Fleet Monitor is integral to the Autorola Group offering and has been a key growth area for the business in the last few years. In this newsletter we look in depth at the fleet monitor product, its features and the benefits that it brings to our customers, including VWFS, and smart Europe GmbH.

Best and Fastest Sellers:
In this issue we have an article that looks in depth at the fastest and best-selling vehicles across Europe, which will help vendors and buyers adopt the best remarketing strategies for their businesses.

As ever, I hope that this newsletter will prove interesting, fact-filled and give you a good picture of the latest news and findings from across our group.

Best regards
Peter Grøftehauge (LinkedIn)

The Fleet Monitor asset management platform is a unique offering from Autorola Solutions and is a core product in helping grow our group business across the globe. Fleet Monitor is  an effective software platform for anyone looking to manage vehicle assets effectively throughout the vehicle lifetime. 

A host of recent business wins with Fleet Monitor
at their centre means that it has been a key driver
for Autorola’s growth in the last two years.
These include the new five-year contract signed
with smart Europe GmbH, which has Fleet Monitor
as a key service provision integrated with Marketplace
for this Europewide brand, and a new business win
with VWFS in Brazil, both of which are detailed below.

Fleet Monitor works intelligently with data
The insight from Autorola Solutions tells us that the majority of fleet managers agree that the production of detailed reports on fleets is one of the most time-consuming aspects of the role. Additionally, in the current market, the high lifetime costs of holding assets and the long lead-times for replacement vehicles is the biggest cause of frustration for fleet managers.

In this situation, maximising the efficiency of fleet management is key and Fleet Monitor’s dual functions of fleet-process and communications management are designed to simplify every aspect of fleet and resource management.

This key benefit was a major draw for smart Europe GmbH, as Fleet Monitor will found the backbone of smart’s relationship with rental, car sharing and subscription companies. This will allow smart to consistently track each vehicle’s status including mileage, servicing history and current location across multiple European countries.

Autorola is able to integrate data from all of smart´s relevant partners for logistic, inspection and storage, ensuring that all processes will be managed in a holistic and efficient manner, while enabling a fast reintegration of smart remarketing vehicles into the retail process via Autorola’s pan European online MarketPlace.

Easy fleet management
As a system which is proven to help businesses streamline processes, improve efficiency and performance, Fleet Monitor is a powerful tool for today’s fleets. It reduces operational costs and mitigates operational and financial risks for fleets, while ensuring compliance.

Additionally the communications module included within the package creates a service-focused platform for their drivers and users.

Fleet Monitor allows users to view an entire fleet at once, with detailed descriptions available on individual vehicles when needed. With it’s user-friendly and intuitive look and feel, the system is built around dashboards and worklists that, ensure that all tasks are processed quickly and efficiently.

Last year, Autorola Solution launched a bespoke Fleet Monitor with
Volkswagen Financial Services Brazil that enabled the bank to track and
trace its fleet assets across the country in a way that no other system had
previously been able to. This proved invaluable to the lender, which has a
fleet of 5,000 vehicles, and a supplementary fleet of 13,000 vehicles,
run under the brand of FleetZil.

Keeping ahead of a changing marketplace
The whole world has digitized rapidly over the last three years, and with ever changing working environments, fleet managers have found themselves having to contend with multiple, disconnected internal management systems that have not allowed them to gain an easy overview of their assets, especially in remote-working situations.

Fleet Monitor is the ideal solution for this, providing a 100 % browser-based online tool which allows efficient working, even in remote settings. Managers can gain access to all details of all assets via the portal, and interact in real-time with co-workers, suppliers and their network, across branches and even whole countries, distance is no longer a problem.

Autorola UK’s online vehicle auction activity continues to go from strength to strength as more buyers and vendors than ever before are using its Autofind platform to buy and sell used cars.

The business has more than doubled in size during the pandemic as the UK remarketing industry has finally embraced online buying and selling after decades of focusing just on physical auctions.

2,000 active used buyers
Autorola now has more than 2,000 active buyers some of whom are buying several hundred used vehicles each year, and with a fully integrated transport service available the dealer receives vehicles on site within just a couple of days of their online purchase.

More importantly it continues to grow its used car sales team who collaborate closely with dealers to locate and secure the right stock for their business.

People power supporting online technology
“The combination of our online wholesale used vehicle portal with the support of an office-based team to help dealers locate and bid on their preferred stock has been a real winner. Buyers know they have the support of the office-based team if they have a query or a problem, which gives them additional confidence when buying,” explained Neil Frost, Autorola’s group operations director.

“In the current used car climate how many online wholesale portals have over 15,000 used cars and vans for sale? We have become the online used car destination at a time when dealers have struggled with shortages of stock.”

Real time pricing insights
Autorola UK has also gained traction with INDICATA during the pandemic where dealer groups and car supermarkets have signed up to gain the real time pricing insights to guide them through bidding and buying used cars during a very hot market.

Its used car pricing platform helps them determine the stock that is in demand and where they can afford to pay extra to secure cars they know will sell quickly. It also enables them to understand what their local rivals are doing with stock which helps them become competitive. Many dealers are dialling used prices up or down daily to ensure they are the most competitive provider in their region as well as ensuring they have the right models in stock.

Many of these INDICATA customers are now also selling their unwanted exchanges and buying new stock via Autorola’s Autofind portal. They like the convenience of buying and selling online as well as working with a single supplier to provide them with a wide range of used vehicle services.

Fine tuning retail pricing
Wales’s largest car supermarket Ron Skinner & Sons rolled out INDICATA’s used car pricing and sales insights platform to fine tune its retail pricing and to support the group’s car stocking strategy. It has up to 1,500 used cars in stock worth £16m and sells around 8,000 used cars each year

Ron Skinner’s general manager, Craig Walters said: “INDICATA takes the guesswork out of valuations and helps us guide customers through their part exchange values as well as explaining how new car prices are moving so quickly. The data keeps everybody in tune with the market from our MD to the shopfloor,” he added.

St Leonards Motor (SLM) Group operates nine franchised dealer and two used car sites with nearly 600 used cars in group stock at any time. It introduced INDICATA coincided with its digital online approach to selling used cars.

Helping decide what stock to buy
“It helps us decide what to buy and at what price. It shows where SLM should go stronger on stock when buying online and when pricing used cars. We use the insights to decide whether to take a smaller margin but sell a used car stock more quickly,” said SLM director Jason Barlow.

“Because all our cars sit on one portal, I can spend 30-45 minutes reviewing the dashboard and altering any of the KPIs as I see fit in the knowledge the 25 platform users are all on the same page.

The first INDICATA Lead Generator customer is also about to go live giving retail customers the power to value their trade vehicles live on a retailer’s website. Built on INDICATA’s used car valuation engine, it gives the retailer full control over making a competitive offer to the customer with the support of INDICATA scanning the prices of 9m used vehicles every day.

Online sales traffic is rising
INDICATA’s floating widget and “modal” screen sits on top of the dealer website, meaning implementation is fast and incurs minimal costs.

“Online sales traffic has risen dramatically through the pandemic and the number of physical showroom visitors has fallen,” explained Frost.

“Lead Generator enables retailers to engage with online customers more readily by providing them with a part exchange value to coincide with them looking at sourcing a new car,” he said.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) were Europe’s fastest selling used cars for the second month in a row according to the latest INDICATA Market Watch insights report.

Europe’s three fastest-selling used cars were all EVs in June in the shape of the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, and Polestar 2.

In a normal market this would be good news, however, dealers and traders are struggling to meet this demand due to low new EV sales in previous years and a shortage of de-fleeted EVs hitting the market as many lease contracts remain extended.


European used car sales fall in 2022
European used car sales were 10.1% lower in the first six months of 2022 when compared with the same period in 2021 blighted by constraints in new car supply. Only Denmark and France have bucked the trend on sales reporting a year-on-year increase of 6.5% and 7.4% rise respectively.

Prices continued to rise across Europe in all but the UK, where prices fell by -2.6%, the sixth successive monthly fall. Austrian prices rose the most in June by 11.6%, closely followed by Belgium of 10.4% and Portugal at 9.5%.

Sales impacted by lack of used stock
Whilst increased used car prices are supporting profit margins a lack of the right quality stock is heavily impacting sales volumes. Stock levels going into July fell a further 2.8% compared with the start of June making it four consecutive month-on-month declines. This puts stock levels 6.5% lower than at the start of July 2021. Excluding Turkey total stock levels for the rest of Europe were 8.3% lower year-on-year.

Andy Shields, INDICATA’s global business unit director said: “The demand for EVs continues to exceed supply which in turn is helping keep prices high. The Europe-wide acceptance of used EVs has reached a tipping point in the past two months and looks set to continue as more retail customers move away from ICE cars.

“There is no sign of new car supply challenges improving until 2024 so we believe the used car market will remain healthy for the next few years,” he added.

Our Top Seller and Fastest Seller tables capture the hottest used cars for 13 individual markets in Europe each month. It gives buyers and vendors a guide to the used cars that are selling by volume and by speed of sale. This helps vendors set the right reserves and guides buyers to the used cars to stock on their forecourts to maximise sales and profitability.

In INDICATA’s June European Top Seller and Fastest Seller tables EVs remained the most in demand used cars with the Tesla Y, Tesla 3 and Polestar the fastest-selling used cars under four years of age.

Meanwhile the top-selling used cars have remained constant for 2022 with the VW Golf, Renault Clio and VW Polo topping the June table. The top-selling ICE cars were the VW Golf, Renault Clio and VW Polo while the top-selling hybrids were the Toyota C-HR, Toyota Yaris and Audi A6. Europe’s top-selling used BEVs in June were the Renault Zoe, Tesla Model 3 and BMW i3.

Check out the full list of top-selling and fastest-selling used cars for 13 countries here: https://www.indicata.com/download/INDICATA_Market_Watch_29_EN.pdf

For a free copy of the latest INDICATA Market Watch report go to www.indicata.com

Welcome to the summer edition of the Autorola Group newsletter.

It has been a welcome return to a semblance of normality across the business world in 2022. As countries have opened and travel restrictions have lifted, companies are finally returning to doing business face-to-face again.

Although the new digital world has allowed business to continue virtually over the last three years, the return to in-person meetings has been welcomed across our industry, and it has been great to conclude new business deals with a handshake once more.

We have continued to grow as a company too, not only within many individual territories such as France and Brazil, as covered in this newsletter, but also as a group.

We detail some of the new projects below, including the very exciting new relationship with smart Europe, where we have secured a five-year contract to become its remarketing partner, and the development of new business deals with VWFS in Brazil.

Electric vehicles remain a key talking point among our remarketing partners globally, and we have further insights into how EVs are performing in the used market. In many countries that means used EVs are now selling faster than petrol and diesel cars.

I hope you find this newsletter useful, and it gives you a flavour of what is happening around our group.

Best regards
Peter Grøftehauge (LinkedIn)

smart Europe GmbH has announced a new five-year contract with the Autorola Group. Autorola will set up and run the European fleet remarketing infrastructure for smart´s brand new range of 100% electric cars.

Autorola’s Fleet Monitor, a web-based asset management IT platform, will be rolled out to enable an efficient end-to-end vehicle remarketing management process across Europe.

The Fleet Monitor system will be the backbone of smart’s relationship with rental, car sharing and subscription companies. It will enable smart to consistently track each car’s status including mileage, servicing history and current location.

Furthermore, Autorola ensures integration of data from all of smart´s relevant partners for logistics, inspection and storage. All respective processes will be managed in a holistic and efficient context. The main target is a fast reintegration of smart remarketing vehicles into the retail process via Autorola’s pan-European online Marketplace, towards the future smart agency network.

The platform roll-out includes Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.

André Janssen-Timmen, COO, smart Europe GmbH, said: “We are setting up our own, strong remarketing capability right from the start. Our focus is not only on the first cycle, but also on 2nd and 3rd. We believe that Autorola for us is exactly the right partner for this endeavor.”

“We are very excited about working with smart to set up and manage their remarketing strategy for the next five years, “explained Morten Holmsten, Global Director, Autorola Marketplace.

“Our Fleet Monitor asset management system and Marketplace online used car platform has been developed to integrate with one another and offer clients, like smart, a seamless and very effective “cradle to grave” remarketing solution,” he added.

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Press contact

smart Europe GmbH: Julia Brehm, Mobile +49 160-94857614, julia.brehm@smart.com
Autorola Group: Mikkel Strandgaard, msn@autorola.com