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Introducing the smartest digital marketplace for vehicles

Taking the guesswork out of buying and selling used vehicles, increasing profitability and speed, making the marketplace fairer. That’s what makes Dealer Auction the place to sell faster and buy smarter. A revolutionary new player in the auto sales market, it’s shaking things up by taking it all online. And it’s pulling out all the stops to do it the right way.

A new business designed on customer insights, Dealer Auction is meeting market demand by taking the whole process online, taking care of buyer and vendor needs alike and evolving the UK automotive industry.

The platform is a collaboration between Cox Automotive and Auto Trader, designed to bring a streamlined and smarter digital marketplace to the world of B2B vehicle sales.

It draws on the massive, real-time data capabilities of these industry giants to give unrivalled insights on vehicles in the retail market. From Auto Trader comes digital expertise, deep insights and a significant dealer customer base. Cox Automotive brings auction experience and infrastructure, a proven and active online auction platform, wholesale know how and a significant vendor and buyer base.

Despite the pedigree of this joint venture, Dealer Auction is a fully independent business made to disrupt and revolutionise the industry. It does this buy shaking up fees, bringing the transaction online, offering unique data and insight and providing market leading technology.

Le Etta Pearce, Dealer Auction CEO commented “This is a truly exciting new platform that’s built to meet the real needs of our customers. While we’re drawing on a bank of expertise and experience from our parent companies, Dealer Auction is its own business with its own culture. A culture that’s innovative and disruptive, diverse and inclusive. We can’t wait to grow and innovate even more for the future.”

The platform has been designed by experts to bring benefits to buyers and vendors alike, connecting the right stock to the right buyer and tying the dealership and web experience together seamlessly. Existing customers were also consulted throughout the design process to ensure the platform meets their ever-changing needs.

With over 11,000 fresh listings each month, and over 4,500 trade buyers using the platform, Dealer Auction gives buyers and vendors access to the busiest online marketplace 24/7. With smart tools, users can filter results to their needs, plus set competitive pricing based on comprehensive data. Users can also set alerts to be notified when stock that meets their forecourt is added to the site, ensuring they never miss an opportunity.

Martin Forbes, COX Automotive CEO added “Dealer Auction will become an increasingly important and influential wholesale channel as we move further towards a digitalised sector. Our view is 80% of core trade vehicles will be transacted online by 2023 so it’s vital we provide our vendor and buyer customers with the products and services they need to achieve their own ambitions. We’re equally focused on reshaping our physical capabilities so that they complement this increasingly digital-first vehicle journey and enable our vendor customers to remarket their vehicles quickly, cost effectively and efficiently.”

Coming soon in the first quarter of 2020, Dealer Auction will take on even more stock and buyers to the platform from Manheim online. Additional stock sources will continue to grow the platform throughout the coming months, including from manufacturers and lease companies directly. Further innovations will continue to be added, including closed network sales for manufacturer customers.

Simply, it’s the UK’s busiest and most active auction centre, and it’s entirely online.

Nathan Coe, Auto Trader CFO and CEO Designate concluded “To truly improve efficiency and profitability for the circa 15,000 retailers operating in the UK, the wholesale marketplace needs to move online and no other business is better positioned to do that. Not only is Dealer Auction a successful business in its own right, but it’s able to draw on both Auto Trader and Cox Automotive’s considerable digital and physical expertise, to the benefit of retailers and wholesalers”

Dealer Auction is now live, offering more confidence, wider choice and greater convenience for buyers and vendors nationwide.