By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor

The recently completed 2021 IARA Virtual Conference featured remarketing’s best and brightest from IARA (International Automotive Remarketers Alliance, the IAG (Independent Auction Group), the NAAA (National Auto Auction Association) and other leading organizations.

The consignors session, called “Consignors Rising to Change,” provided viewers with an extended opportunity to ask pertinent questions and get expert answers from high-caliber executives, including moderator Tammy Swofford, National Sales and Marketing Director, America’s Auto Auction, and panelists Larry Knapp, Director of Remarketing for Donlen Leasing; Steve Kapusta, Senior Vice President of Remarketing Services at Ally; Mark Lindenmuth, Asset Manager, Caprock Auto Remarketing; and Mona Spoon, Senior Territory Manager, Emkay.

Here are some of the panelists’ answers to some of the critical questions…

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By: Kevin Aries, Global Product Success Lead for Verizon Connect

With distracted driving rapidly becoming one of the biggest reasons for accidents on the road today, it’s important to arm fleet managers with the tools to manage and mitigate these factors effectively.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about nine people die each day as a result of distracted driving, and another 1,000 injuries occur daily in accidents that reportedly involve a distracted driver.

As fleet managers look to minimize distracted driving incidents and the costs that come with them, fleet management technology has proven to be an important tool for managers to better address the safety of drivers.

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By Gary Mott, President, FLD Inc.

As a leader in vehicle remarketing for more than 40 years, FLD is proud of the many accomplishments that have helped us become a pioneer in the remarketing space.

From being an early proponent of auto auctions to remarket vehicles over three decades ago, to being the first fleet entity to offer an online vehicle condition report, there are a lot of reasons FLD is the logical choice for a remarketing partner.

Often people ask me: What are the single biggest reasons sellers should choose FLD to remarket their vehicles, and it’s not a hard question for me to answer. In fact, it’s a mantra we’ve been telling people for decades: Simply put, FLD completely eliminates remarketing risk by offering a “zero days to sale” guarantee. That means that the very same day sellers receive a quote, they can accept, and their vehicle is sold before the remarketing process even gets started.

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The Drive

While some vehicles are fitted from the factory with 360-degree cameras that record and playback in case of an accident, the majority of cars on the road are not and owners instead turn to aftermarket dashcams for peace of mind.

Dashcam manufacturer Nexar has taken the idea of a simple dashcam and created something way more useful to the millions of drivers who end up in a collision each year – collecting data and using it reconstruct the scene using machine learning.

Nexar says it can automatically detect about 90 percent of accidents to ready a report. The reconstructed footage and metrics collected by the camera are one click away and can promptly be assembled into a usable resource. Then, it’s ready to be sent to an insurer to establish First Notice of Loss (FNOL) and clear up the majority of accident ambiguity.

Read the article at The Drive.

CNN Business

A year ago, air travel came to a near halt, leading to a glut of rental cars. Rental companies sold off more than a half a million cars, about a third of their combined fleets, just to generate cash they needed to survive the crisis.

Following a year of deep losses, rental car companies have been unable to rebuild their fleets, especially with auto plants shut by a shortage of computer chips needed to build cars. This has led to a severe shortage of rental cars in vacation hotspots, resulting in sky-high prices for vacationers.

A recent of car rental sites Wednesday showed a Kia Rio, a sub-compact car, going for $300 a day in Orlando, next week. On Maui, Hawaii, the only rental available next week is a Yukon for $500 a day.

Read the article at CNN Business.

Autoblog

Tesla’s use of in-car cameras to record and transmit video footage of passengers to develop self-driving technology raises privacy concerns. Consumer Reports said the usage potentially undermines the safety benefits of driver monitoring, which is to alert drivers when they are not paying attention to the road.

“If Tesla has the ability to determine if the driver isn’t paying attention, it needs to warn the driver in the moment, like other automakers already do,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of Consumer Reports’ auto test center.

Automakers such as Ford and General Motors, whose monitoring systems do not record or transmit data or video, use infrared technology to identify drivers’ eye movements or head position to warn them if they are exhibiting signs of impairment or distraction, the magazine said.

Read the article at Autoblog.

USA Today

The vast majority of electric vehicles built, sold, and especially driven in the United States will continue to use internal combustion engines for years to come. EVs are growing fast, though, and the technology improves every day.

The U.S. has more than enough electric generating capacity to power every EV expected to hit the road. A 2020 report by the Department of Energy concludes, “through 2028, the overall power system, from generating through transmission, looks healthy up to about 24 million EVs.” That’s sixteen times the roughly 1.5 million EVs operating in the U.S. today.

The key is for EV owners to do most of their charging at night when a lot of the electricity generating capacity that already exists is idle. Most utilities will offer low rates to encourage owners to charge then.

Read the article at USA Today.

CNBC

A vehicle mileage tax could be on the table in talks about how to finance the White House’s expected multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“When you think about infrastructure, it’s a classic example of the kind of investment that has a return on that investment,” he said. “That’s one of many reasons why we think this is so important. This is a jobs vision as much as it is an infrastructure vision, a climate vision and more.”

Democrats have slowly pivoted away from a gasoline tax in favor of a mileage tax amid a simultaneous, climate friendly effort to encourage consumers to drive electric cars.

Read the article at CNBC.

Car and Driver

The thin line between just-in-time auto manufacturing and an idled production plant has become crystal clear again with the spreading effects of a global semiconductor chip shortage and other logistical problems.

Several automakers have announced some sort of production delay due to the chip shortage as well as the dramatic cold weather that hit Texas and other parts of the U.S. recently, affecting the production of some plastic and foam vehicle components.

The number of vehicles at or in transit to dealerships was down 26 percent in February 2021 compared to the same month in 2020. For pickup trucks, the number was closer to 50 percent. That all leads to a few unfortunate realities for anyone looking to buy a new car soon: you’re likely looking at fewer choices on the lot, higher prices, or a longer wait time for your car to arrive.

Read the article at Car and Driver.

By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor

The 2021 IARA Virtual Conference was conducted last week the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance and featured important presentations for remarketers and fleet professionals interested in remarketing trends for 2021 and beyond.

The conference kicked off with opening comments by Laura Taylor, Charleston Auto Auction Accelerate and former National Auto Auction Association (NAAA) president. She began by noting that, although everyone knows how chaotic 2020 went, the current situation is really good for remarketers. “Conversion rates are high. The inventory may be a little short, but we’re selling everything that’s coming through the door.”

NAAA president-elect Charles Nichols of BSC America, followed Laura and stressed “how nice it is to be able to run cars again.” And noted “everybody has been so resilient through all of this. I’ve not seen a group be more cohesive. It’s a real statement to the industry, our organization, and our people.”

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