What wholesale remarketing trends have you noticed over recent months?

Across the remarketing sector, we’re seeing a preference for cars requiring less repair work with Grade 1 and Grade 2 cars in strong demand among dealers. In a market where demand is still there, I think dealers are being put off by the amount of time required to prepare some cars to bring them up to retail condition. This is being compounded by a shortage of some parts and components, which again is putting some dealers off taking on stock that needs repair work.


What trends are you seeing in terms of vehicles being remarketed on the OPENLANE UPSTREAM platform?

We’re seeing a broad mix of vehicles by model and age with increasing volumes of privately owned cars appearing on UPSTREAM, which is providing our dealer clients with a fresh source of used cars for their forecourts.

We’re also remarketing more BEVs than before. The volumes are still relatively small but continually growing month-on-month. Because they are in such high demand, these tend to be among the fastest sellers on the platform.


Since last year you have been working with OPENLANE Europe on a major UPSTREAM integration project, how is that progressing?

We’ve been working very closely with the OPENLANE Europe team to align our platform more closely with their platform. The benefit of the integration is that theirs is more mature, has richer functionality and a history of transacting tens of thousands of vehicles across multiple markets.

The integration is on track and our customers should get their first glimpse of the new-look UPSTREAM in early 2023.


Will the user experience be different?

Yes. Buyers and vendors will enjoy an enhanced user experience with more information on vehicles and improved navigation. It will also be more personalised and more accessible to new customers visiting our website. We’re very excited about the integration and are looking forward to sharing more details over the coming months.


You’ve also been working closely with the Automotive Transformation Group to deliver a digital solution for their trade-outs, how is that adding to your proposition for dealers?

The service was launched to help dealers using Automotive Transformation Group’s services to trade-out their over-age stock direct to UPSTREAM. The advantage for them is that it provides an additional wholesale route to market for cars still being retailed on their forecourts, helping them to improve stock-turn.

The feedback from early adopters showed they appreciated the instant benefit of the facility, especially for vehicles spending over 30 days in stock. Although the issue of over-age stock has reduced over recent weeks, retailers have the comfort of knowing it’s there as and when they need it.


With environmental responsibilities now playing a significant role in corporate governance, do you think your ability to remarket vehicles upstream, the moment they become available, gives you an advantage over traditional auctions houses that have added online services?

Yes, definitely. The vehicles we remarket do not undergo the multiple movements still typical at traditional auction houses, whether they’re still operating physical auction halls or have made the switch to digital. Their typical business model still requires vehicles to be collected, stored in compounds, then moved many times around auction sites before they are transported to the buyer.

Upstream remarketing removes the need for these multiple vehicle movements because the vehicle is made available to the buyer right at the start of the defleet or trade-out process.

Our ability to remarket cars in situ is reducing unnecessary CO2 emissions and that can become a significant saving when you multiply it across fleets of vehicles.

Finance and leasing companies, fleets and dealers all desire to reduce their carbon footprint and are increasingly reviewing their approaches to vehicle remarketing. We expect to see emission reduction considerations becoming part of more tendering processes.

From our conversations with clients and prospects, we know that upstream remarketing provides a solution which is resonating with an increasing number of businesses.