NEWS

The UK is the 13th country in the Autorola group to launch the INDICATA business intelligence and insight software platform for used vehicle management.

Developed for dealers and OEMs initially, INDICATA collates, analyses and processes real-time data on used vehicles offered in the UK market giving dealers powerful market insights to help increase their stock turn and profitability.

Used vehicle profitability is vital for UK dealers
“Used vehicles are an important source of revenue and profit for all UK OEMs and their dealers and INDICATA has been developed to give them the tools to help further increase the efficiency and profitability of their businesses,” explained Neil Gilligan, INDICATA national business development manager.

“INDICATA has been providing a valuable series of insights to dealers across the globe for the past two years. After a successful pilot in the UK it is now fully operational,” he added.

Price competition will help dealers sell more cars more quickly
INDICATA tracks the price development and number of stocking days of the dealer’s stock and competing vehicles. Parameters such as price, mileage and age of vehicles are factored into comparisons.

It also compares a dealers’ inventory and prices with competing vehicles in the market to help ensure its stock stays competitive and ultimately sells as quickly as possible

Price positioning, market days’ supply and trends are presented in dashboards as KPIs as well as giving the user the ability to download reports in excel.

As vehicle management techniques and asset owners’ priorities change Autorola Solutions’ priority is to customise its solutions to accommodate these requests.
Its focus is to individually design asset management solutions covering the specific needs of large fleet owners of every size in OEM, bank and leasing segments globally.


Everything it delivers is bespoke as Autorola is aware at this level one size does not fit all.
The ability to grow and drive digital transformation is at the heart of positioning Autorola Solutions as a forward-thinking, efficiency-improving and values-centred business unit.

Fleet Monitor workflow monitoring tool
At the heart of the Solutions offering is the Fleet Monitor workflow monitoring tool which is focussed on helping asset owners control in-fleet and de-fleet processes in order to optimise their profit. It covers all stages of fleet management, from the time the car is ordered through a dealer, to its time in use with a driver, to it being defleeted through online and physical channels and its final reporting.

It helps improve service levels and lead-times across all aspects of all in-fleet to de-fleet processes. Ultimately the system integration allows fleets to combine a workflow that allows fleets to plan and control all activities from one single access point.

End to end value chain
The system records various customized gateways that each vehicle must pass through, such as arrival, handover to drivers, return, inspection and sales. This means an end-to-end value chain is easily managed in a structured and transparent way allowing constant monitoring and work flow improvement – from in-fleet to de-fleet and sales.

Autorola has developed Fleet Monitor in house and features all the benefits of online control and transparency that Autorola is famous for. This is combined with the skills and experience of a consultancy team that gets under the skin of a fleet’s requirements to fine tune the workflows and processes to match a customer’s exacting requirements.

UniCredit Leasing Italy, Kia Motors Austria and Jyske Finans Denmark are just three of the happy customers that are working with Solutions. To find out more go to www.autorolagroup.com/about/solutions/

Zijad Halilovic from Autorola Netherlands on how its online portal is helping bring stability to the used car market
The Netherlands is aiming for half of its new car sales by 2025 to be electric or hybrid as part of a Green Deal which incentivises company car drivers to choose a low emission car to reduce their personal tax.

However, the used car market is still trying to play catch up and currently is in disarray, with consumer used demand for smaller petrols outweighing the supply of petrol cars in the market. Meanwhile diesel demand continues to fall.

Used car disconnect between supply and demand
This has caused a huge disconnect with OEMs, leasing groups and dealer groups having to export used diesels to other European countries, including eastern Europe.

Autorola’s online remarketing platform is at the heart of this export strategy with used cars being loaded onto the portal daily and then purchased by the thousands of active buyers it has across Europe. Used cars are being exported to Portugal, Germany and Denmark.

Used petrol cars are being imported to satisfy consumer demand
On the buyer front OEMs and their dealers are being forced to import used petrol cars into the Netherlands to satisfy current demand. The Autorola platform is being used by Dutch buyers to bid on and import small to medium sized used petrol cars from across mainland Europe.

“Autorola Netherlands has seen major growth based on more used cars being imported and exported through our portal. This so called cross border used vehicle activity is forcing OEMs, leasing companies and dealer groups to think on a European level now not just a country level. For some this is very difficult. Only those that think on a European level will survive,” said Zijad Halilovic.

The used market working on a European perspective
“The new car market is about the local market and the used market is based on a European perspective. This is a very new concept for many and one that we are helping buyers and vendors to come to terms with,” he added.

In the meantime sales of new zero emission and hybrid cars continues to grow and Autorola predicts it will be around 2020 before the used market mirrors the stability of the new market.

Autorola Turkey’s has launched INDICATA, the country’s first ever used car values guide and is making used stock available to local and national buyers.

The government’s decision to increase its special consumption tax in late 2016 by 3% on models costing 40,000-70,000 lira has helped ignite consumer demand for used cars. The Turkish used car market is around 3.5 million used cars in size but is expanding nationally not just in Istanbul.

“Historically much of the used car business has been based just around Istanbul. The used market is now maturing quite quickly and trade buyers across Turkey have been very open to purchasing used cars online.

10 major vendors have joined our online revolution in 12 months
“We have signed up 10 major vendors in the past 12 months which reinforces the response to online remarketing. Turkey is a big country and it is uneconomical to keep moving vehicles round to sell them. This vendor growth has helped us provide a wide mix of stock for buyers which they have responded to very well,” explained Saygi.

A major investment in the country’s transport infrastructure is also helping take away the focus just on Istanbul as the economic capital of Turkey. Better road networks will help spread the external investment to other cities and Autorola is playing its part by running regional online used car auctions in nine different cities.

Local buyers can buy locally or nationally
“It’s all about local buyers being able to buy used cars from both local and national vendors. The response has been positive from buyers as they are getting the chance to bid on stock that would normally end up in Istanbul,” he added.

One challenge for the Turkish market is knowing what used cars are worth which has been supported by the launch of INDICATA, the country’s first real time used vehicle pricing system.

INDICATA is enabling valuation of used cars for the first time
INDICATA is helping both the OEM and local dealer understand the true value of used cars based on local demand and supply. The system takes a regular overview of websites advertising used cars and its dashboard enables a dealer or asset owner to understand the true supply and pricing of all used cars both nationally and regionally

“Dealers can use the data proactively to sell more used cars and importantly reduce stocking days. They will be able to adjust prices up or down on a weekly basis to ensure their used stock remains competitive and only buy in new stock they know is in high demand. INDICATA gives the market the most dynamic insight into the used industry and OEMs and their dealers are already actively piloting the system.

“We cannot underestimate how important this launch has been. Ultimately further maturity of the used market helped by the likes of INDICATA will ensure Turkey quickly catches up with other European countries,” said Saygi.

Autorola Brazil is experiencing an increased demand for its online inspection and remarketing services as it supports the country’s fight against its corruption levels.

It is having a record year based on European car companies, fleet owners and rental and leasing vendors investing in the transparency of Autorola’s online portal.

Companies embrace online transparency
“Company decision makers like the fact that everything is open and transparent, right from the recording of an inspection of a car and upload of a vehicle’s condition to the sales portal to the vehicle payment process. Autorola Brazil is more than just an intermediary of remarketing of vehicles. It presents a demobilisation process, based on its values of transparency, flexibility and accuracy,” said Autorola Brazil country manager Marly Fialho Kierulf.

“Our experience in Brazil follows the culture of Denmark. They like the fact that Autorola is a Danish online business and that there is very little or no corruption in its home country. It gives them a confidence to use and trade on our online channels,” she added.

Used car market continues to thrive
On the back of a falling new market, the used car sector has continued to thrive with strong demand for smaller, low value used cars such as Toyota and Hyundai and with prestige brands such as Audi, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo and even Ducati motorcycles.

The lower and middle classes have been most affected by a recession but the upper classes continue to demand higher value prestige cars. For months Autorola could have sold double the amount of prestige used cars on its portal.

Audi Brazil has been an Autorola customer since 2014
Since 2014 Autorola Brazil has carried out inspections and online remarketing through a Sales Cascade programme for the car maker’s management, press and HQ demonstrator cars. The used cars are inspected across the country using Autorola’s online inspection system and are then uploaded onto the Autorola Brazil remarketing portal complete with images and a detailed condition report.

Autorola works with Audi to fine tune prices to ensure stock is priced perfectly to tie in with market conditions before the cars go live. The three-stage cascade auction offers used cars to its franchise dealer network first and then those that aren’t sold, normally around 10-15%, are then offered out to Autorola Brazil’s 6,000 active B2B buyers.

Audi prices are strong and a car is traceable
“Generally Cascade sales have a conversion rate of 100% as buyers trust the process, the declared condition of the cars and know they will only take delivery of the car once the funds have passed to the vendor. Vendors are in turn very happy at the transparency at the process, including receiving payment before the car is delivered from a registered Autorola Brazil buyer,” said an Audi Brasil spokesman.

“Audi prices have been at around 75% of a car’s original cost, which is very strong. Importantly the reports that Autorola Brazil sends to the vendor traces the car’s life from when it is registered to when it is sold and who the buyer is. If there is a query from a buyer, Autorola Brazil manages it in close co-operation with our used car team reinforcing that the human element supports the online proposition well,” he added.

Rental and leasing companies are working with Autorola
Autorola is now turning its attention to the rental and leasing industries as they are also keen to run a corruption free disposal operation. In July and August Autorola was tasked with selling a few hundred used cars quickly to free up the vendor’s cashflow and is just about to enter into an agreement to manage the inspection and remarketing of a major rental buy back deal.

“We are doing out bit with our customers to ensure that good wins over evil. We hope the entire market will come round to Autorola’s way of thinking in the next few years. Ultimately the automotive market is a big part of Brazil’s industrial success story so it would be good to see it was the first to achieve a zero corruption status with our help,” explained Kierulf.