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Thoughts On KAR Folding Carwave Into Backlot?

bringles

Just Get'm In
Apr 17, 2013
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Erik
This is the first week of carwave auctions being run on backlot car's website. KAR purchased carwave last year for $450M. They had previously purchased and shut down traderev, moving traderev dealers over to backlot in the process.

I was surprised that KAR shut down carwave and keeps pushing Backlot. Carwave was very successful and a good platform for buyers and sellers. I have bought a lot of cars on backlot, but the main issue is basically there is almost no coverage for frame/structural damage. I opened an arbitration case for structural damage on a recent purchase and I was told that the frame has to be rotted out or the car is unsafe to drive for the arb case to be honored. They do not follow NAAA standards. The inspection forms give the appearance of frame/structural coverage but buyer beware!

It seems that KAR wants to make Backlot the place to send all your units that wont pass NAAA standards. I would like to hear other dealers' thoughts on the merger and backlot in general.
 
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Might it be a timing of acquisitions thing? Backlot was acquired a year before CarWave was. Maybe the wheels were already turning on Backlot, and it made more sense to remove the competition from the table.

I don't follow the auction space much. I'm deducing my questions above solely on some quick searches and press release reads.