Manheim Auctions has announced the creation of Manheim InterChange for Dealers, a new online wholesale transaction service that it says will make dealer-to-dealer vehicle sales safer, easier and more profitable.

According to the company, each year, U. S. auto dealers wholesale more than 15 million used vehicles – that is, they sell those vehicles to other dealers, either directly, through wholesalers, or at auctions.

“For 55 years, Manheim has been a leader in helping dealers buy and sell cars at auctions,” said Jamie Porter, Manheim’s executive vice president of operations. “With the introduction of InterChange for Dealers, we are now able to help dealers buy and sell cars in the wholesale market beyond the gates of the auctions. We’re confident dealers will find this new service extremely useful, and we believe it will fast become one of the more popular services on Manheim Online.”

Joe Luppino, vice president and chief operating officer of Manheim Interactive, said Manheim InterChange for Dealers brings two important benefits to dealers who wholesale cars to other dealers – security and volume.

“Today, when a dealer wants to wholesale a vehicle, he typically calls no more than three or four other dealers or wholesalers for a quote,” said Luppino. “The dealers he calls are guys he knows well, and can rely on for a reasonable quote and, most importantly, a good check.

“With InterChange for Dealers, that dealer will be able to request that Manheim facilitate the transaction. That means he can sell the car to virtually any dealer in the United States, knowing that he will be paid, immediately, by Manheim. And the buyer will be able to purchase with the confidence that Manheim has verified the essential information about the car.”

The company says InterChange for Dealers will also expand the size of the trading networks between dealers. “A dealer with cars to sell will be able to offer them to a much wider audience – consider that Manheim Online has more than 40,000 active users – with the peace of mind that comes with having Manheim back the transaction,” Luppino continued.

InterChange for Dealers will become the nation’s first central database of information about cars available for sale in the wholesale market beyond the auctions’ gates, Luppino said. “Because today’s dealer-to-dealer networks are small, information on available vehicles is fragmented. Dealers have no way of really knowing what’s out there, and so the efficiency of the market is hampered. InterChange for Dealers changes that, by offering one centralized source of information about cars for sale in major markets around the U. S.”

About Manheim Auctions

Dedicated to helping dealers succeed, Manheim Auctions offers services that impact every stage of a used vehicle’s life cycle. These include transaction, reconditioning and certification services, managed remarketing, end-of-lease-term management services, vehicle transportation, dealer floor planning, retail inspection and government auction services. The company also assists auto manufacturers, fleet and lease companies, banks and other financial institutions in selling their used vehicle inventories.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc., Manheim Auctions has more than 32,000 employees at its 124 auctions and related businesses. Manheim is a global remarketing organization with 85 auctions in North America and additional operations in France, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. In the year 2002, the company says it auctioned more than 9.5 million vehicles at its North American auctions.