Online tool will help GM dealers process, purchase off-lease vehicles
 | Dan Heinrich: Dealers can see inspection reports and get first shot at buying the offlease vehicles. |
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ORLANDO -- General Motors Financial Co. has created online tools to help dealerships process off-lease vehicles, starting in December.
Dan Heinrich, vice president of asset remarketing, said the tools also will provide dealerships easy access to off-lease vehicle inspection reports and give dealers who accept the off-lease vehicles first shot at buying them.
The online tool, available at GMFDealerSource.com, goes live Nov. 1, in time to start processing 2-year-old off-lease vehicles in December, Heinrich said. GM Financial, the former AmeriCredit Corp., launched its first lease program in December 2010 soon after being purchased by General Motors.
"They can do it from a Web site, and we're also going to introduce a mobile app to use on the iPhone, or they then can use a mobile device like a tablet," Heinrich said during an interview at the National Auto Auction Association conference here.
When a consumer brings a vehicle with a lease that's ending back to a dealership, that store will be offered the vehicle for a minimum of 48 hours at a price set by GM Financial, Heinrich said. That price is determined in part by an independent inspection of the vehicle 45 days before the lease expires, which can alert the owner and dealer to needed repairs.
Vehicles that the accepting dealerships don't take are offered exclusively for one day in an online auction to all dealers that participate in GM's certified used-vehicle programs. Vehicles that remain unsold go into two-day online auctions open to all GM dealers.
Vehicles still not sold will be made available for three days to any franchised or independent dealer on Openlane.com, which is owned by ADESA Auctions. After that, any remaining vehicles will be sent to physical auction sites.
You can reach Arlena Sawyers at asawyers@crain.com.
