The Internet division of Manheim Auctions Inc. is giving dealers the option of paying online for vehicles and services they purchase at the company's auctions.
Since May 6, dealers have had the ability to authorize Manheim Interactive to withdraw funds from their accounts at agreed-upon intervals to pay for online and regular auction purchases. Dealers who don't want to pay online can print invoices that can be mailed to respective auctions.
Joe Luppino, Manheim Interactive COO, said the service is designed to let dealers choose how and when they want to do business with Manheim.
The feature gives Manheim's customers access to their business account information 24 hours a day at no charge.
"The goal is to make it easier for dealers to do business with us," Luppino said.
The feature is an enhancement to Manheim Interactive's "MyAccount," which debuted in October.
MyAccount allows dealers to view their credit limits and outstanding balances, use vehicle identification numbers to look up transaction activity for a specific vehicle and receive e-mail notifications of arbitration and vehicle title changes.
Customers who floorplan with Manheim's captive finance company, Manheim Automotive Financial Services, also have access to their accounts with that company.
Of the 30,000 franchised and independent used-car dealers using Manheim Interactive, about 1,000 have obtained passwords to use MyAccount, Luppino said.
Manheim Auctions, which is in Atlanta, is owned by Cox Enterprises Inc. Manheim offered about 9.5 million vehicles for sale at its 85 wholesale auctions in North America in 2001.
