when I saw this on Ocala.com I thought it was a bit unusual to be relaying 11 vehicles one of which is a f-250. I’m thinking it may have been more than one ruck that dropped them and more than one truck picking them up or the load has 10 very small cars so that the 11th vehicle could be an f-250. I titled my post with the word missing instead of stolen because one of my trucks left a car at a transport lot because he couldn’t fit them all on and left the key in the “secret” tailpipe location. In our case it appears that it was mistakenly transported by another auto transporter because about 2 weeks later it showed up in the same spot with the keys back in the tail-pipe. It had normal road grime but no extra miles.

Truck stolen from Adesa Auction

This is off of Business Wire

ADESA, Inc. today announced that it plans to acquire Live Global Bid, Inc. (“LGB”), a leading provider of Internet-based auction software and services, on June 30, 2008. The LGB technology allows auction houses to broadcast their auctions through simultaneous audio and video feeds to all participating Internet users from any location.

As we see our market change with the influence of technology it affects the transporters because right now a dealer can buy a few cars at every sale instead of traveling to the sale twice a month so your average cars per stop is lowered. Of course adding stops to your route lowers profits as well. If we see this trend continue, (and I think we will), then the next logical step will be to sell the cars on the internet without actually shipping them to the auction facility. It seems efficient to skip the extra shipping, but with the logistics nightmare it creates I think using the auction lot as the hub, in what basically becomes a hub and spoke distribution system, makes more sense to me.

Having just completed a successful test of a real time vehicle locater system at their facility in Mesquite, TX they have now signed a deal to build a new facility in Hutchins, TX. According to the Dallas Business Journal they will build 200,000 square feet of buildings at the new 170 acre site.

I drove down to their facility today to see first-hand how the MyDealerLot™ system worked in an auto auction evironment. This is one of the auctions where the auto transporters pull inside of the secure area to load. They have worked out procedures to make sure the RFID tags are removed before loading so they don’t lose tags. At the auctions where the cars are checked out of an exit gate before being loaded in the transport lot it will be a lot easier to control. When they lay out the new facility with the locator system in mind it will be a lot easier to put in all of the transmitters and exciters. In this installation they made extensive use of solar powered units to keep from needing to dig up the lot for power. Where they were mounting on buildings with power they used conventional units like this one

I had an opportunity over lunch to hear George Cresto explain not only about this current system but also some of their research into gps based systems. They have a transmitter that can last up to a year on one battery charge and are studying the feasability of being able to track vehicles anywhere. I think this could work well for vehicle transport brokers. The cost will be higher than the RFID tracking tags so it will probably not be a viable alternative for auctions that need to track several thousand vehicles at one time but for a broker that has maybe a 100 vehicles moving at any given time it would allow them to locate the vehicle anytime during the move. Since he is looking at this working on the same web-based design it will be very easy to let the consumer track his own vehicle as well.

I haven’t got to see it yet because I am just hitting Calif. and the test site was in Dallas.

From the press release and my short conversation with the folks at MyDealerLot™ the big difference is that instead of giving you the location of the car when it was last scanned you get the current location! I’ll add more info here as I get it. Read my feb 21st review of the manheim system

5-30-08 I just had an online meeting with George Cresto of MyDealerLot™ and I am really excited about the possibilities that his system has and the positive implications on the auto transport industry. What really caught my attention was that they have successfully tested at an Adesa auto auction and that this has the potential to roll out to all of the Adesa auctions. They also do dealerships but I think we will see much more benefit at the auctions. Since this is a web-based application and they have different login levels available they can have a login level for a dealer or his transporter to locate his cars on the lot by VIN number. The number of trucks that are computer equipped is rising rapidly and this system has the capability to allow the driver and/or his dispatcher to get real-time location of the vehicle they are trying to deliver even if it is moving! When a car is stationary it’s location is confirmed every 10 minutes but if it is moving it is updated every second. I think we have all left an auction more than once with an empty spot on our load because a car could not be located. Not only does that kill your profit on your load but that also hurts the dealer because he doesn’t get his vehicle in a timely manner. I hope that Adesa extends access to at least the transporters that are represented at the auctions.

Just think how much time and frustration could be saved if the driver could see at the touch of a button the location of his cars before he even pulls out his ramps. He will know instantly if his cars have been pulled or not.

I saw this on wkbw.com

Man Crushed by Truck at Auto Auction

Story Published: Apr 8, 2008 at 8:23 PM EDT

Story Updated: Apr 8, 2008 at 8:23 PM EDT

By Ginger Geoffery

A man is crushed to death by a truck during a busy auto auction in Newstead. It happened Tuesday morning around 10:30 at the Adesa Auto Auction in Newstead. Police say the victim, 54-year-old William Bushnell of Gowanda, was at the auction working for an auto dealer, and he was walking through the bays where the vehicles are displayed to potential bidders when a worker who was pulling a truck in a bay lost control.

Witnesses describe a chaotic scene following the accident. “There was just a lot of people all over. There were some females in there crying,” says Dan Glaser, an auto dealer who always attends the Tuesday auctions.

The driver of the truck, 52-year-old Roseann Adornetto, told sheriff’s investigators she been working as a temporary employee moving vehicles at the auctions for the past year, but she doesn’t know exactly what happened this Tuesday morning when the Dodge truck she was pulling into one of the auction bays suddenly accelerated.

“She’d put it in ‘park’ she told us to rev the engine, and then when she put it from ‘park’ into ‘drive’ that’s when the vehicle jumped forward and to the left,” says Sgt. Thomas Daugherty of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office.

The truck pinned Bushnell against the wall and investigators say the force collapsed part of the wall. Bushnell was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center but he died from his injuries. “I think he was killed instantly. He wasn’t moving. They tried to resuscitate him. They couldn’t,” says Glaser.

Investigators impounded the truck to check it for mechanical problems. “She (Adornetto) told us at the hospital the vehicle was running rough and she was revving the engine to keep it running. She may have possibly accidentally stepped on accelerator instead of brake,” says Sgt. Daugherty.

The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating and they haven’t determined yet what charges, if any, Roseann Adornetto will face. They may also take a closer look at whether there are any safety issues that need to be addressed at Adesa in light of this accident.

Here is an update from an eye-witness named Chuck that I got off of this blog. What a tragic day!

I am truly saddened by today’s events at Adesa. I was there and heard the crash. I walked over and saw a man lying there lifeless. For the next hour, all the dealers and Adesa staff walked around and shared the same look of disbelief. It could have been anyone of us. We get up in the morning,leave our homes,not realizing that life can end in an instant. I did not know Bill or the driver,but my heart goes out to both of them. There families will be in my prayers.