Insurance Auto Auctions Drives Record Returns for Its Customers

by Lance Groom

Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., a leading provider of automotive salvage and claims processing services in the United States, today announced record vehicle returns during the second quarter. IAA's dual bidding strategy has continued to drive more buyers to the Company's auctions than ever before, resulting in increased bidding activity and higher vehicle returns for its insurance company suppliers. "Combining the feedback we have been receiving from our customers with our internal data, we believe our vehicle returns were the highest in the industry during the quarter, which we feel is a direct result of our dual bidding platform and improved levels of customer service," said Tom O'Brien, CEO. "On average, our returns have increased more than $300 per unit compared to 2003, providing a significantly better return for our insurance company suppliers. Our live auctions, most of which feature Run & Drive(R) auction lanes, are supplemented with our state-of-the-art Internet bidding capability, giving our growing customer base the flexibility to see and bid on our vehicles up close or through the Internet from anywhere in the world in a real-time setting. Enthusiastic buyer support of our auction model is clearly evident from the increase in buyer participation we have experienced, both at live auctions and via the Internet. By encouraging more buyers to come on to our bidding platform than ever before, we believe that during the quarter we were able to generate more bidding activity and the highest vehicle returns in the industry." Commenting further on the Company's recent operating performance, O'Brien said, "We haven't missed a beat throughout the organization since the close of the Kelso & Company acquisition in late May. The transaction has allowed us to focus even more of our time and energy on improving our operations and service levels to our customers, translating into much higher returns for our suppliers and higher profits for IAA. The Company generated revenues of $71.9 million in the second quarter, compared with $60.0 million in the same quarter of 2004. Gross profit margins improved to 26% in the second quarter, up from 22% in the same quarter of last year. We also continued to strategically expand during the quarter, specifically in Jacksonville, Altoona and Charleston, providing IAA with a greater geographic reach to meet the needs of our current and potential customers. Going forward we will continue to target new strategic opportunities that will further increase our buyer base and maintain our momentum of generating significantly higher returns." S-4 Filing: Insurance Auto Auctions also filed an S-4 today that provides supplemental financial information to the results provided herein. Please refer to this document for additional financial information about the Company and its quarterly results. About Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.: Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., founded in 1982, a leader in automotive total loss and specialty salvage services in the United States, provides insurance companies with cost-effective, turnkey solutions to process and sell total-loss and recovered-theft vehicles. The Company currently has 80 sites across the United States. Additional information about Insurance Auto Auctions is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.CarLackey.com http://www.AutoLackey.com http://www.RichLackey.com Please Help Hurricane Katrina Victoms below: Visit "RED CROSS" by using the link below... http://www.redcross.org/ Victims of Hurricane Katrina are attempting to recover from the massive storm that is still making its way across the Mid-Atlantic States. American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the hardest hit areas of Katrina's destruction, supplying hundreds of thousands victims left homeless with critical necessities. By making a financial gift to Hurricane 2005 Relief, the Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. http://www.redcross.org/ About the Author My name is Lance Groom and I am formally from the Hit TV Show "Making Money", also past board member for "Susan Powter" health fitness, and Infomercial guru. In 2001 I led one of the largest advertising campaigns in over 6,000 newspapers. This campaign resulted in over 25,000 sales all over the world creating "Classified Millions".

Can you boost profits significantly by adding audio to your E-Bay auctions?

by Dan Lim

If you ask me, it is a definite yes. In fact, one e-book author suggested that adding audio to your auctions could potentially increase bids by as much as 22% over auctions without audio. A recent trend showing up on a lot of websites is the addition of an audio clip. The clip is a personal message by the author or the website owner encouraging you to take advantage of what they offer. The psychology behind this technique is really Marketing 101. It's called personalization. An audio clip added to your Ebay auction allows you to personally tell the potential bidder about the product. Using your own voice allows you to make contact with the bidder on a personal level that written words cannot. Because, that's what your E-Bay auction really is...It's just a long written classified ad asking the bidder to make an offer to purchase your item. Prior to the advent of the telephone the only reliable way to communicate long distance was by writing letters. It was not unusual back then for lovers to write each other daily or weekly. The decline of letter writing is a well documented event that coincides with the advent of the telephone. The power of the human voice to convey a message triumphs that of the written word. With audio you can describe the item, tell the bidder why you are selling it or even communicate with them about your refund policy or provide your contact information. The possibilities are almost unlimited as a way to establish a rapport with the bidder. There are some technical elements to adding audio to your E-Bay auctions. The simplest way is to upload a .wav or Mp3 file to a website and provide a link to the file. When the bidder clicks on the link his or her computer will automatically recognize the file and play it with the audio player on the bidders computer. There are some drawbacks to this method. If the bidder's computer doesn't recognize the file it won't play. The overall effect is not as professional as it could be and it distracts the bidder. If you are a reasonably tech savvy type you can easily deal with the drawbacks of this approach. For the rest of us, there are a number of software solutions and websites that will simplify the task of adding audio to our E-Bay auctions. These different programs and websites range from charging a one time fee to monthly fee's for the use of the program. The good news is that many of them will let try them for as little as $1 for a trial basis or let you download a demo version to see how well it will work for you. About the author: Dan Lim is an avid ebay fanatic who has been quietly earning a comfortable living online. For more ebay selling secrets and strategies, visit bestnzb.com

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