Cox Automotive Enhances Dealer Experience with Advanced Transportation Insights in Wholesale Market
Cox Automotive is making waves in the automotive retail space by integrating Central Dispatch transportation pricing intelligence directly into the Manheim Marketplace and vAuto's Stockwave. This innovative move equips dealers with vital data on both managed transportation and open-market pricing estimates, empowering them to make well-informed decisions while evaluating wholesale inventory. The integration taps into marketplace data from millions of vehicle movements, allowing dealers to compare various transportation solutions in real-time, ultimately optimizing their purchasing processes.
This transition highlights Cox Automotive's commitment to streamlining the wholesale buying journey in a rapidly evolving market. Joe Kichler, the senior vice president of Marketplace and Services at Cox Automotive, stated, "This is Cox Automotive at its best, connecting the dots across our ecosystem to put the insights dealers need right at their fingertips." By introducing Central Dispatch pricing alongside their inventory listings, dealers now gain a clearer view of the total acquisition cost, enabling them to consider transportation expenses in their purchase evaluations.
Dealers can now choose between the fully managed transportation option offered by Ready Logistics—which connects them to a vast network of over 6,000 vetted carriers—or leverage Central Dispatch, which is known as the industry's largest vehicle transportation platform. Central Dispatch provides unique pricing insights based on real transaction data, allowing dealers to negotiate directly with around 20,000 carriers. This dual offering ensures that dealers have the flexibility to select the transportation approach that best fits their specific needs, whether they prefer a hands-off managed service for simplicity or a more engaged process to control costs.
As the automotive market witnesses an increasing trend of sourcing inventory from beyond local markets, transportation costs have become a critical factor in a vehicle's total investment and profitability. High-volume buyers on Manheim typically source inventory from an average of 17 different locations, while online dealers often look beyond 400 miles. The newly integrated transportation estimates from Central Dispatch appear directly on vehicle listings in Manheim.com and OVE.com, providing dealers with immediate access to transportation costs specific to each vehicle listing based on prevailing market rates.
In Stockwave, which serves more than 7,000 dealerships to source auction vehicles across more than 300 marketplaces, Central Dispatch transportation estimates are accessible through a glance feature, sitting alongside important metrics such as guidebook values and live market demand metrics. This comprehensive display of insights allows dealers to evaluate which vehicles to purchase, their optimal sourcing location, and the appropriate pricing—all before finalizing a transaction.
The pricing intelligence from Central Dispatch comes from a robust dataset derived from millions of real transactions conducted throughout their marketplace annually. They provide two advanced tools: Price Check, which offers an estimated range for transportation costs, and Price Check Plus, an AI-powered feature that adjusts pricing based on real-time market conditions to deliver accurate predictions. The enhancements made to Price Check Plus this year strengthen its ability to reflect the rapidly shifting market landscape, ensuring that dealers make informed decisions regarding transportation costs.
Cox Automotive stands out as a unique player in the market by offering dealers integrated access to the expansive reach of Manheim's marketplace, visibility through Stockwave, and a full spectrum of self-managed and fully managed transportation options—all backed by genuine pricing data. This consolidation of services enhances the dealer experience within the automotive ecosystem and emphasizes the power of information in driving smarter business decisions.