In his year-end message to the auction industry, Eric Autenrieth, ServNet's President, surveys the group's 30th anniversary year, highlighted by the addition of its 23rd auction location and business solutions that will carry forward into 2019.

Another year draws to a close. As we all pause to take stock of the past 12 months, to straighten our desks in preparation for a break from the flow of traffic through our auction lanes to enjoy the holidays, I look back on a great year in business, topped by 30 years of growth and success among our group of ServNet auctions.

As I reported earlier this year, the market has continued to be interesting, though positive. Tax time took hold early and never really stopped, with the dip we generally expect to see following the arrival of refund checks not really materializing until late in the fall. While dealer inventory was lighter than in years past, our auctions made up for that in institutional business: repossessions, off-lease units and rental returns. Dealers who reported shortages in inventory looked for cars on all platforms, which has resulted in strong pricing and strong conversions.  

Along with a dynamic market, customers enjoyed an exceptional customer exeperience at ServNet auctions across the country in 2018.

ServNet wraps up its 30th Anniversary Year with another upswing in growth, adding FastLane Auto Exchange as its 23rd auction location.

"The ServNet auction owners welcome yet another new facility to our ranks," said ServNet President Eric Autenrieth. "Led by owner/operator Greg Price, an industry veteran who comes from second-generation family lineage in the industry, FastLane Auto Exchange is taking the industry by storm, recording exponential growth over the past two years. Greg is a colleague with great experience and talent, and we are pleased to expand ServNet's geographic footprint into the all-important upper Midwest region."

Located just north of Flint Michigan in Mount Morris, FastLane Auto Exchange has been in operation since 1978, and was purchased by a group led by Greg Price in January of 2017. Under Price's leadership, the auction has undergone a staggering transformation, expanding in less than 2 years from an evening sale running 100+ vehicles a week on one lane to a Wednesday afternoon auction featuring 700+ vehicles on 8 lanes.

Chad Bailey, President of Akron Auto Auction, was inaugurated as NAAA President in early November during the 2018 Conference in Arizona.  Among the past presidents of the NAAA are several of ServNet's own who have set a precedent for involved, active leadership: Henry Stanley (Carolina and Indiana Auctions), Raymond Nichols (BSC America), and Bob McConkey (the McConkey Auction Group).

As he spends the upcoming year at the helm of the NAAA, he will be joined by a number of ServNet auction owners, who serve in various capacities with the national association to nurture the health and growth of the industry, lending their expertise and voices to establish policy, explore solutions to common challenges, and consider the innovations that will benefit the wholesale buying and selling process.

Bailey heads a family business founded by his grandfather in 1973.  Born and raised in Canton, Ohio, he earned a B.S. in Mass Communications at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and went on to received his MBA at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.  After college, he returned to Ohio, working for one uncle at the auto auction by day, and for another uncle as a restaurant bartender by night. Out of the blue he received an offer from Hilton Las Vegas to take over its marketing department, an opportunity he declined, realizing that he enjoyed the auction business.  It was a decision that fit. He soon became the auction's general manager, then a minority partner, and acquired majority ownership of the company in 2011.

Early in his auction career Bailey saw the benefits of active industry involvement, which helped him gain leadership skills as well as find solutions to challenges he faced in operating his business.