DriveTime Used Car, Rolls Out Auction App

To simplify car auctions, DriveTime unveiled a new mobile app dubbed Buyonic. The app seeks to streamline, automate and reinvent the auction purchasing process, the company said in an announcement.

“We began piloting Buyonic with our online buyers beginning in December of last year, and it is now in use with all of our in-lane and online buyers,” Maureen Needham, Director/IT, Inventory for DriveTime, said in the announcement.

The app offers features such as pre-filtered vehicle lists guiding buy strategies and live actions as well as recommended purchase values. In addition, the app includes live performance tracking and cars’ estimated reconditioning value. In the future, DriveTime is planning some enhancements, such as a recommended delivery location and an automated condition report evaluation, according to Needham.

“Long term, we expect our most recent innovation, Buyonic, to help us capture the entire inventory lifecycle of auction, purchase and reconditioning data, allowing us to strategically use the information to win more bids at a better price with lower reconditioning costs, while continuing to provide our customers with high-quality vehicles,” DriveTime Vice President of Inventory Colin Bachinsky said in the announcement. “We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of the quality, efficiency and cost-reduction opportunities.”

Arizona-based DriveTime, the country’s second-largest used car retailer focused solely on used vehicles, operates over 140 dealerships nationwide and sells more than 150,000 used vehicles each year. The company counts more than 1.2 million website visitors and more than $2 billion in consumer credit requests each month. It is focused on providing lower mileage, used vehicles and used vehicle financing.

Currently, DriveTime offers customers a credit score and the starting down payment in less than two minutes, as well as prices on every used vehicle online and at its dealerships. In addition, the company offers no-haggle pricing and salaried associates to assist customers. DriveTime also has a five-day, no-questions-asked used vehicle return program.