LANELOGIC: STREAMLINING INVENTORY CONTROL

Lanelogic: used-car savvy

February 13, 2006—Lanelogic's used-vehicle trading network offers logical place to move vehicles.

Launched at the NADA convention, the Lanelogic used-vehicle trading network aggregates the buy/sell needs of dealers within their region.

Here's how the system works:

• Each dealer's inventory is downloaded into the network,

• Working with American Auto Exchange (aaXchange), the system creates an "ideal inventory" profile for each dealer, based on past sales and market data,

• The system then searches out missing pieces of the inventory within the network of dealers in that region.

Dealers who join the free network agree to let Lanelogic buy vehicles for them. As a backup, Lanelogic guarantees it will buy back any vehicle the dealer fails to retail after 45 days, minus $500 or $600, depending on the vehicle's price.

Dealers in the network can request an offer from Lanelogic on a vehicle that they want to sell. The no-cost offer is returned in an average of five minutes, and the dealer has 48 hours to accept it. A charge of $200 per transaction is included in the offer. If Lanelogic has no buyer for the vehicle, the dealer can sell it on VB2—the online auction of its parent company, Copart.

Lanelogic has a pilot program in Texas, says president Jim O'Brien. He expects the networks to be nationwide by April.