June 2024

New Zealand’s only dealer-to-dealer online platform, Auction Online, passed yet another milestone in May 2025 with over 500 vehicles transacted on the platform. 

 

Director and co-founder Rui Santos commented, “The last 12 months have seen incredible growth, with hundreds of dealers now signed up and buying and/or selling on a weekly basis. More and more dealers are using and trusting the platform, and we are seeing month-by-month incremental growth and very positive feedback for the simplicity and workability of the system.”

 

The Auction Online system disintermediates much of the traditional vehicle wholesaler function and puts vehicles in front of hundreds of buyers, not just one.  In fact, over 1,200 users are currently registered, with new users joining daily. 

 

In addition to the standard auctions, which are being run three times per week—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

 

“We recently added a Monday auction so that dealers could quickly list their traded vehicles from the weekend and because of the growing demand on the other two days.” said Santos

 

We also introduced OEM Auctions this year for distributors, which are closed to their franchise dealer network. Results have been excellent, with 90%+ clearance rates and more distributors using the system, typically with monthly auctions as they change drive, demonstrator, and media vehicles. Results have been exceptional.

 

“The other growth area is rental car companies using Auction Online to sell end-of-season vehicles and achieving better results than through other channels.”

 

Santos concluded, “ We are delighted to get the support of the wider industry, and we continue to improve the system to enhance the customer experience. We also have a number of additional development ideas and products we will roll out during the year. One of those will be providing buyers a seamless floorplan facility when they purchase a vehicle—that is going through final trials now.”