In this sponsored episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast, Josh Callahan, Senior Director, Remarketing Services at Ally SmartAuction speaks with Bill Zadeits on various topics surrounding the wholesale and retail used car markets. Josh speaks to the fluctuations in the market, always changing consumer preferences, and key insights on inventory management. Josh also shares with our audience the latest updates to the SmartAuction platform that are making positive differences for dealers.

0:09: Well, hello there everybody.

0:11: We welcome you in to another edition of the Auto re Marketing podcast.

0:15: So glad to have you along with us as we are driving down the road and today with Josh Callahan.

0:22: Josh is the senior director remarketing services at Ally Smart Auction.

0:26: Josh, great to spend some time with you today.

0:29: Great to be here, Bill.

0:31: Josh, as we, as we dive into our conversation, I think it's gonna be really interesting to, to get your perspective on a on a number of, of different topics.

0:40: So let's just dive in here.

0:42: I I know I know pricing fluctuations in the wholesale market have been impacting the retail market obviously, but I in your view, how, how are those fluctuations impacting the the retail side of things?

0:56: Well, there's certainly a lot of complexity out there in the retail market right now.

1:00: As you know, the used car market is is part art and part science with all these fluctuations certainly complicates the science, part of business out there.

1:10: dealers and generally used car managers, buyers out there know how evaluations kind of trend with into the marketplace, what types of vehicles work and what types of vehicles don't necessarily work for their customers.

1:22: And certainly these fluctuations, it's a whole level of complete complexity and variables out there that unfortunately if you buy at the wrong time, you could be stuck with an overpriced car and you're a lot out there.

1:33: That being said, starting to see some of the smoothing out of these fluctuations and not necessarily those big peaks and valleys that we saw earlier or in the past several years and we'll still see some of those fluctuations.

1:45: But I think we're getting back to that almost normal behavior that we all kind of knew pre pandemic out there in the marketplace.

1:52: Yeah, that's great to hear.

1:54: Great to hear Josh, in your opinion, are consumer preferences changing from what you've seen,, what vehicle models, you know, but be it SUVS, hybrids, trucks, whatever, what are selling the best in the wholesale side of things and, and then also in the retail markets.

2:11: What are you seeing?

2:13: Well, I think, certainly consumer is gonna drive the wholesale marketplace out there.

2:17: If you can't sell retail, doesn't make a whole sense of a whole lot of sense out there to buy the vehicle.