Western Auto Supply Company—known more widely as Western Auto—was a specialty retail chain of stores that supplied automobile parts and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States. It was started in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri, by George Pepperdine and Don Abnor Davis. Pepperdine later founded Pepperdine University. Western Auto was bought by Beneficial Corporation in 1961; Western Auto's management led a leveraged buyout in 1985, leading three years later to a sale to Sears. Sears sold most of the company to Advance Auto Parts in 1998, and by 2003, the resulting merger had led to the end of the Western Auto brand and its product distribution network.
Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications, Cox Automotive, and Cox Media Group. The company's major national brands include AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book and more.
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) is an American provider of human resources management software and services.
Kelley Blue Book is an Irvine, California-based vehicle valuation and automotive research company that is recognized by both consumers and the automotive industry. The company is owned by the Cox Automotive subsidiary of Cox Enterprises.
A car dealership, or vehicle local distribution, is a business that sells new or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. It can also carry a variety of Certified Pre-Owned vehicles. It employs automobile salespeople to sell their automotive vehicles. It may also provide maintenance services for cars, and employ automotive technicians to stock and sell spare automobile parts and process warranty claims.
Hyundai Capital Services (Hangul:현대캐피탈) is a South Korean provider of consumer financial services ranging from auto-financing, private financing, and corporate financing. The company is a financial service unit of Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai Capital has expanded to overseas markets, providing auto financing services in five countries outside Korea – the U.S., the UK, China, Germany and Canada. Hyundai Capital also runs auto financing consultancies in Russia, Brazil, India, and Australia to support the sales of Hyundai and Kia cars at respective countries.
Auto Trader Group plc is a British automotive classified advertising business. It specialises in new and second hand automotive sales, including cars sold by private sellers and trade dealers. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company is a private corporation based in Dayton, Ohio. Its primary business is providing business forms, management software and professional services to car dealerships. Its software is used to manage sales logistics at dealerships. It also produces forms used in medicine and insurance.
Manheim, Inc. is an automobile auction company and the world's largest wholesale auto auction based on trade volume with 145 auctions located in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. As a subsidiary of Cox Automotive, a subsidiary of privately owned Cox Enterprises, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, Manheim's primary business is wholesaling vehicles via a bidding process using traditional and online formats. Manheim also provides other vital dealership and wholesale services, such as financing, title work, transportation, recovery, auto body repair, dealership management systems, dent repair and automotive reconditioning, and automotive re-marketing at each location.
Lithia Motors, Inc. is an American nationwide automotive retailer headquartered in Medford, Oregon. It is the third largest automotive retailer in the United States. In 2015, Lithia Motors broke into the Fortune 500 list at #482, making it one of only three Oregon-based companies in the Fortune 500. This followed a year that saw the acquisition of the DCH Auto Group, one of the 10 largest dealer groups in the country, with 27 dealerships, before being purchased by Lithia Motors. In 2016, Lithia climbed to #346 and that same year made the Fortune 500 List of Top Ten Companies with the biggest jump in rank on the Fortune 500. As of 2018, Lithia is ranked #294 on the Fortune 500. Lithia employs more than 14,150 people in stores across the nation including Alaska and Hawaii. Lithia operates 180 stores in 18 states.
Auto auctions are a method of selling vehicles based on an auction system. Auto auctions can be found in most countries and are usually exclusive to licensed automobile dealers. In a few countries, such as Japan, auto auctions are well known and used by most residents.
Autotrader.com, Inc. is an online marketplace for car buyers and sellers, founded in 1997. It aggregates new, used, and certified second-hand cars from dealers and private sellers. The site also provides users with automotive reviews, shopping advice, and comparison tools for car financing and insurance information.
DriveTime Automotive Group Inc. is an American used car retailer and finance company. It is based in Tempe, Arizona, and sells and finances cars to customers around the nation. The company was formerly known as Ugly Duckling and was renamed DriveTime in 2002. It also spun off Carvana and GO Financial, SilverRock Group Inc, and Bridgecrest Acceptance Corporation. As of 2018, DriveTime had approximately 145 locations in the U.S. and 3,800 employees.
Copart, Inc. or simply Copart is a global provider of online vehicle auction and remarketing services to automotive resellers such as insurance, rental car, fleet and finance companies in 11 countries: the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Ireland, Brazil, Spain, Dubai, Bahrain, Oman and Finland. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Copart has over 200 physical locations around the world, where it houses more than 8,000 acres of vehicle inventory. Copart sells used, wholesale and salvage vehicles in weekly and bi-weekly online auctions to buyers ranging from consumers to automotive businesses around the world. Copart provides vehicle sellers with a range of services to process and sell salvage and clean title vehicles over the internet, using its patented virtual auction technology.
The Black Book family of vehicle appraisal guides, that have the intent to provide timely, independent and accurate vehicle pricing data, is published by National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Communications. New and used car dealers, lenders, manufacturers, fleet remarketers, and government agencies have used Black Book since 1955.
Autotrader.co.za is an online automotive classifieds advertising website, which is part of Auto Trader South Africa. The company publishes an automotive classifieds magazine Auto Trader as well. Auto Trader South Africa was previously a subsidiary of the Auto Trader Group. In 2013, the Auto Trader Group sold their South African business, Auto Trader South Africa, which then became a wholly South African-owned business. The autotrader.co.za website is South Africa’s largest automotive marketplace website for buyers and sellers of both new and used cars and other types of vehicles. According to SimilarWeb, autotrader.co.za is South Africa's largest website in their Autos and Vehicles category.
CarsGuide is an online marketplace and content platform based in Sydney. The company specializes in automotive sales and purchases, as well as car news, advice and reviews.
Dutton Group is an Australian-based automotive company headquartered in Richmond, Victoria. The Group specializes in the automotive wholesale and the pre-owned automotive market. Dutton group consists of three major companies, Dutton Garage, Dutton Garage Wholesale, and Sell Your Car Fast. They were previously the parent company of True Value Solar before it was sold in 2011.
Vehicle subscription is a service where a customer pays a recurring fee for the right to use one or more automotive vehicles. Some vehicle subscriptions offer insurance and maintenance as part of the subscription fee; other subscriptions allow the subscriber to switch between different vehicles during their subscription period. Industry commentators consider vehicle subscription to be an alternative to owning or leasing a vehicle.
