Frequent readers of AAR’s blog post will have you familiar with a good friend of mine, who is a wholesaler out of Atlanta.

AAR has assisted him with several issues he has had with auction issues, mainly failed PSIs (for no reason), inconsistent CRs, and generally poor service from the auctions. One of the wins this dealer had was a $2450 reimbursement for a bad engine on a purchase from Open Lane; he had reached an impasse with their arbitration department, so he sent us the complaint. We submitted the complaint to Open Lane corporate, and within 72 hours he had the money. Coincidence?

He sends me another issue for which we at AAR have no words- and has been discussed before- arbitration close times- how long is too long?

Here is the scenario: Car 1 is sold on OVE for $12500 to a very large buyer for Manheim on 9/23, and fails PSI for engine noise. Spoiler alert- the engine is fine. Car 2 is sold on OVE for $8600 on 10/8. This, too, is sold to the same buyer and fails PSI for- you guessed it, engine noise. Once again, the engine is in proper working order.

The seller in both scenarios, calls the arb department to have the vehicles re-checked. This takes over 3 weeks for Car 1, and nearly 2 weeks for Car 2. The rest of the story includes 5 trips to the auction to speak to 4 different managers, dozens of text messages, and countless phone calls to get some sort of resolution. Manheim eventually agrees to make the seller whole- the vehicles are resold on 11/12. The seller is still waiting for the shortage to be reimbursed; we shall see how that progresses.

Checking the calendar, Car 1 took 8 weeks to get resolved, and Car 2 took 6 weeks.

So, we at AAR ask you- how long should have this taken? Glossing over the incorrect PSI diagnoses, is 6 and 8 weeks an acceptable amount of time to get a resolution from the arbitration department? How many dealers have multiple/many vehicles in arbitration purgatory, waiting to be closed, one way or the other?

One final observation- what would Manheim do to a dealer if he or she held THEIR money that long?

Let us know your thoughts.

Review, Rate, and Resolve!