Jason McClenahan, President and CEO
Jason McClenahan, President and CEO
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With such growing demand for used cars, online auctions like EBlock are seeing rapid growth, according to Jason McClenahan, the company’s President and CEO. “We’re going to be the largest dealer-to-dealer auction this year. We feel like things are going to ramp up very quickly,” said McClenahan.
The company’s roots are in Canada, but they exhibited at last year’s NADA Show and are now seeing rapid growth on both sides of the border. In January, the company announced a strategic partnership with Auction Edge, that provides brick and mortar auctions with the technology to compete in the dealer-to-dealer space.
“We’re really looking forward to working with the independent auctions. There’s been such an explosion in both technology and the demands for used car sales for dealers, so it just hit this perfect storm for them, and they know they need to get better. It sounds cheesy, but our slogan is ‘It’s About Time.’ It’s truly what makes us different,” he said.
He said the company built its online auction platform from the ground up, and vehicles are sold in 60 seconds, which simulates the same urgent, exciting atmosphere of a physical auction. McClenahan said that in the United States, 80 per cent of the inventory is sold in 60 seconds. “A decision is going to be made in 60 seconds. That’s really what the major differentiator is for us,” he said.
This allows high volume buyers to go online for an auction and buy 30 or 40 cars if they need them. “The reason we exist is the flaws that we saw with all the other platforms,” said McClenahan. “None of them built it with physical auction experience in mind. Our founder, Ryan O’Connor bought cars online. So our platform has really been built through the buyers’ eyes.”
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