OPENLANE vs vAuto

What to check before you choose

vAuto, part of Cox Automotive, is described as a suite for sourcing, appraisal, stocking and merchandising of new and used inventory.

In practice a store may use both, since vAuto helps decide what to buy and price, and a marketplace is a place to buy or sell. The questions for a dealer are different.

For OPENLANE, ask about buyer and seller fees, arbitration, title speed, transport and which regions have deep buyer demand. For vAuto, ask which data feeds drive its recommendations, how often prices refresh and how it connects to the DMS and website.

A useful test is to take ten aged units and ask both what to do with them: wholesale at what expected price, retail at what price, or hold. Compare the answers with what the cars sold for. Write down the fees on each path so the comparison is net, not gross.

Ask the marketplace and the software vendor the same practical question: what do I do on Monday morning? For OPENLANE, the answer should include how to list a unit, how to read a condition report and when payment arrives.

For vAuto, it should include how to appraise a trade, how to set a price and how to see aged inventory. If a vendor cannot describe the routine in a few sentences, the training burden is probably high.

Think about timing as well. A marketplace listing has a clock, and a pricing recommendation has a refresh cycle.

Ask OPENLANE how long a typical listing runs, when payment arrives and how arbitration works if a buyer disputes a car. Ask vAuto how often market data refreshes, how a price recommendation changes as a car ages and how the tool treats a car you plan to wholesale.

Ask both how they support a store that buys and sells at the same time.

Compare the economics on a few real cars. Take five that you would wholesale and five you would retail, and write down what you expect to net on each path after fees, transport and reconditioning. Ask each vendor to review your numbers and show where they differ.

Inside the shared categories, OPENLANE fields 5 named lines against it (OPENLANE Marketplace, AFC Floorplan, TradeRev, ADESA, and others); vAuto fields 6 named lines against it (Provision, Conquest, Stockwave, iRecon, and others).