Copart

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.

Copart, Inc.
TypePublic
IndustryAutomotive
FoundedVallejo, California (1982) ((1982))
FounderWillis Johnson
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
,
U.S.
Number of locations
200+
Key people
Willis J. Johnson (Chairman)
Jay Adair (CEO)
Number of employees
7,600 (2020)
Websitewww.copart.com

www.cashforcars.com www.crashedtoys.com

www.npauctions.com

Copart’s buyers are mostly used vehicle dealers, dismantlers, rebuilders, exporters and consumers.

Vehicle sellers at Copart auctions consist of insurance companies, banks and financial institutions, charities, vehicle dealers, fleet operators, government agencies and rental car companies.

Many vehicles that Copart sells on behalf of insurance companies are either damaged vehicles deemed a total loss or not economically repairable by the insurance companies or are recovered stolen vehicles for which an insurance settlement with the owner has already been made.

Copart is also an industry-leading vehicle seller for rental, fleet and finance companies. These vehicles vary from used classic cars, used hybrid cars, off-lease, trade-in to rental cars. In fact, Copart hosts exclusive weekly (at 12 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesdays) rental auctions for buyers interested in rental cars, SUVs and trucks.

Copart's brands include CashForCars.com, CrashedToys and National Powersport Auctions (NPA). (See below for more information on Copart Brands)

Copart is a public company and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CPRT and has been named to Fortune’s 2020 Future 50 companies, 100 Fasted-Growing Companies and the Fortune 500 list.

Brands

Copart Copart, the parent company of Copart, Inc, is an online auto auction company which provides remarketing services to automotive resellers such as insurance, rental car, fleet and finance companies around the world.

CashForCars.com Copart's CashForCars.com division purchases vehicles directly from the general public for resale. CashForCars.com is the best vehicle purchasing platform in the United States, Canada, the U.K. and Germany. The company was founded with the goal of helping to ease the time and effort of selling vehicles, regardless of their condition. The company buys cars in all conditions: like-new, used, damaged, and total loss vehicles.

CashForCars.com Copart's CashForCars.com division purchases vehicles directly from the general public for resale. CashForCars.com is the best vehicle purchasing platform in the United States, Canada, the U.K. and Germany. The company was founded with the goal of helping to ease the time and effort of selling vehicles, regardless of their condition. The company buys cars in all conditions: like-new, used, damaged, and total loss vehicles.

CrashedToys CrashedToys is the premier auction website for salvage motorcycles and other powersports vehicles around the world. These include hundreds of salvage and wrecked motorcycles for sale through their online motorcycle auctions every other week. CrashedToys sells ATVs, boats, snowmobiles, automobiles, trailers, recreational vehicles, and other salvage powersports. Founded in 2000 and acquired by Copart in 2013, CrashedToys uses Copart’s online vehicle auction platform to provide its Members with the ultimate online auction experience, which includes two phases: pre-bidding and bidding live in real time. With locations in Texas, Minnesota, Georgia and California, buyers are able to find, bid on and win their favorite powersport by registering for CrashedToys Membership.

National Powersport Auctions (NPA) NPA serves lenders and dealers within the U.S. with a complete range of auction-related services for powersport vehicles such as motorcycles, boats, ATVs, etc. NPA provides secure online information and management websites for its business partners through their Lender Portal, Dealer Portal and Transportation Portal. NPA’s live auctions are held multiple times a month in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Lakeland, Madison, Philadelphia, Sacramento, and San Diego. Dealers can preview inventory offered online and bid in-person or online on vehicles. NPA also provides a dealer consignment program, which provides dealers the opportunity to sell their consignment units adjacent to lenders' powersports.

Corporate information

In 2012, Copart relocated its corporate headquarters from Fairfield, California, to Dallas, Texas. Copart's Dallas headquarters building consists of approximately 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) of leased office space.[1][2]

History

Founding

Copart was founded in 1982 by Willis J. Johnson, then a 34-year-old with ten years of experience in the auto salvage business, in Vallejo, California.[3]

Willis Johnson began expanding Copart in the early 1990s through private loans and equity. By the early '90s, the company had grown to four locations in northern California; and by March 1994, it had added another eight new facilities in Oregon, Washington, and Texas, culminating in the acquisition of the largest volume seller of salvage in the United States, North Texas Salvage Pool of Dallas, Texas.[4]

Going public

On March 17, 1994, Copart had its initial public offering (IPO) at $12 per share and debuted on the NASDAQ under the symbol "CPRT." Copart's IPO of 2.3 million shares of stock provided the company with the means to become a national company.[4]

National expansion

In May 1995 Copart began rapid expansion in the United States with the sizable acquisition of NER Auction Group, doubling its number of facilities around the country. Copart would continue to grow via acquisitions and founded six new locations from July 1995 to July 1996. With locations spread out coast-to-coast in the United States, Copart shifted tactics and began to procure regional and national contracts with the nation's leading insurance companies to grow a nationwide chain of facilities.[5] Copart has continued to acquire businesses, including National Powersport Auctions (NPA) in 2017.

Focus on technology

Willis Johnson began developing Copart's information technology in the 1990s.[4][6][7]The first main step in this process was the creation of the Copart Auction System (CAS) in 1997, which was designed to unify and support the growing business as well as allow Copart facilities and sellers to access information, generate reports, and increase operating efficiencies.[3] The next step came in 1998 with Copart's introduction of internet bidding—a departure from the industry standard of local physical auctions.[8] As Internet bidding grew in popularity, Copart developed its online auction platform, VB2, which it implemented in 2003. VB2 technology opened the sales process to registered buyers (members) and sellers worldwide.[7][9] In fiscal year 2004 in North America and fiscal year 2008 in the U.K., Copart discontinued all live auctions and began remarketing vehicles through VB2.[10][11]

Improved online auction platform

In 2013, Copart upgraded their VB2 technology to a new version dubbed VB3. This version supported the latest browsers, eliminated the need for plugins and supported mobile interactivity.[12] Copart now sells more than one million vehicles each year through VB3 technology.[8][13]

International expansion

By 2003, the company grew to 100 locations across the country and became the first to launch a completely online auction model. Today, Copart has over 200 locations in 11 countries.[14]  A Canada yard opening marked the first international expansion in 2003.[15] By 2007, Copart expanded its footprint overseas to the United Kingdom. In 2012, Copart began expanding to the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Bahrain, Oman, Spain, Ireland and Germany. Copart also expanded into Finland in 2018 with the acquisition of Autovahinkokeskus (AVK). [16] Additionally, the CashForCars.com brand launched in Canada in 2018, Germany in 2019 and the United Kingdom in 2020 with CashForCars.ca, CashForCars.de and CashForCars.co.uk.

See also

References
  1. "Copart Annual Report, Form 10-K Filing Date October 1, 2012" (http://www.secdatabase.com/843/0001145443-12-001120.pdf%5B%5D). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  2. “Auto reseller Copart to move HQ to Farmers Branch” (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/print-edition/2012/02/17/auto-reseller-copart-to-move-hq-to.htmlAuto reseller Copart to move HQ to Farmers Branch). Dallas Business Journal. Posted February 17, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  3. Jump up to:a b c “Copart to Celebrate 25 Years of Success” (http://collisionrepairmag.com/component/content/article/66-profiles/10359-copart-to-celebrate-25-years-of-success[permanent dead link]). Collision Repair Magazine. Posted July 17, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  4. "Grant, Tina, ed. (1998). International Dictionary of Company Histories. Copart Inc. 23. Detroit. St. James Press. pp. 147-149. ISBN 1-55862-364-7.
  5. “Copart Inc. History” (http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/copart-inc-history). FundingUniverse.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  6. "Turning Rust into Gold". Bloomberg.com. 2002-06-10. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  7. "The Sotheby's Of Scrap". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  8. "Copart Annual Report, Form 10-K Filing Date October 31, 2006" (http://pdf.secdatabase.com/752/0001104659-06-069980.pdf). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  9. "Copart Annual Report, Form 10-K Filing Date October 14, 2004" (http://pdf.secdatabase.com/2242/0000950134-04-015006.pdf). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  10. “Copart, Inc. 2007 Annual Report, Form 10-K Filing Date October 1, 2007” (http://pdf.secdatabase.com/1556/0001104659-07-072450.pdf) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  11. "Copart, Inc. Company Profile" (http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.Copart_Inc.6ac2a0902ab29b10.html). Hoovers.com. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  12. “VB3: Copart’s Auction Technology” (https://www.copart.com/howVb3Works). Copart.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  13. "About Copart" (http://www.copart.com/c2/about_copart_car_salvage_auction.html). Copart.com. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  14. “Copart Inc. History” (http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/copart-inc-history). FundingUniverse.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  15. “VB3: Copart’s Auction Technology” (https://www.copart.com/howVb3Works). Copart.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  16. “Copart Canada Moves to a New Facility in Calgary” (https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/copart-canada-moves-to-a-new-facility-in-calgary-1016323434). Markets.BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved December 2, 2020.

[1]

  1. "Copart 2020 Annual Report" (PDF).
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.