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What's Car Worth at 9 a.m.?

VAuto has introduced new technology that uses a live market view to track and report vehicle valuations, supply and demand in real time. For example, on July 1, when gasoline prices hit a new high of $140.97 per barrel, at 8 a.m. in Chicago, the market price and days' supply of an '06-model Cadillac SRX sport utility equipped with a 3.6-liter engine were $22,375 and 123 days, respectively. By noon,

VAuto has introduced new technology that uses a live market view to track and report vehicle valuations, supply and demand in real time.

For example, on July 1, when gasoline prices hit a new high of $140.97 per barrel, at 8 a.m. in Chicago, the market price and days' supply of an '06-model Cadillac SRX sport utility equipped with a 3.6-liter engine were $22,375 and 123 days, respectively.

By noon, the price had dropped to $21,735 and the days' supply had jumped to 154. By 9 p.m. the market value had fallen even further to $21,075 and the days' supply had climbed to 179.

Such real-time tracking means dealers can avoid “getting caught with vehicles whose values no longer reflect the current market,” says vAuto Chairman Dale Pollak.

Joe Gilsdorf, owner of Henry Chevrolet in Henry, IL, says that, by using the system, he saw retail prices fall $1,300 in his market in one day. With this knowledge, he took vehicles back to auction that he had purchased just the day before.

“The dealers that bought the vehicles that I was reselling were working with wholesale values from previous days that had not yet adjusted to what I was seeing in the retail market,” he says. “They didn't realize that in the past 24 hours the average retail market price had dropped $1,300.

“I truly felt like I had an unfair advantage, but it is all about survival,” he says.

VAuto CEO Keith Jezek says watching valuation, supply and demand of used vehicles fluctuate minute-by-minute is a “revolutionary breakthrough for dealers trying to keep pace with a retail market that is now as volatile as the New York Stock Exchange.”

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