Used Car News 1/6/14 by General Media LLC

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Used Prius Prices Vary

Across the largest U.S. cities, the pricing difference between the least and most expensive city to buy a used Prius is 15.5 percent, according to a study by iSeeCars.com. The city to buy the cheapest used Prius is Miami, with an average price almost 9 percent below the average price nationally.

Carfax Claims That Rollbacks Rampant

Carfax claims that more than 190,000 cars have their odometers rolled back every year.

Carfax ﬁnds that at least 50,000 miles are taken off the odometer in the majority of rollbacks.

In addition, 14- to -15-year-old cars are most susceptible to a rollback.

Classic Car Auctions Outperform Last Year

The RM group of companies realized $442 million in auction sales this year.

The sales ﬁgures bested the companies’ 2012 performance by more than 20 percent and included 3,932 vehicles presented at 16 events.

Use Caution When Considering Salvage

By Ted Craig

The number of vehicles declared total losses by the insurance companies should climb this year, but dealers should resist the temptation of these drivable salvage vehicles.

Mitchell, an insurance industry technology provider, projects an increase in colli-

sions combined with softer used-car prices means more total losses.

These total losses will include many cars with repairable damage that could be sold with salvage titles.

But a recent study by DamageMax shows the title brand matters more than the condition of the car.

The study found salvage

branded vehicles were worth only a third of those vehicles with clean titles.

Dealers still interested in selling these vehicles need to take the proper approach, said Michael Lasini, DamageMax’s founder.

First, they should sell these units as-is.

“The imagination is always far worse than the

truth,” Lasini said. Second, dealers should expect to finance the vehicles themselves as most finance companies avoid salvage vehicles. Cars with salvage titles can work for buy-here, payhere, Lasini said, because the buyer’s main concern is transportation. Mid-size cars are the best choice.

CarMax Reports Another Quarter of Record Results

CarMax Inc. reported double-digit growth for its latest quarter ended Nov. 30.

Total used-vehicle unit sales grew 15 percent and comparable store used units grew 10 percent vs. the prior year’s same quarter. Comparable store used unit sales beneﬁted from improved execution in the chain’s stores and an attractive consumer credit environment, as well as a modest increase in store trafc, CarMax executives stated.

Wholesale vehicle unit sales grew 4 percent compared with last year’s quarter, reﬂecting the growth in CarMax’s store base. Other sales and revenues declined 5 percent year-over-year.

Extended service plan (ESP) revenues were similar to the prior year, as the increase driven by the growth in CarMax’s retail vehicle sales was ofset by an increase in allowance for ESP returns.

The rise in the allowance reﬂected increases in ESP cancellations prior to the end of their contract term.

Net third-party ﬁnance fees declined by $4.6 million as the third-party subprime providers originated 18 percent of used vehicle unit sales in the current quarter vs. 15 percent in the prior year’s same quarter.

Over the last two years, the volume of this ﬁnancing has increased.

TEMPTING: An increase in total loss declarations by insurance companies means more scenes like this: cars with less damage heading to salvage sales. But a recent study shows the opportunity exists for very few.

Auto Loans, Delinquencies Set to Rise in 2014

TransUnion’s annual auto loan forecast calls for increases in both delinquency and debt levels during 2014.

The national auto loan delinquency rate (the ratio of borrowers 60 or more days past due) is projected to rise to 1.19 percent by the end of 2014 from an estimated 1.10 percent at the conclusion of 2013.

Auto loan debt per borrower is also expected to jump more than $1,000 to a projected $17,966 in the fourth quarter of 2014 from a projected $16,942 in the fourth quarter of 2013.

“While we expect auto loan delinquencies to rise in 2014, they will remain well below levels observed during the recession and its immediate aftermath,” said Peter Turek, automotive vice president in TransUnion’s ﬁnancial services business unit. “One of the primary drivers for low delinquency rates is the strength of the used car market; borrowers who cannot aford their car loan payments usually have the option of selling the car and becoming whole on the loan.

“The wide availability of this exit strategy has caused the overall volume of auto loan debt to rise faster than the delinquent volume of auto loans, which leads to a lower delinquency rate – it’s a

denominator effect.”

Since 2007, the auto loan delinquency rate has been as low as 0.86 percent in the second quarter of 2012 and as high as 1.59 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

On average, the delinquency rate during the fourth quarter between 2007 and 2012 was 1.32 percent.

The number of leases issued since the recession ended in 2009 has steadily climbed.

In the ﬁrst six months of 2009, approximately 500,000 auto leases were issued.

Three years later, this number doubled to one million leases for the ﬁrst six months of 2012.

This number increased further in 2013, with more than 1.3 million auto leases issued in the ﬁrst six months of the year.

Another contributing factor to lower delinquency levels is the fact that non-prime borrowers make up a smaller portion of all auto loans.

Non-prime borrowers are identiﬁed as those with a VantageScore credit score lower than 700 on a scale of 501-990.

Even though the percentage of newly originated non-prime auto loans (33.18 percent in the second quarter) has increased, the impact on the overall delinquency is minor.

(See page 8 for more forecasts.)

Ratio of Auto Loan Borrows Currently 60 Days or More Past Due (Q4 2013 – Q4 2014 Include Projections)

Loan Debt Per Borrower (Q4 2013 – Q4 2014 Include Projections)

AVERAGE

NEWS BRIEFS

CPS Closes Securtization

Consumer Portfolio Services closed its fourth term securitization in 2013.

The transaction is CPS’s 11th senior subordinate securitization since the beginning of 2011.

In the transaction, qualiﬁed institutional buyers purchased $183 million of asset-backed notes secured by automobile receivables purchased by CPS. The sold notes, issued by CPS Auto Receivables Trust 2013-D, consist of ﬁve classes.

Ratings of the notes were provided by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. The weighted average efective coupon on the notes is approximately 2.82 percent.

The transaction utilizes a prefunding structure, in which CPS sold approximately $119.6 million of receivables today and plans to sell approximately $63.4 million of additional receivables during January 2014.

This further sale is intended to provide CPS with long-term ﬁnancing for receivables purchased primarily in the month of December.

United Road Services Buys Waggoners’ Auto Business

United Road Services, in partnership with its owner, Charlesbank Capital Partners and investors, announced the acquisition

of the auto transport division of Waggoners Trucking.

The acquisition will nearly double United Road’s capacity to serve its more than 10,000 customers and makes the company the secondlargest car-hauler in North America.

The newly expanded United Road will operate out of over 75 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada and is projected to move more than 2.5 million new, used and specialty vehicles in 2014.

Waggoner’s auto transport division, established in 1987, focuses on the transportation of new cars.

United Road’s technology platform and national sales center will complement Waggoners new-car customer base by ﬁlling empty backhaul miles with remarketed volumes.

Passtime Launches Fleet Division

PassTime has launched a ﬂeet division and has selected Geotab Inc.’s ﬂeet management technology as the major foundation of its solution portfolio.

The new ﬂeet division, PassTime

Fleet Finance and Telematics, will be led by Peter Fowler. Previous to joining PassTime, Fowler had worked at Siemens.

In addition, PassTime has brought on Harald Fritz who was formerly at Web-Tech Wireless, where he was senior vice president of sales and marketing.

PassTime Fleet will ofer hardware and software solutions designed for any size ﬂeet.

VC Firm Invests in True Car

TrueCar.com announced that it raised $30 million of funding from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s

Vulcan Capital. This investment was made from Vulcan’s new Silicon Valley based growth equity fund.

Vulcan Capital managing director Abhishek Agrawal will be joining the TrueCar.com board of directors.

AutoMaster Taps Imetrik

Buy-here, pay-here software provider Auto Master Systems Inc. has announced a systems integration partnership with iMetrik Global Inc. for its car loan tracking platform. This partnership will provide Auto Master clients with a single interface to gather GPS asset tracking data.

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Editorial: Ted Craig, Managing Editor Jefrey Bellant, Staf Writer

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PAGE 17

by Myles Mellor

Cars.com Names Top Rides

Cars.com announced nominees for the site’s highest honor, the “Best of 2014” award. Nominees for the annual award must achieve the highest in quality, innovation and value.

This year’s “Best of 2014” ﬁnalists and the reasons for each vehicle’s nomination according to Cars.com editors are (listed alphabetically):

2014 Acura MDX: The MDX is the best example of where Acura excels most: luxury feel at not-quite-luxury prices, with a bit of innovation thrown in.

2014 Chevrolet Impala: The changes from the previous generation of the Impala are truly astonishing:

styling, powertrains, build quality, ride reﬁnement, handling response, materials and fuel economy.

2014 Hyundai Santa Fe: The Santa Fe is one of those few vehicles that blew away nearly every member of the Cars.com editorial staf

2014 Kia Forte: The Forte breaks the mold with its head-turning styling outside and an interior full of affordable creature comforts.

2014 Mazda3 (hatchback): The redesigned hatchback gets improved cabin quality and plenty of new high-tech features.

2014 Mazda6: The Mazda6 is one well-rounded car with styling, driving ability and fuel economy.

Prices Strengthen Down the Stretch

Used-car prices ended the year in a fairly strong manner.

After diving by 3.5 percent in October, the rate of used-vehicle depreciation slowed substantially to 1.5 percent in November.

This pushed the NADA Used Car Guide’s seasonally adjusted used vehicle price index to its highest point of 125.6.

The index, which measures the change in prices for used vehicles up to eight years old, is up 1.8 points from October’s ﬁgure of 123.8, surpassing the previous high of 125 set in December 2012.

up by 0.5 percent compared to the same period last year, while compact utilities, large pickups, large SUVs and mid-size vans all saw their price advantage over 2012 tick up by a tenth of a point.

Diferences for remaining segments ranged from 0.5 percent (compact cars) to 1.5 percent (luxury cars) lower than levels at the same last year.

Meanwhile, ADESA Analytical Services’ monthly analysis of Wholesale Used Vehicle Prices by Vehicle Model Class showed wholesale used vehicle prices in November averaged $9,750, – up 1.7 percent compared to October, and up 2.1 percent relative to November 2012. Minivan prices were particularly strong, reflecting an influx of well-equipped, good-condition, late-model units from rental and commercial defleeting.

Prices for used vehicles remarketed by manufacturers were up 3.6 percent month-over-month and up 3 percent year-over-year.

Prices for ﬂeet-lease consignors were up 0.4 percent month-overmonth and up 5.1 percent year-overyear.

Dealer consignors saw a 0.8 percent average price increase vs. October, but a 0.8 percent downturn versus November 2012.

PAGE 8 - FORECAST

Government Regulators Set to Step up Activity This Year

By Jeffrey Bellant

Government regulators will sharpen their focus on the auto business in 2014 requiring more diligence from car dealers, said one industry expert.

Tom Hudson, chairman and senior partner of Maryland-based law ﬁrm Hudson Cook, said dealers would see

more activity from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Hudson said the CFPB has completed much of the work of physically setting up shop - getting ofce space, buying computers, etc.

The CFPB should release its proposed rule identifying “larger participants” among the car ﬁnancing companies, he said.

Under the Dodd Frank Act, the CFPB must identify these participants before it can exercise supervisory jurisdiction over them.

Hudson believes the CFPB will likely adopt a broad definition of this category.

The bureau should also ﬁnish its study of the use

of mandatory, pre-dispute arbitration agreements by dealers and creditors this year.

Hudson expects the CFPB will prohibit the use of these agreements.

The CFPB may follow in the footsteps of other federal bodies, like the U.S. Justice Department, in looking at discrimination within the buy-here, pay-here industry, Hudson said.

Hudson believes some people at the CFPB are inclined to believe everything consumer advocates say and not what the auto industry says.

Franchise dealers, who have an exemption from the CFPB, still will face scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission.

One scenario would have enforcement agencies in a competition to see who is tougher on compliance – with car dealers in the middle.

“The interesting dynamic that seems to being going on in D.C. is there appears to be some sort of rivalry between the FTC and CFPB to see who can be the meanest sheriff in town,” Hudson said.

Before the CFPB was created, there were complaints

from some that enforcement agencies weren’t doing their job.

Hudson said the FTC has a huge jurisdiction over all retailers, not just car dealers, but lacks money and staf

Although the FTC has been given new powers under the Dodd-Frank law, they haven’t been given any new funding.

“What has changed is that they have been forced by the CFPB’s creation to focus harder on the auto industry,” Hudson said.

“That’s new.”

Dealers who know about the CFPB and the increased attention to the industry will put their own compliance programs in place.

But dealers may also have their hands forced by thirdparties they work with, Hudson said.

If dealers sell paper to a company or borrow money from a lender, those other parties may require due diligence on compliance issues before continuing to do business with the dealer. However, there are opportunities in 2014 for dealers to help their cause.

The Association of Finance and Insurance Professionals has expanded dealer training.

Economy, Car Sales Look to Continue Slow, Steady Climb

This year should prove a good, if not great, one for the economy in general and car sales in particular.

New-car sales have bounced back from the lows of 2009, nearing 16 million units last year.

ufacturers might step up incentives, said Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst for Kelley Blue Book.

“They’ll ﬁnd a way to sell every unit,” Gutierrez said.

The good news for used-car deal-

pre-recession levels by the fourth quarter.

That’s good news for dealers, but not consignors. Beggs recommends investing in recon and using all the remarketing channels available to

“Most franchise dealers are salivating over those lease returns.”

Tom Webb

Webb expects another recordbreaking year for certiﬁed preowned vehicles.

While the independent dealers will miss out on those lease returns, franchise dealers will send more of their trade-ins to auction.

Gas prices should play a smaller part in driving the market this year, staying around $3 a gallon.

Beggs said this might hurt demand for small cars, but boost demand for mid-size units that ofer fuel efciency, afordability and extra space. There’s plenty of newer product in this segment, he said.

The trend should continue, but the pace will slow, most analysts say. Sales will top 16 million units, but the year-over-year growth will come in lower.

This reﬂects the “mediocre positive growth” of the overall economy, said George Hofer, a professor of economics at the University of Richmond.

If the growth rate proves slower than even expected, however, man-

ers is any increase in new-car sales means more trade-ins. Combined with a boost in lease returns, this means a better supply of used units.

“The used pipeline is ﬁlling up pretty fast,” said Ricky Beggs, editorial director of value guide Black Book.

Beggs expects a more rational market than in recent years, when prices reached historic highs.

He foresees retention levels at

maintain values.

Of course, many of those of-lease units will head for franchise dealers’ certiﬁed inventory rather than going to auction.

“Most franchise dealers are salivating over those lease returns,” said Tom Webb, Manheim’s chief economist.

The biggest issue for dealers this year could be the pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Many expect a gradual rate of increases, but Guitterez said the Fed could move faster than expected.

That isn’t all bad news, since it means the economy is growing at a faster pace.

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Manheim Names Managers

Manheim has selected Bonnie Hensler as vice president of product development.

Hensler ﬁlls this role, previously held by Joe George, who became senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Manheim and the AutoTrader Group earlier this month.

global solutions.

Manheim also named Chad Rufﬁn as general manager for Manheim Southern California, and has promoted Donny Cohen to auction manager for Manheim Daytona Beach and Manheim Jacksonville.

Rufn has spent more than 16 years in the automotive wholesale industry.

He began his role at Manheim Southern California, located in Fontana, on Dec. 10.

During his career, Rufn has worked for Manheim, HSBC, Arcadia/Citi Financial and others.

Hensler will report to Janet Barnard, Manheim’s executive vice president and chief operating ofcer.

As vice president of product development, Hensler will be responsible for enhancing existing in-lane and digital products while bringing new product solutions to market.

Hensler and her team also will manage products – from creation to implementation – providing innovative thinking, strategy, training and best practices for Manheim’s diverse portfolio of new and existing products.

Hensler joined Manheim last year as vice president of product operations.

Previously, she worked for Promethean as vice president of

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Rufn spent ﬁve years at Manheim earlier in his career in various roles, including dealer sales manager, Ford account manager, recon manager and assistant recon manager.

He is a graduate of Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif. Cohen assumed his new role for the two locations earlier this month. He is responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of both locations, and will be supported by managers and supervisors focused on speciﬁc functional areas.

Cohen has more than 21 years of automotive wholesale experience, including seven with Manheim. He was named assistant general manager at Manheim St. Pete in early 2012. Prior to that role, Cohen worked at Manheim Fort Myers.

Bonnie Hensler

RETAIL MARKETS

CALIFORNIA

Rogelio Ortiz, general manager, Three Amigos Auto Center, Stockton, Calif.:

“We have one location.

“We keep 250 to 300 cars on our lot. We are one of the largest (independent) automobile dealers in Northern California.

“We’ve been in business for more than 22 years.

“On average, we sell way more than 100 units per month.

“We’re pretty much open to every kind of customer that we can reach (including prime, subprime and buy-here, pay-here). We have a balance (of all those customers).

“Mostly, we get our (inventory) from dealers and from auto auctions. Finding inventory has been very steady.

“The economy is coming back and we are taking advantage of that for business.

“We carry cars with prices ranging from $8,000 to $9,000 cars all the way to newer units at $35,000 to $40,000. It’s hard to narrow that (price range

down to an average). We have cars for every single customer group.

“We don’t have an average model year. We try to keep everything. But the oldest model year we might keep is a 2000, something we’d get in a trade-in.

“We don’t necessarily carry more imports than domestic. It’s always a mix of cars.

“We don’t really recondition vehicles before we put them on the lot. We’re getting a nice car (in the ﬁrst place).

“We do some minor service work here, if that needs to be done. My intention is always to try to buy cars in the best condition possible. That way, we don’t have to spend more money on reconditioning and turn it as soon as we can.

“For marketing and advertising, we mainly do television.

“We’ll run ads depending on the diferent programs and the diferent television stations that we work with. That’s where the bulk of our advertising goes.

“We absolutely have great

expectations for 2014.

“I recently sold a 2014 Toyota Camry. It had 17,500 miles on it. I don’t want to say what we sold it for.”

TENNESSEE

J.T. Livezey, broker, City Auto Sales, Murfreesboro, Tenn.:

“The original City Auto Sales is in Memphis. About two years ago, we opened up this second location in Murfreesboro.

“I’m a member of the Tennessee Independent Automobile Dealers Association. We recently had our annual meeting and got a bunch of good board members.

“We’ve got about 300 vehicles in stock right now.

“We probably sell 150 to 160 cars per month.

“(To source inventory) we have a lot of customers who come up and sell us their cars, kind of like the Carmax way.

“Of course, we also have a dealer network that’s great around here. So we get those trade-ins.

“Of course we rely on the Manheims and the ADESAs of the world to get inven-

tory, as well.

“We focus on straight retail sales. We dabble in some subprime, but it’s mostly prime.

“There are not any buyhere, pay-here deals.

“The average price is about $12, 900 to $13,900 –in that range.

“We’ve got a good mix of diferent types of vehicles.

I would say we’re probably a little heavier in cars and split the rest of inventory between trucks and sport utility vehicles.

“So, in terms of percentages, it’s probably 40 percent cars, 30 percent SUVs and 30 percent pick-up trucks.

“In terms of imports and domestics, there is not any speciﬁc breakdown. We carry a mix of both.

“The average vehicle is a 2009 or 2010 model year.

“The average mileage is around 70,000 to 80,000 miles.

“I wouldn’t say that ﬁnding the type of inventory we sell has gotten easier. The last two or three years have been a story of supply and demand. It doesn’t matter which season. That car that

Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant

I just described – the one that we sell – is a very popular car.

“On average, I would say (reconditioning costs) are around $700 to $800 per car.

“We have our own service shop on site. We have ﬁve lifts in that shop. We use that to service our own vehicles and to do outside work.

“In advertising and marketing, we do a lot online.

“But we’re very involved in our local community. We’ll participate in festivals and local community events. We’ll do everything we can to promote those events and get our own name out, as well.

“I think things are going great and I think they’re going to continue in 2014. I hope we get to 400 vehicles in inventory this year.

“We want to push those sales numbers up and get into that 200 sold-per -month range.

“I think more lease returns would help. Anytime you get a better supply, it’s deﬁnitely going to help with the prices.”

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WHOLESALE MARKETS

MONTAN A

Terry Scheetz, general sales manager, Auto Auction of Montana, Billings, Mont.

“We celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2013.

“We have four lanes and we’re running three.

“(In early December) we had over 600 units in one sale and 526 in another sale.

“It’s going well. We’re (selling) roughly 50 percent, give or take. We had a good year in 2013. It ﬁnished out well.

“It was close to the same volume (to 2012). We were down slightly on consignments, but we were up in money.

“We have a GSA sale and we didn’t have as many units in 2013 as we did in 2012. There was a terrible storm in South Dakota that killed thousands of cattle. So the federal government pulled a lot of cars that would have been in our last GSA sale (in 2013) and used those to (help there).

“We usually have one GSA sale a month and twice a month during the busy months. Our next one is Jan.

29. We’ll get a little bit of everything from cars to school buses and vehicles of the (military) base.

“We normally draw about 200 dealers in the lanes. They come from a ﬁve-state area, including Wyoming, Minnesota, Idaho, North and South Dakota. The Dakotas have been real good for us with the oil boom.

“(In December), dealers were saying that there’s just not enough of the cheaper vehicles. That’s what they were looking for.

“We also have online sales through Ringman. That’s doing well. We get a lot of bids and sales online. Montana is a big state and everything is far apart, so online helps.

“Our dealer consignment is a good 75 to 80 percent of our volume. Our (institutional) consignors are Enterprise, Budget and Avis. We run them every week. We also have repos from banks and credit unions.

“Overall, our average price in 2013 (up until our last sale) was $11,268.

“I’m looking forward to having another good year in

2014. I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t have it.”

PENNSYLVANIA

Grant Miller, president/ CEO, Central Pennsylvania Auto Auction Inc., Lock Haven, Pa.:

“We’ve been in business for 26 years. It’s a familyowned operation. I have my son, Doug, who is chief operating ofcer and he runs it now. I’m sort of trying to retire. I spend my winters in Florida. My son’s wife, Shanan, is the lease manager.

“We started with three lanes, but several years ago we added two more. We’re running all ﬁve.

“A good sale will have about 850 (vehicles). But we usually run anywhere from 600 to 750.

“We’re at the end of six months of our ﬁscal year. But we’re ahead of where we were at this time last year.

“From our start date in 1987 until now, our overall percentage rate is running 62.5 percent.

“We’ll have weeks where we do 78 percent and over-

Compiled by Jeffrey Bellant

all, we’re averaging about 64 percent right now. It’s not quite as good as it was last year. What helps us, in all fairness, is our Verizon utility sale. We run that sale outside once a month outside.

“We’ll run anything from 150 to upward of 400 a month. That’s from a contract we have with Verizon. Those are digger trucks, bucket trucks, vans, backhoes, etc.

“In that sale, we’ll also (ofer) any heavy-duty tractors or trailers, anything like that. We tie those in at the end of the sale.

“In our regular weekly sale, dealer consignment makes up about 90 percent of our volume. We don’t have a contract with any manufacturer.

“But we’ve done business with M&T Bank for the last 22 years. We do all their repossessions and terminated leases. Their leasing business has slowed down, though. If we run 700 cars weekly, we’ll likely have 555 lease and repos. We also do that for other smaller banks. We’re a

typical independent.

“Our dealers in the lanes come from Pennsylvania, naturally. We’ll draw some from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio.

“We’re located right of the intersection of I-80 and I-99. So it’s easy access.

“We average about 500 dealers for a good sale. On an average sale we’ll have about 425 dealers. We have reliable dealers that have been coming here for 20 years. They just keep coming back.

“We have our own transportation department. We transport 70 percent of our vehicles in and out of the auction. We have a ﬂeet of 18 trucks and tractor-trailers. We also have our own drivers.

“The overall mood is much better than it was at this time last year. Dealers are a little bit more upbeat. The average price in the lanes – if you don’t include the equipment/Verizon sale – is about $6,200 to $6,900.

“I think 2014 will be comparable with 2013, if not a little better.”

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MONTHLY DEALER CONSIGNMENT AVERAGES

Compiled By Jeffrey Bellant

CHARITY HONORS MANHEIM

The HeartBright Foundation, an organization that funds cardiology programs in economically disadvantaged communities, honored Manheim with a special award.

“Manheim is a leader in ofering health and wellness programs to its employees,” said Claire Blocker, president of HeartBright Foundation, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. “Our advisory board selected Manheim for its commitment to promoting wellness in their corporation, and in the communities where they do business.”

Manheim was honored for consistent support of wellness and prevention. As part of Cox Enterprises, Manheim participates in Know Your Numbers, a program that ofers employees free health screenings that can identify possible health risk.

“We are very proud to be recognized by HeartBright,” said Nick Peluso, Manheim senior vice president of customer management.

“At Manheim, we understand the importance of providing our employees access to health beneﬁts and information that contribute to a healthy lifestyle.”

Auction Helps Disabled People

Plaza Auto Auction of Iowa donated money to a local charity instead of sending out Christmas cards this year.

Auction owner Mark Greb said in lieu of sending traditional holiday greetings through the mail, his auction will make a donation to Camp Courageous of Iowa, a not-for-proﬁt organization that runs a year-round respite care and recreational facility for people with disabilities.

“Typically we spent about $1,800 to print and mail Christmas cards in December,” Greb said. “This year, we decided that money would better serve Camp Courageous.

“We love the holiday season here

at Plaza Auto Auction of Iowa, and wish every one of our customers the very best for the coming year.

“But we’ll express those sentiments to our customers in person rather than sending Christmas cards, in the hope that our donation to the Camp will help those who need it most.”

CHARITABLE AWARD: Manheim’s Nick Peluso accepts an award from the HeartBright Foundation for Manheim’s support of wellness in their business.

Disconnected Jottings From Tony Moorby...

I hope everyone enjoyed a multicultural break celebrating the lives of Mary and her magic baby!

It used to be called Christmas, a celebration of the birth of the Christ Child more

than two thousand years ago, but now even Christmas cards avoid any reference to Christ. “Wishing you well over the holidays” seems to be a convenient cop out.

“Season’s Greetings” being another catchall.

Political correctness has taken over to a ridiculous degree where everyone is afraid to cause ofense to someone else of a diferent persuasion. Its grip has been growing on an unsuspecting populace, little by unnoticeable little over the last ten or

ﬁfteen years. This linguistic straightjacket has been surreptitiously tightened by ofces of the States and now smack of Kremlin-like oversight into our everyday lives.

to freedoms of expression, religion and so on has been around since 1791 and has served well all this time. Now we have to walk around on namby-pamby eggshells calling Christmas trees Holiday trees with festive decorations. Holiday comes from Holy Day, Christmas is a religious celebration and I, for one, don’t care who knows it or takes ofense – get over it!

Do I get upset when someone mentions Hanukah or a Menorah? Of course not. Celebrating Ramadan? Go ahead.

words not to be used for fear of upsetting students’ sensibilities about what others may have – ‘houses with swimming pools’ being one such to avoid ‘fathers and mothers’ are others, on the basis that some kids may not have one or other or even neither.

Why would we encourage kids to grow up in a blindfolded, vacuum bubble when one day they won’t be prepared for the harsh realities of life?

enza.” He was the progeny of a rich family and didn’t realize he was doing wrong. Ethics, common sense, justice and a whole bunch of right-minded stuf just got the shaft. Or someone got a huge payof ! This kid should be an example to others, rich or not, and be put away for a very, very long time. The PC people would have him go through a course of “sensitivity training.” I’d go for a public ﬂogging!

While the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (HR 1913 – Akers) is laudable in its intent, it induces state and local law enforcement agencies to go after people for their beliefs as well as their crimes. Scott M. Rogers said, “No society can embrace cultural sensitivity and retain full capacity for freedom of speech.” In fact people are becoming insincere and say what they don’t actually believe or mean.

The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, referring

In some cases it’s gone too far the other way. Authorities in the San Francisco library system have put opaque screens around the publicly used computers so that creeps can look at pornography without being observed. When does someone step in on the side of common decency and stop this lunacy? Maybe the NSA is tracking them.

The New York school system, issuing a Request for Proposal for text books suppliers, issued a list of

CR R O O S S W D Sponsored

By Miles Mellor

and XTS 10. Fluid in a Jiffy

Mechanic’s kit

15. Factor in the price of a used car

16. Old Acura with a great engine 17. McLaren MP4-12C, for example 20. “Give it ___!”

25. Flat ___ truck 27. Cadillac ___ dorado 28. Hello! 29. Luxurious 30. Credit card type 32. Golfer’s gadget 34. Rights to sell a debtor’s properties 35. Chevy convertibles

37. Steeler’s state 38. Actions taken to increase sales

42. Italian car maker

44. Univ. fgure

45. Part of TGIF

46. Lotus sports car

47. They make a Q50 and an IPL Down

1. Popular Toyota 4-door 2. Use too much hype when selling

3. 70s and 80s Austin 4. Winter weather tire attachments

5. Customs charge 6. Parking area

7. Bargain (3 words)

8. Tribeca or Crosstrek 9. Porsche model 12. Dangerous driving condition

18. Famous hybrid 19. It’s always part of a service 21. Salon product

‘’Of course!’’ 24. Indy break

25. Offers on a lot 26. Japanese company that made the Charade and the Rocky 27. Mitsubishi model 31. Kia passenger van

Here’s absolute idiocy for you; a Texas teenager who killed four people while he was driving drunk with three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, was put on probation as his defense pointed out that he was sufering from “afu-

I hope, in this New Year, we can bring some sanity back to everyday living, with simple values being sensibly applied. Accommodating the lowest common denominator will never bring better standards to our society. We should always live up to standards –not down to them.