Cox Automotive has fully acquired Alliance Inspection Management (AiM), a vehicle-inspection company that has served Cox’s Manheim wholesale division for several years.
Cox Automotive owned a 50% stake in AiM for nearly a decade and recently bought the other half at an undisclosed price from Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.
“This is another powerful step in our journey toward reimagining how buyers and sellers connect in today’s wholesale automotive marketplace,” Cox Automotive Inventory Solutions president Grace Huang wrote in the deal announcement. “By fully integrating AiM’s talent and technology into the Manheim Marketplace, we’re making it easier than ever for clients to transact confidently —whether in lane, online, onsite or offsite.”
The acquisition provides a significant boost to Manheim’s North American operations, which boast 115 physical, digital and mobile auction locations and 15,000 employees. About 700 AiM employees will join Cox Automotive, 300 of whom will visit car dealerships across the country to help with wholesale vehicle transactions from their lots.
For commercial clients, the transaction lifts Manheim “to the #1 position in the industry for off-lease inspections,” according to the announcement. Manheim said it will offer clients tech-driven off-lease inspections “at an unprecedented scale.”
Cox Automotive, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, describes itself as the world’s largest automotive service and technology provider, operating across five continents and employing 25,000 people. In the U.S., it runs Autotrader.com, the No.3 vehicle marketplace by monthly visits. Autotrader republishes its listings on sister site Kelley Blue Book, a leading used-vehicle pricing resource. In August, it announced that its listings would gain further exposure through a syndication deal with enthusiast site Car and Driver.
