General Info

His head pivots like a robotic bobblehead, but with purpose. His mustached face points downward pouring over his run list as the bidding starts. His head shakes left to right as the auctioneer works the dealers in the lanes. Though high on the auction block, his face may never peer out into the lane. As bidding approaches his floor, the east-west movement slows. If the floor is met, the head starts moving quickly in a north-south direction ' first to his left then to his right covering the lane. As the radiator hose slams down, his head gives one last southward plunge. He writes notes on the run list, flicks the butt of a Kool Mild out the lane door and it's on to the next vehicle. The process is repeated perhaps 200 to 300 times three Thursdays a month by Kevin Esch, owner of Kevin's Marys-ville Auto Sales of Roseville, Mich., at Manheim's Metro Detroit Auto Auction in Flatrock, Mich. Esch is one of the only independent used-vehicle wholesalers to have his own lane at a Manheim auction. Earlier this month he reached a milestone ' Kevin's Marysville sold its 10, 000th vehicle. It took this mega-wholesaler just 27 months. Dealer Sales Manager Jim DiMando told me if I started bringing in 100 vehicles a week, I could use his office, and it's just grown from there, Esch said. Esch runs nearly 700 vehicles a month, all new-car dealer trade-ins, and does all he can to maintain a 70 percent sales rate. DiMando said he's averaging 450 sales a month. Over the past year, he's sold to more than 800 unique buyers. Guys like Kevin are rare, said Joe Maltese, Metro Detroit's general manager. He has a loyal following, and he's really a leader in the auto industry here. There's not a service we provide that he doesn't utilize, and it's working for him, the dealers and for us. The auction treats Kevin's Marysville like a major fleet client. He has his own lane with a fixed start time. Auction representative Lisa Karczynski, who helps with check-in, titling, logistics and serves as a liaison to auction management. Esch refers to her as my right hand. In addition, the auction provides marketing services such as telemarketing, blast faxes, and giveaways like vacations, big screen televisions and, in the case of his 10, 000th sold vehicle celebration, $2, 500 in cash. The sale also coincided with the first Kevin's Marysville sale run on Manheim's Simulcast. The first 50 vehicles of his 275-vehicle sale were offered on the Internet. Esch also makes use of all the usual auction services like detailing, transportation, mechanical and body and paint shop work. One of the most beneficial services, Esch said, was the implementation of a 30-day dealer float two years ago on vehicles purchased in his lane to qualified customers. It's rare they would offer a service like that to an independent, Esch said. We're very proud of our relationship with Metro Detroit. Esch, 47, has been in the used-vehicle industry since 1984 when he worked as a used-car manager at a Michigan franchise dealership. He worked with an independent dealership in 1992 in Marysville, Mich., in the state's Thumb area. That's how a lot of guys knew me when I started wholesaling was ' Kevin from Marysville, ' so when we moved to Roseville, we kept the name, he said. Directly, Esch's retail and wholesale operations employ four, including two salesmen, a business operations manager, and his wife, Sherri, who work out of his large retail operation, which keeps about 80 vehicles in inventory. The busy highway near one of southeastern Michigan's major retail areas gets more than 1, 000 vehicles per hour driving by. He also has four full-time buyers, who scour some 70 new-car dealerships in the southern half of Michigan's lower peninsula and northern Ohio. Esch is also one of the buyers. He is the sole Kevin's Marysville auction rep on the block. Indirectly, Esch's business employs dozen's of people in the area. He not only utilizes the auction's services, he has two mechani