Copart, Inc. announced on July 8 that it has entered into contracts with 30 wholesale vehicle auctions, including 6 affiliated companies, to provide its proprietary VB2 auction technology for use in their auction process. Copart anticipates that these wholesale vehicle auctions will begin using VB2 by the end of 2004. VB2 is proprietary technology that allows buyers anywhere in the world to locate a desired vehicle, preview the vehicle through digital images and technical data and participate in a real-time virtual auction via the Internet. In the salvage vehicle auction industry, VB2 has eliminated the need to travel and gather at an auction site, expanded each buyer's geographic area of operation by allowing participation in multiple virtual auctions simultaneously, and has increased the returns realized by sellers by expanding the size of the bidder pool, said Copart. The wholesale vehicle auction industry processes and sells an estimated 10 to 11 million vehicles annually, supplied primarily by manufacturers, fleet and leasing companies, banks, car rental companies, and car dealers.