OAK BROOK, IL - vAuto announced the acquisition of Auction Genius, creator of a heads-up display for online auto auctions, and the roll-out of initial product integrations between the companies.

“This acquisition advances vAuto’s mission to help dealers become more efficient and effective used vehicle retailers,” says Dale Pollak, vAuto founder. “Auction Genius’ intuitive dashboard offers the perfect blend of sophistication and simplicity. Its integration with vAuto’s Provision system will eliminate the inefficiencies and difficulty dealers encounter every day as they evaluate and purchase the used vehicles they need from wholesale auctions.”

“Today, every dealer relies on wholesale auctions for used vehicles. This highly competitive environment requires dealers to evaluate far more vehicles than they used to, and the time it takes to do the proper research is overwhelming,” says Todd Kinzle, president and co-founder of Auction Genius. “Combining our one-stop dashboard with vAuto allows dealers to analyze as many as 10 times the number of vehicles and zero in on the ‘right’ cars with significantly more speed, ease and efficiency.”

Dealers currently use multiple systems and tools to create used vehicle buy lists, match the lists with cars scheduled to be sold at wholesale online auctions and gather condition/market valuation reports to assess individual vehicles for potential purchase. They also access live online auctions via a separate system to buy the cars that fit their purchase parameters.

“Provision took the first step toward making auction purchases more efficient for dealers,” Pollak says. “It provided a single platform for dealers to evaluate and place proxy bids to acquire the ‘right’ used vehicles. With Auction Genius, Provision fully completes the ‘last mile’ of the auction appraisal and purchase process, providing dealers robust, real-time access to leading online wholesale auctions to evaluate and buy used vehicles with greater efficiency and far less frustration.”

The integration of each company’s technology and tools has already begun; vAuto and Auction Genius customers can begin using elements of the integrated system this summer with full integration and functionality expected to be completed by December 2012.

Auction Genius founders and employees will continue to operate from their Longmont, CO., offices.