eBay Motors App Lets Shoppers Begin Vehicle Searches by Taking Photos

A potential car buyer is walking around town and spots a car, without even knowing the make, model or year of the car, that shopper can now be instantly connected to sellers of similar vehicles — including dealers — simply by taking a picture on the iPhone.

Thanks to upgrades eBay Motors has made to its iPhone app, this apparently is possible.

Through the new Vehicle Finder function (one of the aforementioned enhancements), when someone snaps a photo on their iPhone of a vehicle, the app can pull make/model/year information and show which similar vehicles are available on eBay Motors, officials explained.

The app’s upgrades also include a streaming feature, which shows eBay Motors-exclusive live broadcasts from auto events and races. The company was scheduled to launch that feature this past weekend at the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 race at Daytona International Speedway, where former Le Mans winner Justin Bell was hosting behind-the-scenes coverage.

Moving along, other enhancements include:

—Notifications for when a shopper has been outbid, when sales are ending and updates on the current “Best Offer."
—Stock images of vehicles to allow  a user to quickly and easily update his or her profile in the personal eBay Motors "Garage."
—Feature for users to share via Twitter the parts and vehicles they are buying or selling (currently only avaialbe on the  iOS 5)

“Car lovers have embraced mobile shopping with 127,000 parts and 2,800 cars sold each week worldwide through eBay mobile applications alone," said Steve Yankovich, eBay’s vice president of mobile.

“We are enhancing this experience with entertaining original content and Vehicle Finder image search. The eBay Motors app is a one-stop destination for auto fans, from their next purchase to behind the scenes footage of a raceway event, whether they are at home or on the go,” he added.

eBay Hosts Charity Auction

Additionally, after the aforementioned race this past weekend, eBay Motors was hosting an auction of the “Rennsport Edition” Porsche Cayman S, the proceeds of which were going to Children’s Tumor Foundation. The vehicle was a special commission from the organizers of the Cayman Interseries racing during the Rennsport Reunion in October at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, Calif.

Officials said the vehicle includes the autographs of the “dozens of legendary drivers” who were attending. Also inscribed on the Porsche is the name of every racing Porsche and where it raced.

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Polk: Vehicle Population Hits Record Average Age

The U.S. vehicle population has reached a record-high age after showing rapid gains in recent years, according to Polk, which said this aging fleet and longer ownership periods present dealership service departments — along with other auto repair and aftermarket businesses — with “significant business growth opportunity.”

More specifically, the average age of vehicles currently in operation as of July 1 of 2011 is 10.8 years, compared to 10.6 years on the same date in 2010.

This continues what Polk called a rapid increase over the last five years, climbing all the way up from an average age of 9.7 back in 2006.

“The increasing age of the vehicle fleet, together with the increasing length of ownership, offers significant business growth opportunity for the automotive aftermarket,” stated Mark Seng, global aftermarket practice leader at Polk. “Dealer service departments and independent repair facilities, as well as aftermarket parts suppliers, will see increased business opportunity with customers in need of vehicle service.”

Breaking the data down further, the age of passenger cars climbed only slightly to 11.1, compared to an age of 11 the prior year. Meanwhile, the increase for trucks (10.1 to 10.4) was more dramatic.

Polk explained that this deceleration for passenger car aging reflects the sluggish sales and the car-versus-truck sales mix during 2008 and 2009. During this period, there were a greater number of truck registrations than car registrations.

Officials pointed out, however, that that even though truck sales were stronger during this period, their aging rate was quicker.

That said, the market is likely to see this trend go in reverse in the near future, given the increases in the CUV and small SUV populations over the last two years. What’s more, with new-vehicle sales climbing last year and expectations for those gains to continue, Polk believes the market’s aging rate will probably soften compared to what’s been seen in the last three years.

Moving along, Polk also delved into U.S. vehicle population data. After two years of decreases in vehicle count, 2011 showed an uptick.

Specifically, there were 240.5 million units in operation as of July 1.

After reaching an all-time high of 242.1 million in 2008, the population dropped to 241.5 million in 2009 and 240.0 million in 2010.

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2012 Jeep Wrangler predicted to hold its value better than any other vehicle

Toyota, Subaru, Lexus get high resale marksFive years from now, Kelley Blue Book predicts, a 2012 Wrangler will be worth 55 percent of its current, new-vehicle price.

The 2012 Jeep Wrangler will hold its value better in five years than any other vehicle, Kelley Blue Book predicts.

The Wrangler has risen to the top of the compact SUV category in separate rankings by ALG and Kelley Blue Book, which predict future resale values.

Five years from now, Kelley Blue Book predicts, a 2012 Wrangler will be worth 55 percent of its current, new-vehicle price. That projected residual value put it at the top of Kelley Blue Book's compact vehicle category, up from second place last year, when the 2011 Wrangler's residual value was projected at 45.2 percent.

Kelley Blue Book named Toyota as it best resale-value brand, with a predicted residual of 40.5 percent, up from 38.5 percent last year. Lexus, with a predicted value of 37.9, up from 36.4 percent last year, was named best resale luxury brand. Jeep, buoyed by Wrangler, jumped to second place in the top 10 brand ranking, up from eighth a year ago. Scion, which didn't make the top 10 last year, climbed to No. 3.

Eric Ibara, director of residual consulting at Kelley Blue Book, says his company is "amazed" at how well Wrangler holds its value — and isn't sure why. It competes in a category with such vehicles as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Tucson but is perceived as different from them, he says.

"We have some theories," Ibara says. "It's easy seeing those vehicles competing against each other, but there's not much competition for a Wrangler.

"Part of its popularity, we think, is just being unique."

Kelley Blue Book released its resale brand rankings as part of its 2012 Residual Value Analysis. Its predictions are for five years to reflect the typical length of new-vehicle ownership.

ALG gave the nod to Subaru as its mainstream brand winner at 50 percent, down from 53 percent last year.

Lexus was the top luxury brand in ALG's rankings

ALG released its rankings as part of its 13th Annual Residual Value Awards. Its predictions are for 36 months, the typical length of a lease. ALG would not release predicted residuals for top finishers in its vehicle segments.

Raj Sundaram, a senior vice president at DealerTrack Holdings Inc., ALG's former owner, is a consultant to ALG as it transitions to new owner TrueCar Inc. He says ALG set its overall 2012 model residual projections lower than it had set projections last year and the year before. That's because an uptick in leasing that started last year will result in more off-lease vehicles returning to the market in greater numbers, which is expected to lower used-vehicle prices in three years.

On average, ALG set residual values for nonluxury vehicles at 45 percent for 2012, down from 47 in 2011. On the luxury side, ALG set average projections at 45.5 for 2012, down from 47 in 2011.

"In 2014 toward the second half and in 2015 we do think supply will be a very different dynamic, higher than what we're experiencing this year and next year," Sundaram says. "We have brought our residuals down."

As in previous years, import brands dominate both companies' projected residual rankings.

You can reach Arlena Sawyers at asawyers@crain.com. Readers are solely responsible for the content of the comments they post here. Comments are subject to the site's terms and conditions of use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of Automotive News. Readers whose comments violate the terms of use may have their comments removed or all of their content blocked from viewing by other users without notification.

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