Time, Ally name Chicago-area retailer as Dealer of the Year

Tracking down close to 8 million vehicles every year is a hassle for Manheim. Clicking a key fob to find a vehicle is impractical with 6,500 acres of physical auctions nationwide.

But Manheim's new tracking tool — Lot Vision — should expedite those searches and thus speed reconditioning and sales, the company said Friday. And U.S. retailers hoping to track their own inventory could also benefit.

The GPS-based wireless device plugs into a vehicle's onboard diagnostics port and can pinpoint a vehicle within a 10 feet, Manheim said. At lots the size of Manheim's, this can cut vehicle search time from hours to minutes.

For dealers, cars with Lot Vision can be found after inputting a work order number on a smartphone or tablet. Older vehicles without a port are tracked via sensors attached to the steering wheel.

Retailers Sonic Automotive Inc. and US Auto Sales are piloting Lot Vision at a few stores, Manheim said in a statement. Cox2M, a sibling of Cox Automotive-owned Manheim, collaborated with Manheim to produce the hardware. Cox2M will market Lot Vision directly to dealers. Eventually, Lot Vision may provide features such as real-time vehicle diagnostics, battery life assessment and fluid level checks.

The device also is in use at three Manheim locations and is expected to expand to other sites nationwide this year. a

John Alfirevich of Apple Chevrolet in Tinley Park, Ill., was named Time's 2019 Dealer of the Year on Friday at the NADA Show.

The Chicago-area dealer's many contributions to local charities and his commitment to do right by his customers, employees and community earned Alfirevich the award.

Doug Timmerman, president of auto finance for Ally, and Jorg Stratmann, publisher of Time, announced Alfirevich as the winner at a ceremony where all 51 nominees were honored.

Regional finalists for the award, also named Friday, are:

• John Kendall Garff of Ken Garff Honda Downtown in Salt Lake City.
• Frank Hug of Hug Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Charleston, Ark.
• Ryan LaFontaine of LaFontaine Cadillac-Buick-GMC in Highland, Mich.
• Eric Nielsen of Nielsen Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram in East Hanover, N.J.

Ally will give $10,000 to the charity of Alfirevich's choice. In addition, $5,000 will be donated to the nonprofit organizations selected by the four finalists.

Alfirevich began working at age 12 at Bob Motl Chevrolet in Chicago, which would later become Apple Chevrolet.

"My father, Joseph, was general manager of the dealership at the time and called me in to perform oil changes and other quick maintenance because of a local mechanic strike that lasted the entire summer," he said.

Alfirevich and his father now own the dealership, which they moved to Tinley Park.

He credits the dealership's philosophy to treat customers with "unpretentious integrity" as a key to success as well as honesty and transparency in every transaction.

Over the last year, Apple Chevrolet has donated to nearly 100 organizations, including the American Legion Auxiliary, Colon Cancer Coalition and Special Olympics, as well as schools, churches and sports teams.

Alfirevich is active in the Chicago Automobile Trade Association. In 2015, he was chairman of First Look for Charity, an event preceding the Chicago Auto Show that raised $3 million for charities.

Alfirevich earned a business/marketing degree from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., where he received a football scholarship.

He attended the NADA Academy in 1990.

The finalists and winner were chosen by a faculty panel from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan. a