OPENLANE Inc
For the period ended Dec 31, 2023. Filed Feb 21, 2024.
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FY2023 · Filed Feb 21, 2024
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Item 1. Business
We are a leading digital marketplace for used vehicles, connecting sellers and buyers across North America and Europe to facilitate fast, easy and transparent transactions. Our portfolio of integrated technology, data analytics, financing, logistics, reconditioning and other remarketing solutions, combined with our vehicle logistics centers in Canada, help advance our purpose: to make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful.
In 2023, our marketplaces facilitated the sale of approximately 1.3 million used vehicles, making OPENLANE a leading digital-only wholesale marketplace for used vehicles in North America. Vehicles on our marketplaces are typically sold by commercial sellers including vehicle manufacturers and their captive finance companies, financial institutions, commercial fleet operators and rental car companies (collectively "commercial customers"), as well as used vehicle dealers, to franchised and independent used vehicle dealers (collectively "dealer customers"). We generate revenue through auction fees charged to vehicle sellers and buyers as well as by providing value-added ancillary products and services, including transportation logistics, reconditioning, vehicle inspection and certification, titling, administrative and collateral recovery services and floorplan financing. We facilitate the transfer of ownership directly from seller to buyer and, generally, we do not take title to, nor ownership of, vehicles sold through our marketplaces. However, we also sell vehicles that have been purchased, for which we do take title and record the gross selling price of the vehicle sold through our marketplaces as revenue.
For commercial sellers, our software platform supports more than 40 private label digital remarketing sites and provides comprehensive solutions to our commercial customers. For dealer customers, our platform facilitates multiple sale formats, data-driven insights and integrated services to automotive dealers, coast-to-coast in the United States, Canada and Europe.
OPENLANE Europe is our digital marketplace serving customers in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe through a consolidated online wholesale used vehicle platform. We believe our geographic network and diverse product offerings enable us to leverage relationships with providers and buyers of used vehicles.
An important component of our services to buyers is providing short-term inventory-secured financing, known as floorplan financing. This is provided primarily to independent used vehicle dealers ("independent dealer customers") through our wholly-owned subsidiary, AFC, which has approximately 90 locations (hybrid of physical locations and a digital servicing network) throughout North America.
The Company also operates a simulcast technology that supports marketplace sales at our vehicle logistics centers in Canada. Access to this proprietary technology is also sold and licensed to other auction providers, including independent auctions in North America; generally, this revenue is generated on a per vehicle basis, but we do not include these transactions in our vehicle sold numbers.
Our Corporate History
ADESA entered the vehicle remarketing industry in 1989 and first became a public company in 1992. In 1994, ADESA acquired AFC. ADESA remained a public company until 1995, and then became public again in 2004. KAR Auction Services, Inc. ("KAR") was incorporated in 2006 and acquired ADESA and IAA in 2007, taking ADESA private. KAR became a public company in 2009. In 2019, IAA was separated from KAR through a tax-free spin-off. In 2022, KAR sold the ADESA U.S. physical auction business to Carvana. In 2023, KAR rebranded to OPENLANE.
Our Industry
Wholesale used vehicles are generally sold through marketplaces that bring together sellers and buyers to facilitate transactions. Wholesale used vehicles include vehicles from dealers turning their inventory, off-lease vehicles, vehicles repossessed by financial institutions and rental and other fleet vehicles that have reached a predetermined age or mileage. The following are key industry highlights:
Wholesale Used Vehicle Industry Volumes
We believe the U.S. and Canadian wholesale used vehicle industry has a total addressable market of approximately 15 million vehicles, which can fluctuate depending on seasonality and a variety of other macro-economic and industry factors. This wholesale used vehicle industry consists of the commercial market (commercial sellers that sell to franchise and independent dealers) and the dealer-to-dealer market (franchise and independent dealers that both buy and sell vehicles). The Company supports the majority of commercial sellers in North America with our technology and we believe digital applications may provide an opportunity to expand the total addressable market for dealer-to-dealer transactions. The supply chain issues and market conditions facing the automotive industry in recent years, including the disruption of new vehicle production, low new vehicle supply and historically high used vehicle pricing have had a material impact on the wholesale used vehicle industry.
Wholesale Used Vehicle Market
In the North American wholesale used vehicle marketplace industry, the largest providers of physical auctions include Manheim by Cox Automotive ("Manheim"), Carvana's used vehicle auctions operated as ADESA and America's Auto Auction. In the North American wholesale used vehicle marketplace industry, the largest providers of digital marketplaces include the Company and ACV Auctions. There are several other providers in the market of varying size. Over the last several years, industry transactions have been increasingly shifting from physical marketplace venues to digital marketplace channels. This shift has attracted the entry of several new technology-driven marketplace participants, who are generally smaller in size and service more select segments of buyers and sellers.
Floorplan Financing
An important component of the wholesale used vehicle industry is the availability of short-term inventory-secured financing, known as floorplan financing. By providing buyers (primarily independent dealer customers) access to capital, the independent dealer customers are able to place inventory on their lots. AFC and its competitors play a significant role in the wholesale used vehicle industry by providing liquidity in our marketplaces. AFC's floorplan financing also supports independent dealer customers with non-auction purchases. In addition, AFC offers value-added services that generate fee-based, non-interest revenue.
Our Business Strategy
OPENLANE’s strategy is to build the world’s greatest digital marketplaces for used vehicles, and we are advancing this strategy by fulfilling our purpose, to make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful. This progressive strategy reflects the shifting landscape of the remarketing industry and automotive sector, the evolving needs and expectations of our customers and the potential power and customer benefits inherent in a fully digital marketplace. The strategy builds on OPENLANE’s integrated technology, broad data analytics capabilities, and portfolio of financing, logistics, reconditioning and other remarketing solutions.
In 2023, we took meaningful steps towards achieving our vision by consolidating all of our marketplace platforms under the OPENLANE brand to create a single, unified marketplace within each of our geographies – bringing together all of the buyers, all of the sellers and all of the vehicles all in one place.
We believe digital platforms benefit sellers by providing greater flexibility around when and where to launch sales and attracting a larger, more engaged buyer-base, providing confidence that they are receiving the best market-based price available. We believe buyers benefit from digital platforms through greater transparency, access to inventory beyond their local market, and the ability to browse, bid and buy from any location, on any device, at any time. For OPENLANE, going digital enables a faster, more agile and asset-light operating model, which should in turn deliver greater value to our stakeholders.
OPENLANE has identified five strategic priorities that we believe will advance our strategy and continue to position our company for the future. Those priorities are:
Growing dealer consignment;
Expanding our commercial business;
Delivering strong performance in our floorplan business;
Digital innovation; and
Simplification.
Growing dealer consignment: The dealer consignment business represents approximately one-half of the Company’s transactional volume, and we believe this is an area with significant opportunity for growth. Last year, we consolidated many of the marketplace platforms acquired in previous years as part of our OPENLANE marketplace launches in the U.S., Canada and the EU. The combined OPENLANE platform now provides dealers with fast, easy, mobile-app enabled solutions to sell and source inventory from other dealers. In North America, they also feature exclusive off-lease inventory not yet available on any other competitor platform or physical auction. Our OPENLANE marketplaces provide comprehensive vehicle condition reports, greater transparency into bidding activity, and real-time market price discovery on listed vehicles. Over the last few years, the Company has integrated and leveraged technology, capabilities and staff from these businesses to deliver what we believe is the best digital dealer-to-dealer solution in the market.
Expanding our commercial business: The commercial consignment business represents approximately one-half of the Company’s transactional volume, and growing our share in this area remains a strategic priority. The foundation of OPENLANE’s commercial offering is our digital platform powering more than 40 private label websites for our commercial OEM and financial institution consignor customers. We continue to invest in technology to enhance the digital experience for our commercial customers and continue innovating on these platforms. And through our combined OPENLANE marketplaces, the commercial inventory from these customers is now offered to the full population of our OPENLANE buyers, increasing the likelihood of sale and ensuring the best market prices available are achieved.
Delivering strong performance in our floorplan business: AFC is a leading provider of floorplan financing and affiliated solutions to independent dealers across North America. We are focused on increasing the attach rate of our finance offerings across our marketplaces, growing share across the broader floorplan finance market, and deploying innovative new, non-interest, fee-based services and offerings. Additionally, AFC maintains best-in-class safeguards and processes to identify, mitigate and manage risk across their portfolio. We believe AFC’s local presence, centralized services and processing, and their pipeline of innovation position the floorplan business well for continued growth and contribution to OPENLANE’s overall results.
Digital innovation: The cornerstone of OPENLANE's business is our digital technology, so we intend to continue investing in innovation in our digital platforms, data analytics capabilities and digital talent that power our marketplaces, make wholesale easy for our customers and differentiate our marketplace from our competitors.
Enabling capabilities: We understand that as transactions become more digital, our capabilities need to evolve to meet the increased customer needs and expectations in a digital marketplace. We are enhancing our imaging, inspection and vehicle representation capabilities to more closely simulate seeing and touching a vehicle in person. We also intend to continue to build on and diversify our data and analytics capabilities, providing our customers with actionable information to help them make better, more informed buying and selling decisions.
Talent: Our digital model has enabled us to become a more efficient organization. We are reducing our overall cost structure while increasing resource levels in our technology, engineering, analytics and product development teams. We will continue to evaluate our talent pool and seek new talent where necessary to advance our strategy and support our customers.
Vehicle logistics center locations and operations: In our Canadian market, our vehicle logistics center locations provide comprehensive services to on-premise and off-premise customers, including inspection, reconditioning, mechanical work, storage and logistics.
Simplification: At the heart of our strategy is our purpose, to make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful. We are highly focused on simplifying the customer experience at every step of the process, from registration, to activation, to transaction and post-transaction services. Simplification also allows our business to more quickly develop and deploy innovation and better respond to changing customer needs and market conditions. Our marketplaces feature consolidated technology platforms that leverage the best features and capabilities from across our offerings, provide dealers with greater choice and flexibility and deliver an easier, more streamlined customer experience. We have also been centralizing many key customer support and administrative functions to ensure a faster, more predictable and consistent experience for our customers. As these consolidation efforts progress, we expect increased engagement from our dealers, increased efficiency in our technology development and operations and improved results across our marketplace business. Additionally, a more simplified business will help us focus our investments, accelerate the pace of innovation and manage our operating costs to the evolving market realities of our business.
Our Business Segments
We operate as two reportable business segments: Marketplace and Finance. Our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023 were distributed as follows: Marketplace 76% and Finance 24%.
Marketplace
OPENLANE is a leading digital-only wholesale used vehicle marketplace in North America. OPENLANE is committed to leading the digital transformation of the wholesale automotive remarketing industry and supporting our customers by providing fast and transparent digital marketplaces for buying and selling used vehicles. The Marketplace segment serves a domestic and international customer base through digital marketplaces for wholesale vehicles that allow the buyers to inspect and compare vehicles. Our marketplace offerings allow us to offer vehicles for sale from any location. Digital marketplace sales are initiated online and include OPENLANE US, OPENLANE Canada and OPENLANE Europe sales.
Vehicles available on our marketplaces include vehicles from commercial customers such as off-lease vehicles, repossessed vehicles, rental vehicles and other fleet vehicles that have reached a predetermined age or mileage, as well as vehicles from dealer customers turning their inventory. The number of vehicles offered for sale on our marketplaces is a key driver of our costs incurred, and the number of vehicles sold is the key driver of the revenues generated by our marketplaces.
We offer online and mobile wholesale vehicle marketplaces, as well as value-enhancing ancillary services in an effective and efficient manner to maximize returns for the sellers of used vehicles. We transfer the vehicles and ownership to the buyer and the net funds to the seller. Our online marketplaces function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing our customers with maximum exposure for their vehicles and the flexibility to offer vehicles at "buy now" prices or via marketplace sales that last for a certain amount of time. We also provide customized "private label" selling systems (including "buy now" functionality as well as other online sales formats) for our customers. At OPENLANE Canada vehicle logistics center locations, vehicles are typically offered for sale on at least a weekly basis and the marketplace sales are streamed using a simulcast technology so that remote bidders can participate via our online products.
We generate revenue from auction fees paid by vehicle buyers and sellers, as well as fees from related services. Generally, we do not take title to, or bear the risk of loss for, vehicles sold on our marketplaces. Our buyer fees are typically based on a tiered structure with fees increasing with the sale price of the vehicle, while seller fees are typically fixed. We add buyer fees to the gross sales price paid by buyers for each vehicle, and generally customers do not receive title and/or possession of vehicles after purchase until payment is received, proof of floorplan financing is provided or credit is approved. We generally deduct seller fees and other ancillary service fees to sellers from the gross sales price of each vehicle before remitting the net amount to the seller.
We also sell vehicles that have been purchased, which represent approximately 1% of the total volume of vehicles sold. The vehicles that are purchased by us (as opposed to consigned) are remarketed on our own behalf through our marketplace platforms. Since these vehicle titles transfer to us, the entire selling and purchase price of the vehicle is recorded as revenue and cost of services upon sale.
Customers
Suppliers of vehicles to our digital marketplaces primarily include (i) commercial customers; and (ii) dealer customers. Buyers of vehicles on our marketplace platforms primarily include dealer customers.
Services
Our digital marketplaces also provide a full range of innovative and value-added services to sellers and buyers that enable us to serve as a "one-stop shop" to service our customers' needs. These services include pre and post-sale inspections, key replacement, transportation and logistics, title services and floorplan financing. For vehicles at our vehicle logistics centers, we can also provide reconditioning and mechanical work. Many of these services may be provided or purchased independently from the marketplaces, including:
| Services | Description |
|---|---|
| Digital Marketplace Services | We provide marketing and advertising for the vehicles on our marketplaces, dealer registration, storage and security of consigned inventory, marketplace vehicle registration, condition report processing, photo services, pre-sale lineups, sales of vehicles by licensed auctioneers, arbitration of disputes, post-sale inspections, title processing, clearing of funds and sales results reports. |
| Transportation Services | We provide transportation services utilizing our own equipment and personnel as well as licensed and insured third-party carriers. Through our proprietary technology that provides automated vehicle shipping services, customers can instantly review price quotes and delivery times, and vehicle transporters can check available loads and also receive instant notification of available shipments. |
| Reconditioning Services | Our vehicle logistics centers provide detailing, body work, paintless dent repair ("PDR"), light mechanical work, glass repair, tire and key replacement and upholstery repair. Key replacement services through a mobile field workforce are offered to digital marketplace participants as well as other non-marketplace customers. |
| Inspection Services | We inspect many of the vehicles that are offered for sale in our marketplaces through a combination of our employees and third parties using our proprietary technologies. In addition, we provide vehicle condition reporting, inventory verification auditing, program compliance auditing and facility inspections to non-marketplace customers. Field managers are equipped with handheld computers and digital cameras to record all inspection and audit data on-site. This technology is also utilized at our vehicle logistics center locations, and we believe that the expanded utilization of comprehensive vehicle condition reports with pictures, video and sound facilitates dealers sourcing vehicles digitally. |
|---|---|
| Title and Repossession Administration and Remarketing Services | We provide end-to-end management of the remarketing process for repossession customers including titling, repossession administration, inventory management, marketplace selection, pricing and vehicle representation. We also operate a proprietary digital platform for repossession management that helps repossession companies and agents manage their accounts by providing a secure, encrypted software platform to track repossession orders. |
| Vehicle Research Services | We provide dealers real-time vehicle information such as pricing, history reports and market guides. The mobile app allows dealers to scan VINs using their mobile device, view marketplace offered lists and instantly access vehicle history reports and market value reports. We offer access to vehicle history resources such as CARFAX and AutoCheck, as well as pricing guides such as Black Book, Kelley Blue Book, J.D. Power and Galves. Our offering also includes a comprehensive wholesale and retail market report for all markets in the United States. |
Sales and Marketing
Our sales and marketing approach is to develop strong, mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationships with our customers. We have relationship managers for the various commercial customers, including vehicle manufacturers, fleet companies, rental car companies, finance companies and others. These relationship managers focus on current trends and customer needs for their respective customers in order to better coordinate our sales effort and service offerings.
We also have local sales representatives who have experience in the used vehicle business and an intimate knowledge of local markets. These local representatives focus on the dealer sellers and buyers and are complemented by a centralized team of inventory consultants matching buyers and inventory. Both the local sales representatives and the inventory consultants are managed by a corporate-level team focused on developing and implementing standard best practices and expanding relationships with major dealer groups. We believe this combination of a centralized structure with decentralized resources enhances relationships with the local dealer community and may further increase dealer consignment business on our marketplaces.
We also provide market analysis to our customers, as they use analytical techniques in making their remarketing decisions.
Competition
In the North American wholesale used vehicle industry, we compete with physical auction providers including Manheim and Carvana who now owns and operates ADESA. We also compete with several digital marketplace providers, including ACV Auctions and others. In addition, used car retailers, such as CarMax, have developed proprietary platforms for selling vehicles to other dealers. In the United States, competition is strongest with Manheim for the supply of used vehicles from national commercial customers. In Canada, we are the largest wholesale used vehicle marketplace operator. The supply of vehicles from dealers is dispersed among all of the marketplace and auction competitors in the used vehicle market.
The wholesale used vehicle industry is highly fragmented in Europe. Our digital marketplaces primarily compete with large European digital remarketers, including BCA Group and others. There are also a number of small independent auction operations throughout Europe.
Finance
AFC is a leading provider of floorplan financing to independent dealer customers. We provide short-term inventory-secured financing, known as floorplan financing, to independent dealer customers through a hybrid of physical locations and a digital servicing network throughout North America. In 2023, AFC serviced approximately 1.6 million loan transactions, which includes both loans paid off and loans extended, or curtailed. We sell the majority of our U.S. dollar-denominated finance receivables without recourse to a wholly-owned bankruptcy remote special purpose entity, which sells an undivided participation interest in such finance receivables to a group of bank purchasers on a revolving basis. We also securitize the majority of our Canadian dollar denominated finance receivables through a separate third-party facility. We generate a significant portion of our revenues from fees. These fees include origination, floorplan, curtailment and other related program fees. When the loan is extended or paid in full, AFC collects all accrued fees and interest.
In addition, AFC provides liquidity for customer trade-ins which can encompass settling lien holder payoff. We also provide title services for our customers. These services are provided through AFC's digital servicing network as well as its physical locations throughout North America.
Customers and Locations
Floorplan financing primarily supports independent dealer customers in North America who purchase vehicles on our marketplaces or those of our competitors and for non-auction purchases. In 2023, approximately 86% of the vehicles floorplanned by AFC were vehicles purchased by dealers on our marketplaces or through a competitor. Our ability to provide floorplan financing facilitates the growth of vehicle sales on our marketplaces. As of December 31, 2023, we serviced customers through approximately 90 locations (hybrid of physical locations and a digital servicing network) in markets with a significant concentration of AFC customers. Geographic proximity to the customers gives our employees the ability to stay in close contact with outstanding accounts, thereby better enabling them to manage credit risk and build customer relationships. In addition, the majority of U.S. titles are processed and held in a centralized location, enabling field personnel more time to focus on our dealers.
As of December 31, 2023, AFC had approximately 12,000 active dealers with an average line of credit of approximately $370,000 and no one dealer representing greater than 1.3% of our portfolio. An average of approximately 15 vehicles per active dealer were floorplanned with an approximate average value outstanding of $12,800 per vehicle as of December 31, 2023.
Sales and Marketing
AFC approaches and seeks to expand its share of the independent dealer floorplan market through a number of methods and channels. We target and solicit new dealers through both direct sales efforts at the dealer's place of business as well as location-based sales and customer service representatives, who service our dealers at our vehicle logistics centers or competitors where they replenish and rotate vehicle inventory. These largely local efforts are handled by field personnel. AFC's corporate-level team and Business Development Center also provide sales and marketing support to AFC field personnel by helping to identify new dealer opportunities, generating new leads through digital channels, and coordinating promotional activity with our marketplace platforms, competitor auctions and other vehicle supply sources. AFC also relies on the utilization of actionable data to drive the business forward (predictive modeling from historical and real-time data).
Credit
Our procedures, proprietary systems and data enable us to manage our credit risk by tracking each vehicle from origination to payoff, while expediting services through our field network. Typically, we assess a floorplan fee at the inception of a loan and we collect all accrued fees and interest when the loan is extended or repaid in full. In addition, AFC generally holds the title or other evidence of ownership to all vehicles which are floorplanned. Typical loan terms are 30 to 90 days, each with a possible loan extension. For an additional fee, this loan extension allows the dealer to extend the duration of the loan beyond the original term for another 30 to 90 days, and generally requires the dealer to make payment towards the principal and payment of accrued fees and interest.
The extension of a credit line to a dealer starts with the underwriting process. Credit lines up to $600,000 are extended using a proprietary scoring model developed internally by AFC. Credit lines in excess of $600,000 may be extended using underwriting guidelines which generally require dealership and personal financial statements, monthly bank statements, sales reports and tax returns. The underwriting of each line of credit requires an analysis, write-up and recommendation by the credit department and, in the case of credit lines in excess of $600,000, final review by a credit committee.
Collateral Management
Collateral management is an integral part of daily operations at each AFC location, including our corporate headquarters. AFC's proprietary system facilitates this daily collateral management by providing real-time access to dealer information and enables field and corporate personnel to assess and manage potential collection issues. Restrictions are automatically placed on customer accounts in the event of a delinquency, payments by dealers from bank accounts with insufficient funds or poor audit results. Field personnel are proactive in managing collateral by monitoring loans and changes in payoff activity. In addition, over 58,000 routine audits, or inventory audits, are performed annually on the dealers' lots through our AutoVIN subsidiary. The audit reconciliation process is centralized in order to better mitigate risk and make field personnel time available to focus on the customer. Poor results from inventory audits typically require personnel to take actions to determine the status of missing collateral, including visiting the dealer personally, verifying units held off-site and collecting payments for units sold. Audits also identify troubled accounts, triggering the involvement of AFC's risk department.
AFC operates three divisions which are organized into ten regions in North America. Each division and region is monitored by managers who oversee daily operations. At the corporate level, AFC employs full-time risk specialists and collection attorneys who are assigned to specific regions and monitor collection activity for these areas. Risk specialists work closely with the field personnel to track trends before an account becomes a troubled account and to determine, together with collection attorneys, the best strategy to secure the collateral once a troubled account is identified. In addition, many of our dealers with significant credit lines are managed by a centralized team to provide customized customer service as well as enhanced risk oversight.
Securitization
AFC sells the majority of its U.S. dollar denominated finance receivables on a revolving basis and without recourse to a wholly-owned, bankruptcy remote, consolidated, special purpose subsidiary ("AFC Funding Corporation"), established for the purpose of purchasing AFC's finance receivables. A securitization agreement allows for the revolving sale by AFC Funding Corporation to a group of bank purchasers of undivided interests in certain finance receivables subject to committed liquidity. AFC's securitization facility has been in place since 1996. AFC Funding Corporation had a committed facility of $2.0 billion from a third-party facility for U.S. finance receivables at December 31, 2023. The agreement expires on January 31, 2026.
We also have an agreement in place for the securitization of Automotive Finance Canada Inc.'s ("AFCI") receivables. This securitization facility provides up to C$300 million in financing for eligible finance receivables through a third-party conduit (separate from the U.S. facility). The agreement expires on January 31, 2026. The receivables sold pursuant to both the U.S. and Canadian securitization agreements are accounted for as secured borrowings.
Competition
AFC provides short-term dealer floorplan financing of wholesale vehicles primarily to independent vehicle dealers in North America. At the national level, AFC's competition includes NextGear Capital by Cox Automotive ("NextGear Capital"), other specialty lenders, banks and financial institutions. At the local level, AFC faces competition from banks, credit unions and independent auctions who may offer floorplan financing to local customers.
Some of our wholesale used vehicle marketplace competitors may endeavor to capture a larger portion of the floorplan financing market. AFC competes primarily on a relationship basis, focusing on quality of service, convenience of payment, scope of services offered to solve customer pain points and consistent commitment to the sector. This and our long-term relationships with customers have been established over time and act as a competitive strength for us.
Seasonality
The volume of vehicles sold through our marketplaces generally fluctuates from quarter to quarter. This seasonality is caused by several factors including weather, the timing of used vehicles available for sale from selling customers, holidays, and the seasonality of the retail market for used vehicles, which affects the demand side of the auction industry. Wholesale used vehicle volumes tend to decline during prolonged periods of winter weather conditions. As a result, revenues and operating expenses related to volume will fluctuate accordingly on a quarterly basis. In North America, the fourth calendar quarter typically experiences lower used vehicle volume as well as additional costs associated with the holidays and winter weather.
In addition, changes in working capital vary from quarter-to-quarter as a result of the timing of collections and disbursements of funds to consignors from marketplace sales held near period end.
Government Regulation
Our operations are subject to regulation, supervision and licensing under various federal, state, provincial, local and foreign authorities, agencies, statutes and ordinances, which, among other things, require us to obtain and maintain certain licenses, permits and qualifications, provide certain disclosures and notices, limit interest rates, fees and other charges and protect personal data. Some examples of the regulations and laws that impact our company are included in Item 1A. "Risk Factors" under the risk: "We are subject to a complex framework of federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations, which have in the past, and could in the future, subject us to claims, challenge our business model, or otherwise harm our business." Changes in government regulations or interpretations of existing regulations could result in increased costs, reduced vehicle prices and decreased profitability for us. In addition, failure to comply with present or future regulations or changes in existing regulations or in their interpretation could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Environmental Regulation
Our operations are subject to various foreign, federal, state and local environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing the emission or discharge of pollutants into the air or water, the generation, treatment, storage and release of hazardous materials and wastes and the investigation and remediation of contamination. Our failure to comply with current or future environmental, health or safety laws or to obtain and comply with permits required under such laws, could subject us to liability, damage our reputation and require costly investigative, remedial or corrective actions.
Some of the facilities on which we operate are impacted by recognized environmental concerns and pollution conditions. We have incurred and may in the future incur expenditures relating to compliance and risk mitigation efforts, releases of hazardous materials, investigative, remedial or corrective actions, claims by third parties and other environmental issues, and such expenditures, individually or in the aggregate, could be significant.
Employees and Human Capital
At December 31, 2023, we had approximately 4,500 employees, of which approximately 2,100 were located in the U.S. and approximately 2,400 were located in Canada, Europe, Uruguay and the Philippines. Approximately 85% of our workforce consists of full-time employees. None of our employees participate in collective bargaining agreements, but we have a works council in Belgium pursuant to local law. In addition to the employee workforce, we utilize independent contractors and temporary labor services to provide certain services.
Our people drive our business, so we strive to attract, develop and retain high-performing talent. Led by our Chief People Officer, we have programs and practices in place to onboard, support and retain our talent, and to source new talent in a highly competitive environment. We recognize the importance of our workforce and the employee experience, and strive to offer competitive compensation and benefits while fostering a culture of open dialogue, inclusion and belonging. Additionally, we enable support functions and people managers that are dedicated to the growth and development of our teams.
Intellectual Property
We rely on various intellectual property laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our proprietary technology and brands. We have registered, and applied for the registration of, U.S. and international trademarks, service marks, domain names and copyrights. We have also filed patent applications and obtained registrations in the U.S. and foreign countries covering certain of our technology. We have licensed in the past, and expect that we may license in the future, certain of our rights to other parties. For additional information regarding the risks relating to intellectual property, see Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Available Information
Our web address is corporate.openlane.com. Our electronic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") (including all Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and if applicable, amendments to those reports) are available free of charge on the website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. In addition, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Code of Ethics for Principal Executive and Senior Financial Officers and charters of the audit committee, the compensation committee, the nominating and corporate governance committee and the risk committee of our board of directors are available on our website and available in print to any stockholder who requests it. The information posted on our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report.
The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy statements and other information about issuers, like us, that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that site is www.sec.gov.
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