Cars have long been bought and sold face to face. Whether through a showroom at the retail level, or at an auction for the discount and wholesale level, cars have long resisted e commerce. Thanks to sites like openlane.com, though, that is changing. From the company that brought dealers manheim.com, ove.com, and smartauction.com, openlane.com connects dealers with wholesalers throughout the U.S.

The concept behind openlane.com is simple. Suppose you are a previously owned car dealer, and you are restocking on inventory. Most dealers buy through auctions, where they can get the car they are looking for at a fair market price.

Openlane.com uses the auction principle, but on a much larger scale. Wholesale distributors can auction their cars, and dealers can specify bids. Dealers can filter car searches by physical distance, mileage, make and model, and many other factors. In theory, dealers can scour the country looking for the best car to fill their needs.

Openlane.com also exposes dealers to many large pools of previously owned vehicles. Dealers can chose from several insurance auto auctions, or they may choose from GSA auctions, which downsize aging but good condition government fleet cars.

Websites like openlane.com are becoming more popular. For many years, cars were one of the last goods traded online, for there was no safe system to do so. As openlane.com and other auction sites spring up, they are allowing more cars to be traded, and hopefully lower costs for both dealers and consumers.