Executives with Strong Work Records Take CAR Awards

While this year’s two winners of the Conference of Automotive Remarketing awards belong in the ranks of high achievers, their complementary roles define one of the industry’s core dynamics: Selling used and wholesale used vehicles and the financing it takes to move them through the remarketing chain.

The 2024 Remarketer of the Year Award was given to David Andrews, the owner and CEO of City Enterprises LLC of Franklin, Tennessee. The 2024 Consignor of the Year went to Brent Huisman, senior vice president of asset remarketing and repossession for Exeter Finance, an Irving, Texas-based auto finance company that works with thousands of independent and franchised dealers nationwide.

The CAR Remarketing Awards are chosen and presented exclusively each year by Bobit Business Media, which owns and produces CAR, to recognize high performers deeply engaged with the business of the industry.

A separate award announcement, the 2024 Ed Bobit Industry Icon Award chosen by the Automotive Remarketing Alliance and the National Auto Auction Association, was rescheduled for the annual NAAA Convention in Orlando, Florida, Oct. 1-3 so the winner could receive it in person.

Remarketer of the Year

Andrews’ 38-year-and-counting career began before his official start in 1972 after working alongside his father in the retail automobile business in Memphis, Tennessee. With such roots, he rose fast and took over a small retail store from his father that year, turning it into a successful wholesale vehicle operation that transacted 500-600 vehicles annually.

In 1980, Andrews partnered in a Ford auto store, and later launched City Auto Sales in 1986 in Memphis, expanding to four retail locations including one in Murfreesboro. In 2016, City Auto Sales sold 6,846 vehicles across its locations, while the company's wholesale division moved 2,470 units.

In 2001, Andrews’ acquired Dealers Auto Auction, which grew to eight locations by 2019, and today operates 11 locations in six Southeastern states. The company generated $1 billion in sales in 2022.

A decades-long entrepreneur, Andrews pursued a vision of expanding physical auction locations while applying new technologies that enable 24/7 service that offers vehicles directly from dealers’ retail locations.

His company, City Enterprises, owns City Auto Sales, City Auto Finance, City Leasing, Dealers Auto Auction Group, and AutoNext. The companies employ 700 workers.

Not one to pull back, Andrews has positioned his companies to grow further in Tennessee and throughout the Southeast. 

In accepting the award, Andrews said, "This is very humbling. Thank you very much. I've been doing this for a long time, and it’s been the ride of my life. I worked with my dad for a couple of years. And his idea was simple. You can make enough money to play golf, and my idea wasn’t to play golf but to enjoy doing this. But being in the auction business is so much different than being in a retail car business because you make all these friends and all these relationships.

“And my favorite day is when I get to go to an auction. You see all your buddies and it's action packed. I've had to become more of an administrator over the last several years, but I still go to an auction at least once a week. It's a great day. I want to thank our customers, and our employees that make this possible because this isn't what I do. I'm just a director of this and I really appreciate it and everyone’s friendship.”

Consignor of the Year

While introducing winner Huisman, CAR emcee Charlie Vogelheim recounted his big-name finance career that included the highlight of “building the entire off-lease process for Chrysler capital, and U.S. customer dealers upstream.”

Huisman started his career in 1998 as the regional remarketing manager for GE Capital, responsible for remarketing off-lease units to dealers and helped build and design one of the first online sales platforms called GEautodirect.com.

In 2000, he became the assistant vice president of asset remarketing and dealer sales for Bank One and ran the national dealer sales team for off-lease and repossessed units in addition to working with the wholesale auction team.

From there, he became the vice president of dealer sales at ADESA where he ran the dealer sales team for all North America including Canada, U.S., and Mexico, in addition to calling on major commercial accounts nationwide.

In 2008, he ascended to executive vice president of asset remarketing for HSBC, SCUSA, and Chrysler Capital. He ran the remarketing team for the finance portfolio in addition to building out the entire off lease process for Chrysler Capital in the U.S., which included customer, dealer, upstream (ChryslerDirect.com), and auction touchpoints.

And now he manages the remarketing/impound and repossession teams for the U.S. at Exeter Finance.

Huisman has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Iowa, and an MBA from Benedictine University in Chicago. He has been a member of the National Auto Auction Association since 1998 and is a NAAA certification member. He has been a guest speaker at Auction Academy since 2010. He lives with his wife and four kids in Southlake, Texas where he coaches youth football.

Huisman said, “This has been just an absolute honor. It's interesting when your remarketing career ebbs and flows with different companies, where you can consign cars or be a recipient of cars. When you consign cars, you tend to have a lot of friends. I registered for this conference on Wednesday and by Thursday I had 19 lunch invitations, which is fantastic. I love life. But whether I’ve had cars consigned or have to consign cars, Pierre Pons and TPC Management have always been there. I thank them for their friendship and counsel during the last two decades.” Huisman also thanked his many colleagues and auction team run by Stephanie Compton, the vice president of asset remarketing at Exeter Finance.