ACV Auctions sold a used car to a dealer in 20 minutes, through an app. For generations dealers had traded cars at big physical auction yards, driving in to bid in person. ACV sent inspectors to the car instead and posted the report online. Buffalo, New York, was an unlikely place to start a tech marketplace. ACV went public in March 2021, after a year in which the pandemic had upended the dealers it served.

Starting in Buffalo

ACV was incorporated in December 2014 and went live in Buffalo in 2015. The bet was that dealers would buy cars sight unseen if the inspection data was good enough. ACV built condition reports, then added transport, financing and assurance services on top. By the end of 2020 it covered 125 territories across the continental United States. That year 391,466 vehicles sold on its marketplace, worth $3.3 billion. Revenue was $208.4 million.

A Buyout by Copart

ACV priced its offering at $25 a share in March 2021 and listed on Nasdaq as ACVA. It kept adding services such as transport and financing for dealers. In September 2026 Copart, the big salvage car auction company, agreed to buy ACV. Copart offered $10.50 a share in cash through a tender offer. The offer closed on October 15, 2026, and Copart took control. ACV's shares left Nasdaq that month.

Cover: Tyburn, The Motor Car, Joseph Pennell. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an early motor car (the used-car trade).