Before we get started, please note that today's comments include forward looking statements, including statements regarding future financial guidance. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures is provided in today's earnings materials, which can also be found on our investor relations website. We are very pleased with our team's execution in the second quarter, delivering revenue and Adjusted EBITDA within our guidance range. Despite challenging market conditions in the back half of the quarter, record revenue and continued cost discipline resulted in Adjusted EBITDA margins more than doubling year-over-year, underscoring the scale in our business model.

Second, we had another record quarter for ACV Transport and ACV Capital along with strong adoption of our value-added dealer solutions. Furthermore, we have maintained the midpoint of Adjusted EBITDA guidance reflecting our commitment to deliver significant margin expansion while continuing to invest in our long-term growth objectives. We're confident that executing on this profitable growth strategy will create significant long-term shareholder value. We sold 210,000 vehicles which was 13% year-over-year growth despite the sharp market deceleration throughout the quarter.

Next, on slide five, we will again focus our discussion around the three pillars of our strategy to maximize long-term shareholder value: growth, innovation, and scale. Beginning with our marketplace, we provide dealers with highly accurate condition-adjusted pricing guidance, enabling them to set attractive reserve prices, which increases buyer engagement and conversion. On the demand side, the buying experience is tailored across buyer personas, and we're optimizing the bidding experience by providing AI-enabled recommendations informed by dealer preferences and current market factors. Beginning with ACV Transport, the transportation team had another quarter of strong execution, setting records for both quarterly revenue and transports delivered.

What went well
  • ACV delivered record second-quarter revenue of $194 million, up 21% year-over-year and within its guidance range, while selling 210,000 vehicles for 13% unit growth despite a sharp market deceleration in the back half of the quarter.
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $19 million came in at the midpoint of guidance with margin improving 520 basis points year-over-year (more than doubling), and non-GAAP net income margin rose 430 basis points, underscoring the scale in the business model as non-GAAP cost of revenue fell ~200 bps and non-GAAP OpEx ex-COGS fell ~300 bps as a percentage of revenue.
  • Marketplace Services revenue grew 25% year-over-year to 39% of total revenue, driven by record quarters for both ACV Transport and ACV Capital; ACV Transport set records for quarterly revenue and transports delivered with revenue margin up 370 basis points to the low-20s midterm target, and ACV Capital grew revenue over 60% for its third straight quarter of accelerating growth.
  • Auction and assurance revenue grew 20% year-over-year to 57% of total revenue on 13% unit growth and ARPU of $523 (up 6%), and management continued to gain wholesale market share, guiding to mid-teens share gains for the full year.
  • ACV Guarantee / no-reserve sales scaled to over 15% of units sold exiting Q2 (about 11% for the full quarter, up 200 bps versus Q1) with a 100% conversion rate, removing market risk for sellers while maintaining attractive unit economics.
  • Data and value-added dealer solutions gained traction: ClearCar reached over 1,600 active rooftops (including a top-five dealer group at 150+ rooftops), ACV MAX bookings rose 50% versus 2024 on competitive displacements, five of the top ten U.S. dealership groups are using ACV pricing data, and Project Viper has run over 10,000 vehicles ahead of a targeted 2026 commercial launch.
  • The company ended Q2 with a strong balance sheet of $305 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities (including $198 million of marketplace float) against $187 million of debt, supported by strong first-half operating cash flow.
What went wrong
  • Weaker market conditions in the back half of the quarter drove lower-than-expected conversion rates (especially in June), creating an approximate 500 basis point headwind to unit growth even though listings were in line with expectations.
  • Elevated trade retention rates (up about 300 basis points year-over-year in Q2) led management to now expect dealer wholesale volumes to be flat to down modestly for 2025, as dealers keep more used-car inventory amid a multi-million-unit industry supply gap.
  • Management trimmed 2025 revenue guidance by $5 million at the midpoint to reflect ongoing macro cross-currents, including tariff uncertainty and used-vehicle-pricing dynamics, and adopted a more conservative full-year market assumption of flat to down (versus a prior flat assumption).
  • SaaS and data services revenue (4% of total) was approximately flat year-over-year, and management flagged that getting dealers to buy more cars via their websites will take additional quarters of work.
  • The Q3 outlook (16%-18% revenue growth) is set against a tough comparison to Q3 2024's 44% growth, and the P&L is being burdened this year by upfront costs to scale new platforms like Project Viper and the Amazon trade-in engine with little revenue contribution expected in 2025.

Guidance Changes

MetricPeriodCurrent guidance
RevenueFY2025$765M-$775M (midpoint $770M), growth of 20%-22% year-over-year
Adjusted EBITDAFY2025$68M-$72M, growth of approximately 150% year-over-year
Adjusted EBITDA margin expansionFY2025Expected to increase approximately 500 basis points year-over-year
Non-GAAP OpEx excluding cost of revenue growthFY2025Approximately 11% year-over-year (a 200 bps increase in incremental Adjusted EBITDA margin versus prior guidance)
Wholesale market share gainsFY2025Mid-teens at the midpoint of revenue guidance
Dealer wholesale volumesFY2025Flat to down modestly year-over-year, based on elevated trade retention rates observed in late Q2
RevenueQ3 2025$198M-$203M, growth of 16%-18% year-over-year against a tough Q3 2024 comparison (44% growth)
Adjusted EBITDAQ3 2025$18M-$20M, reflecting growth of approximately 70% year-over-year

Performance Breakdown

MetricYoYNote
Total revenue +21% to $194M Record revenue within guidance, driven by dealer wholesale share gains, record ACV Transport and ACV Capital results, and value-added solution adoption, despite a sharp market deceleration late in the quarter.
Vehicles sold (units) +13% to 210,000 Strong listings in line with expectations, offset by an approximate 500 bps headwind from lower-than-expected conversion rates in the back half of the quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA Margin +520 bps to $19M Record revenue plus cost discipline more than doubled EBITDA margin year-over-year; result landed at the midpoint of guidance.
Non-GAAP net income margin +430 bps At the midpoint of guidance, reflecting operating leverage and expense discipline.
Auction and assurance revenue +20% (57% of total) 13% unit growth plus ARPU of $523, up 6% year-over-year.
Auction and assurance ARPU +6% to $523 Value-added assurance products and an earlier-in-year buy-fee increase (~5%-6% ARPU contribution).
Marketplace Services revenue +25% (39% of total) Record revenue for ACV Transport and ACV Capital.
ACV Transport revenue margin +370 bps AI-optimized pricing drove growth and operating efficiency; margin now in the low-20s midterm target range.
ACV Capital revenue +60%+ Third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth as the team scales while managing risk and expands its TAM with off-platform offerings.
SaaS and data services revenue Approximately flat (4% of total) Flat year-over-year despite record ACV MAX bookings and ClearCar rooftop growth.
Non-GAAP cost of revenue (% of revenue) -200 bps Driven by auction and assurance results and by ACV Transport.
Non-GAAP OpEx excluding cost of revenue (% of revenue) -300 bps Ongoing expense discipline as the company optimizes and scales.

Earnings Call Themes & Trends

TopicPrevious mentionCurrent periodTrend
Dealer wholesale market share and partnershipsConsistent share gainsContinued market-share gains and dealer-network expansion via a differentiated marketplace, guiding to mid-teens share gains for the year; management stresses annual (not quarterly) comparisons show the true trajectory as absolute numbers grow.
ACV TransportGrowing serviceRecord quarterly revenue and transports delivered, revenue margin up 370 bps to the low-20s midterm target on AI-optimized pricing, with off-platform transportation gaining traction and increasing network density.
ACV CapitalScalingOver 60% revenue growth for a third straight quarter of acceleration, expanding TAM with new value-added offerings including helping dealers buy vehicles from consumers off-platform.
ACV AI, guaranteed pricing and no-reserveEarly AI/pricing capabilityAI fuses inspection and market data to price vehicles in real time within ~$75 of sale price; ACV Guarantee/no-reserve reached 15%+ of units exiting Q2 with a 100% conversion rate and is expected to grow substantially over the next few years.
Pricing-as-a-service and data products (ClearCar, ACV MAX)Building data servicesFive of the top ten dealership groups (and Amazon) use ACV pricing data to appraise trade-ins; ClearCar surpassed 1,600 rooftops with strong service-drive adoption, ACV MAX bookings rose 50%, and ACV plans to bundle the Guarantee offering into ClearCar/MAX around Q4-Q1; retail-price prediction (within ~$360 in 30 days) is in beta.
Next-generation inspection tech (Project Viper, Virtual Lift 2.0)In developmentOver 10,000 vehicles run through Viper across Q2 pilots with positive feedback; the P&L carries the scaling cost this year, with commercial launch of both Viper and Virtual Lift 2.0 targeted for 2026 and revenue materializing next year.
Commercial wholesale and greenfield Remarketing CentersBuilding commercial platformInitial commercial platform (AutoIMS assignments, inspections, work orders, consigner approvals) nearing completion; first greenfield in Houston sold its first car in testing, a second greenfield is contracted to launch in Q1 2026, and management targets ~40 locations via a greenfield-led strategy plus opportunistic M&A toward a large commercial TAM.
Capital allocation and investment strategyProfitable-growth focusProtects a core product/technology and inspector-hiring budget (needs ~30 more inspectors) independent of quarterly EBITDA optics; greenfields consume far less capital than acquiring auctions; OpEx grows ~11% while EBITDA margin expands ~500 bps.
Macro and used-vehicle market outlookAssumed flat marketNow assumes a flat-to-down 2025 market amid tariff uncertainty, a multi-million-unit supply gap, and trade retention up ~300 bps; management expects a healthier 2026 as off-lease and used-car inventory return and if tariffs resolve and interest rates decline.

Q&A Summary

Chris Pierce (Needham & Company) asked management to parse the 500 basis point unit-growth headwind (despite in-line listings) from the higher trade retention rates, and separately asked about competitive dynamics — whether the softness was roughly 80/20 macro versus competitive.
George Chamoun and Bill Zerella explained these are two separate but semi-related items: dealers are keeping a higher percentage of used cars they need (trade retention) amid a multi-year industry supply gap, while the 500 bps headwind was a short-term shortfall in conversion/sell-through rates versus modeled expectations, worst in June; some lower conversion did mean dealers simply kept vehicles. Chamoun said the conversion dip was in line with what the broader industry (per NAAA data) saw across ACV and competitors, and that conversion rates recovered and looked healthy to start Q3, aided partly by the no-reserve/Guarantee push.
Will Gildea (CJS Securities, on for Bob) asked about progress on the pricing engine and the auction-liquidity benefit of guaranteed pricing, and what comes next after the price guarantee in new tech and data products.
Chamoun said ACV can now put a number on a vehicle within roughly $75 of the sale price using its condition-adjusted inspection data plus ACV MAX DMS integrations, and expects the Guarantee/no-reserve sale to grow substantially. Zerella added that no-reserve was ~15% of unit volume exiting Q2 and ~11% for the full quarter (up 200 bps from Q1), accelerating into Q3. On what's next, Chamoun cited pricing-as-a-service (five of the top ten dealer groups and Amazon using ACV data), retail-price prediction in beta (within $360 over 30 days), and Project Viper enabling automatic in-service-drive pricing.
Eric Sheridan (Goldman Sachs) asked how to think about the Amazon partnership scaling and delivering volume, and about the geographic expansion of the AI solutions and their contribution to growth in coming years.
Chamoun said contributions from new initiatives like Project Viper and Amazon will be very small this year and are not being baked into forecasts; they are R&D-funded now with expected medium-to-long-term benefits. Zerella added the P&L is being burdened this year with the cost to make platforms (especially Viper and the Amazon trade-in engine, built to process trade-ins at scale) scalable, with revenue opportunity materializing in 2026.
An analyst question (speaker label not captured in the transcript) on market-share cadence and commercial contribution.
Chamoun said quarterly share percentages don't show the full picture and that ACV looks at year-over-year on an absolute annual basis, remaining confident in continued share growth even as absolute numbers get bigger, supported by a broader product array. Zerella added second-half context: Q3 2024 grew 4% and Q4 6%, and with a full-year market assumed flat to slightly down, the math implies mid-teens share gains while maintaining the Adjusted EBITDA midpoint (higher incremental margins). On commercial, Chamoun noted ACV finished its new platform software, sold its first car at the Houston greenfield as a practice run, and sold its first car via the new software without a greenfield, and is preparing to go live soon (an upstream-commercial model using recon estimates).
Rajat Gupta (JPMorgan) asked a philosophical question on resource allocation — whether ACV would invest more in boots-on-the-ground sales and marketing to accelerate share even at the expense of near-term EBITDA — and separately what is driving the more cautious full-year market outlook (tariffs, wholesale-to-trade ratio).
Chamoun said ACV always protects a significant product/technology budget as its core DNA and never lets quarterly EBITDA constrain inspector hiring (needs ~30 more inspectors currently), but with ~150 field sales teammates plus majors/strategics teams it does not need materially more sales headcount. Zerella added the company keeps optimizing operationally as it matures without sacrificing growth investments. On the outlook, Chamoun noted July was strong for both retail and wholesale but warned of pull-forward followed by softness and tougher compares plus muted dealer bullishness. Zerella cited trade retention rates up ~300 bps year-over-year and tariff-driven uncertainty as reasons to be prudent about the second half.
An analyst question (speaker label not captured) on the data-services products ACV MAX and ClearCar.
Chamoun reported record ACV MAX bookings and strong ClearCar strides, noting ACV often prices MAX and ClearCar very low to build long-term wholesale partnerships. The biggest recent success is dealers buying cars out of their service drive (some buying three to five cars a day), while getting dealers to buy from their websites will take more time; dealers are retaining a higher percentage of those cars now but should return to historical wholesale trade ratios over time. ACV is about to launch (Q4-Q1) the Guarantee offering as a feature within ClearCar and MAX, currently in beta.
Alex Potter (Piper Sandler) asked to confirm the revenue guidance trim was purely a reassessment of the market (not ACV's own share or competitive position), and asked about the pricing lever — the outlook for auction fees and any intention to take price.
Zerella confirmed the trim reflects only a more conservative market view (from flat to flat-to-down) driven by cross-currents like tariff uncertainty and trade retention up 300 bps, while EBITDA guidance was maintained; nothing changed with ACV's share or competitive dynamic. On pricing, Chamoun said ACV reduces supply-side fees for more volume (a model since 2016), sees opportunity beyond buy fees via new buyer assurance products, and still charges below traditional physical auctions but has no timing to announce. Zerella noted a ~5%-6% ARPU increase from the buy-fee increase passed through earlier in the year, with no other fee increases assumed in the model.
Naved Khan (B. Riley Securities) asked what organic growth looks like excluding the back-half-2024 acquisitions, and whether ACV is seeing more opportunities to acquire physical/commercial locations.
Zerella said the only acquisition affecting the comparison was a primarily-commercial Indiana location acquired last year, which added about 1% to dealer unit growth in the quarter; all other deals predated Q2 2024. Chamoun said ACV remains open to M&A at the right price but is focused on greenfield Remarketing Centers — the first live in Houston, a second contracted to launch in Q1 2026 — as its core strategy toward roughly 40 targeted locations. Zerella added greenfields carry some upfront OpEx but dramatically lower total capital consumption than acquiring an auction.
Josh Beck (Raymond James) asked what key milestones to watch as 2025 closes to better inform the 2026 market outlook, and for more on the operational-efficiency opportunities Zerella referenced.
Chamoun said dealers are buying more vehicles and relying less on trades, and expects 2026 to be much healthier for the whole industry as off-lease and used-car inventory return. Zerella added two variables: hopefully tariffs and trade deals will be resolved by 2026 (removing uncertainty) and interest-rate cuts would improve consumer affordability. On efficiency, Zerella declined to call out any single item, noting ACV (now ~3,000 employees) is always pursuing operational efficiencies across the company, and Chamoun added that maturing AI is helping raise customer satisfaction (faster responses, self-service) while improving efficiency as part of the company's DNA.

More on ACV Auctions Inc.

Reported 2025-08-11 · figures from the ACV Auctions Inc. Q2 2025 earnings call.

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