Copart buys ACV Auctions for $1.9bn in vehicle-tech bet

Copart has agreed to pay roughly $1.9 billion in cash for ACV Auctions, a company that specialises in describing vehicles for online wholesale auctions, in a deal announced on September 10, 2026. The acquisition was announced alongside Copart’s fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter and full-year results.

Copart, the largest salvage auction operator in the US, processed about five million vehicles through salvage channels annually. ACV operates in the broader wholesale market of roughly 20 million vehicles per year. The deal gives Copart technology it has never had: the ability to describe vehicles remotely and precisely for buyers across time zones.

ACV brings more than 70,000 transactions per month, over $10 billion in annual gross merchandise value, and more than 22,000 unique buyers. It also provides more than 850 field inspectors and a data set of 250-plus data points per car drawn from 64 million auction bids and 1.6 billion price estimates, according to the merger presentation.

Key hardware includes ACV’s VIPER system, comprising imaging towers and an undercarriage scanner called Virtual Lift, installed in a dealership service lane. It photographs all four tyres from multiple angles and measures tread depth to the nearest 32nd of an inch. ACV also developed Audio Motor Profile, custom hardware that records engine running audio and attaches it to condition reports; the company filed patents for it.

Copart paid $10.50 per share, a 45 per cent premium to ACV’s unaffected closing price on August 10, 2026. ACV went public at $25.00 per share in March 2021. ACV reported revenue of $759.6 million in fiscal 2025 and narrowed its GAAP net loss to $66.1 million. For the first half of fiscal 2026, it lost $19.1 million on revenue of $418.1 million, with an accumulated deficit of $568.5 million.

Copart’s own fiscal 2026 revenue was $4.7 billion, up 0.4 per cent. Gross profit fell 0.8 per cent to $2.1 billion, and net income dropped 4.4 per cent to $1.5 billion. The only line that grew meaningfully was vehicle sales – cars Copart buys outright and resells – which rose 2.7 per cent. Copart sourced 81 per cent of vehicles it processed in fiscal 2025 from insurance company sellers.

The merger agreement includes termination fees: ACV would owe Copart $57.7 million if it walks away for a better offer, while Copart would owe ACV $115.3 million if antitrust clearance fails. Copart’s fiscal 2025 annual report listed ACV as a competitor alongside RB Global, Carvana, OPENLANE and Manheim.

In fiscal 2025, 38.8 per cent of US vehicles Copart sold went to buyers registered outside the country. The merger presentation suggests dealer wholesale inventory could flow into that same global buyer network.

The article notes that the acquisition gives Copart the ability to describe vehicles – a capability it previously lacked in its salvage business, where cars are sold without detailed descriptions. Analysts suggest that in the used-car market, the party that writes the description may influence pricing decisions.