Speaker 2
Yeah, so it's really interesting, what's happened in the used car market? And I guess for people who aren't aware of it, I would assume everyone's aware of it. But basically what happened was, there's a microchip shortage right now, because car manufacturers kind of stopped producing during COVID. And now that they're trying to produce again, that microchip production shifted to other things, so they can't get all the supplies they need to build new cars. So when people can't buy new cars, because they're not there, they're buying used cars. And that made the price of used cars basically skyrocket. And that helped co part because the average selling price of a car went up dramatically. What's interesting about the salvage market is that it hedges itself against the value of used cars, because as the value of a used car goes up, it makes
Speaker 2
likely from a financial perspective, it makes more sense to repair the car. So when the value starts to go back down, it becomes more likely for a car to be considered a total loss, because it doesn't make sense to repair it. And the argument that the management makes that I kind of agree with, is that as prices go down, volume goes back up, and the volume should go back up enough to make up for that difference.
Speaker 1
Perfect, perfect. And then I guess my last bear push back, I think all that makes sense, but I think my last bear push and probably the one that would get me the most, right, is, look, I think it, I agree with you, good company, great company, nice mode, it's probably going to grow over time. But I do think that the management team, you know, this is one of those things. And I asked this question all the time on the podcast, right? If you've got a really astute management team who's super motivated, they own lots of shares, they're good at capital allocation, and they're not buying shares back. My question is like, why should I be buying shares, right? Because they're showing that they don't think the best use of their capital is repurchasing shares, increasing their ownership, decreasing the share account. So if they don't think that's the best use of their capital, why is buying the stock the best use of my capital? Because I think I don't have the numbers directly in front of me, but co-part hammered their share account in 2011. And I think 2015, they did massive tender offers. And obviously, the returns from those tender offers have been great. But recently, I think over the past four years, they haven't really bought back shares or, you know, no share repurchases of note. So I look at that and say, Oh, this is a company that certainly doesn't think their stock is cheap. You know, the CEO, again, he owns over a billion dollars. He doesn't think he's going to increase his net worth that much more by buying back shares. So why should I be buying back shares?