Item 1. Business

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in California in 1982, became a public company in 1994 and were reincorporated into Delaware in January 2012. Our principal executive offices are located at 14185 Dallas Parkway, Suite 300, Dallas, Texas 75254 and our telephone number there is (972) 391-5000. Our website is www.copart.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K. We provide free of charge, through a link on our website, access to our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practical after the reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.

Copart®, VB2®, BID4U®, CI & Design®, DRIVE Auto Auctions™, 1-800 CAR BUYER®, CA$HFORCARS.COM®, COPART & DESIGN®, VB2 & DESIGN®, VB3 & DESIGN®, VB3® and CrashedToys.com® are trademarks of Copart, Inc. or one of its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. This Form 10-K also includes other trademarks of Copart and of other companies.

Overview

We are a leading provider of online auctions and vehicle remarketing services with operations in the United States (U.S.), Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.), Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Finland, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), Oman, Bahrain, and Spain.

Our goals are to generate sustainable profits for our stockholders, while also providing environmental and social benefits for the world around us. With respect to our environmental stewardship, we believe our business is a critical enabler for the global re-use and recycling of vehicles, parts, and raw materials. Many of the cars we process and remarket are subsequently restored to drivable condition, reducing the new vehicle manufacturing burden the world would otherwise face. Many of our cars are purchased by dismantlers, who recycle and refurbish parts for vehicle repairs, again reducing new and aftermarket parts manufacturing. And finally, some of our vehicles are returned to their raw material inputs through scrapping, reducing the need for further de novo resource extraction. In each case, our business has reduced the carbon and other environmental footprint of the global transportation industry.

Beyond our environmental stewardship, we also support the world’s communities in two important ways. First, we believe that we contribute to economic development and well-being by enabling more affordable access to mobility around the world.

For example, many of the automobiles sold through our auction platform are purchased for use in developing countries where affordable transportation is a critical enabler of education, health care, and well-being more generally. In addition, because of the special role we play in responding to catastrophic weather events, we believe we contribute to disaster recovery and resilience in the communities we serve. For example, we mobilized our people, entered into emergency leases, and engaged with a multitude of service providers to timely retrieve, store, and remarket tens of thousands of flood-damaged vehicles in the Houston, Texas metropolitan area in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in the summer of 2017.

We provide vehicle sellers with a full range of services to process and sell vehicles primarily over the internet through our Virtual Bidding Third Generation internet auction-style sales technology, which we refer to as VB3. Vehicle sellers consist primarily of insurance companies, but also include banks, finance companies, charities, fleet operators, dealers and vehicles sourced directly from individual owners. We sell the vehicles principally to licensed vehicle dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers and exporters and, at certain locations, to the general public. The majority of the vehicles sold on behalf of insurance companies are either damaged vehicles deemed a total loss; not economically repairable by the insurance companies; or are recovered stolen vehicles for which an insurance settlement with the vehicle owner has already been made. We offer vehicle sellers a full range of services that help expedite each stage of the vehicle sales process, minimize administrative and processing costs, and maximize the ultimate sales price through the online auction process.

In the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Finland, the U.A.E., Oman, Bahrain, and Spain, we sell vehicles primarily as an agent and derive revenue primarily from auction and auction related sales transaction fees charged for vehicle remarketing services as well as fees for services subsequent to the auction, such as delivery and storage. In the U.K. and Germany, we operate both as an agent and on a principal basis, in some cases purchasing salvage vehicles outright and reselling the vehicles for our own account. In Germany and Spain, we also derive revenue from listing vehicles on behalf of insurance companies and insurance experts to determine the vehicle’s residual value and/or to facilitate a sale for the insured.

Through our Virtual Bidding Third Generation (VB3) auction platform our sales process is open to registered buyers (whom we refer to as “members”) anywhere in the world with access to the internet. This technology and model employ a two-step bidding process. The first step is an open preliminary bidding feature that allows members to enter bids either at a bidding station at the storage facility or over the internet during the preview period. To improve the effectiveness of bidding, the VB3 system lets members see the current high bids on the vehicles they want to purchase. The preliminary bidding step is an open bid format similar to eBay®. Members enter the maximum price they are willing to pay for a vehicle and VB3’s BID4U feature incrementally bids on the vehicle on their behalf during all phases of the auction. Preliminary bidding ends at a specified time prior to the start of a second bidding step, an internet-only virtual auction. This second step allows bidders the opportunity to bid against each other and the high preliminary bidder. The bidders enter bids via the internet in real time while BID4U submits bids for the high preliminary bidder up to their maximum bid. When bidding stops, a countdown is initiated. If no bids are received during the countdown, the vehicle sells to the highest bidder.

We believe our virtual auction platform increases the pool of available buyers for each sale, which brings added competition and an increase in the amount buyers are willing to pay for vehicles. We also believe that it improves the efficiency of our operations by eliminating the expense and capital requirements which would be associated with holding live auctions.

For fiscal 2019, sales of U.S. vehicles, on a unit basis, to members registered outside the state where the vehicle was located accounted for 55.2% of total vehicles sold; of which 32.0% of vehicles were sold to out of state members within the U.S. and 23.2% were sold to International members, based on the address submitted during registration.

We believe that we offer the highest level of service in the auction and vehicle remarketing industry and have established our leading market position by:

•	providing coverage that facilitates seller access to buyers around the world, reducing towing and third-party storage expenses, offering a local presence for vehicle inspection stations, and providing prompt response to catastrophes and natural disasters by specially trained teams;

•	providing a comprehensive range of services that includes merchandising, efficient title processing, timely pick-up and delivery of vehicles, and internet sales;

•	establishing and efficiently integrating new facilities and acquisitions;

•	increasing the number of bidders that can participate at each sale through the ease and convenience of internet bidding;

•	applying technology to enhance operating efficiency through internet bidding, web-based order processing, salvage value quotes, electronic communication with members and sellers, and vehicle imaging; and

•	providing a venue for insurance customers through our Virtual Insured Exchange (VIX) product to contingently sell a vehicle through our auction process to assess true market value, equipping our insurance customers with market data in its negotiations with owners who wish to retain their damaged vehicles.

Historically, we believe our business has grown as a result of (i) acquisitions, (ii) increases in overall volume in the salvage car market, (iii) growth in market share, (iv) increases in the amount of revenue generated per sales transaction resulting from increases in the gross selling price and the addition of value-added services for both members and sellers, and (v) growth in non-insurance company sellers. For fiscal 2019, our revenues were $2.0 billion and our operating income was $716.5 million.

In fiscal 2017, we opened a new operational facility in Germany, a new operational facility in Brazil, nine new operational facilities in the U.S. and acquired Cycle Express, LLC, which conducts business primarily as National Powersport Auctions (NPA), a leading non-salvage auction platform for motorcycles, snowmobiles, watercraft and other powersports vehicles. NPA currently operates facilities in nine locations across the U.S.

In fiscal 2018, we opened three new operational facilities in the U.S., a new operational facility in the U.K., a new operational facility in Germany, and acquired locations in the municipalities of Espoo; Pirkkala; Oulu; and Turku, Finland.

In fiscal 2019, we opened one new operational facility in Brazil; seven new operational facilities in Germany; and eleven new operational facilities in the U.S., and acquired an operational facility in Greenville, Kentucky.

Our service revenue consists of auction and auction related sales transaction fees charged for vehicle remarketing services. These auction and auction related services may include a combination of vehicle purchasing fees, vehicle listing fees, and vehicle selling fees that can be based on a predetermined percentage of the vehicle sales price, tiered vehicle sales price driven fees, or at a fixed fee based on the sale of each vehicle regardless of the selling price of the vehicle; transportation fees for the cost of transporting the vehicle to or from our facility; title processing and preparation fees; vehicle storage fees; bidding fees; and vehicle loading fees. These fees are recognized as net revenue (not gross vehicle selling price) at the time of auction in the amount of such fees charged. Purchased vehicle revenue includes the gross sales price of the vehicles which we have purchased or are otherwise considered to own. We have certain contracts with insurance companies, primarily in the U.K., in which we act as a principal, purchasing vehicles and reselling them for our own account. We also purchase vehicles in the open market, primarily from individuals, and resell them for our own account.

Operating costs consist primarily of operating personnel (which includes yard management, clerical and yard employees), rent, contract vehicle transportation, insurance, fuel, equipment maintenance and repair, and costs of vehicles sold under the purchase contracts. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of executive management, accounting, data processing, sales personnel, human resources, professional fees, information technology, and marketing expenses.

Industry Overview

The auction and vehicle remarketing services industry provides a venue for sellers to dispose of or liquidate vehicles to a broad domestic and international buyer pool. Sellers generally auction or sell their vehicles on a consignment basis either for a fixed fee or a percentage of the sales price. Occasionally, companies in our industry purchase vehicles from the largest segment of sellers, insurance companies, and resell the vehicles for their own account. The vehicles are usually purchased at a price based on the vehicles’ estimated pre-accident cash value and the extent of damage. Vehicle remarketers typically operate from multiple facilities where vehicles are processed, viewed, stored and delivered to the buyer. While most companies in this industry remarket vehicles through a physical auction or a hybrid internet and physical auction, we sell virtually all our vehicles on our internet selling platform VB3, thus eliminating the requirement for buyers to travel to an auction location to participate in the sales process.

Although there are other sellers of vehicles, such as banks, finance companies, charities, fleet operators, dealers and vehicles sourced directly from individual owners, our primary sellers of vehicles are insurance companies.

The primary buyers of vehicles at our auctions are vehicle dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers, exporters, and in some states, the general public. Vehicle dismantlers, which we believe are the largest group of vehicle buyers, based on volume of vehicles purchased, either dismantle a salvage vehicle and sell parts individually or sell the entire vehicle to rebuilders, used vehicle dealers, or the general public. Vehicle rebuilders and vehicle repair licensees generally purchase

salvage vehicles to repair and resell. Used vehicle dealers generally purchase recovered stolen or slightly damaged vehicles for resale.

Most of our vehicles are sold on behalf of insurance companies and are usually vehicles involved in an accident or to a lesser extent a natural disaster. Typically, the damaged vehicle is towed to a storage facility or a vehicle repair facility for temporary storage pending insurance company examination. The vehicle is inspected by the insurance company’s adjuster, who estimates the costs of repairing the vehicle and gathers information regarding the damaged vehicle’s mileage, options and condition in order to estimate its pre-accident value (PAV), otherwise known as actual cash value (ACV). The adjuster determines whether to pay for repairs or to classify the vehicle as a total loss based upon the adjuster’s estimate of repair costs, vehicle’s salvage value, and the PAV, as well as customer service considerations. If the cost of repair is greater than the PAV less the estimated salvage value, the insurance company generally will classify the vehicle as a total loss. The insurance company will thereafter assign the vehicle to a vehicle auction and remarketing services company, settle with the insured and receive title to the vehicle.

Automobile manufacturers continuously incorporate new standard features, including unibody construction utilizing exotic metals, passenger safety cages with surrounding crumple zones to absorb impacts, plastic and ceramic components, airbags, adaptive headlights, computer systems, advanced cameras, collision warning systems, and navigation systems. We believe that one effect of these additional features is that newer vehicles involved in accidents are more costly to repair and, accordingly, more likely to be deemed a total loss for insurance purposes.

We believe the primary factors that insurance companies consider when selecting an auction and vehicle remarketing services company include:

•	the anticipated percentage return on salvage (i.e., gross salvage proceeds, minus vehicle handling and selling expenses, divided by the PAV);

•	the services provided by the company and the degree to which such services reduce their administrative costs and expenses;

•	the price the company charges for its services;

•	geographic coverage;

•	the ability to respond to natural disasters;

•	the ability to provide analytical data to the seller; and

•	in the U.K., in certain situations, the actual amount paid for the vehicle.

In the U.K., some insurance companies tender periodic contracts for the purchase of salvaged vehicles. Under these circumstances, insurance companies will generally award the contract to the company that is willing to pay the highest price for the vehicles.

Generally, upon receipt of the pickup order (the assignment), we arrange for the transportation of a vehicle to our nearest facility. As a service to the vehicle seller, we will customarily pay advance charges (reimbursable charges paid on behalf of vehicle sellers) to obtain the vehicle’s release from a towing company, vehicle repair facility or impound facility. Advance charges paid on behalf of the vehicle seller are either recovered upon sale of the vehicle, invoiced separately to the seller or deducted from the net proceeds due to the seller.

The salvage vehicle then remains in storage at one of our facilities until ownership documents are transferred from the insured vehicle owner and the title to the vehicle is cleared through the appropriate state’s motor vehicle regulatory agency, or DMV. In the U.S., total loss vehicles may be sold in most states only after obtaining a salvage title from the DMV. Upon receipt of the appropriate documentation from the DMV, which is generally received within 45 to 60 days of vehicle pick-up, the vehicle is sold either on behalf of the insurance company or for our own account, depending on the terms of the contract. In the U.K., upon release of interest by the vehicle owner, the insurance company notifies us that the vehicle is available for sale.

Generally, sellers of non-salvage vehicles will arrange to deliver the vehicle to one of our locations. At that time, the vehicle information will be uploaded to our system and made available for buyers to review online. The vehicle is then sold at auction on VB3 typically within seven days. Proceeds are then collected from the member, typically seller fees are subtracted, and the remainder is remitted to the seller.

Operating and Growth Strategy

Our growth strategy is to increase our revenues and profitability by, among other things, (i) acquiring and developing new facilities in key markets including foreign markets; (ii) pursuing national and regional vehicle supply agreements; and (iii) expanding our online auctions and vehicle remarketing service offerings to sellers and members. In addition, to maximize gross sales proceeds and cost efficiencies at each of our acquired facilities, we introduce our (i) pricing structure; (ii) selling processes; (iii) operational procedures; (iv) management information systems; and (v) when appropriate, redeploy existing personnel.

As part of our overall expansion strategy, our objective is to increase our revenues, operating profits, and market share in the vehicle remarketing industry. To implement our growth strategy, we intend to continue to do the following:

Acquire and Develop New Vehicle Storage Facilities in Key Markets Including Foreign Markets

Our strategy is to offer integrated services to vehicle sellers on a global, national or regional basis by acquiring or developing facilities in new and existing markets. We integrate our new acquisitions into our global network and capitalize on certain operating efficiencies resulting from, among other things, the reduction of duplicative overhead and the implementation of our operating procedures.

Pursue Global, National and Regional Vehicle Supply Agreements

Our broad global presence enhances our ability to enter into local, regional, national or global supply agreements with vehicle sellers. We actively seek to establish national and regional supply agreements with insurance companies by promoting our ability to achieve high net returns and broader access to buyers through our national coverage and electronic commerce capabilities. By utilizing our existing insurance company seller relationships, we are able to build new seller relationships and pursue additional supply agreements in existing and new markets.

Expand Our Service Offerings to Sellers and Members

Over the past several years, we have expanded our available service offerings to vehicle sellers and members. The primary focus of these new service offerings is to maximize returns to our sellers and maximize product value to our members. This includes, for our sellers, real-time access to sales data over the internet, national coverage, the ability to respond on a national scale and, for our members, the implementation of VB3 real-time bidding at substantially all of our facilities, permitting members at any location worldwide to participate in the sales at our yards. We plan to continue to refine and expand our services, including offering software that can assist our sellers in expediting claims and salvage management tools that help sellers integrate their systems with ours.

Our Competitive Advantages

We believe that the following attributes and the services that we offer position us to take advantage of many opportunities in the online vehicle auction and services industry:

Geographic Coverage and Ability to Respond on a National Scale

Since our inception in 1982, we have expanded from a single facility in Vallejo, California to an integrated network of facilities located in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Finland, the U.A.E., Oman, Bahrain, and Spain. In Germany and Spain, we also derive revenue from listing vehicles on behalf of insurance companies and insurance experts to determine the vehicle’s residual value and/or to facilitate a sale for the insured. We offer integrated services to our vehicle sellers, which allow us to respond to the needs of our sellers and members with maximum efficiency. Our coverage provides our sellers with key advantages, including:

•	attractiveness and efficiency to buyers, leading to enhanced selling prices for vehicles;

•	a reduction in administrative time and effort;

•	a reduction in overall vehicle transportation costs;

•	convenient local facilities;

•	improved access to buyers throughout the world;

•	a prompt response in the event of a natural disaster or other catastrophe; and

•	consistency in products and services.

Value-Added Services

We believe that we offer the most comprehensive range of services in our industry, including:

•	internet bidding, internet proxy bidding, and virtual sales powered by VB3, which enhance the competitive bidding process;

•	mobile applications, which allow members to search, bid, create watch lists, join auctions and bid in numerous languages from anywhere;

•	a tailored experience by way of predictive analytics through collaborative filtering, such as the Recommendations Engine feature that suggests similar makes and models based on a member’s behavior;

•	Buy It Now, which provides an option to our members to purchase specific pre-qualified vehicles immediately at a set price before the live auction process;

•	Make An Offer, which provides an option to our members to submit an offer amount on certain selected vehicles and if the offer is accepted, purchase the vehicle before the live auction process;

•	online payment capabilities via our ePay product, credit cards and dealer financing programs;

•	email notifications available in numerous languages to potential buyers of vehicles that match desired characteristics;

•	sophisticated vehicle processing at storage sites, including digital imaging of each vehicle and the scanning of each vehicle’s title and other significant documents such as body shop invoices, all of which are available from us over the internet;

•	specialty sales, which allow buyers the opportunity to focus on such select types of vehicles as motorcycles, heavy equipment, boats, recreational vehicles and rental cars;

•	interactive online counter-bidding, which allows sellers who have placed a minimum bid or a bid to be approved on a vehicle to directly counter-bid the current high bidder;

•	second chance bidding, which allows the second highest bidder the opportunity to purchase the vehicle for the seller’s current minimum bid after the high bidder fails to consummate the purchase; and

•	Night Cap sales, which provides an additional opportunity for bidding on vehicles that have not previously achieved their minimum bid.

Proven Ability to Acquire and Integrate Acquisitions

We have a proven track record of successfully acquiring and integrating facilities. Since becoming a public company in 1994, we have completed acquisitions of facilities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Brazil, the U.A.E., Germany, Finland, and Spain. As part of our acquisition and integration strategy, we seek to:

•	expand our global presence;

•	strengthen our networks and access new markets;

•	utilize our existing corporate and technology infrastructure over a larger base of operations; and

•	introduce our comprehensive services and operational expertise.

We strive to integrate all new facilities, when appropriate, into our existing network without disruption of service to vehicle sellers. We work with new sellers to implement our fee structures and new service programs. We typically retain existing employees at acquired facilities in order to retain knowledge about, and respond to, the local market. We also assign a special

integration team to help convert newly acquired facilities to our own management information and proprietary software systems, helping enable us to ensure a smooth and consistent transition to our business operating and sales systems.

Technology to Enhance and Expand Our Business

We have developed management information and proprietary software systems that allow us to deliver a fully integrated service offering. Our proprietary software programs provide vehicle sellers with online access to data and reports regarding their vehicles being processed at any of our facilities. This technology allows vehicle sellers to monitor each stage of our vehicle sales process, from pick up to sale and settlement by the buyer. Our full range of internet services allows us to expedite each stage of the vehicle sales process and helps to minimize the administrative and processing costs for us, as well as our sellers. We believe that our integrated technology systems generate improved capacity and financial returns for our clients, resulting in high client retention, and allow us to expand our national supply contracts.

Our Business Segments

Our U.S. and International regions are considered two separate operating segments and are disclosed as two reportable segments. The segments represent geographic areas and reflect how the chief operating decision maker allocates resources and measures results, including total revenues, operating income and income before income taxes. Our revenues for the year ended July 31, 2019 were distributed as follows: U.S. 81.1% and International 18.9%. Geographic information as well as comparative segment revenues and related financial information pertaining to the U.S. and International segments for the years ended July 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 are presented in the tables in Note 12 — Segments and Other Geographic Reporting, to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, which are included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

Our Service Offerings

We offer vehicle sellers a full range of vehicle services, which expedite each stage of the vehicle sales process, helping to maximize proceeds and minimize costs. Not all service offerings are available in all markets. Additionally, in some cases a service offering may be applicable only to a particular subsidiary or operating segment. Our service offerings include the following:

Online Seller Access

Through Copart Access, our internet-based service for vehicle sellers, we enable sellers to assign vehicles for sale, check sales calendars, view vehicle images and history, view and reprint body shop invoices and towing receipts and view the historical performance of the vehicles sold at our sales.

Salvage Estimation Services

We offer Copart ProQuote, a proprietary service that assists sellers in the vehicle claims evaluation process by providing online salvage value estimates, which helps sellers determine whether to repair a vehicle or deem it a total loss.

IntelliSeller

We offer IntelliSeller, an automated tool leveraging our vast and detailed vehicle and sales data to assist our sellers in making vital auction decisions. Using machine learning, IntelliSeller optimizes the utilization of our vehicle and sales data to determine when to establish minimum bid values and suggest when to re-auction a unit to ensure optimal returns while minimizing cycle time.

Estimating Services

We offer vehicle sellers in the U.K. estimating services for vehicles taken to our facilities. Estimating services provide our insurance company sellers repair estimates which allow the insurance company to determine if the vehicle is a total loss vehicle. If the vehicle is determined to be a total loss, it is generally assigned to us to sell.

End-of-Life Vehicle Processing

In the U.K., we are an authorized treatment facility for the disposal of end-of-life vehicles.

Virtual Insured Exchange (VIX)

We provide a venue for insurance customers through our Virtual Insured Exchange (VIX) product to contingently sell a vehicle through our auction process to assess true market value, equipping our insurance customers with market data in its negotiations with owners who wish to retain their damaged vehicles.

Transportation Services

In the U.S. and Canada, we perform transportation services through a combination of our fleet of over 80 vehicles and predominately using third-party vehicle transport companies. We maintain contracts with third-party vehicle transport companies, which enable us to pick up most of our sellers’ vehicles within 24 hours. Our national network and transportation capabilities provide cost and time savings to our vehicle sellers and ensure on-time vehicle pick up and prompt response to catastrophes and natural disasters in the U.S. and Canada. In the U.K., we perform transportation services through a combination of our fleet of over 220 vehicles and third-party vehicle transport companies. In Germany, we perform transportation services through our fleet of over 25 vehicles.

Vehicle Inspection Stations

We offer some of our major insurance company sellers office and yard space to house vehicle inspection stations on-site at our facilities. We have over 100 vehicle inspection stations at our facilities. An on-site vehicle inspection station provides our insurance company sellers with a central location to inspect potential total loss vehicles, which reduces storage charges that otherwise may be incurred at the initial storage or repair facility.

On-Demand Reporting

We provide vehicle sellers with real time data for vehicles that we process for the seller. This includes vehicle sellers’ gross and net returns on each vehicle, service charges, and other data that enable our vehicle sellers to more easily administer and monitor the vehicle disposition process. In addition, we have developed a database containing over 300 fields of real-time and historical information accessible by our sellers allowing for their generation of custom ad hoc reports and customer specific analysis.

Title Processing and Procurement

We have extensive expertise in DMV document and title processing for salvage vehicles. We have developed a computer system which provides a direct link to the DMV computer systems of multiple states, allowing us to expedite the processing of vehicle title paperwork. We also facilitate the title transfer from the original owner or financial institutions on behalf of some of our sellers to streamline the documentation and vehicle auction process.

Loan Payoff

Through utilizing existing relationships, we can quickly and electronically obtain up-to-date loan payoff information from hundreds of automotive lenders, including the remaining balance due and per diem on a vehicle loan, to expedite the loan payoff and title transfer process.

Flexible Vehicle Processing Programs

At the election of the seller, we sell vehicles pursuant to our Percentage Incentive Program, which we refer to as PIP, Consignment Program, or Purchase Program.

Percentage Incentive Program. Our Percentage Incentive Program is an innovative processing program designed to broadly serve the needs of vehicle sellers. Under PIP, we agree to sell all of the vehicles of a seller in a specified market, usually for a predetermined percentage of the vehicle sales price. Because our revenues under PIP are directly linked to the vehicle’s sale price, we have an incentive to actively merchandise those vehicles to maximize the net return. We provide the vehicle seller, at our expense, with transportation of the vehicle to our nearest facility, as well as DMV document and title processing. In addition, we provide merchandising services such as covering or taping openings to protect vehicle interiors from weather, washing vehicle exteriors, vacuuming vehicle interiors, cleaning and polishing dashboards and tires, making keys for drivable vehicles, and identifying drivable vehicles. We believe our merchandising efforts increase the sales prices of the vehicles, thereby increasing the return on salvage vehicles to both vehicle sellers and us.

Consignment Program. Under our Consignment Program, we sell vehicles for a fixed consignment fee. Although sometimes included in the consignment fee, we may also charge additional fees for the cost of transporting the vehicle to our nearest facility, storage of the vehicle, and other incidental costs.

Purchase Program. Under the Purchase Program, we purchase vehicles from a vehicle seller at a formula price, based on a percentage of the vehicles’ estimated PAV, otherwise known as ACV, and sell the vehicles for our own account. Currently, the purchase program is offered primarily in the U.K.

Buy It Now, Make An Offer

We offer an option to our members to purchase specific pre-qualified vehicles immediately at a set price before the live auction process. This enables us to provide a fast, easy, transparent and comprehensive buying option on these pre-qualified vehicles. Additionally, members have the option of submitting an offer amount on certain selected vehicles. If an offer is accepted, the member can purchase the vehicle before the live auction process.

Member Network

We maintain a database of thousands of registered members (“buyers”) in the vehicle dismantling and recycling, rebuilding, used vehicle dealer and export industries, as well as members that are a part of the general public, where applicable. Our database includes each member’s vehicle preference and purchasing history. This data enables us to notify prospective buyers throughout the world via email of vehicles available for bidding that match their vehicle preferences. Listings of vehicles to be sold on a day and location are also made available on the internet.

Sales Process

We offer a flexible and unique sales process designed to maximize the sale prices of the vehicles utilizing VB3. VB3 opens our sales process to members and to individuals who have not registered to view auctions via our website and our mobile application anywhere in the world where internet access is available. The VB3 technology and model employs a two-step bidding process. The first step is an open preliminary bidding feature that allows a member to enter bids either over the internet or at a bidding station at the storage facility during the preview days. To improve the effectiveness of bidding, the VB3 system lets a member see the current high bid on the vehicle they want to purchase. The preliminary bidding step is an open bid format similar to eBay®. Members enter the maximum price they are willing to pay for a vehicle and VB3’s BID4U feature will incrementally bid the vehicle on their behalf during all steps of the auction. Preliminary bidding ends at a specified time prior to the start of a second bidding step, an internet-only virtual auction. This second step allows bidders the opportunity to bid against each other and the highest preliminary bidder. The bidders enter bids via the internet in real time, and then BID4U submits bids for the highest preliminary bidder, up to their maximum bid. When bidding stops, a countdown is initiated. If no bids are received during the countdown or any extensions, the vehicle sells to the highest bidder.

Copart Dealer Services

We provide franchise and independent dealers with a convenient method to sell their trade-ins through any of our facilities. We have a dedicated group of employees in the U.S. that target these dealers and work with them throughout the sales process.

Cash For Cars

We provide the general public with a fast and convenient method to sell their vehicles. Anyone can go to CashForCars.com; CashForCars.ca; or CashForCars.de and arrange to obtain a valid offer to purchase their vehicle. Upon acceptance of our offer to purchase their vehicle, we give them a check for their vehicle and then sell the vehicle on our own behalf.

National Powersport Auctions

In the U.S., we provide non-salvage powersport vehicle remarketing services through live and online auction platforms to dealers, financial institutions and OEMs through our subsidiary National Powersport Auctions, or NPA. NPA, also offers comprehensive data services including the NPA Value GuideTM, which we believe is the industry’s most accurate wholesale valuation tool. NPA has facilities in San Diego, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Dallas, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Littleton, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Portland, Oregon; and Sacramento, California.

U-Pull-It

In the U.K., we have two facilities from which the public can purchase parts from salvaged and end-of-life vehicles. In general, the buyer is responsible for detaching the parts from the vehicle and any associated hauling or transportation of the parts after detachment. After the valuable parts have been removed by the buyer, the remaining parts and car body are sold for their scrap value.

Sales

We process vehicles from hundreds of different vehicle sellers. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated revenues for fiscal 2019, 2018 and 2017. We obtained 80% of the total number of vehicles processed during fiscal 2019 from insurance company sellers. We obtained 78% and 84% of the total number of vehicles processed during fiscal 2018 and 2017, respectively, from insurance company sellers.

We typically contract with the regional or branch office of an insurance company or other vehicle sellers. The agreements are customized to each vehicle seller’s needs and often provide for the disposition of different types of salvage vehicles by differing methods. Our arrangements generally provide that we will sell total loss and recovered stolen vehicles generated by the vehicle seller in a designated geographic area.

We market our services to vehicle sellers through an in-house sales force that utilizes a variety of sales techniques, including targeted mailing of our sales literature, telemarketing, follow-up personal sales calls, internet search engines, employee referrals, tow shop referrals, participation in trade shows and vehicle and insurance industry conventions. We market our services to franchise and independent dealerships, as well as the general public. We may, when appropriate, provide vehicle sellers with detailed analysis of the net return on vehicles and a proposal setting forth ways in which we believe that we can improve net returns on vehicles and reduce administrative costs and expenses.

During the last three years, most of our revenue was generated within the U.S. and a majority of our long-lived assets are located within the U.S. Please see Note 12 — Segments and Other Geographic Reporting in our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for information regarding the geographic location of our sales and our long-lived assets.

Members

We maintain a database of thousands of registered members (“buyers”) in the vehicle dismantling and recycling, rebuilding, used vehicle dealer and export industries, as well as members that are a part of the general public, where applicable. We believe that we have established a broad international and domestic buyer base by providing members with a variety of programs and services. To become a registered member, a person or business must complete a basic application either online or through our mobile applications. Before any member may purchase a vehicle, they must provide copies of current government issued photo identification. Additionally, business members must provide current business information, including copies of licenses, which may include vehicle dismantler, dealer, resale, repair or export licenses, and as needed, completed sales tax exemption certificates. Registration entitles a member to transact business at any of our sales, subject to local licensing and permitting requirements. In certain venues, we may sell to the general public either directly or members may purchase a vehicle offered at Copart through a registered broker who meets local licensing and permitting requirements. Strict admission procedures are intended to prevent frivolous bids that will not result in a completed sale. We market to members online and via email notifications, sales notices, telemarketing, direct mail, in-location marketing, search engines, social media, radio, television, trade publications and participation in trade show events.

Competition

We face significant competition from other remarketers of both salvage and non-salvage vehicles. We believe our principal competitors include vehicle auction and sales companies and vehicle dismantlers. These national, regional and local competitors may have established relationships with vehicle sellers and buyers and may have financial resources that are greater than ours. The largest national or regional vehicle auctioneers in the U.S. include Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.; KAR Auction Services, Inc. (including its subsidiary ADESA, Inc.); Auction Broadcasting Company, LLC; and Manheim, Inc. The largest national dismantler is LKQ Corporation (LKQ). LKQ, in addition to trade groups of dismantlers such as the American Recycling Association and the United Recyclers Group, LLC, may purchase salvage vehicles directly from insurance companies, thereby bypassing vehicle remarketing companies entirely. In our International markets, our principal competitors are vehicle auction and sales companies, vehicle dismantlers and privately held independent remarketers.

Management Information Systems

Our primary yard management information system consists of a series of IBM AS/400 mainframe computer systems and other servers which run our proprietary software developed to process salvage sales vehicles throughout the auction process. This system is integrated with the internet to enable buyers to view salvage vehicles and bid on them. It can also be integrated with the seller’s system and enables the sellers to monitor their vehicles and analyze the progression of vehicles through the auction process. Our auction-style service product, VB3, is served by an array of identical high-density, high-performance servers. Each individual sale is configured to run on an available server in the array and can be rapidly provisioned to any other available server in the array as required.

We have invested in production data centers that are designed to continuously operate to support the business, even in the event of an emergency. The data centers’ electrical and mechanical systems are continually monitored. The data centers are located in areas generally considered to be free of frequent weather-related disasters and earthquakes. We operate fully redundant infrastructure to ensure ongoing operations, even in the event of physical damage to one of our data centers.

We have developed a proprietary enterprise operating system to enable us to address our international expansion needs. This proprietary system is designed to provide multi-language and multi-currency capabilities. We began using our internally developed proprietary system with our expansion into Spain in fiscal 2016 and Germany in fiscal 2017. We intend to continue development of this system and implement it in certain additional international locations in the future.

Employees

As of July 31, 2019, we had 7,327 full-time employees, of whom 1,222 were engaged in general and administrative functions and 6,105 were engaged in yard operations. We are not currently subject to any collective bargaining agreements and believe our relationships with our employees are good. Employees per geographic region are as follows:

United States		5,392
International		1,935
Total employees		7,327

Environmental Matters

Our operations are subject to federal, state, national, international, provincial and local laws and regulations regarding the protection of the environment in the countries in which we have storage facilities. In some cases, we may acquire land with existing environmental issues, including landfills as an example. In the salvage vehicle remarketing industry, large numbers of wrecked vehicles are stored at storage facilities and during that time, spills of fuel, motor oil and other fluids may occur, resulting in soil, surface water or groundwater contamination. In addition, certain of our facilities generate and/or store petroleum products and other hazardous materials, including waste solvents and used oil. In the U.K., we provide vehicle de-pollution and crushing services for end-of-life program vehicles. We could incur substantial expenditures for preventative, investigative or remedial action and could be exposed to liability arising from our operations, contamination by previous users of certain of our acquired facilities or facilities which we may acquire in the future, or the disposal of our waste at off-site locations. In addition to conducting environmental diligence on new site acquisitions, we also take such actions as may be necessary under laws in the United States to avoid liability for activities of prior owners, and we have from time to time acquired insurance with respect to acquired facilities with known environmental risks. There can be no assurances, however, that these efforts to mitigate environmental risk will prove sufficient if we were to face material liabilities. We have incurred expenses for environmental remediation in the past, and environmental laws and regulations could become more stringent over time. There can be no assurance that we or our operations will not be subject to significant costs in the future or that environmental enforcement agencies at the state and federal level will not pursue enforcement actions against us. In addition to acquiring insurance in connection with certain acquisitions, we have also obtained indemnification for pre-existing environmental liabilities from many of the persons and entities from whom we have acquired facilities, but there can be no assurance that such indemnifications will be available or sufficient. Any such expenditures or liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations and financial position.

Governmental Regulations

Our operations are subject to regulation, supervision and licensing under various federal, national, international, provincial, state and local statutes, ordinances and regulations. The acquisition and sale of damaged and recovered stolen vehicles is regulated by various state, provincial and foreign motor vehicle departments. In addition to the regulation of sales and acquisitions of vehicles, we are also subject to various local zoning requirements with regard to the location of our storage facilities. These zoning requirements vary from location to location. At various times, we may be involved in disputes with local governmental officials regarding the development and/or operation of our business facilities. We believe that we are in compliance, in all material respects, with applicable regulatory requirements. We may be subject to similar types of regulations by federal, national, international, provincial, state and local governmental agencies in new markets.

Intellectual Property and Proprietary Rights

In 2008, we obtained a patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office that covers certain aspects of our virtual bidding auction platform. Generally, patents issued in the U.S. are effective for 20 years from the earliest asserted filing date of the patent application. The duration of foreign patents varies in accordance with the provisions of applicable local law.

We also rely on a combination of trade secret, copyright and trademark laws, as well as contractual agreements to safeguard our proprietary rights in technology and products. In seeking to limit access to sensitive information to the greatest practical extent, we routinely enter into confidentiality and assignment of invention agreements with certain of our employees and consultants and nondisclosure agreements with our key customers and vendors.

Seasonality

Historically, our consolidated results of operations have been subject to quarterly variations based on a variety of factors, of which the primary influence is the seasonal change in weather patterns. During the winter months we tend to have higher demand for our services because there are more weather-related accidents.