Insurance Auto Auctions Announces Appointment of New Chief Information Officer

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. a leading provider of automotive salvage and claims processing services in the United States, today announced the appointment of Edward N. Fares as the Company's new Chief Information Officer.

``Ed's addition to the senior management team validates our commitment to driving organizational change and, ultimately, accelerating profitability through a complete overhaul of our systems,'' said Tom O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer. ``Our systems redesign project is on schedule. We feel that Ed's track record of successfully executing similar, large-scale projects will be integral in ensuring our systems project is completed by 2002, with financial benefits being recognized by 2003. ''

Fares, age 52, has more than thirty years of systems design and implementation experience. He most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at eTrak Corporation -- a business-to-business service provider of tow management systems for law enforcement agencies and contract towers. In that position, he participated in the development of software to manage call routing, vehicle tracking, billing and payment to serve this multi-billion dollar public sector. Prior to this, Fares held senior-level Information Systems positions with GE Financial Assurance and Acxiom Corporation. In these roles he established a proven track record of supporting aggressive growth in the Financial Services, Securities, Telemarketing and Dispatch and Tracking industries through innovative application of technology. He also held several senior technical positions with First Options of Chicago, Beatrice Foods Company and Time Inc. earlier in his career.

``I am extremely pleased that Ed has joined our team. He will begin to work immediately with the SEI team, which remains actively engaged in the design and early-stage implementation of our new operating platform. Ed will be working to build a world-class technology team to support the developed application and ensure a smooth knowledge transfer and ownership from SEI. Going forward, I believe Ed will be instrumental in ensuring timely project completion and helping us capitalize on the improvements from our systems redesign initiative,'' concluded O'Brien.

About Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.

Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., founded in 1982, a leader in automotive total loss and specialty salvage services in the United States, provides insurance companies with cost-effective, turnkey solutions to process and sell total-loss and recovered-theft vehicles. The Company currently has 62 sites across the United States.