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Insurance Auto Auctions Announces Third Quarter Results

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Oct. 24, 2003 -- Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. , a leading provider of automotive salvage and claims processing services in the United States, today reported a net loss for the quarter ended September 28, 2003. The Company recorded a net loss of $0.6 million, or a loss of $0.05 per diluted share, versus net earnings of $0.6 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, for the same quarter a year ago.

Revenues for the quarter were $49.1 million compared with $52.8 million in the third quarter of 2002. The decline in revenues was primarily due to the Company's continued shift away from vehicles sold under the purchase agreement method and lower volumes on a same-store basis. The purchase agreement method accounted for 5 percent of the total vehicles sold this quarter versus 8 percent for the same quarter one year earlier. Under the purchase agreement method, the entire purchase price of the vehicle is recorded as revenue, compared to the lower-risk, consignment fee-based arrangements, where only the fees collected on the sale of the vehicle are recorded as revenue. Fee income in the third quarter increased to $40.3 million versus $39.3 million in the third quarter of last year.

"As we outlined in our late September press release, our third quarter volumes came in lower than we had expected on a same store basis, extending the trend we saw in the second quarter. The lower volumes, coupled with the high fixed cost nature of our business, negatively impacted our financial results for the third quarter," said Tom O'Brien, CEO. "It is important to note that we believe the same store volume decline reflects a lower frequency of industry-wide claims. In addition to the negative financial impact caused by the decline in volume, higher than projected implementation costs for our new system contributed to the decline in year-over-year earnings results. To be specific, we incurred business transformation costs of approximately $1.2 million in the third quarter. We also incurred higher branch and SG&A costs associated with new branches and internal activities related to the system conversion."

"Consistent with the timetable that we communicated in the second quarter, we fully anticipate completing the system roll out by the end of the year. We will convert the last of our original legacy systems next weekend and only have a short list of recently acquired branches to complete thereafter. We are also continuing to take the necessary steps to eliminate business transformation costs associated with the system implementation and remain confident in our ability to realize the savings that we anticipated when the project began," said O'Brien.

O'Brien concluded, "Although we are disappointed that our financial results came in lower than we had originally anticipated, we remain confident in the long-term future of the company. Through the first nine months of the year we have remained focused on implementing the new enterprise-wide IT system and continue to roll it out in new branches. We believe recent customer wins have proven our ability to compete in the marketplace. Our inventory of consigned vehicles increased from the prior quarter as well, representing positive trends for the overall business. Finally, we are confident that the strategic initiatives we have implemented, particularly the new IT system and related customer interface and internet capabilities, have put us in a position to generate higher returns at IAA over the long term."

Quarterly Conference Call

The Company previously announced that it will hold its third quarter 2003 results conference call on Friday, October 24 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. To participate by phone, please dial 877-307-4802 and ask to be connected to the Insurance Auto Auctions earnings conference call. Investors may also access the call over the Internet at www.streetevents.com or by visiting the Company's Web site at www.iaai.com . A replay will be available until midnight EST on October 31, 2003. To listen to the replay, please dial 800-642-1687 and enter conference reservation code 3402146 when prompted.

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 74 sites across the United States.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements in this document contain forward-looking information that is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, expressed, or implied by such forward-looking information. In some cases, you can identify forward looking statements by our use of words such as "may, will, should, anticipates, believes, expects, plans, future, intends, could, estimate, predict, projects, targeting, potential or contingent," the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed or implied herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2002 or subsequent quarterly reports. Among these risks are: changes in the market value of salvage; the quality and quantity of inventory available from suppliers; the ability to pass through increased towing costs; that vehicle processing time will improve; legislative or regulatory acts; competition; the availability of suitable acquisition candidates and greenfield opportunities; the ability to bring new facilities to expected earnings targets; the dependence on key insurance company suppliers; the ability of the Company and its outside consultants to successfully complete the re-design of the Company's information systems, both in a timely manner and according to costs and operational specifications; and the level of energy and labor costs.

 Additional information about Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. is available
                  on the World Wide Web at www.iaai.com

                      INSURANCE AUTO AUCTIONS, INC.
                             AND SUBSIDIARIES

             Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
             (dollars in thousands except per share amounts)

                              Three Month Periods     Nine Month Periods
                                     Ended                   Ended
                             Sept. 28,   Sept. 29,   Sept. 28,   Sept. 29,
                                2003        2002        2003        2002
                                  (Unaudited)             (Unaudited)
  Revenues:
    Vehicle sales              $8,847     $13,459     $32,343     $58,269
    Fee income                 40,280      39,327     126,162     123,487
                               49,127      52,786     158,505     181,756
  Cost of sales:
    Vehicle cost                7,299      12,669      28,495      53,528
    Branch cost                33,447      30,609      99,256      94,802
                               40,746      43,278     127,751     148,330
      Gross profit              8,381       9,508      30,754      33,426

  Operating expense:
    Selling, general and
     administrative             7,738       6,365      22,415      20,481
    Business transformation
     costs                      1,157       2,068       2,875       6,254

    Earnings (loss) from
     operations                  (514)      1,075       5,464       6,691

  Other (income) expense:
    Interest expense              521          38       1,079         762
    Other income                  (19)        (81)       (141)       (220)

    Earnings (loss) before
     income taxes              (1,016)      1,118       4,526       6,149

  Provision (benefit) for
   income taxes                  (422)        479       1,864       2,642

    Net earnings (loss)         $(594)       $639      $2,662      $3,507

  Earnings (loss) per share:
    Basic                       $(.05)      $ .05       $ .23       $ .29
    Diluted                     $(.05)      $ .05       $ .23       $ .28

  Weighted average shares
   outstanding:
    Basic                      11,516      12,244      11,694      12,223
    Effect of dilutive
     securities - stock
     options                        -         308          77         305
  Diluted                      11,516      12,552      11,771      12,528

                      INSURANCE AUTO AUCTIONS, INC.
                             AND SUBSIDIARIES

                  Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
             (dollars in thousands except per share amounts)

                                               September 28,   December 29,
                                                    2003           2002
  ASSETS                                        (Unaudited)

  Current assets:
    Cash and cash equivalents                      $25,261        $10,027
    Accounts receivable, net                        42,575         45,594
    Inventories                                     11,395         11,158
    Other current assets                             2,774          3,571
      Total current assets                          82,005         70,350

  Property and equipment, net                       58,580         49,342
  Deferred income taxes                              8,892          7,663
  Intangible assets, net                             2,233          1,710
  Goodwill, net                                    134,583        130,474
  Other assets                                          82            111
                                                  $286,375       $259,650

  LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

  Current liabilities:
    Accounts payable                               $31,756        $28,656
    Accrued liabilities                             13,844         15,312
    Obligations under capital leases                 2,830          2,552
    Current installments of long-term debt           7,546             43
    Income taxes                                        81              -
      Total current liabilities                     56,057         46,563

  Deferred income taxes                             17,015         14,835
  Other liabilities                                  2,718          2,736
  Obligation under capital leases                    2,578          1,355
  Long-term debt, excluding current installments    18,774             59
      Total liabilities                             97,142         65,548

  Shareholders' equity:
    Preferred stock, par value of $.001 per share
     Authorized 5,000,000 shares; none issued            -              -
    Common stock, par value of $.001 per share
     Authorized 20,000,000 shares, 11,517,648 shares
     issued and 12,324,857 outstanding as of
     September 28, 2003 and 12,292,599 shares
     issued and outstanding as of December 29, 2002     12             12
    Additional paid-in capital                     144,912        144,420
    Treasury stock, 807,209 shares                  (8,012)             -
    Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)     (756)          (745)
    Retained earnings                               53,077         50,415
      Total shareholders' equity                   189,233        194,102
                                                  $286,375       $259,650

                      INSURANCE AUTO AUCTIONS, INC.
                             AND SUBSIDIARIES
             Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
                          (dollars in thousands)

                                                     Nine Months Ended
                                               September 28,  September 29,
                                                     2003           2002
                                                 (Unaudited)
  Cash flows from operating activities:
  Net earnings                                      $2,662         $3,507
  Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to net
   cash provided by operating activities:
    Depreciation and amortization                    7,519          7,041
    Loss (gain) on disposal of fixed assets            (24)            30
    Loss (gain) on change in fair market value of
     derivative financial instrument                  (307)           450
    Changes in assets and liabilities (excluding
     effects of acquired companies):
   (Increase) decrease in:
     Accounts receivable, net                        5,048          9,994
     Inventories                                      (235)         4,786
     Other current assets                              813          2,245
     Other assets                                     (466)           (61)
    Increase (decrease) in:
     Accounts payable                                3,100         (9,302)
     Accrued liabilities                            (1,254)          (369)
     Income taxes, net                               1,032          2,964
       Total adjustments                            15,226         17,778
    Net cash provided by operating activities       17,888         21,285

  Cash flows from investing activities:
    Capital expenditures                           (11,666)        (9,600)
    Investments, net                                     -          2,643
    Proceeds from disposal of property and
     equipment                                          60            175
    Payments made in connection with acquisitions,
     net of cash acquired                           (7,872)        (1,510)
      Net cash used in investing activities        (19,478)        (8,292)

  Cash flows from financing activities:
    Proceeds from issuance of common stock             492          1,216
    Proceeds from term loan                         30,000              -
    Purchase of treasury stock                      (8,012)             -
    Principal payments on long-term debt            (3,782)       (20,035)
    Principal payments - capital leases             (1,874)          (406)
    Net cash provided (used) by financing
     activities                                     16,824        (19,225)

  Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash
   equivalents                                      15,234         (6,232)

  Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of
   period                                           10,027         24,467

  Cash and cash equivalents at end of period       $25,261        $18,235

  Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information:
    Cash paid or refunded during the period for:
      Interest                                      $1,167         $1,160
      Income taxes paid                                 $-         $2,500
      Income taxes refunded                             $-         $3,860
    Non-cash financing activities:
      Property and equipment additions resulting
       from capital leases                          $3,375             $-