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Insurance Auto Auctions Expects Q1 Earnings To Beat Expectations

7 April 1999

Insurance Auto Auctions Expects First-Quarter Earnings To Beat Analyst Expectations

    SCHAUMBURG, Ill., April 7 -- Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc.
, a leader in automotive total loss and specialty salvage
services, today announced that the company expects its earnings for the first
quarter ended March 31, 1999, to be approximately 15- to-20 percent above
analyst expectations of $0.19 to $0.20 per diluted share.

    Strong Performance from Operations
    Chief Executive Officer Chris Knowles explained the favorable outcome,
"Our strong first-quarter performance is attributable to a combination of
factors that has increased our gross profit.  Our gross profit improvement
initiatives are being implemented more quickly than planned, including the
roll out of a variety of vehicle enhancement services which have increased
selling prices and have improved our profits.
    "We sold more units this quarter as our sales team continued to focus on
increasing the higher gross margin percent of sale contracts.  Our business
model for 1999 and 2000 is to shift more units of our business to the percent
of sale agreement to increase our profit per car as well as increase the
returns for our customers," Knowles added.
    "We continued to see strong 'units in' for the first quarter which should
help us keep the momentum going forward into the second quarter.  We already
have an aggressive target for our second quarter, and it will be important for
our management team to focus on those actions that have added to our success
this quarter," Knowles commented.
    The company is planning on announcing its first-quarter earnings on April
28, 1999, and will conduct a conference call to comment further on performance
and trends of the business.
    Founded in 1982, Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. is a leading provider of
automotive and specialty salvage services in the United States, providing
insurance companies with cost-effective, turnkey solutions to process and sell
total-loss and recovered-theft vehicles, a $3 billion per year industry.  The
company currently has 50 auction sites across the United States.
    This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on
assumptions about a number of important factors and involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected or implied in the forward looking statements.  These risk factors
may be detailed from time to time in Insurance Auto Auctions' Securities and
Exchange Commission filings.