As many of you know, I have spent a large portion of my life within the automotive industry. As several of those years were spent managing public automotive auctions, I thought that it might be a nice idea to pass on a few useful tips to our readers.
So let's start off with the obvious question... is an auction a good place to buy or sell a vehicle? Well, of course it is!
I know, you've heard horror stories about people buying lemons at automotive auctions. Haven't we all? But think about it. Are cars at an auction any worse than the ones in the newspapers or magazines? No! In fact they're often the same ones.
Why is this? Well, unless you live in a city with a very large population, how many people who actually want your car are likely to read your advertisement? Many private sellers, after getting nowhere with their ads, turn to the auction route. Why? Because that's where the buyers assemble, and someone else takes care of the actual sale for you.
What a lot of people do not realize is that many of the vehicles entered in public auctions actually come from dealerships. In fact, if you're ever passing a "dealers only" auction, you'll realize by the number of vehicles parked there, that most of the cars on a dealer's lot went through the auction process at some point in their lives.
How do I know this? Because I spent a number of years buying cars from one auction, then selling them in another where I thought that I could make a profit. This is what we call in the trade "wholesaling".
So yes, even dealers use public auctions. Why? Because it is a convenient way to move and change stock, and even they have to sell things now and again just to put bread on the table. Trust me, I've sold vehicles at a loss, just because the mortgage was due. It's what I call "swings and roundabouts", you win some, and you lose some. I wasn't upset that someone got a bargain, I just moved on to the next deal.
From the buyers' point of view, where else are you going to find 100's of vehicles parked in one place, all of which are up for sale at that precise moment in time? Also, it takes a lot less effort to visit one auction house than it does to run around the countryside looking at individual cars, only to find when they get there, that the vehicle was sold an hour before.
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So let's start off with the obvious question... is an auction a good place to buy or sell a vehicle? Well, of course it is!
I know, you've heard horror stories about people buying lemons at automotive auctions. Haven't we all? But think about it. Are cars at an auction any worse than the ones in the newspapers or magazines? No! In fact they're often the same ones.
Why is this? Well, unless you live in a city with a very large population, how many people who actually want your car are likely to read your advertisement? Many private sellers, after getting nowhere with their ads, turn to the auction route. Why? Because that's where the buyers assemble, and someone else takes care of the actual sale for you.
What a lot of people do not realize is that many of the vehicles entered in public auctions actually come from dealerships. In fact, if you're ever passing a "dealers only" auction, you'll realize by the number of vehicles parked there, that most of the cars on a dealer's lot went through the auction process at some point in their lives.
How do I know this? Because I spent a number of years buying cars from one auction, then selling them in another where I thought that I could make a profit. This is what we call in the trade "wholesaling".
So yes, even dealers use public auctions. Why? Because it is a convenient way to move and change stock, and even they have to sell things now and again just to put bread on the table. Trust me, I've sold vehicles at a loss, just because the mortgage was due. It's what I call "swings and roundabouts", you win some, and you lose some. I wasn't upset that someone got a bargain, I just moved on to the next deal.
From the buyers' point of view, where else are you going to find 100's of vehicles parked in one place, all of which are up for sale at that precise moment in time? Also, it takes a lot less effort to visit one auction house than it does to run around the countryside looking at individual cars, only to find when they get there, that the vehicle was sold an hour before.
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