beadedmonkey said:exsynner said:I remember hearing that most dealers at an auction won't let 'fresh meat' get away with buying a car at dealer prices. In other words, if a new face is spotted and determined to be a civilian, then any car that person is bidding on will get pushed up in price even if there is no real interest.

I know that when I went with friends of friends, they provided me with a 'backstory' if anyone asked me about my creds, and several people did. This was over ten years ago, in the NYC area, and my memory is not great, but I wonder if this is typical for those who have tried, or who are in the know.

Thanks!


Dealers are notoriously attuned to the bottom line. They don't care enough about your one-car-purchase to spent a penny of their money crushing a new face.

I don't know what the rules are in NYC but in CA, true "wholesale auto auctions" are not open to the general public (those without a CA dealer's license).

Yes the major auto auctions here require a dealer card to even get in.
Also to check online, it needs Company's Federal ID and dealer license #.

ifyouhavetoask said: The guy who sold me my current car showed me that he regularly put Armor-All on the spare tire

Scary. That implies that he put it on harder to replace stuff, like interior plastic parts. Wouldn't want to have that car when its age is in double digits.

To clean vinyl, plastic, and non-suede leather, I always use mild soap diluted with water; mix water with Woolite 10:1. For conditioning, I use Leatherique oil.

I have bought numerous cars on eBay and have had wonderful success.

As SIS said, i only buy from sellers who sell LOADS of cars and I like B&M dealers the best. I bought a 2005 camry a couple of years ago and got it for $3K less than i could find anywhere else.

If you do your homework and teach yourself the "game" you can get a deal on eBay.

This may sound strange but I would rather buy from a dealer than a private party. Dealers need to move VOLUME. As said by SIS, Private party people simply have no idea what their car is really worth or what the dealer is REALLY offering them on trade. These people believe b/c they just got their car detailed it should sell at retail. Insane.

patch96 said:
This may sound strange but I would rather buy from a dealer than a private party. Dealers need to move VOLUME. As said by SIS, Private party people simply have no idea what their car is really worth or what the dealer is REALLY offering them on trade. These people believe b/c they just got their car detailed it should sell at retail. Insane.

There is a fairly simple reason for this and it is the very first thing most people learn in a Finance class. It is called the lemon theory. This is generally taught within the context of the used car market because it is the perfect example to describe the market impact of information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. The point of the theory is that the best used cars generally do not sell in the used car market since the sellers of the best cars ascribe a higher value to the asset than the market will bear. Since the average buyer can not easily distinguish between good and bad used cars, most buyers will bid conservatively when buying a used car with the assumption that the vehicle requires unplanned reconditioning or repair. Since the seller believes the condition of the car to be very high, they generally choose to keep the good car rather than sell at the discount required to mitigate a buyer's risk aversion.

Successful transactions, so the theory goes, are generally for either lower quality product where the asset price is low enough to attract risk averse buyers (ie. at auctions, etc) or for guaranteed product sold by reputable dealers (ie. certified used). Everything in the middle, ie. the typical private sale, suffers from higher bid/offer spreads due to the information asymmetry between the two parties. This can be mitigated, to some extent, with in depth knowledge of the specific vehicle (ie. maintenance records) or by a buyer with a higher degree of mechanical knowledge.

Realize, this is a very simple finance theory - please don't respond with a million messages saying that you got a great car for cheap. The point is more generally for understanding and segmenting pricing in the user car market.

thats correct.

There are so many conflicts here its crazy. First of all , if he only gets paid for getting you a car, he wont care about condition, just the sael..all he cares about is profit...

Also if the type of car you want is one he can make big $$ on reselling himself, or if the bidding is very cheap, he will keep it for himself and make big $$

If the price is to the point where he cant make big $$ on the car selling it himself, but can make $600 easily from you, hell get it for you.

Public auction this weekend in Gardenia CA - Info

I have an offer to have my mechanic go up and get a car at the Manheim auction in Pennsylvania. Is there any way to find out what the cars have gone for in the past? We are looking for an 2006 Infiniti FX35. Any way to find out approx. what to expect?

thanks,
Tom

tlucca said:I have an offer to have my mechanic go up and get a car at the Manheim auction in Pennsylvania. Is there any way to find out what the cars have gone for in the past? We are looking for an 2006 Infiniti FX35. Any way to find out approx. what to expect?

IMHO, on that type and year of vehicle you may not save that much (unless it has high miles) compared to negotiating a good deal on a brand new one. Specially with the end of the current model year coming up. Just an idea for you. Good luck with whichever way you go.