Quote:
Originally Posted by Carrman
Manheim is good for dealers who need to buy a lot of cars and don't have a lot of time to look.
But for someone just buying a single car, it's pretty easy to buy one off Craigslist, eBay or whatever, for just about the same price. They certainly don't give the cars away at Manheim. They have a decent monopoly on the auction biz, and there are a lot of cars going through, but a ton of bidders, too. It's tough to compete against the franchise dealers and large independents, who spend a lot on advertising and can sell their cars for a higher price than most small lots. They can sell higher, so they can bid higher.
To the listed manheim sale prices, you also have to add in the bidder's fee, on a $20K car it's over $400.
My biggest hits were on cars that I bought from private parties, getting good deals on Clist, etc.
Don't be fooled by low prices that show up on the manheim completed sales lists. There is always a reason for it, usually body damage or repaint (half the cars going through Mheim have had paint and body work - usually small stuff, nothing tragic, but it's still there).
You can sometimes get a good deal, though, depending on who is there that particular day, hour or minute, if there happens to not be less interest at the given moment the car goes through, etc. It's never going to be a "give away" price, though, because they have a representative on the auction block who has to approve each sale price and they won't go too far below market. If it does, they'll refuse to sell and try again next week.
When I was buying and selling, I did almost exclusively late model BMW, Mercedes and Porsche lease returns which were still under warranty. That means cars that are coming off of 2-3 year leases. I would only sell cars that were in a condition with a history that I would personally own. Because of that, I had to reject a good 75% of the cars going through Manheim. Not that they were horrible, but most are typical of what you would expect for leased (i.e., long term rental) cars.
|
In my experience your comments had more to do with the auction location than Manheim overall. I find the Fort Lauderdale auction to be exactly as you stated. No real deals, lots of yellow lights, repaint, shady shill bidding dealers, etc. Tampa had a little better quality cars. Fort Myers was all junk. Orlando on the other hand seemed to be the cream of the crop. Very few damaged cars, most extra clean lease returns from large dealerships. Very well run and more deals than I could shake a stick at.
Don't forget right now the big dealers are hurting and trying to liquidate line cars because their floor plans are expiring. I think this added pressure is forcing mega dealers to take losses on many vehicles.
I also have a deal with a few dealers to have 1st crack at their trade in and lease returns. Eliminating the auction all together.
Of course you can find screaming deals on craigslist or ebay if someone is selling cars trying to not go into bankruptcy. If they are taking a loss no one can compete with that. Most of my clients have money, want it now, and need a little xtra customer service. AND, they are still saving $2k-$4k over what their local dealer is quoting them.