Smoke in the Wires April 2016

Despite few buyers seeking driving proof of a vehicle’s condition, many buyers took the time to
inspect the paperwork and history of the cars.
On the evening of the auction, I don my suit and take up station handling some of the phone
bids. If I know a bidder is interested in a particular car, I call before the sale starts so he will
recognize the phone number. I also discuss bidding strategies. Some phone bidders like to
control the room and lead off strongly with initial bids while others prefer to wait and see where
the bidding stalls. During the sale, I’ll call back shortly before the car crosses the block just to be
sure we’re ready beforehand. The challenge is in slowing the action down for a phone bidder.
While the staccato call of the auctioneer plays in one ear, I calmly tell the bidder what the
current bid is and what bid the auctioneer is looking for. I ask the bidder if he wants to bid that
number. In some ways phone bidding is a lot lower stress for the serious buyer than sitting in the
room. One of my best phone bidders was actually local but at a party. It must have been a good
party as he ended up as high bidder on two cars.
If you are a consignor and really serious about selling your car, one of the biggest mistakes you
can make if your car doesn’t sell on the block is to collect your car too early. Post sale
transactions are an amazing
effort that goes relatively
unseen by most sellers. People
come to the auction to buy
cars and, as it turns out, we
only get paid if we sell cars.
After the car crosses the block,
the reserve on a car is no
longer a tight secret. The high
bidder may have been willing
Pretty! And loud!
to make the reserve price but
lacked a competitor to take the
bidding that far. Or, as is often the case, the seller failed to honestly consider the value of his
car. At the final hammer strike, the market has spoken. That is when we set to work negotiating
between the consignor, high bidder or other interested parties. We typically complete some of
the highest dollar transactions after the sale. Post sales can go on into the following week. It is in
the interest of a consignor not to collect an unsold car until Tuesday or Wednesday after the
sale, if possible. You may not have been happy with the results on the block but believe me, we
are working very hard to sell your car!
Smoke in the Wires April 2016 Page 12