Buying a family car… at a dealer auction!

This is a quick story of how I purchased my current family truckster at a dealer auction. It includes everything from decision making to actually writing out the check, all of which happened within about three hours. It was nerve-racking and fascinating at the same time. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the read.

Background.
My mother’s best friend, Barbara, has two sons, Paul and Peter. Both were older than me; Peter by four years (which is an eternity when you’re seven) and Paul by two years. Paul and I were best of friends; we’d always play together while Peter did his “older kid” things.

In the late 80’s when I left the old country and came to the United States, our friendship had suspended in time. My mother has always kept in touch with Barbara, so I would hear stories of Paul and Peter and I would see their parents often as they have come several times to the US for vacation. Paul started a very successful concrete pouring company and Peter inherited his grandfather’s auto body shop and has begun specializing in Audi/VW/Porsche.

Forward to 2006, Paul comes to my wedding in Italy, and then comes to visit NYC with his wife. Cool beans. Fast forward to 2008, Peter and his wife come to the United States. Peter says “wow, cars here are like 60% cheaper than they are in Poland! Maybe we could start an exporting business?” Let’s do it!

So, I’ve begun doing some leg work on my end in the U.S. and Peter did in Poland. Through my connections I have found a dealer who specializes in exports to Europe, mostly Poland. Eric attends dealer auctions, inspects, buys, sets up transport and generally handles everything from Z to A (hey, we are Polish, after all), all for a reasonable fee. I called him when I sold my previous car and was willing to give this auction thing a try. He gave me the auction website and a log-in, where you see what will be auctioned off, some details and a shoddy, often incomplete, condition report.

The cars.
Since we live in downtown Boston and my office is a short walk from home, and parking here is ridiculously expensive, we are currently a single vehicle family. We also often happen to be the ride for some of my wife’s sisters as they also live in the city and do not own cars.

My shopping list consisted of MDX’s, G35x’s, CRV’s, and Grand Cherokees. Further research narrowed it to ‘03-’05 MDXs, ‘05/’06 G35x’s, ‘02-’04 CRVs, and ‘05 GC Rocky Mountain Edition. So:

• The CRV, it’s a great vehicle, but I just did not want it. It seems boring, it’s a tool, an appliance if you will, and does not have the toys that I want. Also, there were only a few at the auction and selling for a price equivalent to the MDXs. However, they were mostly likely to retain value, require least work and be overall cheapest to own.
• The G35’s. Steph loves them but they are a little too small for us; they were on the list until the very end. AWD models, preferably with the Package C option – a cool keyless entry system and a full size spare.
• The Jeep got nixed in the end but that limited Rocky Mountain Edition was almost perfect for me; everything I’d want and nothing I didn’t want, except the crappy transfer case. Bah. I have good history with Jeeps and even though I have not driven the WJ, it couldn’t have been that bad. Cheap to buy too, but probably worst resale value.
• I did not go for other vehicles because my $13,000 price range did not allow me to get the model year I wanted; ‘05 Lexus RX330 would have been perfect, but they go for around $20k. Other vehicles were eliminated simply because they were not being auctioned off that day. And I deserved a well needed break from BMWs after driving them for the last six years.

I decided that I wanted an ‘03+ MDX as that’s when they upgraded the suspension and gave it more powah! The 2004’s were even more attractive, as that’s when they got a mild face lift, new rims and dual exhaust. The only difference for ’05 was the addition of Bluetooth on the Touring models. Before I went to the auction, I looked at eBay’s “buy it now” prices as well completed sales. Also took a look at craigslist ads and made a point of being at least under a grand or two under these, including the auction fees for corresponding years and mileages.

In the end, going into the auction, I had on my list 5 MDXs (all touring models) and 3 G35x’s on my list. At inspection, where you can start the car and move it back and forth, check paint, interior, tires, etc.  I’ve narrowed it down to 3 MDXs: 2 black, one blue which was not an ideal choice of colors, but it had no previous accident history and no equipment that would drive the price up (nav system, DVD). The miles were where I’d like them too, at fewer than 75k. The two G35x’s were black on black ’06’s, one with keyless entry, the other with nav – beautiful cars, both with around 40k-50k miles.

The place.
Acres of cars. It took me 20 minutes to find the cars that I was interested in for inspection. Looked at the cars and then got back to the auction lines. One decent size building/garage thing with bay doors on each side has approximately 25 auction lines, all auctioning cars at the same time. This auction made Barrett-Jackson look like a joke. It took two to three minutes to sell each car, that’s it. Everyone knows the prices and what should sell for what. The flow is actually pretty smooth and everything is best described as well organized chaos.

I was hanging out between two lanes, which coincidentally (or not) were Nissan Finance (Infiniti) and Honda Finance (Acura). The cars I’ve selected were numerically pretty high in the auction and would come up later on during the auction. I started monitoring what the cars are going for. Shit, each MDX generates a lot of interest, people gawking at them, but what are they looking for? A-ha! They’re looking for nav models (that have back up cams) and DVD equipped models; I guess that’s what the public wants. Keep in mind that there were over 20 ’05 MDX’s that day and as many more ‘06s and few ‘04s and ’03s and just a shitload of other cars all thrown into the mix with no rhyme or reason what so ever.

The sale.
My first MDX comes up, an ‘05 Touring with 33k. My price limit is $13k and I’m hanging on to it, even if it means coming home without a car. Within the first minute the price surges past $15k and sells for $16800. This one is a goner. Shit, I’m thinking, looks like I’ll be coming home with an Infiniti. Time goes by, and I’m watching. Other MDXs come up, and all sell high. Crap. My second MDX comes up; a black ‘05 with Nav and 60k miles. Sells for $14600. Bummer. At this point, I really did not think I was coming home with an MDX.

Another half an hour and thirty cars goes by. At this point, my G35’s are approaching in the other lane. I’m counting cars to see which will be first, my last MDX or the first G35x. I am watching the first of the G35s sell in the 14s and 15s. The MDX will be up first. Not a penny over $13k I keep telling myself. It comes. It creates much less chaos than the MDXs before it; I guess the vultures were full. Bidding starts and quickly escalades to $12k… and then slows down around $12500. My guy looks at me as if to say “we’re going to get this, it is do or die, are you sure?”… I gathered as much assertiveness and confidence in me as I could in two seconds and nodded as in to say “do it!”

“12 8, going once… twice… get it outta heyyya!”

Five seconds later, it hit me. Shit! Did I over pay? Did I make the right choice? Is it good? And, most importantly, will Steph like the color? Truthfully, I have spend the least amount of time looking at this particular MDX because I wasn’t sold on the color. The only reason it was on my list was because it had the least amount of issues, color was acceptable, and with that mileage and no nav/DVD I knew I could get it for a decent price.

We took care of some paperwork, and I headed to the bank to get a bank check. On my way out, I asked my guy to let me know what my G35s sold for; they were about half an hour after the MDX.

The story took place in December 2008, and all listed prices were from that time.

 

Photo credit – www.saa.com (top photo)