Originally Posted by Akers04Coupe
Franc,
Actually I am at a dealership and NO those are NOT all dealer auctions
Some are public like one we have here once a month and ANYONE can bid, now of course those prices do not reflect a 3% fee(some higher some lower) and sales tax of whatever state that the car is sold in.
Also to shed some light retail is NOT 1.5% of auction value in markup...to be perfectly honest we took an 04 Coupe with 40K miles on it here and I went 10K in it(to make a deal work on a new unit), according to date I was a little high...we sold it for 11,843. Out of that you pay your detail, title clerk,commision to the sales person, etc... People really think dealers make a KILLINGS of people. The reality is in this day and time with some non-credit worthy buyers the lender cap you what you can finance, so that is is NOT true.
I do hope this helps a little when you go shop a dealer, also if you look over this really WELL there is a HUGE chance the crossfire at your dealership your shopping COULD be one of these cars I have listed here for you if the mileage and color is the same.
I understand how used car sales work. Was in the bussiness for a while.
Every dealer, like every industry, has their differences to compete. My numbers were the general formulas before we made personal marketing judgements on the product we put on the lot. The saleman generaly had a 33% margian in which to haggle. It contained his commission so in reality, the customer was haggling over the size ofsaleman's take of the deal.
I worked for a little outfit called Enterprise Leasing. You may have heard of them?
We didn't buy auction cars . But we did send a good many to that market. And then competed with those same products in the marketplace. Numbers. It is always about the numbers.
That was some years ago but by your description, and that of my very good friend who has a "gravel lot" here, it doesn't sound like things have changed all that much. People will pay what they assume to be a good price but, at the end of the deal, financing is always the issue.
My good friend and neighbor, still in the business, after 50 years of selling new dealership and gravel lot cars still uses the same basic numbers. I often go to auctions with him.
It's an addictive business.
Amazingly, I haven't yet seen a Crossie except for salvage ones. My dilemma, what if I do? What if I win the bid? Can I get Crumpy to let me bring another one home?