dplotkin

Thought some of you guys might be interested in scrolling through this auction report:

http://www.sportscardigest.com/mecum...ItocEu8zles.C0

Dan

Pilot Dan

The cars that were sold were mostly reasonably priced I/M/O relative to what it costs to acquire & restore a car these days and their relation to collectability (not withstanding the buyers premium). Pilot Dan

Mike Terry

Dan, the buyers premium is the 8% the buyers pays to Mecum because the buyer is to dam lazy to go out and look for the car of his or her dreams. So on a $100,000.00 car you pay and extra $8K to let Mecum bring the car to you. Oh I forgot The seller pays an entry fee plus an extra fee if he wants his car to sell on PRIME TIME (T V time)for all to see plus 6 or 8% sellers preminm, so Mecum will make a little over $19,000.00 Oh yeah you have to buy a bidders pass also, so there is another $500.00 for the buyer. Oh hell just give the dam car and money to Mecum and come home with nothing but an empty bill fold and bank account . No who is the winner at the Auction?? It is even more for Barrett Jackson on all amounts.

'66BarnFind

That's more than I thought it would be, of course the costs of moving that tent village all over the country must be staggering.

Zoomin

Good lord, what is wrong with you? If auctions were such a lousy deal, Mecum, RM, Leake, B-J would've gone bankrupt long ago.


OP, thanks for the link.

3JsVette

Entertaining comments in the report.
Thanks for the link.

rfn026

In the past year or so auctions have been bringing higher prices than what owners get from private buyers. That's a change in the market.

Keep in mind that not every seller pays the sellers fee. If you have a really high profile car there is no fee. It's all negotiable.

BJ and Mecum are the WalMarts of the auction business. They deal in volume. David Gooding and RM are the high end auction houses. They deal in the high end cars. Bonhams is handling the Ferrari GTO out in Monterey. That car could bring $50 million. You can be assured that the owner is not paying a seller's fee. He may even have been guaranteed that he will walk away with so many millions at the end of the auction. Guarantees are not uncommon at the high end.

The Monterey auctions in the next week will set the prices for the year. Amelia was insane this year so look for big numbers at Monterey. There's just huge amounts of money in the market at this point.

Richard Newton
The Auction Game

kenba

Then why dos Terry M, Danny M, & corvette Mike buy at auctions? I am NOT a big fan of auctions but the do have there place. Some sellers will only sell at auction because the don't want to deal with tire kickers & the hassel.

dplotkin

You are welcome. Thanks for saying what I was thinking.

Fact is, Mecum's Kissimmee auction is an excellent place to see two hundred or more Corvettes in one place. Think about what some of us need to do to perform due diligence on a conventional car purchase, fly or fly an expert out to evaluate the car, and if consummated ship the car home. If the car isn't purchased, the air fare is spent, and the is expert paid anyway. That expense can't be spread across the evaluation of multiple cars as it can at an auction. So in the end, how much different is the auction fees vs the alternative?

Besides, looking at auction cars and attending auctions is fine entertainment, especially for us New England folks come around January!

Ps. If you want to be indignant over egregious expenses, aim it at the IRS. Last I knew, paying an auction house anything was optional.

Dan