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I was looking at the Pro-team site tonight and I saw they have a whole bunch of new cars. I started reading the descriptions and some of them sounded very familiar. Eventually I realized these were cars sold at the recent Mecum auction. So I went to the Mecum site and checked out the prices these exact cars sold for.
It looks like each car I remembered is marked up at least $30-$35K. In one case the selling price was only $70K, which means almost a 50% markup.
Now I know a dealer who goes to the auction, buys the car, transports it back ought and resells it ought to make some money but these markups seem outrageous to me. Am I being a little naive?
2025 C8 Z06/7/E-Ray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2021 C8 of the Year Finalist Unmodified
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C1 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2017 Corvette of the Year Finalist
2016 C2 of Year
2015 C3 of Year Finalist
I have watched that with interest as well. It's to be expected with all the fees, transportation costs they need to pay. Lots of overhead. They certainly aren't in business to lose money. I have always felt you can do better as a buyer dealing with a private party and a known history of the car.
I have watched that with interest as well. It's to be expected with all the fees, transportation costs they need to pay. Lots of overhead. They certainly aren't in business to lose money. I have always felt you can do better as a buyer dealing with a private party and a known history of the car.
yep....
"there's seat for every azz and an azz for every seat".......
I was looking at the Pro-team site tonight and I saw they have a whole bunch of new cars. I started reading the descriptions and some of them sounded very familiar. Eventually I realized these were cars sold at the recent Mecum auction. So I went to the Mecum site and checked out the prices these exact cars sold for.
It looks like each car I remembered is marked up at least $30-$35K. In one case the selling price was only $70K, which means almost a 50% markup.
Now I know a dealer who goes to the auction, buys the car, transports it back ought and resells it ought to make some money but these markups seem outrageous to me. Am I being a little naive?
Pat
Well Pat, it sure seems high to me, but in all reality it probably isn't. All those costs add up, and then even with what I am sure is Pro Teams expertise you still wind up with a Lemon in that catch of beauties. Auctions are risky places. It costs so much just to keep your doors open at a business this days. Asking 70, settling on 65, paid 35, spent 3k on it with transportation and some detailing. "profited" 27K... enough to keep the doors open 2 weeks maybe 3, depending on the size of his staff.
A old friend of mine told me once, "I never make a penny selling a car, I made all my money when I bought it."
Maybe for the cars quality they sold reasonable. Pro team sends a lot of cars over seas for huge dollars. They advertise here but sell there. They still want to buy private sale cars where they are available and never advertise they sell abroad. Follow the money.
What better way to raise prices than have fewer cars in the US available.
I was looking at the Pro-team site tonight and I saw they have a whole bunch of new cars. I started reading the descriptions and some of them sounded very familiar. Eventually I realized these were cars sold at the recent Mecum auction. So I went to the Mecum site and checked out the prices these exact cars sold for.
It looks like each car I remembered is marked up at least $30-$35K. In one case the selling price was only $70K, which means almost a 50% markup.
Now I know a dealer who goes to the auction, buys the car, transports it back ought and resells it ought to make some money but these markups seem outrageous to me. Am I being a little naive?
Pat
What if you go to an auction and buy a painting for a $1 that you feel is worth $100. When it was time for you to sell it would you ask $1.25 because you feel that is all the mark up that should be allowed?? How about the cars that Proteam bought before the market dropped in '08. Should they have expected to sell all of those cars at a profit because of what they paid for them? Proteam has been in this business a very long time. I think that they may know a little bit more about the values of these cars than you and most anyone else do.You don't even want to know the markup on products at retail stores. It is a lot higher than 50%
Maybe for the cars quality they sold reasonable. Pro team sends a lot of cars over seas for huge dollars. They advertise here but sell there. They still want to buy private sale cars where they are available and never advertise they sell abroad. Follow the money.
What better way to raise prices than have fewer cars in the US available.
America and it's products are at bargain basement rates.
If you see Terry at a sale he looks at every car there and decides what he will pay for it, when the bidding starts he is in it till it gets to his price then he sits down and stops bidding. He knows what he can get for cars. Asking prices are just that, you never know what someone wants to trade or what they think it is worth so you have to act accordingly. He has been doing this a long time maybe he has it figured out.
Mark
I have watched that with interest as well. It's to be expected with all the fees, transportation costs they need to pay. Lots of overhead. They certainly aren't in business to lose money. I have always felt you can do better as a buyer dealing with a private party and a known history of the car.
A few weeks ago I saw a post on here about a C2 that had been wrecked and was pretty trashed. It had since been restored, which it looked good...but I believe BJ was claiming it was like in original or some kind of cool condition. I don't remember the specifics or anything, but it was a pretty scary thought to think that these guys and gals go out to buy really nice cars and yet while the C2 was nice...it appears that they were being less than honest with us.