Vettrocious

I was watching a car being bid on at Mecum and the bidding didn't meet the reserve. It then goes to the "The Bid Goes On". Anyone know how that works?

Thanks,

Mike

vettebuyer6369

The car is then parked in the Bid Goes On area, with a black and white Bid Goes On sticker that shows the high bid it received in the block. There’s another space for “asking price.” Some people fill that in; most don’t.

If someone sees a car they like they can make an offer at the Bid Goes On desk located near the auction office in one of the main buildings. That desk also has a board with all the BGO cars available by lot number. Offers are then relayed to the seller for consideration.

Some sellers hang around to see if decent offers show up, some people just leave.

Vettrocious

Thanks. I know Mecum then has the title in their possession, do they then have the option of buying the car?

vettebuyer6369

That’s not a regular part of the process, although Mecum could of course decide to make an offer on a car that didn’t meet reserve. I did not speak to them about them buying an unsold car.

When I had my ‘58 there, my cellphone rang with another offer before I returned to my seat after leaving the stage.

When I picked up my title the next day, a guy I knew who sold his told me he had to wait on his money because the car was advertised as matching numbers, as the buyer got more time to verify. Not sure if they still do that.

Vettrocious

Thanks again, just trying to get a handle on their process. Mike

Duck916

They still do that. I bought a car at LA this past February. I had 24 hours or until the end of the auction (whichever came earlier) to verify the numbers.

As far as Mecum buying the car, I've never heard of them doing that. I'm sure they could, though.

vetintheblood

I much prefer Jackson Barrett auctions with no reserve and the last bid is the sale.

Frankie the Fink

Dana Mecum is not going to miss one last chance to get his 20% cut; hence "The Bid Goes On"...

tuxnharley

should be titled “The greed goes on”.

Even realtors only get 6% (and in the current market as low as 3.5 or 4 ) split between buying and selling agents.

vettebuyer6369

I wonder how many realtors pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in semis, equipment, employees, insurance, TV time and other expenses to put on one event that provides only a handful of days to make that one sale.

Rich Yanulis

I ran a successful small business for years.

Most people have no conception of the real costs involved.

SBR

tuxnharley

Fair question.

I wonder how many auctioneers spend hundreds of hours driving around prospective clients in order to find that one sale? It would be nice if the auctioneers had to fill out the same legally mandated disclosure forms about the item they are selling as realtors do! And yes, realtors have brokers license fees, MLS listing fees, and insurance to pay.

Full disclosure - I am neither a realtor nor an auctioneer, and have no financial interest in either one.

My point is that BOTH have become greedy in an inflated market.

Sometimes “For sale by owner” is the best option in both cases!

tuxnharley

Mecom is a small business?

Duck916

Personal injury attorneys who work on contingency typically get 33% of the settlement and 40% if the case has to be tried.

I don't think comparisons across industries are particularly pertinent to these matters. I'd argue that in most mature industries, competition drives compensation levels to generally reasonable rates given the costs of providing the service involved. There's a reason that the ranges of charges for each of these groups (Realtors, auctioneers, attorneys) are quite different between groups, but pretty similar within groups.

And I don't think "greed" is particularly relevant here, either. I think most of us want to get a reasonable fee, but that's typically lower when we're on the buying side and higher when we're on the selling side. Dana Mecum wants to earn as much money as he can--same as the Barrett-Jackson folks, same as most Realtors I know, too.

CorvetteMikeB

Have you noticed how cars & trucks final price is determined by city and state?? Like the old saying...... Location..... Location..... Location

tuxnharley

Hmmm, well, realtors and PI Attorneys typically take a listing/case on a contingency basis - no fee if the house doesn’t sell or the case doesn’t win/settle. They eat the upfront costs in that situation.

Is that the case with car auctions? I seem to remember up front fees and-sellers fees even if the car doesn’t sell etc. IIRC that does vary between different auction companies.

Frankie the Fink

As did I......between paying both sides of the Soc Security and overhead you better have a commensurate billing setup.
All of the realtor and lawyer analogies are a bit astray IMO - those are clearly numbers games where you "shotgun" for customers and hope the win ratio justifies it...

If Mecum doesn't sell a prime car he still gets the "Star Car" fee and all the other ancillary "add ons" up front.

tuxnharley

Well, all 3 work on a unique system of a % of the final value of the product as a direct charge to the "seller"

What other analogies might be better?

mikelj

One thing I think you can be sure of, these auction houses never lose money on a car. Their fee structure on all things they do is set to ensure a profit overall, they do very well.