shutterfab

I am heading out to the Bloomington Gold event end of the month with intentions of possibly buying my next Vette at the auction there. Has anyone ever done this? If so can some pretty sweet deals be had? Are many of the Vette's up on the auction block selling at or around dealer wholesale? I am looking for a 97-00 C5 coupe semi low miles low $20's. My intentions are to drive home to Rhode Island with my new addition to the garage. Am I out of line thinking I can get a super good deal and buy and drive from Bloomington? any comments would be highly appreciated.
Thanks
MikeG
(just sold C4)

Big Fish

I just looked at the brochure showing Mecum's auction cars for the Bloomington Gold. There is only 1 car meeting your needs, a silver 98 coupe. There are a couple of 93's, both 40th anniversary models. Chances are pretty good you are not going to find what you are looking for there, but the right deal will eventually come around. Now if you were looking for something rare or older you would have a better chance, but it would be a real crap shoot to expect many of them to be sound enough for an immediate extended road trip like you are talking about. Last year you could tell exactly where all the cars lined up for the drive through the auction tent by the location of the oil slick. There are usually quite a few cars for sale by owner there as well, you might find something you like and be able to talk to the owner as well. Be sure to ask about maintenance records, etc.


[Modified by Big Fish, 9:19 PM 6/14/2003]

corvetteronw

I have sold there but never bought. I spent quite a bit of time researching C4 prices there last year and found them to be average to good deals. The "dreamers" who think their cars are the next best thing to your first girlfriend's kiss never do sell though. I attended a class on "How to buy/sell at auction" through Bloomington Gold in 2000. They said that you should get with the (can't remember the exact title) "bull pen" guy. He is one of the Mecum family who works the crowd and looks for bids. As your prospective car comes up then go talk with him and let him know you are serious and looking for a good buy. He will help you out and let you know when to bid. You can ask him questions which he will pass along to the seller. Let's say your question is: "Has it ever been wrecked" then he will ask the auctioneer on the podium who will announce it for all to hear. If the seller lies, then you will have hundreds of witnesses to back you up. There will be many more cars there than have been printed in the brocure. Get there early and look over the cars in your area of interest. They each have a number posted in the window so you can see what order they will come up during the auction. Try to find the owner as many times they have a cell number posted along with a description. Here's a tip: During the auction I was sitting outside Mecum's mobile office waiting to be called in for my check. I got to talking with a few of the sellers who were just bringing their cars in. I couldn't believe what they were telling me as both of these guys were saying things like: Man, I really gotta sell this thing as I have a chance to buy into a local business and really need the money. I hope this car will go for $X, but I would really settle for $Y." These guys were giving me inside info that I could have used to really burn them with. Another tip: I have seen some incredible deals go down there on the last day. It is then that the "don't-wanters" and the guys whose wives have said: "You come back home with that damn car, then your azz is in a sling boy!" will take ridiculous bids! Go for it! :boxing

Phil-tha-Rush

When Carlisle had the auctions, I thought that basically ALL the cars that went through were bid too high.

Even the guys in the car corral were priced unreasonably high until the last day of the event.

I saw cars priced at $15000 on Friday, then marked down to $9000 on Sunday.

Yes, some good deals can be had, but my advice is to not get caught up in the bidding wars at the auction. Inspect the cars you are interested in and set YOUR price limit. It is easy to get caught up in the bidding wars..its almost addictive some times.

As I said, dont exclude the regular car corral for some good buys on the last day of the show.

Frank

I worked an auction last night. Amazing to me the number of people bidding on a car and not looking it over until it reaches the stage. I drove cars in and around the auction. If some had driven the car 40 feet, they would not have been bidding. Talk with several "drivers" if you can't drive the car yourself. They will remember the black POS that lost all of the anti-freeze
when it pulled in. Talk to the owner any way you can, before it sells. All cars at the auction aren't junk, but all the junk cars are at the auction.