posted 11-25-2013 08:48 PM                  

The buyer is a very nice guy who had done his homework. I hope he will jump on this thread and introduce himself to the group.

I've never sold or bought at an auction, and several members have asked me about the experience, so I figured I'd just lay it out for all.

The car was "recruited" at this year's Cruisin' For A Cure event, by a Mecum staffer who noticed that the car was for sale.

To get into the auction, there are a couple of pages of paperwork to fill out, nothing too bad - just the usual. To register, they have a consignor fee, which you get back if your car sells.

I didn't know this, but the consignor fee goes up each day of the auction. My fee for Thursday was $350. For the 2nd and 3rd days of the auction, there is supposed to be a minimum vehicle value (I think it was $35K for Friday, and $50K for Saturday). So, if you want your car to go across the block on Friday or Saturday with the "big bucks" cars, all you have to do is lie about the value, and pay the (much)higher registration fee. I guess they might "call you" on inflated value if it is blatant, but there was another yellow Prowler that paid the fee and got in on Friday.

Each day is broken down into "televised time" and "non-televised" time, based on when it airs on Velocity. The fee is slightly higher during the televised hours - they call these "Star" cars. I didn't give a damn whether I was on TV, but if you are in the "non-TV" time slots, you are talking about some really "off" hours, and a thin crowd. So, pay for the "Star" time slot, no matter which day you are scheduled for.

There is on-site check-in, and there is "express" check in for those who pre-register. You absolutely want the express check-in, which requires you to sign the title over to Mecum, with a power of attorney so they can transfer the car if you aren't there, etc. A little un-nerving sending some stranger on the other side of the country your signed pink slip, but whatever.

On-site check in is SLOW. Hours-long lines in the office. Agonizing. Some folks had been sitting there for 3 hours. And forget last-minute registration...it is available, but your car will be another model year older while you complete the paperwork there at the auction. So go "express check in" ONLY, unless your time has no value, and you enjoy sitting for hours and hours and hours with other unhappy folks.

SO...you drive in, and then they tell you that you can only have 3 gallons in the tank. They didn't mention this in advance, so dozens of cars had to get out of line, go to a tanker truck on site, and have the gas siphoned out. I simply lied, and avoided the LONG, SLOW line to get "de-fueled".

The cars are in separate rooms, arranged by day of sale. Like I said, I left it to Mecum to pick the date and time for my car, not realizing I had a choice. As most of you know, the cars go up in value as the auction goes on, so the 1st day are the cheaper cars.

That made me VERY unhappy, because honestly, a good percentage of the Thursday cars were just junk. No other nice way to say it, "swap meet" quality was the rule, not the exception. I was honestly VERY surprised at how rough many of the cars were. Looking around, I really did not see more than a dozen cars out of a couple hundred that would even hit $15K, let alone the $30K I was hoping for. This stressed me the entire time.

SO...you park your car and get out, feeling pretty good - you got in, you've got a nice car, you feel sharp, people are milling around checking things out...Then, you notice that even though you just spent a couple hundred dollars having the local detailer go over the car with a fine-toothed comb, under the auditorium lights, your paint LOOKS LIKE CRAP. GUARANTEED, no matter how hard you worked on it, the lights make it look like CRAP. Then you notice that everyone has the same problem...the lights make your paint look like CRAP.

So, you curse your detailer up and down, leave him a nasty voice mail, and then you go and find the detail service that Mecum brings with them to all the auctions. It's like a traveling circus. Thankfully, I got to the guy before anyone else did, and for $150.00, he had 5 guys SWARMING over my car for 3 hours, at least. And I have to say, when it was done, it was worth it...my paint had never looked better, 1000 times better than most of the other cars there including the "big bucks" cars, and 1,000,000 times better than when I drove it in. Those guys are GREAT....saved my life, really.

The way it looked when I first drove in under those damned auditorium lights, I wouldn't have even BID on my own car. And I take REALLY good care of my paint, so I was shocked by how it looked in the auction hall, and so were LOTS of others. Did I mention, THE LIGHTS MAKE YOUR PAINT LOOK LIKE CRAP???

The auction runs like clockwork, they have it wired, everything happens on time, and EVERYONE from Mecum that I met were just the nicest people in the world.

I stood around the car most of the day Thursday, and greeted the lookers, answered questions, etc. This was the most interesting part of the whole deal, and I will tell you all something: there are A LOT of Prowler fans and owners who have no idea that POA exists. A LOT. Yet, they are very well-informed about the car, and very enthusiastic. Several were surprised that POA existed.

So, here is the "buzz" from the crowd: Purple is "THE" color. Sorry, guys - everyone preferred the car in the original color. You all can argue amongst yourselves, but the comments were clear - the Prowler is supposed to be purple, and that is what they want.

Everyone asks about the V6/V8 issue, but seem satisfied when you toss out some performance numbers and some "Prowler versus What-Have-You" street racing stories.

Very few know about the differences between the '97's and the later years.

NO ONE wanted a Chrysler-badged car, and they knew the difference, surprisingly.

When your time comes, your car goes across the block - you can drive it yourself, or have one of their drivers do it. I chose to let a Mecum driver do it, so I could focus on what I was there for, which was selling the car for the best price I could get.

Bids start low and slow - there aren't many fools in the audience who just jump in. It is VERY hard, when you are on stage with the car, to follow the bidding. The Mecum guy is right in your face from the first second after the first bid of $500..."You ready to sell it?" over and over and over, with every new bid - "Will that buy it? Let's sell it"

Finally, I nicely asked the guy to please just shut up and let me see how the bids ran. It is still hard to know, from the stage, how many bidders there are, and where they are in the room. When I got home and watched my sale on TV, I realized that there were fewer bidders than I thought. One of the last bidders dropped out around $25K, but I did not realize that there was only 1 bidder left, and he was "fishing" for my reserve. I didn't quite get to the reserve price as they were starting to roll the car off.

But I didn't want to have to come back to put it across the block a 2nd time (which they allow you to do), or sell it at "Bid Goes On", and risk that the buyer would go for Friday's yellow Prowler, so when he got to within $1K of my reserve, I let it go. Had I realized that there was only 1 bidder left who was looking to find my reserve, I would have let the car go to "Bid Goes On", and I think I could have gotten my reserve price. But we are only talking about $1K-2K either way, and I didn't want to run the risk of not selling it.

I'm sure when the buyer watched it on TV, he wished he had stopped bidding when the other bidder(s) dropped out, and then hammered me at "Bid Goes On".

There is a lot of strategy to these auctions, a very dynamic environment and it is hard to figure out until after the fact. Like every deal, I think I should have gotten a few more bucks, and the buyer thinks he should have paid a few bucks less. I guess that is the definition of a good deal for both sides.

It was great to see how excited the buyer was, and it wasn't until I got home and saw the empty space in the garage that I felt the loss.

Bottom line is, someone here made a comment awhile back that POA is NOT the primary market for these cars, and my experience convinces me he is 100% correct. There are many Prowler fans out there, and they do not necessarily know about POA or consider it as a "first source" for a nice car. And, there is so much internal niggling on threads about so-and-so's price being to high, or too low, whatever - personally, I would think twice about even advertising a car on POA, given how few sales are done between members and how the irrelevant comments can affect a buyer's feelings about the car.

All in all, it was a very good and very interesting experience. I got almost my asking price, and the buyer got a great car at a fair price. The Mecum people were great in every way, and I would not hesitate to sell another car with them, especially now that I am not an auction "virgin" any more.

posted 11-25-2013 09:53 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by ed monahan:
Don, that is a very interesting, very well written piece. Thanks for taking the time to post it. If you think of more info later on, please come back and edit your post if it is something you think is important.
You stated most folks don't know about POA. Do you have a feeling of where they get most of their info, in that case?
Again, thanks a lot for posting your experience.

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posted 11-26-2013 09:40 AM                  

As Ed said, if you think of anything more ... along the financial end of it ... what all did it "cost" you to sell this way, for example. If you say sold for a hammer price of $28,000, after all fees and 'required' expenses, what did you end up with? If you feel like sharing.

posted 11-26-2013 03:23 PM                  

There is a 7% premium to Mecum for cars that have a reserve. The commission is only 5% on a no-reserve sale, but I'd be SOOO careful of that in this economy, you could end up selling your car for $2,000. Not worth the downside risk, in my opinion - too many bottom-feeders looking to steal a car without any reserve.

posted 11-26-2013 06:35 PM                  

Sorry that you needed to sell your car to help a friend, but what a friend you are.

It was very interesting and a positive note for your sale at Mecum.

I work the Indy Auction, this year was year 5 for me. I see a lot of the things that make the experience a good one for the buyer and seller. Have also heard a lot of unhappy people.

It is a very well organized chaos, in Indy we had 1800 cars to sell in 6 days. Yes the earlier in the week the more daily driver type vehicles. Friday & Saturday afternoon and later high dollar stuff. Sunday a lot of reruns and back to the lesser quality.

The guys that travel and detail are very good. Eric, is one of the ones from Indy I have got to know. He is young, as most of them are, but very good at polishing and detailing some poor paint.

Most people go in with real high expectations, they are usually disappointed. But the realistic people know what they want and when they get close decide to sell it. Sometimes they go higher, but most get hammered shortly after the reserve is lifted unless a special vehicle in high demand.

For anyone that has a chance to go to a Mecum auction, just to look, not buy, sell or anything else, just look. IT IS ONE OF THE BEST CAR SHOW YOU CAN GO TO.

The type vehicles and condition is outstanding. It is hard to see that much eye candy in one place.

posted 11-26-2013 07:15 PM                  

And everyone I did ask said the same thing - if they had to pay Dana to work the auctions, they'd do it!!!

I can't really imagine a better job. And yes, it was Eric that detailed my car - his guys were fantastic.