All of you don't know, but i'm an independent auto dealer, mainly brokering new cars, though I am licensed to buy and sell used cars. In the past when I needed a used car I would find a way to find it without having to do much work. I figured it's about time I start getting more involved with the dealer auctions and going myself to buy/sell.
Just a little visual so you see what a typical auction looks like - 22 lanes of madness (and this isn't even the biggest one in the area!):

I went last Wednesday on a mission to pick up a 2008 G37 Coupe that I had a sold order to fill, I found it and sold/delivered it before the weekend. Customer is quite happy.
This time I had another customer looking for a 2005-2006 G35x, plus I had a car I took on trade that I thought needed too much TLC (I'm picky as ***** with what I sell, which makes it that much harder for me to find that PERFECT car at the right price), so I figured I'd make it somoene else's problem and sell it at the auction. The bids were a little short on what I wanted to get for the car, so I didn't sell it. I did end up picking up the G35x for the customer (at a good price, probably one of the cheapest ones sold for the day with this kind of mileage, probably because of the color :dunno: ), it's mechanically perfect but needs a little bit of body reconditioning...Not my preference in color, but this was one of their choices:

THEN - I was walking around looking for something a little cheaper to buy, something I know we have sold in the past that's an easy sell, and something decent. I've sold quite a few of the 1997-2003 Maxima's and know they are good quality cars that would sell with little difficulty, so that's what I was looking for. Just after my friend's cars went down the block, another dealers cars went and a 2001 Maxima SE caught my eye: 91,000 miles, Dark Silver Exterior/Grey Interior, Leather/Sunroof/Heated Seats/Bose CD/Cassette, etc..I had all of 20 seconds to look at it, do the quick walkaround to make sure the car is accident free (with a paint meter), the meter read clean, no paint work, so I was excited to bid on this. I noticed the "service engine soon" light on, as well as the ABS light, me thinking not such a big deal. So I bid. And I won! And the price seemed to be very good, I was surprised that I bought it for as much as I did.
Just when you think you got a killer deal on a nice car, after it went down the block and was parked back in the spot on the lot, I went to it so I can now look at it under a fine tooth comb to see what I bought. That's where you can take a step back and examine it better. Screws holding the driver's side mirror in place because it was broken, replace the mirror, no big deal....Driver's side rear door had a small scrape, needs a touch up, no big deal, etc...And then I look inside the car and see this:
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I thought I bought a Maxima with an Automatic Transmission....I didn't notice the shifter because the driver had his hand resting on the top of the shifter and didn't pay much attention to it...then again, what are the odds? I guess bigger than I would ever think. That's what I get for buying out of impulse and buying as a rookie in 20 seconds at the auctions.. Oh well...
Soooo anyone interested in a BEAUTIFUL Maxima in stick?

 

Great story! Perhaps some young kid scouring the Nissan Maxima forums is looking for exactly this type of car/transmission.

 

So, did you see anything else interesting to bid on? I never go to auctions because of your picture. How can anyone save money on a car this way? Someone will always outbid you and there go your savings. I don't think it's worth it waiting several hours in line and then, your first three bids get beaten in thirty seconds! Remember that episode of "Friends" where Joey was trying to bid on something with his life savings. It was like $9,000 and the first person to bid jumped up and shouted "$10,000!"

 

Since I posted that, I bought about 10 cars from the auction in the last 2 months or so.

Some of them:
2006 Nissan Altima 2.5S with 33k miles (2 of them)
2009 Chevy Malibu 1LT with 29k
2004 Nissan Murano SE with 80k
2008 Infiniti G37 Coupe
2006 MB CLS500
2002 Pontiac Grand Prix GT with 105k (this thing's in the wrapper, no paintwork, no dents, dings scratches, nothing)

Also took in a few trades that I either flipped in the auction, sold or still have:
2006 Honda Odyssey EX-L with DVD and 18k miles (sold)
2007 Honda Odyssey EX Clock with 14k miles (sold)
2007 Honda Ridgeline RT-L with 27k miles (sold)
2001 BMW 525i with 28k miles (just bought it, but might be sold)
2001 Toyota Camry LE with 92k miles (just bought it)
2005 Audi S4 6sp with 53k miles (just bought it)
2002 Jaguar X Type with 65k miles (just about sold)
2004 Grand Cherokee Limited with 75k (sold)
2004 Honda Accord LX-V6 with 90k (just bought it)
2005 Honda Accord EX-L with Nav and 43k miles (just bought it)
2001 Subaru Forester with 180k miles (just bought it, but after putting it up on a lift realized it's a rat, going to dump it "as is" in the auction next week because it's going to cost more to fix than what it's worth)

 

I must be old. When I had my dealership the wholesalers were on Jerome ave in Da Bronx :-)

 

Shoof, I've been to an auction before and the convention center was a bit full but your picture? That's just crazy, crazy, CRAZY!! I sometimes wonder, do fights break out when someone makes it to the auction too late to bid on anything?

 

Nah, its pretty civil, believe it or not....You do need to watch out in your surroundings because most people aren't paying attention to where they are walking, having their eyes on a car, their phone or their notepad...That includes me too...

 

I bet you'll still sell that Maxima soon. There are always at least two or three people out of a few million who will literally kill to get their hands on a certain make/model of car just for the stick shift! I probably would kill to get my hands on a Lara Croft edition Land Rover Defender 90 but we can't get them in the US. My other dream car would be a Countryman, which basically is the original Clubman. I don't care where the steering wheel is so long as I can get it!

 

I'm not SO concerned that I won't be able to sell it. I bought the car with a few lights on in the dash that I thought would be an easy fix, almost 2 months later it's still kicking my ***, we haven't been able to fix the problem. We had the ECU sent out 2x for reprogramming and the car still isn't taking the program. The Idle sensor chip in the ECU keeps getting burnt out, causing erratic idle and the engine light to stay on. Sucks.. We sent out the computer one more time in hopes that it fixed the problem..

 

Solution: disconnect the wires and replace the dashboard! (JK!)
I bet the guys who want a manual in this make and model very badly will repeat your mistake! Hey, I know a guy who splurged on a used MR2 because it was being sold $2,000 below Blue Book and he modded the bejeezus out of it. He went too far and is now trying to fix whatever he messed up! In other news, my Clubbie is stuck in the repair shop because of the silly driver's side window developing a mind of its own. They tell me it'll take 6 hours to find the bug and reprogram it! Yikes!