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bought it at an auction
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Posted by jsteele [Email] (more from jsteele) on Fri, 21 Jan 2005 10:21:21 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: New ng900 owner (long), jsteele, Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:30:49
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I bought the car last Saturday at an auto auction (Pyramid, in
Fountain, CO). I had heard of them, then I noticed an ad in the
Thrifty Nickel last fall. Sometime around October I went out to an
auction just to watch. It is open to the public, no entry fee, no fee
to bid. Basically a huge field full of cars, a few folding chairs
under a canopy, and a tamale truck. All of the cars have keys (or
key, rather) in them and you're free to start them up, but *not* drive
them (that would be like driving through the state fair). The auction
is strictly consignment, and the sellers include new car dealers
offloading trade-ins, individual owners who don't want to run an ad in
the paper, and (I imagine) used car dealers trying to ditch their
lemons. I've looked at plenty of cars there, and *none* had an owners
manual, service records, spare key, tools, snacks, etc. I'm guessing
it's company policy to toss all that worthless junk in the dumpster.
There are a whole lot of spectators (it is a good show...), some
ordinary folks looking for a good deal, and plenty of pros -- i.e,
used car dealers topping off their inventory. Obviously, on average
you're gonna get stuck w/ a lemon every now and then, but since the
"market" is primarily used car dealers, there's got to be some room to
make a living. The prices reflect this. But it definitely helps to
know about older cars in general, and probably specialize in a certain
make.


Anyway, I went out there in October to watch and learn. It was a nice
day, and there was a big crowd. I'd say there were several hundred
cars to go through. Some absolute crap, plenty of "average" sorts of
cars (go figure !), and, suprisingly, quite a few very nice ones. I
was struck by the number of BMW/MBz/Jag cars that were in the 4-6 year
old category. My impression is that folks buy one new, drive it for
150k highway miles, then trade in for a new one. I didn't take notes,
but these were going for $3-5k. Granted there's plenty of risk, but
these are some seriously nice recent model cars for very little cash.
I was also struck by the $200 cars. If nobody bids on a car, the
auctioneer just keeps going down and down until he hits the sellers
minimum. I guess sometimes the seller just wants out. Anyway, if
someone want's a "project car", want's to have a smash-up derby with a
few friends ....

So with that modest education, I set out last Saturday with half a
mind to get a second car. I was thinking that if it was a cold,
miserable day, the bidding would be tame. (Unfortunately, weather has
been pretty mild this year. Turned out to be a slightly cool, but
pleasant sunny day.) You can't be too set on one thing, because the
choices are pretty random, but my target was sort of a 150k BMW. When
I got there, I was a little disappointed w/ the selection. About the
same number of cars, but a lot more crap, and very few at the high
end. There were plenty of nice cars from the 80's (Saab, Volvo, BMW,
MBz, ...) but I wanted to stick with something recent. When it came
down to it, there were only two cars I looked at seriously. The other
was a '96 Saab 9000, V6, crack in windshield, worn but not trashed
interior, and (can it be true ???) NO GLOVEBOX ! I swear I looked and
looked and couldn't find one. It didn't start or even make a sign of
life when I turned the key. But I figured they had to get it here
somehow, and ended up pointing the alarm/key thing all over and
pressing buttons and that seemed to make the difference. (The alarm
transmitter is on the key itself, so they couldn't very well throw it
out, now, could they ?) The engine bay was very clean, and had a
fairly "new" look to it. Mileage (IIRC) was around 125k. When this
car came up for auction (they drive them up to the canopy area in a
cute little parade) I went with a mind to bid, maybe. The bidding got
up to $3k pretty fast, so I didn't even bid; it sold for $3400. The
other car was the one I bought, which I already described. It came up
later on the day. Slightly before it came time for them to drive it
up front, I noticed a guy totally checking it out. Figured I didn't
have a chance. But when it got up to the auctioneer, the opening bid
started at $4k, $3k, $2k, then someone bit, someone else at $2100,
then me at $2200. Sold. Maybe 15 seconds. Although I had checked it
out fairly closely, now I was sure I had made a big mistake. I was
pretty eager to take it and go, but you have to wait until the whole
auction is over. I went to at least pay, but my bank limits the daily
cash advance off my Visa to like $700. So I put a down payment and
had to spend half a week making cash advances (internet bank, no brick
and mortar, grrr...) Anyway, by Wednesday I had the $$, and the rest
is history.

Short version : Definitely go to a car auction for fun. If you're
looking for something nobody wants (Like a Saab : "I hear they're not
very reliable...") you might find a great deal. And If my car
explodes or collapses into a piles of unrecognizable rubble, I'll be
very, very quiet on this forum .....


posted by 205.170....
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