Skip to main content

Don't Let High Miles Fool You

At auction the previous two weeks, the one trend that you here repeated is, "... man, there are just no cars out there...". What buyers are saying is they don't see the vehicles they want in the mileage brackets they (think) they want! The reality is that there are so many cars and trucks at auction in a mileage bracket many just plain old don't care to pay attention to.

A 1998 Nissan Pathfinder is an "old" unit. Now add 203,114 miles! If you where under the gun at your Honda dealership or Ford store on a rainy Tuesday night and this looked like the last customer of the night (who is also tired because she has been shopping your competition all day), what would you put on this vehicle? Try again! You could miss that vehicles value by $1600 and may be thinking that it's not even worth $1600... and you would be right. But what did this unit sell for? $3,200 in Connecticut on 2-24-10 at wholesale auction.

My point is that while we are all consumed with searching out the lowest mileage, cleanest, best equipped unit we can think of, your customer may not be. She would trade to mileage a lot higher than you think because anything less that 203,114 miles would be lower miles! Don't fear the miles... not everybody drives a new car!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reimagining service... it's time!

I have been attending and participating in a new podcast, "Auto Transport Intel" that Jay Wertzberger produces and broadcasts with Ty Thompson. It drills in on automotive transport and is dedicated to improving the industry. A topic I explored with them recently was focused on not how to get new business as a transporter but a revealing look at some of the reasons we can't get new business. The theme was that if we look at ourselves with open eyes and ask if we feel if we're putting our best foot forward, what little things could we do to improve our professional profile... and that triggered the theme, "reimagining service". Over the next several weeks, I'll define Reimagining Service in more detail, and we will dig in on the relationships that the car auctions have with vehicle transporters. Stay tuned!
1 comment
Read more

Heard around the auction block

As a college freshman, I enjoyed the mandatory Psychology 101 & 102 courses... but if I had known then that I would need to be counseling my customers now, I would have taken better notes! I'm telling you... seasoned and experienced auction pros are confused and conflicted with what is going on in this winter market and the joke is that they must need to see a "shrink". The chatter at the block is staggering! Nobody is comfortable with what they have in inventory, don't know what to add or deduct form that inventory, and aren't sure what anything is worth right now. Generally, the market is flat (if not down) and traditionally [it] should be ticking up in terms of the number of bodies in the lanes (the very best barometer). Rather, there is a noticeable number of missing buyers and that's the primary factor pushing the market index down. The question is, where are these buyers? For the balance of February... plod through your inventory and make adj
Post a Comment
Read more

A Resignation That Opens The Door

Just one year ago this week marked a point that I had never been before over a 30+ year career and it was a professional decison that had to be made. I was not healthy and I was not at the lofted level of dedication I'd held myself to. The decision was easy! I resigned. I committed to my team to a seamless transition and told them there would be no disingenous goodbye followed by an announcement on the competitor I was going to join. Resignation became dedicating more time to my family, friends, my health, and to the larger community that surrounds us all. Unencumbered by a business culture stalled in its own way, I relished "taking the high road" journeying thousands upon thousands of miles with eyes and ears wide open and no timetable. And there it was in front of my wife and I every trip we took: The door of opportunity swung wide open with one clear-cut decision. A year on now spiritually and bodily rejuvenated, I re-engage to be purposelful in mentoring
Post a Comment
Read more