A Changing Of The Guard

In the auction business, the wholesaler is dying, and that is real change. That's right, the car buyer is going away... he has been... and now at a faster pace. Sure, there will remain standing the big institutions with thier check books and apparatous in place, but the daily hand to hand combat in your used car managers office is almost gone! The new car dealerships exposure to auction selling has expanded tremendously for 20 years. Prior to that the wholesaler was deeply entrentched in the store and dealership mangers relyed on thier buyer for nearly every single deal. Today, we are at place where greater than 70% of new car stores conduct wholesale themselves with zero dependence on the traditional buyer. By this ratio, the wholesalers opportunity for profit has been reduced and with sharp increases in fees to sell at aucion, the wholesale margins continues to deteriorate. I can't tell you how many times a week I hear the wholesaler tell me how tough it is for him because he just cant buy the cars anymore. So what's next? Is it the auction house itself? The acceptance of and increased use of on-line buying (a creation of the auction house itself) could in fact threaten the bricks and mortar foundation of the business. Hey, just point and click... what so hard about that! Right? Or, do an expereinced and trusted set of eyes and a keen sense of smell still have a place left to make money in this turbulent market? W/