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It's On The Horizon

... There has been chatter lately in the lanes about the competition from above. No, not the devine, but from the screen above the auctioneers head. The online bidder. It's become obvious that there is an increasing presence of online bidders and depending on how the auction displays its online bidders, chances are you recognize the dealership. The difference is that that bidder was a traditional "auction guy" and now, has moved toward staying in the store and buying from there. So what is triggering this migration? The cars online are not pre-selected, better quality cars... infact yesterday at Southern Auto Auction (CT) a 1990 Mercedes SL500 had on line activity (the antithesis to only the newest, lowest mileage cars sell online). There is a growing comfort level and the understanding that if an on line purchase arrives at your store not as described, the seller/auction will take it back. This combined with the tremendous travel time savings has put the on line bidder right there on the horizon, and they are coming closer.

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