... at the end of this post, my conclusion will be that the weather this winter has had less to do with the market than you would think. Now... if you have 3 locations and 1,000 units in inventory... you will argue my point. Retail traffic is down. People are on their roofs shoveling snow off or they are inside out of the biting sub-zero winds. And because sales are reflective of how many people are walking in to show rooms, the sales curve in January and February will show a dip.
The auction market has only suffered operationally with increased snow removal costs and to some effect, fewer inbound trucks delivering to auction the day prior to [that] auction because there was indeed a severe storm that week. The auction market itself (measured by %'s sold and $'s) has NOT taken note of the weather at all; 4X4 trucks, SUV's and the coveted 2008-2011 sedans from 40K-90K have clicked right along (dead batteries or not).
Dig out you aged and duplicate inventory and get them across an auction block... spring is in the air!
If prices are measured by book value on average, than you could say the market is about average . If you single out trucks, it quickly becomes a soft market. If you gauge small cars... try to guess what a Focus or Elantra will do! It may be mid-summer, and it has been hot... but not as hot as cars at auction! The auction business itself, as a whole, is in a rapid state of change and that has had more effect on prices than we give credit to. The shortage of cars crossing the blocks are still out there, but are selling through different channels . Finance companies sell direct. Rental companies have mature wholesale channels outside the auctions. OVE, AutoTrader, Cars.com... all outside channels that have syphoned vehicles out of auction lanes as well. I believe that these are major reasons as to why the "remaining" cars at auction have jumped to the levels they have. It has been the push away from the physical auction from the major consignments sources that has increased val...
Comments
Post a Comment