Corvette Auctions, good or bad: your opinions...

[*89x2*]

I recently picked up a copy of Keith Martin's Corvette Marketplace Magazine and was reading through the pages when lo and behold, some Callaway Corvettes were in there :cool

Reading further, the "experts" got me thinking... How can a car "sell" at an auction, only to be for sale again (this week) at the same dealership that has had the car for a couple of years??

This prompted me to throw this topic out there - what are your thoughts on the auctions you have attended?

Do cars sell?

Do cars sell for a fair price?

...I am very curious on this, and what effects/impact auctions can have onthe perceptions of our hobby.

Thanks!

 

[C-4 Now]

I read most of these reports including Keith Martins! It has become real hard to know what sells since the B-J no reserve thing and the regular amount of specialty dealers moving inventory! My personal experience is that buying at one of these auctions is not a fun way to buy a collector car! Would much rather talk one on one with actual owner of car! JMHO

 

[SurfnSun]

Its all a bunch of BS IMHO!

I hope all prospective Callaway buyers do enough research/homework to end up on this forum before they purchase a car.

The knowledge is HERE!

 

[jonstr]

Reading further, the "experts" got me thinking... How can a car "sell" at an auction, only to be for sale again (this week) at the same dealership that has had the car for a couple of years??

This prompted me to throw this topic out there - what are your thoughts on the auctions you have attended?

Do cars sell?

Do cars sell for a fair price?

...I am very curious on this, and what effects/impact auctions can have onthe perceptions of our hobby.

Thanks!

In the auctions that I've attended it's a real mixed bag. Do cars sell? Yes. Do they sell for a fair price? That's up to the buyer's opinion, but presumably yes, the buyer thought it was fair. Fairness (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder, right?

As for an auction car showing up at the same selling dealer after being "sold" at auction, this is becoming more common at the no reserve auctions. If the cars aren't bidding up where the seller wants to be, they can bid on their own car, and essentially "buy" it from themselves. It then costs them the buyers/sellers fees, but they live to sell another day. On a related note, I had heard rumors that Barrett Jackson themselves were caught in 'shill bidding' (having their own people bid up the cars to drive the price up, which could also result in a false sale) last year, but I never heard anything more about it.

As for perception of value in the hobby, overall I'm not sure if auctions are a good barometer of prices. After all, a high price at an auction is just a function of having at least at least two people who really want your car at the auction. Take the same car to an auction where only one person (or nobody) wants it, and you probably won't get anywhere near the same price. Which is the "fair" price? I guess it depends on whether you were the buyer or seller.

Personally, I think Barrett Jackson in particular has turned into something other than a real "auction", and has become a vehicle instead for people with too much money to impress their friends. While entertaining, I don't think that it is really a good barometer of car prices. It may be a barometer of the trend of prices (up or down) but not the acutal prices.