2014 California auction $123,000 video

Sounds like a Stellar Deal !

 

sounds amazing

 

2014 with 8k miles for 124k is not even comparable with a 2010 "with low milage".

One is an UNREAL deal, the other is a good one.

Also, where do they come from ?

 

something does not seem right .. I cannot imagine a no stories 2014 selling for 123K.. just does not sound right..

 

same here

 

Where did you get this video from? Do you have the auction listing and the official selling price listed on the website? The video does not look in sync with whatever the audio is relaying in an unintelligible manner. Is this video for real? You normally would not find people checking out any auction item while it is being bid on. Unless you see an official auction result showing the final sale price, it does not mean the last bid was a winning bid. Many auction items go unsold even after many bids have been placed, if none of the bids reached or exceeded the reserve.

I also imagine any dealer would be taking a humongous loss on this transaction. What business person in their right mind would allow this car to sell with (apparently) what must have been NO RESERVE. We're talking at least a $130k write-off - when you auction the seller also has pay to a seller's sales commission to the auction house, and that rate is often 15 to 25% of the sale price. There is no reason to have a no reserve auction on such a car.

This does not add up at all. Sorry, I have to suspect this is a fake.

 

The car probably did sell for that number. Take your 2010 cali to the dealer and ask if they will buy it. See what they offer. I'll bet it's close to that number, if they even want it at all.

 

so from now on, auctions are the way !

 

I attend many mid to high end auctions and the OP's shaky videos did not actually indicate either car was sold. The OP moved the camera away before any details pertaining to the current or last lot could be discerned either from the auctioneer or the display. In fact, it looked like the time ran out for bidding. I don't know the practice at that auction but the auctioneer could simply have moved the bidding along to the next lot before the reserve price was reached. Again, you can only determine what happened if you have the auction listing which will show the suggested prices or whether it was NO RESERVE as well as the auction results showing whether the lot actually sold.

While this thread may make interesting reading, especially for some looking to buy a cheap car, IMO the information is very sketchy and speculative.

As for the values on these cars, it does depend on what the dealers got for the trade-ins. The 2010 Cali may indeed have been reasonably valued. Many such auctions are frequented by used car dealers who buy the surplus trade-in inventory from factory dealers and then flip the cars for a higher price at their showrooms. However, the value on the 2014 would be really silly - would you sell your low mileage 2014 Cali for $123,000 and pay the auction house commissions on top of that when dealers are listing the same car for over $220,000?

Unless the seller was incredibly naïve or dead broke and up to his a$$ in alligators, it just doesn't add up.

 

First time at an auction? Yeah, I remember my first time too - there is a lot to learn about auctions! Your videos were not complete and were cut off prematurely.

The numbers you see at auctions are often misleading because many lots will go through bidding without an actual winning bid. The auctioneer has to say SOLD and then quote the bidder's number. When you get some experience, you'll realize you have to research values by going through the prices obtained from recent auctions using copies of the auction catalogues and the auction results.

If you are a rookie at an auction, you can make all sorts of mistaken assumptions.

 

not a bad idea if you are or have a good Fcar mechanic who can check the cars before the auction...and make sure you also find out if the auction also charges a buyer's premium to the successful bidder, before you bid.

 

So, as I suspected there is a (60 seconds) time limit on bidding.

If the bidding on a given lot reaches its reserve price during that period and no other bids appear forthcoming, the auctioneer will give the GOING, GOING, FAIR WARNING...SOLD. But if there is no reserve on the lot or if the reserve price has yet to be reached, bidding may go the full 60 seconds and the car will just roll off the floor after the last bid, unsold.

In your video of the 2014 Cali auction, bidding was well under way when you started videoing and the length of your video is 52 seconds. I can hear the time buzzer go off at the end, but the auctioneer did not say SOLD during the whole clip. So do you still believe it sold?

I understand many public individuals do try their hand at picking up a bargain at these auctions but they also bid against buyers who are knowledgeable. Private buyers look for cars that are not too expensive and 2nd-tier used car dealers would want cars that give them at least a 10% return by the time they flip them on their showroom floor. It's not easy to steal an incredible deal.

So a Cali might well auction off at 15-20% below what an Fcar dealer might price their used inventory at because Fcar dealers tend to price their cars higher than 2nd-tier used car dealers.

Right now, a Pittsburgh area 2010 Cali is listed on Autotrader for $139,977 which is approximately 13% above the $121,000 price you believe was achieved. Hypothetically, a 2014 Cali with 2,737 miles on the odometer (another PA area Autotrader car) if bought at 16% off a current used car dealer price of $208,000 (at Marshall Goldman) should be expected to have auctioned off at around $175,000 which is $50,000 higher than what you claim it to have been sold at.

IMO, a knowledgeable seller would at least have put a reserve price at around $175,000. Losing $50,000 in 60 seconds can leave a person feeling very foolish.

As for BMWs, I think they perennially have very low residual values because of the way BMW structured their leasing. Buying 16 end-of-lease BMWs at around $30,000 each is very doable, especially if quite a few are 3ers or lesser models. There are so many used BMWs on the market, it's bewildering. Even in Canada, a much smaller market, there are currently 1,205 MY-2011 3ers on the Autotrader market vs 109 MY-2012. The lowest priced MY-2011 is just $11,000. Lowest priced MY-2012 is $24,000.

I would say, you might look for a nice 10%-15% savings from a 2nd-tier used car dealer's price when bidding at these auctions, but anything higher would be unlikely as all the players at these auctions should be knowledgeable people.

 

I already looked. No sale on the Cali.

 

Agreed.

Everything about that deal seems wrong. I'd actually go as far as saying that someone did something incredibly wrong, by letting who ever sold the car sell it for that price. I have no idea about what happened here, but who ever sold it, got bent over big time. Of course unless the car had been crashed beyond recognition and put together with spares from other damaged cars, or had been flooded. It could have been seized from someone who had bought it with illegal money, and the state just wanted to sell it. In that case, fine.

But still, everything about that price for a new 2014 car stinks.

 

I'm a dumb ass. I thought the 2010 sold for 121, not the 2014. I think it's time I get some glasses.

 

don't be so hard on yourself.
we all make errors from time to time.
i just purchased a '14 with around 2K miles.
i would have purchased another at this price!!!!!