:doh: Rookie mistake of the day...AKA Life and times at the dealer auctions
10-14-2009, 07:50 PM
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:doh: Rookie mistake of the day...AKA Life and times at the dealer auctions
Most of you may know, but i'm an independent auto dealer, mainly brokering new cars, though I am licensed to buy and sell used cars. In the past when I needed a used car I would find a way to find it without having to do much work. I figured it's about time I start getting more involved with the dealer auctions and going myself to buy/sell.
Just a little visual so you see what a typical auction looks like - 22 lanes of madness (and this isn't even the biggest one in the area!):
I went last Wednesday on a mission to pick up a 2008 G37 Coupe that I had a sold order to fill, I found it and sold/delivered it before the weekend. Customer is quite happy.
This time I had another customer looking for a 2005-2006 G35x, plus I had a car I took on trade that I thought needed too much TLC (I'm picky as sh!t with what I sell, which makes it that much harder for me to find that PERFECT car at the right price), so I figured I'd make it somoene else's problem and sell it at the auction. The bids were a little short on what I wanted to get for the car, so I didn't sell it. I did end up picking up the G35x for the customer (at a good price, probably one of the cheapest ones sold for the day with this kind of mileage, probably because of the color
), it's mechanically perfect but needs a little bit of body reconditioning...Not my preference in color, but this was one of their choices:
THEN - I was walking around looking for something a little cheaper to buy, something I know we have sold in the past that's an easy sell, and something decent. I've sold quite a few of the 1997-2003 Maxima's and know they are good quality cars that would sell with little difficulty, so that's what I was looking for. Just after my friend's cars went down the block, another dealers cars went and a 2001 Maxima SE caught my eye: 91,000 miles, Dark Silver Exterior/Grey Interior, Leather/Sunroof/Heated Seats/Bose CD/Cassette, etc..I had all of 20 seconds to look at it, do the quick walkaround to make sure the car is accident free (with a paint meter), the meter read clean, no paint work, so I was excited to bid on this. I noticed the "service engine soon" light on, as well as the ABS light, me thinking not such a big deal. So I bid. And I won! And the price seemed to be very good, I was surprised that I bought it for as much as I did.
Just when you think you got a killer deal on a nice car, after it went down the block and was parked back in the spot on the lot, I went to it so I can now look at it under a fine tooth comb to see what I bought. That's where you can take a step back and examine it better. Screws holding the driver's side mirror in place because it was broken, replace the mirror, no big deal....Driver's side rear door had a small scrape, needs a touch up, no big deal, etc...And then I look inside the car and see this:
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I thought I bought a Maxima with an Automatic Transmission....I didn't notice the shifter because the driver had his hand resting on the top of the shifter and didn't pay much attention to it...then again, what are the odds? I guess bigger than I would ever think. That's what I get for buying out of impulse and buying as a rookie in 20 seconds at the auctions.. Oh well...
Soooo anyone interested in a BEAUTIFUL Maxima in stick?
Just a little visual so you see what a typical auction looks like - 22 lanes of madness (and this isn't even the biggest one in the area!):
I went last Wednesday on a mission to pick up a 2008 G37 Coupe that I had a sold order to fill, I found it and sold/delivered it before the weekend. Customer is quite happy.
This time I had another customer looking for a 2005-2006 G35x, plus I had a car I took on trade that I thought needed too much TLC (I'm picky as sh!t with what I sell, which makes it that much harder for me to find that PERFECT car at the right price), so I figured I'd make it somoene else's problem and sell it at the auction. The bids were a little short on what I wanted to get for the car, so I didn't sell it. I did end up picking up the G35x for the customer (at a good price, probably one of the cheapest ones sold for the day with this kind of mileage, probably because of the color
), it's mechanically perfect but needs a little bit of body reconditioning...Not my preference in color, but this was one of their choices:THEN - I was walking around looking for something a little cheaper to buy, something I know we have sold in the past that's an easy sell, and something decent. I've sold quite a few of the 1997-2003 Maxima's and know they are good quality cars that would sell with little difficulty, so that's what I was looking for. Just after my friend's cars went down the block, another dealers cars went and a 2001 Maxima SE caught my eye: 91,000 miles, Dark Silver Exterior/Grey Interior, Leather/Sunroof/Heated Seats/Bose CD/Cassette, etc..I had all of 20 seconds to look at it, do the quick walkaround to make sure the car is accident free (with a paint meter), the meter read clean, no paint work, so I was excited to bid on this. I noticed the "service engine soon" light on, as well as the ABS light, me thinking not such a big deal. So I bid. And I won! And the price seemed to be very good, I was surprised that I bought it for as much as I did.
Just when you think you got a killer deal on a nice car, after it went down the block and was parked back in the spot on the lot, I went to it so I can now look at it under a fine tooth comb to see what I bought. That's where you can take a step back and examine it better. Screws holding the driver's side mirror in place because it was broken, replace the mirror, no big deal....Driver's side rear door had a small scrape, needs a touch up, no big deal, etc...And then I look inside the car and see this:
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.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. - Wait for it -
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.
.
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.
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I thought I bought a Maxima with an Automatic Transmission....I didn't notice the shifter because the driver had his hand resting on the top of the shifter and didn't pay much attention to it...then again, what are the odds? I guess bigger than I would ever think. That's what I get for buying out of impulse and buying as a rookie in 20 seconds at the auctions.. Oh well...
Soooo anyone interested in a BEAUTIFUL Maxima in stick?
Last edited by Shoofin; 10-14-2009 at 07:57 PM.
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10-14-2009, 09:37 PM
#10
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Haha oh well. Like others have said, you shouldn't have too hard of a time selling it.
And my dad has a 05 G35x. I love that car.
And my dad has a 05 G35x. I love that car.
10-14-2009, 09:41 PM
#11
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I didn't take a pic of the rest of the car, I'll see if I can find some on the auction site if they didn't already remove it. I left it at the auction because I drove the G home. The plan is to drop off another car I'm selling next week (2004 Volvo S80 T6 with 29k, beautiful, blemish free FL car), then pick up the Maxima and then do what I gotta do to it before I sell it.
10-15-2009, 12:34 PM
#21
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Try to keep the inquiries to a minimum, as the upper management will require me to move this to the Private Sales/Trades forums. PM me, or if anything I will post in the PS&T forums when the car gets here and I can snap some pics.
10-16-2009, 02:49 PM
#25
Suzuka Master
Meh, not that big of a mistake. Plus unless you go knowing what cars you want to bid on, everything happens so fast you're bound to miss something.
Looks like a decent car though, so I'm sure you'll find someone who'll buy it. Hope you did a PSI though incase those lights turn out to be more than you thought.
Looks like a decent car though, so I'm sure you'll find someone who'll buy it. Hope you did a PSI though incase those lights turn out to be more than you thought.
10-16-2009, 03:13 PM
#26
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Meh, not that big of a mistake. Plus unless you go knowing what cars you want to bid on, everything happens so fast you're bound to miss something.
Looks like a decent car though, so I'm sure you'll find someone who'll buy it. Hope you did a PSI though incase those lights turn out to be more than you thought.
Looks like a decent car though, so I'm sure you'll find someone who'll buy it. Hope you did a PSI though incase those lights turn out to be more than you thought.
10-16-2009, 06:35 PM
#27
The sizzle in the Steak
Wait....manual transmissions are a bad thing?!?!?!?
:wink:
:wink:
10-17-2009, 06:23 PM
#30
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I can't say how much I am going to want for it just yet, I'm sending it to the shop tomorrow to get it mechanically checked out, then to the body shop to clean up the scratches, once I'm ready I'll have a better idea, and will post it in the PS&T section, and will let everyone know by then!
10-19-2009, 09:27 PM
#32
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So far:
Replaced the Right rear ABS Sensor
Replaced the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)
Replaced an O2 sensor
Welded a bracket back onto the exhaust so the pipe is more stable and doesn't move as much anymore (it was causing a clunking sound from hitting one of the support members)
Replaced 4 tires with exact match (name/brand) rubber with 80-90% tread life on it
Tomorrow: Paint/detail dude coming to clean up the car and professionally touch up the scratches and blemishes
The rotors have layers of rust baked into it, suggesting the car must have sat around for a while. My friend (at the shop) says to drive the car and eventually the rust will go away. I'm not so satisfied with that statement because the car really doesn't feel like it's stopping well (the worn tires didn't help either), so I might change the rotors on the car, I'll decide that sometime this week...
Replaced the Right rear ABS Sensor
Replaced the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)
Replaced an O2 sensor
Welded a bracket back onto the exhaust so the pipe is more stable and doesn't move as much anymore (it was causing a clunking sound from hitting one of the support members)
Replaced 4 tires with exact match (name/brand) rubber with 80-90% tread life on it
Tomorrow: Paint/detail dude coming to clean up the car and professionally touch up the scratches and blemishes
The rotors have layers of rust baked into it, suggesting the car must have sat around for a while. My friend (at the shop) says to drive the car and eventually the rust will go away. I'm not so satisfied with that statement because the car really doesn't feel like it's stopping well (the worn tires didn't help either), so I might change the rotors on the car, I'll decide that sometime this week...
10-21-2009, 11:24 AM
#33
Oh Hullow
have you ever driven a 5th gen maxima before? just asking because i used to own one and they have got to be the worst brakes ever regardless of their condition there is no stopping power at all in their stock form so they might be alright (for their standard)
and just to add it sounds like you put a lot into your cars, im coming back to jersey soon for a little while depending on how much youre asking i might be interested in it so keep us posted.
and just to add it sounds like you put a lot into your cars, im coming back to jersey soon for a little while depending on how much youre asking i might be interested in it so keep us posted.
Last edited by 03bl AC k CL; 10-21-2009 at 11:27 AM.
10-21-2009, 07:36 PM
#34
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I went to the auction again today, sold a really sweet 2004 Volvo S80 T6 I took on trade, made a good profit on it, and I sold a ratty 2002 Infiniti I35 that my friend shoved down my throat to buy that he had, he bought it online and never saw it before me agreeing to take the car, it turned out to be a trainwreck, it needed too much work (and i paid too much for it) for me to fix and turn around and sell it, so I made it someone elses problem in the auction and sold it. It ran last week but didn't sell, today it sold, but I took a decent loss on it (over $1000), but didn't feel it as much because I made more on the Volvo so it offset it and I at least still walked away a winner at the end of the day.
I also picked up a 2009 Chevy Malibu 1LT with 29k miles for my father, so he doesn't have to bother me to use my cars when he needs a car to use (which has been happening too often lately):
Also, my laugh for the day was seeing a 2009 IS-F with about 5k miles being offered, and the driver from the auction that drives it through the block had to be 80+ years old, just a funny sight to see him driving a monster of an IS-F...
Oh, and I saw another 2001 Maxima SE that I started walking around, but this time I got a good look at the interior and very clearly saw the manual stick, so I walked away from it...I thought these things are rare?
I also picked up a 2009 Chevy Malibu 1LT with 29k miles for my father, so he doesn't have to bother me to use my cars when he needs a car to use (which has been happening too often lately):
Also, my laugh for the day was seeing a 2009 IS-F with about 5k miles being offered, and the driver from the auction that drives it through the block had to be 80+ years old, just a funny sight to see him driving a monster of an IS-F...
Oh, and I saw another 2001 Maxima SE that I started walking around, but this time I got a good look at the interior and very clearly saw the manual stick, so I walked away from it...I thought these things are rare?
Last edited by Shoofin; 10-21-2009 at 07:50 PM.
10-21-2009, 07:49 PM
#35
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^That old guy probably has no idea how much power that thing punches. It would probably knock the dentures out of his mouth.
