Shoofin

You have an '03, why would you want an '04?

Aman

It was a joke, but given the chance I'd jump on it. I don't have nav, wing spoiler, DVD, or any of that stuff, and it's in much better condition. Plus, it's an 05, not an 04.

Shoofin

Oh, thought you were talking about the '04 LX V6 I just took in..

Paclark01

Shoofin...

What is the market like for an E34 (1991-1995)? Preferably a 525i or 530i, Auto, with miles under 135,000.

Thanks.

QuoteWarz

I use to love to go to the dealer auctions. It can be hard to get a clean car for a good price these days though.
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JnC

iTrader: (12)

Shoofin, an uncle of mine needs an early model MDX around $8K You think you can help?

Shoofin

Nothing's impossible...Any preference in year and miles?

JnC

iTrader: (12)

He didn't specify exactly but being in the business I am sure you know a good deal when you see one BTW he also stated that he'd be interested if there is an RX available for the same price.

Speed_Racer

How much was the highest bidder? I just saw this same car on autotrader:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e&rdpage=thumb

Shoofin

I think it went up to $21k-$22k or so. I forgot what the auctioneer said they wanted for it, I think I remember hearing $25k..

Shoofin

2004 Honda Accord LX-V6 - 90k miles - Also has remote start, Sirius Satellite Radio and an aftermarket sunroof


More pics: /show/

Shoofin

2001 BMW 525i - 28,000 miles - I still need to mechanically get it checked out, it needs brakes which I have to do, and the radio has missing pixels, I had it removed and sent out to fix..Original paint, 1 owner car. Has some scratches and a few dings here and there, but otherwise it's in great shape!


More Pics: /show/

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^I've always had a soft spot for those 5-series. That's amazing the miles are so low. It looks like I'll be coming to you for my next car

Shoofin

The guy used the car to go from home to the train station and back, which was probably a few miles a day, and that was it. Overall it's in pretty good shape considering it's age. It's got a few bumps and bruises that I think I could get away with, so I left it alone. Only thing I have left to do with it is have it mechanically checked out, change the brakes (brake disc display light is on) and get the radio back (hopefully fixed) to put it back in the car. I didn't exactly steal the car, which is why I chose to leave some of the blemishes alone (I don't want to put too much more into it). That and I wanted to keep the paint original..

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^He sounds like my dad, he drives 8 miles round trip to work and he's away on business quite a bit, so the car sits. He bought it over two years ago with 42k and it just hit 53k and that includes all of the nights that I've taken it around town and the two times I've taken it to the beach which is 3 hours away.

I absolutely love the color on that car. I think my next car will be a grey color. I don't want black because of the swirls but I don't want a white car again because it gets dirty too damn fast. I'm keeping my TL until it dies though, so no need to worry about it now

tmnhs81

+1

Shoofin

2005 S4 - Guess who's car this is (was)?



More Pics: /show/
Headlamp condensation sucks

Oh, and the appearance of the mismatched bumper paint is just the difference between painted plastic and painted metal. There is no paintwork on this car..

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^

03bl AC k CL

how often do you see accord v6 6 speed coupes at the auctions? (years 2006 and 2007) when my lease is up on my altima i really want to pick one of them up.

charliemike

I miss that Audi so much ... But I don't miss the cloud over my head waiting for a very expensive part to break.

But that car is so much better than this Mazda I'm driving. *cries*

Bilybobjef

Hey Shoofin, any 2007 Legacy GT Spec. B's out there for a decent price? Dealers seem to try to command quite the premium on them though I've seen a few sitting out there for a while.

dannyboy10

Shoofin,

I see mentioning of spraying rear bumpers.....what does it cost and is it for color coat and clear coat ?

For the AHFC auctions held at Bordentown, NJ, what percentage of the "off lease" cars would you say are nice enough for you to buy without spending too much money to recondition ? I recommended a relative to buy one there, but was told he didn't care to buy someone else's headache.

What would you charge on top of the auction price and Manheim's fee to locate and buy a car ? I would think a lot of members here should be jumping all over you to buy a car for them at auction, especially when you are a straight up guy.

MiataNut

Did they mean it would be a headache because it was off lease, or because it was run through an auction?? I don't think either situation automatically indicates a potential problem...

Shoofin

They're out there...Might not have a huge selection but I've seen them all the time..

Shoofin

Not sure, I would have to look around..

Shoofin

It depends on the extent of work needed to do on the bumpers, and whether it's 2 or 3 stage paint. But generally I pay anywhere from $200 to $400, with the average being around $200-$300

For the AHFC auctions, they do have a lane there, there are a bunch of decent looking cars there. Of course because it's a Honda, they tend to go for a little more than, say, comparing a 2007 Accord with xx miles to an 07 Camry or Altima in the same year and similar miles. The good cars come out first, and then the unibody cars come out afterwards. The only nitpick I have with those unibody cars are that a lot of times the auction is very quick to declare unibody in the pre-inspection, when I've seen perfectly straight cars that had bodywork done to it and they don't have any unibody damage but it's announced as unibody. Drives me nuts, and makes it hard to buy right. Worst part is it would show on Autocheck as having Unibody when it really doesn't have. It scars a perfectly good car

As for charging a fee to pick up cars from the auction for specific people, I haven't had to do that yet (in terms of a pre-determined set price), but I do know a bunch of people that do it, and would charge anywhere from $500 to $1000 (after fees) to pick up a car for someone. I haven't thought about what my knowledge and buying skills are worth in terms of dollars and cents.

Shoofin

He's calling it a headache because it was someone elses car and you most likely wouldn't have much history about it's past. An auction is, as Forrest Gump says, "Like a box of chocolate-you never know what yer gonna get". If you don't know what to look for, you could make many mistakes. I try hard to not make mistakes, but unfortunately it happens every so often. Look at the Maxima I made the mistake with! And truthfully, that car is kicking my ass, because 2 months after I bought it, it's still in the shop trying to fix the issue that we all thought would be minor. We had the ECU rebuilt 2x and something in the car keeps burning out the Idle Sensor chip in the ECU. Either that, or the company my friend is sending it out to isn't doing what they say they are doing when rebuilding it. We sent it out one more time in hopes that the problem is solved. I would say the newer cars with average miles and in good shape are most likely "headache free", but until you put that car up on a lift, will never know..

dannyboy10

Shoofin,

Thanks for the replies. Based on what you stated, it appears these AHFC cars are the ones Honda/Acura dealers rejected from lease returns ? I have been told there are upwards of 300-400 Honda and Acura vehicles every Wed. at Bordentown.

An Acura dealer told me earlier in the year that they cherry pick the nice ones and turn the less desirable cars back to Acura, which then go to auction.

I thought about a buying a 2006 Infiniti M35x last December when they hit rock bottom at Manheim auctions at $19,000-$20,000 for a 35,000 mile car but was a little leary when people and dealers were saying they were generally rejects from dealers. These same cars were selling for $3,000 more in April/May. Some else told me new car dealers started buying these "rejects" in mass when their trade-in pipeline slowed down due to the sour economy.

Shoofin

I wouldn't say that these cars were "rejected" for any specific reason. Keep in mind a dealer has the option to buy the car or turn it in to the bank, who in turn runs it in the auction. If "ABC Honda Motors" finds that they have too many, say, 2007 Odysseys, and they have some coming in as lease returns and have no use for it, why buy it? They send it back to the bank...Also, keep in mind some of the residuals that Honda puts on their cars are a bit higher than what they are realistically, so a dealer would not see it in their benefit to buy it off lease. I get on average a dozen phone calls a week for people in Honda's that either want to get out early or their lease is expiring and want to return it. If it's in good enough condition and the payoff makes sense, I buy it. I had three calls this past week for cars to possibly buy, 2 of them were expiring leases and one was mid-lease (an Accord). I considered buying the other two cars (Pilots) but turned down the Accord because the residual was too high. Also, there is probably a good 200-400 cars from AHFC every week. Just checked this week's upcoming auction, there are 255 Honda/Acura's being sold by AHFC.

What i'm trying to say is, there's nothing wrong with these cars. Dealers have their reasons for not wanting to take them, and I doubt it's because they weren't in good enough condition. You get a good mix of clean cars, cars with minimal damage (dents/dings/scratches) that I wouldn't turn down, some that are rough, and some that are g-d awful. As the old saying goes, "there's an ass for every seat".

dannyboy10

Shoofin,

Again, thanks for your insightful replies. This thread has been interesting concerning the used car world.

Wow, there are still that many Acuras and Hondas at the Bordentown auction ? I have been reading all over that new car dealers were in need of cars to fill their used car departments as people are trading in less cars because new car sales continue to be down in this sour economy. People have also been seriously considering a used car over a new one in this economy...I know BMW's CPO sales are actually up 11% (Jan-Nov) this year compared to 2008, while their new car sales are down 20-25 percent year to date.

One dealer told me they keep the nice ones because they have to spend very little money to recondition it and turn around to mark up the price 3,000-4,000 dollars. He said the internet killed the profit on new car sales.

You are right about supply, why keep too many cars of the same model and year if already have them.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!

Paclark01

I would like to extend my appreciation as well. The information provided to the forum is valuable especially in the current economic climate. Some of us would like to pick up a nice car, but do not want to deal with a new car dealer or shady used car dealer without some knowledge about the industry.

Thanks for sharing your insight, and you should consider marketing your service as a broker for folks who are looking for a specific car from the auction.

Shoofin

Well, you're partially right..The new car sales are down mostly because the manufacturers have severly scaled back production of their cars. They didn't want to end off the year with too many cars on dealer lots. So not enough cars produced + consumer demand still there for a car that there isn't much of = shortage of new cars, and average retail price goes up (dealers profit more). Especially with the cash for clunkers program, the manufacturers got blindsided by it and didn't have enough production to supply the demand, the new cars dried up, the dealers were so short on cars, they didn't have anything on their lots to offer and in turn flocked to dealer auctions to buy cars to fill up their lots with anything at all so they look like they are still in business (yes, it was THAT bad). However what that did to the used car market, the values shot up because they were desperate for cars and were overpaying to buy inventory to fill up their lots.

Honda wasn't as affected much (to me at least) with the shortage on the Accord/Civic side, but now, the availability of Pilots and Odysseys are a little tight. On the Toyota side, Camry's, on average I'm paying about $500-$700 more for them because the demand is greater than the supply. Same thing goes for the Rav4's and Highlanders. Sienna's, because of the upcoming new 2011 model coming out this spring, you won't really find any XLE's out there, and LE models are somewhat limited.

So right now, the problem is somewhat bittersweet. More consumer demand and the manufacturers are struggling to catch up to it without overproducing. Nobody ever said building/selling cars was easy!

Shoofin

Sooo yesterday, went to the auction and sold one of my aged inventory cars...Also picked up a 2007 Dodge Nitro SXT (What a POS ) and a 1998 Honda Accord EX V6 with leather. Bought them both for someone, they are already sold and gone. I didn't take any pics this time, It was too frikkin cold!

dannyboy10

Shoofin,

A few questions if you have some time....

Do you measure every panel with your paint depth meter when a car catches your eye at the auctions ? Would you
automatically lose interest if you find evidence of paintwork ?

Do most of the "sharpies" use this device ? One guy offered to bring me in to the auction as his driver but said he did not need to use it because he had a good eye and years of experience....his fee was $500. on top of car price and Manheim auction fee.

Has the quality of the cars declined because new car dealers are keeping more trade-ins and lease returns ?

vas25tl

I bought cars for 3 years and never used a paint meter. I wish I had one. I consider myself being pretty knowledgeable as to where to look for paint lines, drips, orange peel, etc. but sometimes body shops can go a great job...and sometime you just do not have the time to look over the car closely.


This is a great thread shoofin!

Shoofin

Yes, I measure every panel with the paint meter and my eye. I also do the "edge feel" test, which pretty much tells you if a panel was painted or not because you would feel the roughness of the edges on a painted panel versus a smooth edge on an original panel. However a great body shop would go as far as smoothing the edges, making it even harder to use the edge test! I could do without the meter if needed, but when you have all of 30 seconds to decide on a car, it's a lot easier and quicker to use a meter. I use the other methods when the opportunity is available.
Nothing is perfect though...Just this week I was walking around a car that I had interest in, it didn't look like it had paint work, the meter confirmed it, and when I went to the block to attempt a bid, saw the car announced as having unibody (frame) damage. My thinking was that either the entire car was repainted, or every panel was replaced, because the paint thickness was very consistent around the entire car.
Depending on the car, if I see any paintwork I usually walk the other way. Only if it's a car I REALLY need and there are no others at the auction, providing the car doesn't have frame and the paintwork is cosmetic (and was done right), I might consider it.
Lastly, I don't think the quality of the market changed much. There's plenty of good cars to be had there..

dannyboy10

Thanks for the reply !

How did the 525i come out in your mechanical reconditioning ? They are known for cooling system issues.

Shoofin

I'm still waiting for the radio to come back from the place we sent it out to for the pixel repair. Once I get it back then i'll send it to get mechanically checked out. It runs/sounds/drives great as of now though!

Shoofin

2001 Toyota Camry LE - 93k miles



More pics: /show/

charliemike

Can I have my Audi back? LOL ... j/k

kinda