Anyone else hate car auctions?

I don't get why they talk that way, who understands what the heck they're saying? I don't. I saw one the other day where the auctioneer actually spoke slow enough for someone to hear.

On Chasing Classic Cars he takes stuff to an auction with a British guy sometimes, maybe Gooding & Co? I don't recall exactly. That's the only one I don't get annoyed at, the auctioneers at Mecum and Barrett Jackson annoy me. Ill usually only watch them with the sound at half volume if I want a little background noise while I do something else around the house.

I despise auction chatter. It is designed to excite and confuse buyers. It is uniquely american. British auctions are the quiet, polite "and I have twenty thousand over here anyone else?" kind of thing. Americans shout random numbers quickly that only sometimes relate to the current bid. It is funny to hear numbers like 35,000, 38,000 and then the car sells for 18K.

What is worse is the Mecum style where the auction employees in the audience are running around screaming and shouting Ho! to drive up the excitement level.

Auctioneering sounds cool. What they're selling usually isn't.

Yeah kinda hate it when someone nods to indicate their bid and the auction assistant beside them yells at the top of their lungs to confirm

Lancer007 wrote: On Chasing Classic Cars he takes stuff to an auction with a British guy sometimes, maybe Gooding & Co? I don't recall exactly. That's the only one I don't get annoyed at, the auctioneers at Mecum and Barrett Jackson annoy me. Ill usually only watch them with the sound at half volume if I want a little background noise while I do something else around the house.

Exactly! Seeing the auction I saw on Chasing Cars is what I was thinking about when I posted this....I couldn't remember the name of the Gooding auction where the guy actually speaks in a normal voice.

Ditchdigger wrote: What is worse is the Mecum style where the auction employees in the audience are running around screaming and shouting Ho! to drive up the excitement level.

buffoons, just complete buffoons...

I spent some time under a dealers license working Manheim auctions. I knew everything I needed to know by the time the car hit the block, I was listening to numbers and that was all. I could have cared less if the auctioneer was calling my mother a whore or giving me a recipe for rice pudding- I just wanted to know how much the car was and if we were getting it.

it's one of those things where even though it's universally annoying and we all hate it, the desired result is achieved, so it's not going away.

I am pretty sure they have to go to school and spend money to learn how to make that noise too. Crazy.

I love rice pudding!

Youd think the guys with the real money out there would be drawn to the more conservative Brittish style and the rednecks with scratch ticket winnings they need to blow or accident insurance claim payoffs would prefer the screaming and yelling.

I would watch Charlie Ross auction a ziplock bag full of goat manure.

The rest of the "Imhonna,imhonna,imhonna,30,imhonna,35,caniget,caniget,imhonna,30,imhonnacaniget,35...", which is hardly unique to auto auctions, just gets old. I think I would punch a 'buyer's assistant' in the teeth (except maybe Amy).

Even our local impound auction is like this!

I've seen people WAY overspend on cars, mostly due to the auctioneer ramblings

I like it, but then I'm paying attention to what is going on.
Some buyers bid up stuff just to make others pay more, some are bidding on specific cars and some are complete idiots. This just adds to my entertainment & frustration.

It astounds me how well the auction chatter works to drive up excitement and therefore prices. The few car auctions I have been at, where at least I had some idea of values, there were people paying obscene amounts of money for crap and I can only blame the "excitement" of the chatter. The estate auctions I have been to were a little more reasonable but then it might have been that they really were selling junk a lot of the time. Either way I do find it rather annoying to decipher the actual bid amongst all the babble.

The auction chatter is kind of odd, but the thing that kills me is the buyers fee. That is only 20 years old, or so, and I think it is stupid. I have already told you what I'm willing to pay. The guy who wants to unload the item pays you, I don't.

I don't buy stuff at auction anymore.

I've stopped going to auctions. The last one I went to was a couple years ago when the company that makes Craftsman tools (and others) shut down their plant 3 miles from my house. The mills were going for as much or more than what I could buy one for on ebay or off teh intr4w3bz, y0. Same with the welders. When I was looking for a house, there was one going for auction that evening. We stayed and I signed up to bid. People showed up. There were maybe 10-15 people there and the auction started. Well, turns out there was actually one "bidder." That was me. And the "auction" was the seller saying "I want this much or MORE" and the auction itself was a farce.

mndsm wrote: I spent some time under a dealers license working Manheim auctions. I knew everything I needed to know by the time the car hit the block, I was listening to numbers and that was all. I could have cared less if the auctioneer was calling my mother a whore or giving me a recipe for rice pudding- I just wanted to know how much the car was and if we were getting it.

And trying to make sure you weren't the only one bidding on the car. Saw more than one good auctioneer run a buyer up by pretending the coke machine was also bidding.

car39 wrote:

mndsm wrote: I spent some time under a dealers license working Manheim auctions. I knew everything I needed to know by the time the car hit the block, I was listening to numbers and that was all. I could have cared less if the auctioneer was calling my mother a whore or giving me a recipe for rice pudding- I just wanted to know how much the car was and if we were getting it.

And trying to make sure you weren't the only one bidding on the car. Saw more than one good auctioneer run a buyer up by pretending the coke machine was also bidding.

True that! I got had by the auctioneer and the Coke machine a few weeks ago. NO MORE, I say!

Anyone else hate car auctions?

I do but I'm afraid to raise my hand.

I hate the televised auctions because everyone who has a rusted out beat to crap hulk in their yard now thinks it made from gold.

I hate the Mecum styled auctions with the reserve. You spend the first part of the auction bidding against yourself until the reserve is met or released then you bid against any serious competition for the car. The seller has no risk at all in such an auction.

RM Auctions has the best auctioneer I've ever seen in the form of Max Girardo. He enunciates quite well in about 5 different languages, and manages to have a very humorous demeanor to help drive bids.

Auctioneers use the "chant" because it works. And yes, 70% of it is nonsense. After you go for a few months, you tune out everything but the numbers. The "buyer's assistants" are typically called ringmen.

If you don't have situational awareness, or a relationship with the auctioneer, there's always a chance they will run you. It's just like the negotiations at a typical dealership, it just happens in 30 seconds. And like typical dealer negotiations, you have to have the knowledge and fortitude to know when to walk away.

I can get cars as cheaply, or as expensively, on Craig's List. I used to go to auctions just to see whassup. I never saw an upside to it. I also never bid as it just didn't make sense to get in to that pool. No benefit.

I did once track down a guy offering a Volvo R wagon. It went no sale so I approached him. His first offer was absurd. I countered and he declined. I said "Thanks." and left him with his no-sale car.

mndsm wrote: I spent some time under a dealers license working Manheim auctions. I knew everything I needed to know by the time the car hit the block, I was listening to numbers and that was all. I could have cared less if the auctioneer was calling my mother a whore or giving me a recipe for rice pudding- I just wanted to know how much the car was and if we were getting it.

I'm with you. I L-O-V-E being in the auction lanes. The patter is no problem because I've already decided what to pay and when to drop out. I've gotten some great deals on re-runs and when bidding stalls out low. Rule #1: the opening ask is a fishing expedition by the auctioneer. Never, ever, ever start bidding at the opening amount. I'm no longer in the biz, but sure miss the fun of arriving early, walking the lot to put eyes on my picks, and working the lanes as they came through. Retail auctions like

Barrett Jackson and Mecum are different animals entirely. Notice how the whales get a pretty auction rep on them who keeps a hand softly on their arm and maintains their attention? At a dealer auction, I might scope out the other bidders for a sec to size up who I'm bidding against, but I keep my focus mostly on the auctioneer.