by Robert Hollenshead

I am not a jealous kind of person, but I am dead jealous of Car Max auctions.  In particular Car Max of Laurel, MD.

I was coming home from D.C. on Monday morning and stopped at their sale in Laurel.  What I witnessed should be used as the definition of an auction in the Webster dictionary.  This two bay garage sells 800 units in three hours, no clean-up, no CR, no arb, no break lights cause the cars keep moving, world class auctioneers that can sell, no post-sale sale prevention and nothing but a pure auction.  100% sold for prices I can’t get cleaned up, de-dinged, bumpers painted, and waiting till Monday for the Post-sale department to prevent a sale on a 150,000 mile Expedition for a diff noise at 43 MPH… the same one it had when the unit was new.  And they are selling to exactly the same people I sell to.

Car Max has dealers packed in asshole to belly button,

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by Robert Hollenshead

Have you ever been to Macao or Monte Carlo and watched someone play for $10,000,000 in a six hour period. It don’t happen often, but it is very exciting.   I do it every Friday.  We need  the arena to be set.  Merch, ready, set (by logical arrangement to maintain interest) and an auctioneer that can count, to go……..and SIMULCAST.   These are the pixels that create a picture of a real trading floor for today’s reality.

Real car buyers and sellers are gambler degenerates by nature.  They will go anywhere at any time under any circumstance if they had an inclination they will pinch some merch worth the money and they might win, or they heard someone else won.  That is why the race track works and the casinos are full.  It’s natural, and innate in certain people.  If a cat knows you are pulling the trigger every time the hammer hits the table, they will pay attention.  It makes the juggler vein move.  Unless you

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by Robert Hollenshead

Really funny comments from the observers were published in ART today.  There is an article about hyper-prices in the wholesale market.  Let me help everyone with that.  It is called the 17545 Zip code, Manheim, PA.

The sales percentage is at an all time low.  We have more low mile cars here than any five auctions in the country combined, and nobody is bidding.  We have 4,500 no-sales per week or more no-sales in a day then most auctions register in a month.

Of course if you follow one unit on to the block that has giant tits 20 guys run the car up and it brings big dough.  What about the other 75 units that have no bid if you left the title on the front seat and declared it free for anyone that would volunteer to take it ...and have no takers.  Wake up.

Prices are horrible and have been for over a month.  I am selling 95% at an all time low in comparison to average, mile adjusted MMR.

Stop eating Hot

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by Robert Hollenshead

No rain, no snow, no holiday, no end of the month, no vacations, no bank crisis, and no market.  It feels like a two day old dead fish.  No energy, no pop, nothings hot, and I were a normal human being I would say piss on this and take a few weeks off.  I should tell the 147 employees they are not getting paid and book a nice spot in Togo, Machu Picchu, or Lago di Como.   It’s all churn and burning (money)over the past two weeks.  Our inventory is fresh however and I will be ready when the market finds its bottom.  I am not convinced we are their yet.  In my opinion, the knuckle-heads that are no-saleing today will be wishing they sold two weeks from now. 

Now more than ever my motto is “take the doe and

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by Robert Hollenshead

If you told me this five years ago I would know you were a liar.  But it is happening.  The 17545 sold 33% of the cars that were offered for the second week in a row.  2,100 sold out of 6346 registered.  The world is surely coming to an end.  Or at least as we knew it.  Dealer consignors sold in the twenties.  That doesn’t work.  It kills the will to take a chance.  It’s negative momentum.  It makes a buyer feel like a dumb-ass for bidding and second guessing himself.  I see people double looking at their slips to be sure they haven’t missed anything… a year… an extra 50,000 miles… a frame announcement.

The days of 10,000 units and traffic jams backed up all the way down to my old shop are history.  You walk in the

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