How much does a mark on Car Fax change the value of a car that is in play, being traded or sold? How much diminished value is there even for very minor things.  The answer is actually irrational.  In the vast majority of cases in the open market at the auction the affected unit becomes nearly sale-proof.  The reason is that nobody wants to knowingly get involved with having to justify the item that is negative on the report.  Therefore the desirability goes away and there is no activity on the auction block.

So imagine, you are sitting at a red light in your 2008 BMW 3 Series and someone taps you in the bumper from behind.  You jump out semi-shook up and the driver of the other car sees there is a scuff on your bumper and says they are sorry, they weren’t paying attention.  You do what you are supposed to do and ask to exchange information.  Meanwhile a policeman shows up and asks what happened, Checks your driver’s license and insurance

First:   I want to tell you guys and girls something.  Auto Trader is a first class company, no, Chip Perry and his crew are truly in a class of their own.  They put on an annual meeting that was really incredible. More importantly, they showcased the group of companies that they have assembled that is changing the future of the car business.  I am extending a person invitation to any Auto Trader employee to join me in action, on the auction block, on any given Friday.  If you thought Kid Rock was good at the ATC party, let me let you experience some live electricity in the action lanes, where the market is made, before it is analyzed.  You will not be disappointed and your eyes will be welded open.

 If anyone left that event of more than 1,500 people and has anything

What is a condition report?  Who needs it and what is it for?  Listen careful, I am speaking for you, the dealer, big or small, it has a drastic effect on us all on both sides of the podium, buying and selling.

First, The history:  A condition report started decades before the one you view on-line today.  It began when we were writing on the driver’s window of the cars at the auction.  I personally have done this 500,000-700,000 times (lost count a decade or so ago);  Local one owner trade, No paint work, Never smoked in, Spare never down, New Mercedes trade, and so on ad nauseam.   This was the origin of the condition report and it was used to communicate from the seller to the potential buyer, who he may or may not know, what he is representing, his merch, to be what he says it is,  to the prospective buyers at the auction.

This evolved with the advent of the internet on On-line Ringman and then Manheim’s Simulcast

Spring ain’t sprung.

I was just putting on my Kakis and Chucks getting ready for the first Spring sale on Thursday and Friday but was rudely reminded that there may not be a Spring market.  I already know there is no export market.  They are all gone.  No Ghana, no Nigeria, no Russia, no Kazakhstan, no Costa Rica, no Peru, no UAE, no nothing.  There is no evidence across the nation that we will have a regular, and greatly needed junk market for the tax check credit rats.  There is no market for anything that falls into the mud category.  Mud being all units that are in the factory lanes, picked over slugs with paint, or a hit on Car Fax, or the wrong color, or the wrong, gear etc..  There is zero market for anything with medium miles.  There is no market for anything with wild miles.  Since they have been going overseas and that is shut down, who absorbs those units?  A used car dealer?  Forget about it, not

A car ain’t nothing but a bag of money.

When we think about it, a car ain’t nothing but a bag of money.  They are bags of money with wheels.  Would you leave a bag of money laying around?  How about on the street?  Maybe at an Auction?  Think about this and put it in perspective.  On an average day I got 1,200 bags of money laying around.  Most on an auction lot.  My wife asks me why I don’t sleep so good.  She tells me I seem little worried.  Why don’t you settle down and relax?  I tell my sweet Peruvian jewel, that has the patience of a saint and the wisdom of Confucious, let me just sell through this week and I’ll be fine.  Thanks for making me aware of the fact that I have a bit of an edge on (I seem fine to me).

Only you guys and girls, those of us smitten by this gambler degenerate gene that is a prerequisite to be in our business, would understand.  Since the only people that come to this