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Old 12-15-2015, 08:59 AM   #16
XDCX
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Wow, appreciate?

Thats incredible!
Here are a couple of threads you might want to read where we discussed the seasonality of auction prices.
Concerning seasonality, there are some dealers who will wholesale their aged units in December and take a loss so they'll minimize their profits/taxes for the current year. The demand is also lower at this time of year because the retail demand for used cars tends to be soft.

Concerning vehicles that appreciate, in my experience they tend to be the vehicles that are attractive to "tax season" customers. A vehicle that is soft at the auction today may be quite a bit stronger when the spring selling season arrives and retail buyers are looking to spend their tax return.

On a final note, I think one of the other reasons I don't like late model vehicles for inventory is they tend to be the ones that depreciate the fastest. For dealers who revalue their inventory with each new Blue Book release it can be frustrating to take a "book hit" for vehicles that are just sitting in inventory.
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Old 12-15-2015, 09:05 AM   #17
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How should I price the cars? I have them mostly $1000 under NADA retail value currently.
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Originally Posted by flstsphil View Post
Compare the vehicle you are trying to sell similar make, model, equipment and mileage vehicles. Price your car so that if you were trying to buy that car, yours is the car you would want to buy. Customers do not know or care what you paid for a car. They only car how your car compares to others in the market.
Excellent point.

Like many things, pricing vehicles isn't as easy as it used to be. There are companies like vAuto.com that offer a service so dealers can do exactly what flstsphil described above.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting that a small sized store needs a service like vAuto.com I'm just noting that the reason a company like this exists is because in today's competitive environment with Internet-savvy customers, dealers need research/guidance to price their cars for maximum sales and gross profit.
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Old 12-15-2015, 11:53 AM   #18
slyons316
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Originally Posted by XDCX View Post
Here are a couple of threads you might want to read where we discussed the seasonality of auction prices.
Concerning seasonality, there are some dealers who will wholesale their aged units in December and take a loss so they'll minimize their profits/taxes for the current year. The demand is also lower at this time of year because the retail demand for used cars tends to be soft.

Concerning vehicles that appreciate, in my experience they tend to be the vehicles that are attractive to "tax season" customers. A vehicle that is soft at the auction today may be quite a bit stronger when the spring selling season arrives and retail buyers are looking to spend their tax return.

On a final note, I think one of the other reasons I don't like late model vehicles for inventory is they tend to be the ones that depreciate the fastest. For dealers who revalue their inventory with each new Blue Book release it can be frustrating to take a "book hit" for vehicles that are just sitting in inventory.
What is the best site to get customers? I am setting up my autotrader.com account today. Craigslist has been a pain in the rear so far....
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Old 12-15-2015, 03:16 PM   #19
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What is the best site to get customers? I am setting up my autotrader.com account today. Craigslist has been a pain in the rear so far....
That's a great question - I think the answer will vary depending on who you ask.

From my experience I'm more of a fan of Craigslist than I am AutoTrader.

While I acknowledge that AutoTrader is a powerful site with lots of retail traffic I resented the fact that the dealers who are willing to pay them the most get better placement than the rest of their dealers. In my case I was in a semi-rural market and if you were a customer in my Zip Code searching for a vehicle on AutoTrader that I had on my lot you'd get results at the top of the page that were from a dealer that was 20 miles away.

Sure, my vehicle would eventually show up at the bottom of the AutoTrader page but I felt like I was playing on a field that was tilted out of my favor. (I looked in to how much it would cost to be a premium dealer with AutoTrader and determined it was cost-prohibited for our volume.)

Concerning Craigslist, I recall one thread on the forum indicating that it is now a better sales tool since they started charging dealers for ads - before it was just a wasteland of SPAM.

Hopefully others will share their thoughts.
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Old 12-15-2015, 03:21 PM   #20
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Concerning Craigslist, I recall one thread on the forum indicating that it is now a better sales tool since they started charging dealers for ads - before it was just a wasteland of SPAM.
Here's the thread that discussed Craigslist charging for dealer ads - click here
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Old 12-16-2015, 04:04 PM   #21
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That's a great question - I think the answer will vary depending on who you ask.

From my experience I'm more of a fan of Craigslist than I am AutoTrader.

While I acknowledge that AutoTrader is a powerful site with lots of retail traffic I resented the fact that the dealers who are willing to pay them the most get better placement than the rest of their dealers. In my case I was in a semi-rural market and if you were a customer in my Zip Code searching for a vehicle on AutoTrader that I had on my lot you'd get results at the top of the page that were from a dealer that was 20 miles away.

Sure, my vehicle would eventually show up at the bottom of the AutoTrader page but I felt like I was playing on a field that was tilted out of my favor. (I looked in to how much it would cost to be a premium dealer with AutoTrader and determined it was cost-prohibited for our volume.)

Concerning Craigslist, I recall one thread on the forum indicating that it is now a better sales tool since they started charging dealers for ads - before it was just a wasteland of SPAM.

Hopefully others will share their thoughts.
This is a major gripe for me when it comes to AutoTrader. We do currently use AutoTrader but in the past we have been off of the program.

Cars.com is a little bit less expensive from our point of view but it provides more equality when it comes to listings... so if you search geographically things are at least fair...
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Old 12-17-2015, 09:44 AM   #22
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Cars.com is a little bit less expensive from our point of view but it provides more equality when it comes to listings... so if you search geographically things are at least fair...
I thought the same thing - on both counts.

The other cool thing that Cars.Com did was to purchase space in one of the major newspapers and post some of their listings. I was never a huge fan of print advertising but I liked the idea that some of my cars were getting exposure to people who still read the newspaper when it came time to shop for cars.

I'm not sure if Cars.com still buys advertising in newspapers or not - it's been a long time since I've picked up a newspaper and thumbed through the contents.
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Old 12-17-2015, 11:25 AM   #23
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I thought the same thing - on both counts.

The other cool thing that Cars.Com did was to purchase space in one of the major newspapers and post some of their listings. I was never a huge fan of print advertising but I liked the idea that some of my cars were getting exposure to people who still read the newspaper when it came time to shop for cars.

I'm not sure if Cars.com still buys advertising in newspapers or not - it's been a long time since I've picked up a newspaper and thumbed through the contents.
Cars.com is still tied up with Gannett newspapers... as a matter of fact, they are more tied up with them than ever before. Last year the bought out the remaining other shareholders in Cars.com for $1.8 bn. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...or-1-8-billion)

Here in our market Cars.com was always represented by a Gannett employee, and I would guess that this is the case in other markets.
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Old 12-18-2015, 11:02 AM   #24
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Cars.com is still tied up with Gannett newspapers... as a matter of fact, they are more tied up with them than ever before. Last year the bought out the remaining other shareholders in Cars.com for $1.8 bn. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...or-1-8-billion)

Here in our market Cars.com was always represented by a Gannett employee, and I would guess that this is the case in other markets.
Thanks for the information.

I think it's kind of interesting to see that Cars.com is owned by Gannett and AutoTrader is owned by Cox Communications. Both are large corporations that have extensive advertising/communications holdings.

Concerning Cox, I'll admit I had no idea they owned Kelley Blue Book or just completed a $4 Billion deal to buy DealerTrack. I discovered that info when I looked up Cox Communications on Wikipedia.
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