Warning to members about consigning your Cadillac to Collector vehicle auctions

[Big Apple Caddy]

The "skin" these auction companies have in the game is investment in the venues, marketing, personnel, etc. to try to get as much as possible for the cars being auctioned.  A reason sellers use these auction houses is because they hope or expect that the added exposure will allow them to net (after seller fees) more, possibly much more, for their cars versus trying to sell privately.  It can definitely be a win-win for both the auction house AND the seller but no one is forced to buy or sell through these companies or pay to attend their events, etc.  Of course, this also applies to auctions for fine art, wine, real estate, coins, etc.

[Cadman-iac]

Well the alternative to using the big auction houses is to hold your own. But then you will have to pay for the advertising, the auctioneer, the location, (unless you use your own home), and any other incidental expenditures, (including insurance).
I enjoy looking at some of the auctions when they have older vehicles, but I don't think I would ever actually attend one. I'm not a player anyway, barely can afford to live anymore.
My involvement in this hobby is as I can afford to do it,  and I have to do most of it myself.
Auctions are just out of my league.  But I can see where they are making their money just from watching what they do and from reading some of their advertising. If you have money to burn,  the auction is the place to go.
Just my observations and personal opinion.

Rick

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Auction houses make a profit on the services they provide while providing employment for thousands of people.

And when, for example, a GM Futureliner sells for $4M when the seller only wanted $800K, I doubt the seller was complaining about auction fees.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

At the big Scottsdale AZ Auction a bidders pass is $500(2 passes all week and 10 drinks per pass per day). The  tickets to watch on Saturday are $75. ......

No wonder I cannot afford to go to an auction.

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

No wonder I cannot afford to go to an auction.

Bruce.

You and me both Bruce. And I don't have to go halfway round the world either!

[TJ Hopland]

Only 10 drinks per day?   How you gonna get a full day of reckless spending with only 10 drinks?

[cadillacmike68]

At the big Scottsdale AZ Auction a bidders pass is $500(2 passes all week and 10 drinks per pass per day). The  tickets to watch on Saturday are $75. And there is a whole another circus carnival thing with all types of vendors going on in some the tents. I am sure those vendors pay for the spot. and that does not include the all inculsive club passes. They make money had over fist besides the cars.

That would explain some of the insane bidding.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Only 10 drinks per day?   How you gonna get a full day of reckless spending with only 10 drinks? 

That is actually, 10 drinks per pair, so 5 drinks each per day.   Doesn't say what sort of drinks though .... Beer, Liqueur, Cordial or Water?

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

That would explain some of the insane bidding.

You mean like a 3.4 million dollar Mustang? Somebody was clearly drunk that day.

[cadillacmike68]

You mean like a 3.4 million dollar Mustang? Somebody was clearly drunk that day.

Yeah, that was down here in Kissimmee. Steve McQueen even tried to buy that car a few years ago, but the owner held out. I guess his retirement plans are set.

Never been a mustang fan, especially a closed body, and this car while largely original from the film, was pretty beat up.

So when is the boss hog Cadillac going up???

[cadillac ken]

Three words: Bring A Trailer.com.  Serious bidders, no games and reasonable fees. Sellers are most often responding to specific questions, and interested parties can respond.  And no, I have no affiliation whatsoever.

A recent auction on Bring A Trailer featured a Fiat Jolly that ended on a sale of $147K.
So much for only the big auction houses getting the whales. 

[Caddyholic]

That is actually, 10 drinks per pair, so 5 drinks each per day.   Doesn't say what sort of drinks though .... Beer, Liqueur, Cordial or Water?

Bruce. I went last year 2019 with a friend (and our wives) that has been going for 15 years. He clued me in on the bidders pass (that I bought)   bidders pass comes with guess pass and each pass had 10 drinks per day. soda, water, juice, Miller lite, coors lite, titos, evan williams, patron etc. no cheap liquor and the bar tenders are all models. The bidders pass also gave you preferred  parking so you don't have to park 2 miles away. I would recommend  car guys do this at least once I had a blast. It was a vacation in AZ in Jan. What you see on TV is only half of it. There are some bargains and  it is not all collector cars. Its auction week with 4 to 6 other auctions in town that week. A big cruise Saturday at this MacDonald's that was 300 to 400 cars and a lot of them for sale.

PS. I only bought a T shirt.     

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

You mean like a 3.4 million dollar Mustang? Somebody was clearly drunk that day.

The Maltese Falcon statuette used the 1941 Humphrey Bogart film sold for $4.1M in 2013. Marilyn Monroe's dress worn in The Seven Year Itch sold $4.6M in 2011.

All things considered, I think the Mustang brought just about what I would have expected.

[Cadman-iac]

I personally,  if I had that much money to spend on a car, I would have bought about half a dozen Mustangs and fixed them up just like that one,  or even a full blown restoration,  and driven the hell out of one or two,  had my fun, and still have another 4 to share or sell or hoard or whatever, and still be money ahead.
It's not like that one was the only one in existence.
  For a V16 Cadillac or Packard, a Duesenberg, or another rare and restored car I could maybe see that,  but not for a run of the mill, beat to crap Mustang just because someone famous once drove it in a movie.
Same thing for the dress. If my wife wanted it, I'd have a 100 made for her if it made her happy.

If the feces ever contacts the rotary oscillator and it's everybody for themselves,  just what is all that high priced stuff really gonna be worth then?
But that's just me. I guess if you have the money,  and you want the car, dress or statue, you pays the price.
I sure would have liked to have been the seller of the car though. No retirement worries for him now.

Rick

[Big Apple Caddy]

Sale estimates for the "Bullitt" Mustang were $3 to $5 million so I too think it pretty much brought what was expected.  One year earlier at the same auction venue, a one off 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 Super Snake sold for $2.2 million.

While the high dollar cars tend to get the most attention, these auctions also sell plenty of low priced cars too.  There's potentially something for everybody.

[cadillac ken]

I personally,  if I had that much money to spend on a car, I would have bought about half a dozen Mustangs and fixed them up just like that one,  or even a full blown restoration,  and driven the hell out of one or two,  had my fun, and still have another 4 to share or sell or hoard or whatever, and still be money ahead.
It's not like that one was the only one in existence.
  For a V16 Cadillac or Packard, a Duesenberg, or another rare and restored car I could maybe see that,  but not for a run of the mill, beat to crap Mustang just because someone famous once drove it in a movie.
Same thing for the dress. If my wife wanted it, I'd have a 100 made for her if it made her happy.

If the feces ever contacts the rotary oscillator and it's everybody for themselves,  just what is all that high priced stuff really gonna be worth then?
But that's just me. I guess if you have the money,  and you want the car, dress or statue, you pays the price.
I sure would have liked to have been the seller of the car though. No retirement worries for him now.

Rick

I agree.  The only folks bidding an buying these cars are those that can afford a $100K loss (or more) on them at the time they sell. I truly believe it means nothing to them but bragging rights. Which is fine if you have the bucks and don't care.

I remember the muscle car craze in the '90's when a Hemi Cuda convertible would bring over a million dollars.  Not so much now.  And the folks that bought one at or near that price probably couldn't care less about the loss of value when buyers interests shift and the next generation starts looking at other automotive options.

Let's be honest here... How long before very few folks will even know who Marilyn Monroe was?  -- or will even care about a dress she wore.

[johnregrus]

Here is something I didn't realize and found out the hard way.

Let's say you decide to consign your Cadillac to one of the major collector vehicle auctions. Many of you may realize that these auctions encourage you to consign early because if you wait you may get a time slot that is less than ideal.

What I was unaware of is once you consign your car and something in your life then changes the auction contract states the consigner owes the auction company in addition to the entry fee the auction company wants from you both the sellers commission and the buyers commission based on the reserve price you have put on the auction consigned car.

I can understand losing the entry fee to pull your car before the auction but charging both the sellers and buyer sides of commission seems excessive.

Let's say on the way to the auction you blow your transmission or a transport shipper fails to pickup your car on time  the auction company expects you to pay them.

So here is the rest of the story and it doesn't get any better. The more I deal with collector car auction companies the more I dislike them.

I wasn't prepared to lose the 20% commission (both the sellers and buyers side) charged to me for not showing up at the auction with the car so I delivered the car to the venue two days before the auctions start date.

I check the car in and they take the keys and leave it in a lineup, then the auction company takes it from there and places it where they want on the show field.

As they have the title and the keys, they now have care, custody and control of the vehicle.

Well when one of their moron employees or volunteer drivers parking it backs it into a pole and smashed the rear bumper. Not a little smash; the bumper is now has a big "V'" dead center in the middle. I reported it and the auction stated they are not responsible for damage. OK I can buy that but now the car is worth less that what it was when I left it in their care.

1. I tried to get them to remove it from the auction sale so I could repair the damage. They would not.
2. I tried to have them announce that the vehicle was damaged on the auction site and would be repaired before delivery to the new buyer. They would not.
3. On the stage the car got to within $3,000.00 of reserve and I asked them to reduce the sellers commission a little to make a sale. The auctions closure guy on the stage stated "that's not going to happen".

So I refused to remove my reserve and the car didn't sell.

The auction could have earned a few thousand dollars sellers commission and a few more thousand buyers commission but instead they chose not to budge and all they got was the entrance fee. Just stupid in my opinion.

I can tell you this, the next car I have going up for sale is in the $200,000.00 value range and this particular auction house won't even get a chance at it.

[wrench]

Interesting story, thanks for the update.

So on my way to work yesterday, I see a car being unloaded from a car carrier and I could see what it was before I reached the parking lot where the truck was.

So I whip into the lot to watch the car being unloaded. It was a nice old caddy and a guy was there watching too and he said he bought it at Amelia Island RM auction. It was a very cool car and I watched it unload and showed the guy how to shift a Hydramatic as he was unfamiliar with it.

Anyway, as it was being unloaded I noticed some minor sort of sideswipe damage in a couple of spots on the car.

After just reading your story I went back to the auction page and looked at the areas I saw that were damaged and there was no damage in the pics, so somewhere along the line during the process, the car got damaged too.

So if the auction house and their bonehead jockeys aren’t indemnified, it’s just a free for all. A hold harmless agreement would make me stop dead in my tracks along that path. If that’s the way it is, then folks need to take a closer look at the fine print.

I will say the guy unloading the car from the truck was very careful about it.

[Lexi]

John/Jim/Ken, interesting stories & perspectives for sure. Sorry to hear what happened to your car John. Clay/Lexi

[cadillac ken]

So here is the rest of the story and it doesn't get any better. The more I deal with collector car auction companies the more I dislike them.

I wasn't prepared to lose the 20% commission (both the sellers and buyers side) charged to me for not showing up at the auction with the car so I delivered the car to the venue two days before the auctions start date.

I check the car in and they take the keys and leave it in a lineup, then the auction company takes it from there and places it where they want on the show field.

As they have the title and the keys, they now have care, custody and control of the vehicle.

Well when one of their moron employees or volunteer drivers parking it backs it into a pole and smashed the rear bumper. Not a little smash; the bumper is now has a big "V'" dead center in the middle. I reported it and the auction stated they are not responsible for damage. OK I can buy that but now the car is worth less that what it was when I left it in their care.

1. I tried to get them to remove it from the auction sale so I could repair the damage. They would not.
2. I tried to have them announce that the vehicle was damaged on the auction site and would be repaired before delivery to the new buyer. They would not.
3. On the stage the car got to within $3,000.00 of reserve and I asked them to reduce the sellers commission a little to make a sale. The auctions closure guy on the stage stated "that's not going to happen".

So I refused to remove my reserve and the car didn't sell.

The auction could have earned a few thousand dollars sellers commission and a few more thousand buyers commission but instead they chose not to budge and all they got was the entrance fee. Just stupid in my opinion.

I can tell you this, the next car I have going up for sale is in the $200,000.00 value range and this particular auction house won't even get a chance at it.

This is what I meant by these auction houses having "no skin in the game".  No responsibility, no liability, means they collect and collect without having any concern for the goods they are handling and profiting from.