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How cheap are work trucks when no one’s working? Case in point. 2008 Ford F250 Superduty with rear seats, Automatic, and a throbbing 6.4L V8 powerstroke diesel with 350 Hp and 650 lbs. of torque. 41k highway miles, and, oh yeah. Like most other trucks at the auctions it’s a repo which has become a mantra for Atlanta inventory. Charge out price this morning at Carmax Auctions was $10,500, and that was with absolutely no announcements that would normally detract from the truck’s value (Engine Noise, Transmission Slips, Frame Damage, etc.). Oh, and every other truck and SUV repo that was at today’s sale, didn’t sell. Even a Toyota Tacoma and Hyundai Santa Fe Limited found no buyers.
Wow that is a steal!
Would love one if I had a place to put it. Where are these auctions and how do I get in ?
The auctions are closed to the public. Contact Mr. Lang via the New Car Consultant link.
OUCH! That truck stickered for about $42k new.
While I can see that most of the SUVS didn’t find buyers (yet the big Ford did…go figure) it is surprising that neither the Santa Fe nor Tacoma found a home.
$10,500, you say. KBB places the Suggested Retail Value at $25,705 (I ran a base model, without options or 4WD, which will raise the price accordingly).
Look for a Ford F250 near you for around $27K, maybe a bit less, if they decide to undercut Blue Book to make the buyer feel like they’re getting a good deal!
Robster,
Do you have an acquaintance in the auto retail business? Friend, relative, or someone you’ve done some business with in the past?
If so, reach out to him/her.
A growing segment of many savvy retailers this day is fulfilling wholesale orders from customers.
Look, the buying public at large has no idea there’s a closed-to-the-public vehicle resale/wholesale market open only to dealers. But a few customers in-the-know, know.
They know manufacturers offer their lease-backs and brass-hats back to their franchise dealers at considerable deals in private auctions. Given today’s economy, the builders are literally begging dealers to take these units off their hands.
With manufacturer and other used vehicle auctions, dealers are literally awash in super clean, low mileage opportunities. Especially, as this article points out, in trucks and SUVs. However, many of these units go by with nary a pole mark — a great ride and an even greater price, but nobody wants to take the risk that it’ll sit for months, rusting on the lot.
Just approach your dealer, give him/her the specifics of what you’re looking for — say: 07 – 08 Silverado 1500 extended cab, 4×4 (with Z71 package if available), interior toys you have to have, top three color preferences, max mileage. And give him a small deposit, just so he knows you’re not pulling his leg.
He’ll find you a unit that fits your bill within a couple weeks; have him show you what he paid for it, then expect him to bump you $500 or so (which, in today’s economy, is a healthy profit on a car).
It’s win-win. You get the vehicle you want at a fantastic deal. The dealer makes some money and possibly even makes a couple points off the back-end if you finance. If you can get financing.
Of course, the poor guy who was repo’ed isn’t so happy. So I guess that’s a win-win-lose scenerio in the case of the F250 above.
With the economy being the way it is, I’m pretty much focusing on used cars.
The Santa Fe Limited no-saled at around $17k and my personal favorite, a 2004 Ford Freestar with only 29k miles and all the options sans leather, no saled at $5600. That was the second week in a row that didn’t sell.
They have auctions every Monday. It’s one of the smaller auctions in metro-Atlanta but they do a far better job of checking the car out than most other places. So far as TTAC goes, I’ve bought one for Robert and one for Frank Williams. If you’re interested, feel free to email me at the New Car Consultant website.
It was a
I hope every person I see sitting in a SUV, or pick-up by themselves gets what’s coming to them.
Is the same thing happening with v8 mustangs and such? While I have no use for a truck or SUV, a v8 mustang would be a fun weekend car (all I use a car for now that I moved to Brooklyn).
Hmmmm, time to revisit the time and effort it takes to get a US car into Canada.
I just filled up for 1.99/gal here in Indy this morning. It was over 4 bucks in September.
Let the big hogs roll………
Gas is under $3.00/gal in CA now. I was thinking of buying a cheap truck like thing just to haul stuff. Oh, I saw a Santa Fe get totaled in a very low speed accident. Maybe they have decent crash test ratings, but they are pretty flimsy. I wouldn’t get one myself.
Steven Lang have you seen any Honda Ridgelines or the funky Subaru Baja’s go through those auctions?
I wonder if they tend to be just a repoed and how the prices are. I don’t need a truck truck just the utility in something that handles close to a cars feel.
Here’s what I do…
1) Everything I sell direct is cost plus $500. The actual purchase invoice from the auction is always provided. If I get a good deal on a trade-in I simply sell it for cost.
2) Customers know the history of the vehicle BEFORE a buy it. They have the VIN# and Autocheck record beforehand. If the vehicle was maintained at a dealership or specialty shop, I can usually track that down as well.
3) Most of the cars I buy are at the ‘workhorse’ stage. If they need any detail work, paintless dent removal, or any maintenance issues, I charge them my cost (which is far lower than it is for the public) plus $50 for having to transport it if that’s needed.
4) I generally don’t buy anything more than $10,000 unless I already know the person or, have been given a 10% non-refundable deposit. My 100% positive feedback on Ebay helps a lot in this regard.
But I can’t stand flakes, a ‘Hamlet’, or anyone who has trouble with a handshake and their word. Needless to say, my time in corporate America was very short.
I know my business. I inspected, appraised, and liquidated over 10,000 vehicles a year for an auto finance company and have spent nine years as an auctioneer in metro-Atlanta. Usually it takes a few weeks to a couple months to find the right vehicle for a customer. If a vehicle hasn’t been conservatively driven and well maintained, I won’t buy it.
If you’re interested, feel free to visit the TTAC designed New Car Consultant web site or email me at steven.lang@duke.edu . The profit will go in part to the funding of this site and Mr. Farago’s hopeful future role in ‘Cannonball Run 4’ as the husband to a fat Madonna.
Ridgeline’s are common, Baja’s are rare. Feel free to email me and I can send you the current wholesale prices. The wholesale pricing system I use actually tracks over 10 million vehicles a year.
I saw an ’08 Powerstroke lose over $5000 in (trade-in) value over the course of 6 months, so this doesn’t come as a big surprise. Especially if it was pink with a powder blue interior. (kidding)
Damn shame I don’t live in the ATL…I’d have much too much fun hanging out with Mr. Lang.
It’s cheap to fly Airtran Sajeev. I wouldn’t mind the company.
Wow Wow Wow that’s a heck of a deal on a very nice truck. I’m amazed that the market has gotten this bad, this quickly.
Steven,
How much of this auction slowdown do you think is purely credit related?
I imagine that the tightening in both the wholesale and retail sides of the auto loan market are to blame since gas has slipped below $3 a gallon.
Hmmmm, time to revisit the time and effort it takes to get a US car into Canada.
Have you seen the exchange rate? It’s not just the time and effort, it’s the less-than-eighty-cents-on-the-dollar factor.
I’m trying to find something that will accommodate a rear-facing child seat behind a very tall driver (Honda Element, Ford Five Hundred/Taurus) and even with the depressed market, the dollar and conversion costs are a tough hill to climb. If it wasn’t, I’d be all over Steven’s services.
I would take a Scion Xb prior gen over the two you mentioned in a heartbeat. From a cost and quality perspective it’s unbeatable.
Allsting,
Okay, I will bite.
Why don’t you just say the same thing about any driver of a vehicle that has more than one seat and/or weighs more than 300 pounds? Doesn’t the same poorly thought out and hateful logic apply?
I would take a Scion Xb prior gen over the two you mentioned in a heartbeat. From a cost and quality perspective it’s unbeatable.
Unfortunately, you can’t get it in Canada, except as a grey-market import. And as such, it’s hideously overpriced. I’ve seen xB’s going for $15-20,000 Canadian; they were $27-30,000 new.
Okay, I will bite.
Why don’t you just say the same thing about any driver of a vehicle that has more than one seat and/or weighs more than 300 pounds? Doesn’t the same poorly thought out and hateful logic apply?
Hits a little too close to home there for ya, eh tiger?