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As you probably already
know from past experience, car dealers will do ANYTHING to get
you into the car of your dreams. Whether you can afford it or
not!
I can recall a former
coworker who got into a new luxury vehicle with a little
"creative financing." The manager divided his mortgage payment
in two. His justification: As a married man his wife was
responsible for the other half of the mortgage....even though
she was a stay at home mom! Luckily for them, they found a way
to pay their huge car payment and avoid repossession.
Unfortunately, others
aren't quite as lucky. Thousands of people default on their
loans everyday simply because they couldn't really afford it in
the first place.
This can work to your
advantage. The banks and financial institutions that serviced
the loans want to recoup their loss as quicly as possible. Add
to that the exhorbitant cost of storing these vehicles, and you
can easily see why the banks want to dispose of them in a timely
manner.
After all, the longer
financial institutions have to store these vehicles, the less
money they're going to get back.
Auto auctions are the
quickest way for banks to rid themselves of repossessed
vehicles.
Car dealers know this,
and they go to great lenghts to protect this knowledge from the
general public. After all, auto auctions are a huge source of
revenue. Dealers can purchase vehicles at a fraction of their
value, and then resell them at a huge mark-up.
But what if you could
avoid the dealer's mark-up and instead pay what they pay? What
impact would that have on your wallet?
Amazingly enough, auto
auctions are not solely restricted to car dealers. Up until a
few years ago, I too shared this common misconception.
It was only by sheer luck
that I stumbled upon a website that allowed me to search local
auctions by zip code and vehicle make that I learned the
surprising truth. I was paying dealers thosands of dollars in
unnecessary mark-ups.
I tried the website's
search feature out, and to my surprise the cars listed were
exactly what I wanted. Only a few years old with very low miles.
Many of them were still under the manufacturer's original
warranty! This made sense of course, since most of them were
repossessions.
The auction house was
even willing to throw in a vehicle history report at no extra
cost and a 3 month warranty.
Sure I wouldn't get the
complimentary car washes and oil changes the dealer throws in,
but that surely wasn't worth thousands of dollars in premiums.
After a little hesitation
I joined the auto auction membership site. They helped me locate
auto auctions in my area, and gain admission to them through
their exclusive access rights. I learned what questions to ask,
and how to handle the bidding process.
It was a lot simpler then
I ever imagined it could be.
The day of the auction, I
showed up a few hours early to inspect the vehicle I was
interested in and get a feel for the place.
It must have been a slow
day, because when my car came up for auction only a few dealers
were bidding against me. Since I wasn't buying the vehicle for
resale, I succeeded in outbidding the dealers!
It was a truely
empowering experience. I got the vehicle of my dreams, and I
only paid a little over half its book value!
What did this experience
teach me? Auto Auctions can save you thousands in unnecessary
dealer mark-ups.
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