Anyone used a private auto broker to buy a used car?

This is interesting. Keep us updated.

The search tools of the website are just like eBay on steroids, you can search for cars from every type of seller. He recommended cars sold by the manufacturer's finance company only, i.e. lease returns, but there's other wholesale dealers selling cars too on a "buy it now" basis too.

Every car is graded pretty meticulously, with high res photos of the whole car and any notable damage. I saw one photo of a car hood with bird droppings in the clear coat. There was a ruler next to the bird shite to confirm it measured less than 1" across.

The dealer said every car has arrived just as described and you have 21 days to return the car if there's a material difference. He has never returned a car in 30+ years.

We watched an auction online in Ohio somewhere. Each auction is over in about a minute and you compete with people in the building physically and online. Before the internet, he would actually put people on a plane to go to the Tuesday Toyota auction in Orlando and the Thursday Mercedes auction in Atlanta, with a list of his customers' vehicle specs. Now you can do the same thing with a laptop and clicking on the screen.

I will keep you updated, and hope to have a 2015 Lexus ES 350 with less than 20,000 miles for between $25,000 and 26,000 next week.

I have a theory that similar infinity's can sell a few k cheaper in Nashville due to their employees getting new cars every year. I compared similar models of the infinity qx80 at Carmax and another site and found them to be cheaper in Nashville than say Dallas.

have a buddy who does it on the side for fun using a floor plan of another friend. makes pretty good money per vehicle.

buys something, drives it a few months until he finds something else he wants, sells what he has, buys the new one. rinse repeat.

you can save a few k getting it through dealer auction.

interesting.

My cousin has used this broker since 1993, he mentioned it a few months ago and I asked for his name when I decided to get rid of my Acura TSX earlier this month. He's bought a 1-2 year old car just about every other year. The dealer is a specialty dealer for high end and collector cars, so he's good at sourcing specific cars, through auctions and other specialty dealers.

This is definitely easier and better than a traditional dealer in just about every way in my opinion. The whole process is completely transparent. At auction yesterday I bought a 2015 Lexus ES with ~17,000 miles for $24,400 plus freight/fees of $620 and his broker's fee of $1,500. The seller was Lexus Financial services. He punched in the parameters I gave him and had plenty of results, just like eBay. The car is arriving on Monday. The same car at a dealer would cost $32,000+.

I'll never go to a traditional car dealership again, it's been so easy and I don't feel like I'm getting screwed because I see every part of the process and he's really working for me. The owner is semiretired and I'm actually considering switching careers to join him because I see such a huge opportunity based on the experience.

Edit: Echoing others' advice above, the condition reports are great and you can filter/search for cars 4.0 and above only, 5.0 is a new car. The level of detail on the reports is pretty amazing and the broker can run a report on completed auctions of the same type car to get parameters to bid and price expectations.

I saved over $5,000 doing this at least, inclusive of all my costs, not to mention the lower sales tax basis versus buying at a retail dealer.

I think the service would be very popular with buyers, there is really no one marketing it beyond word of mouth and could be leveraged with existing technology.

quote:

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Do you work at Manheim / Cox?

It was interesting watching the auctions online. What are the pros & cons between being online and in person?

Appreciate the insight into the business from someone on the inside.

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I don't work for the auctions, but I am at 6 Manheim sales a week all over the country.

The auctions are dealer only, and if the broker sneaks you in there with him and gets caught he will lose his badge.

The benefit of being at the sale live is you actually get to see the vehicle. The auction condition reports are often completely full of shite. In addition, the auctioneer will often run you up to your max bid wen online. When you have someone experienced there in person, it happens less.

There's a guy in Alabama that does this. He sends out a list of all the cars being auctioned off in Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, and Miami and if you're interested in one he sends pics, ratings, and the last 10 or so that sold with the prices. Looks like most vehicles go around trade in price and then you have to pay his flat fee and transportation. Think he charges around $600.

Email me and we can talk directly:

bnolan02+TD [AT] Gmail.com

No, I came across a better job with a publicly traded company since the initial post but it was my plan until that job came along.