The Real Cost Of An Auction Vehicle

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There is a new ap designed for your smart phone that supposedly informs the user of the “hidden” price that a dealer pays for a used car at auctions. Well, isn’t that just the most clever and informative use of an ap for the prospective used car buyer ever!  It takes all the guess work out of the buying process for you.  So, it appears that the customer dictates what the dealer should charge and what the dealer is entitled to make on the vehicle he offers to the buying public.

Here are some factors that this “ap” doesn’t take into consideration.  One is the purchase fee charged at auctions. This fee includes guarantees that the vehicle purchased is free of salvage history, free of liens, and has no mileage discrepancies.  This fee is added on to the purchase price after the buy is made.  It insures that the paper trail of the vehicle is trouble free.

Another factor is the overhead of the car lot that is offering the vehicle for sale.  It does cost money to conduct business, and that is painfully obvious to everyone who pays a mortgage or rent or has to make payroll.  That clearly has to be included in the asking price of an auction purchase. Does this new “ap” include this?  I think  not.

Another consideration is the cost of rehabilitating the vehicle.  This can include mechanical and/or cosmetic repairs. Speaking from experience, almost every vehicle acquired from an auction needs some “tweaking” and this is an inevitability no matter how good you are a buying vehicles.  No matter how keen your eye may be, every vehicle needs something. Based on that reality the cost of the vehicle has to increase.

Therefore, this mobile ap can prove to be almost useless after taking into consideration these truths about auction vehicle acquisition costs.  The best way to insure that you are getting a good deal is not to be married to a certain formula where you submit a bunch of numbers and conditions and then a price pops out at you end the end.  Use your own judgement about the quality of the product and the reliability of the dealer

Addressing BHPH Pricing Concerns

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We here at buyherepayherecarlots.net have found that here is a pressing need from the buy here pay here consumer for accurate information about pricing for the typical buy here pay here vehicle. It is true that the typical buy here pay here car lot charges more for their vehicles. Quite frankly these dealers must, given the poor repayment percentage. The collection rate is only around 65%. Another factor is the down time before the dealer starts to make a profit on the vehicle sold. Oftentimes, the dealer must wait up to two years before he realizes a profit.
Therefore, what can you expect to pay for your BHPH vehicle? Is there a guideline? What is fair? Am I paying too much? What type of vehicle am I buying? How reliable is it? These are common and reasonable question to ask yourself before making the commitment to make that purchase.

This is why we have launched a new website dedicated to answering all of these questions. We are proud and pleased to have developed BHPH Prices.

Why should I trust this site to provide accurate and trustworthy information may be your next question? The principles who have established this new site have over 60 years of combined experience in the automotive sales field. We have a working understanding of what fair pricing on the typical BHPH vehicle should be. We have painstakingly provided pricing on the huge inventory of typical BHPH vehicles. Our legwork gives the visitor easy access and accurate information about dealers in their particular area and what the visitor should expect to pay for the vehicle that they are considering. We also provide helpful tips for the BHPH consumer ranging from choosing a dealer to down payment requirements. Another important feature that our site affords, is a video review of many of the vehicles that the consumer encounters on the BHPH car lot. We have a working experience with many of these vehicles. We have purchased, sold, readied, repaired, and driven most of these vehicles. Consequently, when we give our opinion about them, it is born from an actual knowledge of that vehicle.

Please visit and take advantage of our wealth of knowledge. Please add your comments and contact us with questions and concerns. Good luck and happy hunting folks.

Interview With Chris Duncan of Car Lot Finance

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Tell us about the genesis of carlotfinane.com?
Carlotfinance.com was conceived after discussing the results Buy Here Pay Here dealers were receiving through traditional classified websites. Many of them were finding that it was difficult to distinguish themselves from regular Used Car Dealers and were generating a high number of enquiries which didn’t suit their sales model

What made you want to start the website?
We wanted to make life slightly easier for dealers and consumers alike. We wanted to launch a site which would solve two issues.
1. Allow shoppers to search for their next vehicle by the most appropriate method; Down Payment & Monthly Payment
2. Provide local BHPH dealers with high quality leads from customers who are within their target area and already predisposed to their need for unique financing

Where/Are you in the BHPH yourself?
Prior to launching carlotfinance.com I had worked within advertising, supplying online and offline services to Car Dealers of all shapes and sizes. Over the course my career I have provided BHPH dealers with tens of thousands of enquiries and worked with them extensively to increase the quality of the leads which they are receiving. Although I have never completed a BHPH sale myself, I have been immersed in the industry for some time.

Carlotfinance.com is a good looking website, did you design it yourself?
Although I have some basic skills when it comes to website design, carlotfinance.com was outsourced to a company within the US that had great experience with complex databases. The handling of data feeds from our customers DMS was always a major consideration for me and the team which built the site were very active in seeking out the best contacts within the industry to ensure we were on the right track.

The site will undergo a number of small changes until the end of the year where version two will be launched. There are many advancements which we intend to make, however we wanted to gain the feedback from dealers and consumers before we made the final decision on how those changes would look.

The dealers who you’ve spoke/signed up, what have they said about carlotfinance.com? How many dealers have signed up?
Our customer numbers are growing every day at the moment. The reaction from dealers has been very positive so far and we are keen to grow the number of dealers we have on the site, with the traffic numbers we are generating. We are a new venture and although we are using many online and offline advertising mediums to attract high quality traffic, we do not want to run out and sign 80 BHPH dealers up and then fail to deliver the appropriate number of inquiries to them.

We understand the value of phone calls, online applications and transferring traffic from our website to our customers and track every aspect of these ‘touches.’ The feedback we are getting is very encouraging just now in regard to the quality of the traffic that we are generating. Our dealers are pleased not to be receiving calls asking what ‘the best price they will do’ is on a particular vehicle.

Coming from a consumer standpoint, how would they use carlotfinance.com? Please name the benefits of using carlotfinance.com over other classifieds websites.
From my time with the largest automotive classifieds company in the US, I was able to listen to thousands and thousands of phone calls which were being generated for BHPH dealers. A good 70+% of those calls always included two questions:
1. How much do you want down on that car?
2. How much is that car per month?
From this it was obvious that although the vehicle that the customer was driving was important to them, the payment side was the main buying factor. Carlotfinance.com has Patent Pending on the ability to search for a product of service by Down Payment or Monthly Payment.
Consumers know that every dealer on our website works with credit challenged customers and that there is a very high probability that they will be successful in obtaining a vehicle.

Carlotfinance.com offers a level playing field for the small to medium sized independent used car dealership. There is no way to pay extra to buy your way to the front of the search results and we feel that is the correct approach, delivering results that the consumers are truly interested in. We are reinvesting that advertising Dollars of these dealers to purchase a larger and larger market share in their local area. It could almost be viewed as using ‘Co-Op’ dollars to speak to their audience on their behalf.

What do you think about the state of the BHPH industry? Govt. oversight is becoming a problem for dealers. Give us your thoughts on this subject matter.
Although the industry is facing an uncertain future I have no doubt that the need to service this sector of the market will continue. The changes that I have witnessed within the market place over the last 6-7 years has been quite marked with dealers adapting to different market demands. With this flexibility in mind I am under no illusion that our industry has the ability to shift its focus to keep within whatever legislation which is imposed. As long as there is a need, a profitable solution will be found.

Where do you see the BHPH industry 10-15 years from now?
From what I can see the next two years are going to be key in shaping the future of the industry. I have run into hundreds of BHPH dealers over the years and worked with the most reputable, to the downright dirty. Needless to say, every successful business person who occupies this space is keeping a close eye on the regulations which are likely to come to fruition over the forthcoming years and are planning for these changes as well as they can. Sub-prime financing isn’t going to go away, however the method in which it is delivered will undoubtedly change.

CarLotFinance.com
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This interview was conducted by Shane McC. Shane currently is attending RISD studying computer programming. He enjoys traveling and plays hockey. He played for the Boston Junior Bruins of the EJHL during the 01-02 season. You can follow him on Google+