In a world of excesses seller Marking and flipping cars are rampant, people may end up crying, “Uncle!” And not only with the comments on the internet, but also with their wallets. That’s because two extremely attractive hatchbacks are in short supply – the new one Toyota GR Corolla and CHEAP Honda Civic – just go up for auction on Cars and Bid, and both fell short of the marked price the seller originally paid.
Number one car is Corolla. The seller never disclosed the type of spread they paid, but when the auction ended, they commented that they were still suffering a substantial loss. The car sold without reservation for $48,550, still about $8,500 more than the MSRP. Unsurprisingly, many in the comments section of the list suspected someone had grabbed a corolla and are looking for a lucrative profit. To protect the seller, the car has been listed as “No Reservations”, so they are completely dependent on the bidders. The seller also noted that their reason for selling was that they had managed to get an allocation for another vehicle and needed to sell one to buy the other.
More serious is CHEAP Citizens auction. Noted in the description of the listing is the sticker price – and one dealer ticks over $20,000. The car’s MSRP is $44,385 and the final price is $67,678.95. Granted, it’s just a sticker, not necessarily what the seller ended up paying for. But it’s pretty safe to say that some mark has been joined. The car was listed for pre-order and the final bid was so low that the car didn’t sell. Final bid? $49,000, almost $5,000 more than the actual MSRP. Obviously the seller will not make a profit and may not even break even. And with no comments or feedback on listings, there’s no way to know exactly what the seller’s motives are. But reselling a brand new carhaving a stockpile, having a big price increase and saying nothing about the car, all seem to suggest that sellers are hoping for an attractive flip.
Besides the obvious potential for schadenfreude, There are a few things to take away from this. It seems that people’s tolerance for outrageous ticks is dwindling. It seems that none of the cars are being bid close to what the dealers were originally asking for. Sure they’re still on MSRP, but not by totally insane numbers. And for potential buyers of highly-anticipated cars, you’ll want to keep participating in these auctions. They can be useful in negotiating with a greedy dealer, as this is proof that they are demanding more than the market will bear.
And of course, there is a general caveat that buy car just to make a profit can be seriously counterproductive.
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