[timsullivan]

I swear it seems like 99 times out of 100 the auction house comes out ahead and the auto enthusiast gets screwed. The auction house makes tremendous margin from both the seller and the buyer and has very little if any exposure.

I went to the BJ auction here last week in Orange County just to experience an auction first hand. I read the buyer and seller agreements and could not believe how much they totally protected BJ from ANY and I mean ANY liability for anything. They take absolutely no responsibility for anything. A seller can very easily misrepresent a car as being original this or that and BJ could care less as they are not responsible for anything. All they want to be sure of is that your money is good. Buyer Beware 15 ways to Sunday! Several cars went across the auction block with BJ saying: “the title is in transit” What the hell? They don’t even have a clear title on the car they are selling at auction? Un F’ing believable!!

For the most part I think these high end auctions are generally for guys with more money than brains, spending plain stupid money on cars because they have more money than brains and simply have no true sense for value. I mean after all whoever buys a car at FMV plus 12%? If the auction selling price is FMV and then you have to pay a 12% sales commission isn't that just plain stupid? BJ also collects another 10% from the seller so they walk away with a clean 22% gross margin. Man oh man what a sweet business to be in! Don't get me started about having to pay $200 for the right to spend money there.

Car auctions are clearly just one big rip off plain and simple and I don’t care who the auction house is.