Rand Workman Friday update

[427TJ]

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So which auction brings in the "stupid" money and which one brings in the "smart" money?

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"Stupid" money is the shockingly high amount someone else pays for a car and is also an amount I will never be able to afford.

"Smart" money is the "stupid" money I collect when I sell my own car.

[Jeff H]

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By allowing owners to buy back their own cars BJ still collects the 8% fee. (I think it's 8% of the selling price, isn't it?) Anyway, Craig Jackson makes his money either way. Any businessman will tell you that guaranteeing payment is just good business.


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I agree it's good business for Craig Jackson but my point was that it does nothing to help indicate true values on these cars when owners can bid on their own car. This weekend's auction is almost the same situation when the auctioneer can bid it up for the seller. I wonder how many of the cars were bid up close to their reserve because of this policy. But it doesn't show us if there are really 2 or more interested parties bidding on the cars. Regardless, the results seem to show that the timing of the auction was bad, the buyers are drying up or there were a lot of people out fishing for prices. Are there any auctions where the seller is not allowed to bid on his own car or the auctioneer bid for him? Just curious.

[427TJ]

Point taken. I'd have to say that "true values" is a highly subjective term. Serious auctioneers have NO interest in the true value of a car, they only want the highest possible amount that can be quickly extracted from each item.

"True value" nowadays seems to depend on the amount of "stupid" money someone is willing to fork over in a televised, highly emotional pressure-cooker situation (gavel held high, about to DROP). In that case, a car's true value often has gone out the window--and is thus re-defined upward. It may be "stupid" to pay $125K for a questionable Daytona Yellow '69 Z/28 but every guy who has a '69 Z/28 knows his car is now worth more because of it.

Money + ego + competition between bidders + emotion + TV cameras + beautiful cars + beautiful women watching + kids telling dad to keep bidding = a great and dazzling spectacle, good entertainment, and solid profits.

[CamaroKing]

Mecum was a great auction not only were there good cars but people buying them as well. The best overall i have seen.