Do you ever find yourself bidding on cars at the auction to avoid returning to the store? And when you do, how often do you find you bought a 'goose egg?'
In this fifth episode of The Auction, Frank (played by VAN Co-Founder Bill Anderson) tells Katie ‘the Kid’ (VAN’s Emily Gehrke) it’s not profitable to get into a bidding war with dealers at the auction and online. Hank (VAN’s Mark Curcio) woefully complains, “it’s not fair,...it's suspect and unnatural for reps to bid online, hiding behind a computer screen, when they should appear in person like other participants."
Hank and Frank lament that poor Rick (played by VAN customer Push Singh) looks indecisive and doesn’t seem to care if he buys anything. Rick waits to bid and often leaves the auction empty-handed. As the scene focuses on a reluctant Rick watching the auctioneer with anticipation. Frank urges Rick to just “do it!"
Synopsis: The gang of old-school dealer reps at the auction is outsmarted again when they pity another would-be bidder, who appears to be hesitant to bid, only to be outbid by Frank, then leaves empty-handed. Pro tip: Quality before quantity; don't settle for a rejected used vehicle at the auction just to appease a boss by not returning empty-handed.
“There you go,” Frank affirms, then laughing, believing he has skillfully outsmarted and outbid his counterpart. Rick walks away from the auction, appearing disgusted.
But as the camera cuts away to Rick answering a phone call from his boss, he is congratulated for the great job he did at the auction, not buying anything. The boss relays he spotted about eight great prospective vehicles from VAN that week. Rick says he loves appearing at the auction because, “it’s a lot more fun when you don’t have anyone to bid against.”
Frank and his gang are ready to settle on any vehicle--just to leave with something from the auction. Rick tells the Kid, he’d rather “buy a dumpster fire on wheels than buy nothing at all.” Frank admits, you don’t want to return to the dealership empty-handed.
As Frank advises the Kid, “you can’t worry about making a mistake on a car.” Hank concurs: “All cars (at the auction) have something wrong with them!” He says online bidders get burned because damage to the vehicles are now shown, since the damaged side is purposely not in view to mislead would-be online buyers. “You’re not here to see it in person,” says Rick. “I love it,” he effuses, “when that happens.”
About 'The Auction'
The Auction is a 12-part series of videos casting a humorous light on dealer auctions and the practice of sourcing used vehicles from private party sellers. We will be featuring a new episode each week over the next 6 months.
Each video depicts a different scenario many of us have experienced at dealer auctions, and weaves in the idea of buying from individuals profitably and efficiently.
The series was written produced by Joe Webb. See full credits in the videos.