As some may know, in addition to being the President and Founder of Auto Auction Review, I am a buyer for a dealer group in Atlanta, Georgia. I buy product from the usual places, fleet companies, Manheim, ADESA, OVE, Dealer Block, ACV, Openlane, Smart Auction, wholesalers, etc. Recently, I came upon Dealer Club through LinkedIn. Will Morris, Director of Dealer Sales, reached out to me and we struck up a fast acquaintance. He explained to me the premise of Dealer Club, highlighting its user-driven approach to wholesaling inventory. Rooted in a reputation-based platform, Dealer Club allows members to list vehicles quickly and accurately, uploading up to 100 photos at a time for clarity. Selling dealers are required to provide up to 17 guarantees on the unit, ranging from mechanical condition, structural damage, paint work, and the like. This capability allows the buyer to see the vehicle for what it really is, not clouded by the subjectivity of other platforms’ condition reports (one man’s 4.7 is another man’s 2.9 as an example). Bidding dealers can then interact in real time with the seller, asking questions and generally conversing with the seller to secure a comfort level with both the vehicle and dealer. I immediately liked this approach, as I come from the years of buying cars in the street with envelope drafts and a handshake.
Will invited me to sign up for the club, and I did. Now, signing up for any new auction/online platform takes a minute- master tags, dealer licenses, POAs, and banking information are all required to get started, but it is nothing out of the ordinary. The sign up process starts online, and dealers are asked to upload the proper forms and answer the usual questions; what type of dealer, physical and mailing addresses, etc. If a dealer needs assistance in finalizing the sign up process, Dealer Club’s team of Serena and Terri are quick to respond via text or email, and are efficient in getting any issues handled. One point of emphasis is the response time; any dealer will tell you that this is critical. Anytime problems arise, being able to reach someone for assistance can make the difference between a nasty experience and a great one.
Moving on to the reason I signed up for Dealer Club, it was time to try to buy some cars. Dealer Clubs interface/dashboard is clean, well thought out, and intuitive. Vehicles can be searched for and filtered
by the usual criteria, make, model, mileage, distance, etc. The set up that I like best is you can easily search the “Auctions”, “Upcoming”, and “Make Offer” units. It easily sorts which vehicles are in active bidding, launching soon (dealers can launch immediately or on a 3:00 pm EST launch, for a 24 hour period), and expired units that dealers can make offers on. The main page also features a “Command Center” which shows transactionally what the dealership have done- its comprehensive and well thought out. One can also opt-in for the usual text or email notifications, as well as manage your account (indicated by your picture) through the main page.
As for the bidding/buying process, it was straightforward and easy to navigate. One thing though- watching the auctions for the last two weeks now, it’s obvious that dealers are placing low-ball bids on vehicles- i.e., $500 on a 23 F150 Platinum. I firmly believe that that practice will subside and eventually go away as buyers flood the site. As a side note, we should be here to BUY cars- ok, try to get as cheap as possible, but keep it reasonable. It’s unlikely that any dealer will take a $50K haircut on a vehicle, so why throw that out there?
After all of that, I ended up purchasing a 2022 Chevy Trax out of Orlando, FL. I had a little competition on the vehicle, and hit it right below MMR, and ultimately bumped $400 to get the deal done. The seller was quick to use the website texting and let me know what it took to buy it. Will himself got involved, working with the seller and I to get a deal done- similar to what other auction houses used to do- try to put deals together. Once the deal was done, I checked out, and also had the opportunity to use DC’s proprietary transport services ( I declined as I have a guy already), but this a simple, but useful service DC provides as often times floorplan companies will finance the transport. DC also provides the buyer with extended protection (up to 20 days), for those that want a longer guarantee- useful for stores with slow service departments.
All in all, I rate Dealer Club (obviously its early, as a 5-Hammer auction (that’s the best, btw). Joe Nieman, the founder, knows a little bit about building an online auction, and there is every reason to believe he and his team will hit this one out of the park- again.
See my upcoming review on my Dealer Club’s selling experience. Yep, I listed my first unit ( and will continue to do so). Watch for that to land later this week.
1 Reviews on “DealerClub”
As some may know, in addition to being the President and Founder of Auto Auction Review, I am a buyer for a dealer group in Atlanta, Georgia. I buy product from the usual places, fleet companies, Manheim, ADESA, OVE, Dealer Block, ACV, Openlane, Smart Auction, wholesalers, etc. Recently, I came upon Dealer Club through LinkedIn. Will Morris, Director of Dealer Sales, reached out to me and we struck up a fast acquaintance. He explained to me the premise of Dealer Club, highlighting its user-driven approach to wholesaling inventory. Rooted in a reputation-based platform, Dealer Club allows members to list vehicles quickly and accurately, uploading up to 100 photos at a time for clarity. Selling dealers are required to provide up to 17 guarantees on the unit, ranging from mechanical condition, structural damage, paint work, and the like. This capability allows the buyer to see the vehicle for what it really is, not clouded by the subjectivity of other platforms’ condition reports (one man’s 4.7 is another man’s 2.9 as an example). Bidding dealers can then interact in real time with the seller, asking questions and generally conversing with the seller to secure a comfort level with both the vehicle and dealer. I immediately liked this approach, as I come from the years of buying cars in the street with envelope drafts and a handshake.
Will invited me to sign up for the club, and I did. Now, signing up for any new auction/online platform takes a minute- master tags, dealer licenses, POAs, and banking information are all required to get started, but it is nothing out of the ordinary. The sign up process starts online, and dealers are asked to upload the proper forms and answer the usual questions; what type of dealer, physical and mailing addresses, etc. If a dealer needs assistance in finalizing the sign up process, Dealer Club’s team of Serena and Terri are quick to respond via text or email, and are efficient in getting any issues handled. One point of emphasis is the response time; any dealer will tell you that this is critical. Anytime problems arise, being able to reach someone for assistance can make the difference between a nasty experience and a great one.
Moving on to the reason I signed up for Dealer Club, it was time to try to buy some cars. Dealer Clubs interface/dashboard is clean, well thought out, and intuitive. Vehicles can be searched for and filtered
by the usual criteria, make, model, mileage, distance, etc. The set up that I like best is you can easily search the “Auctions”, “Upcoming”, and “Make Offer” units. It easily sorts which vehicles are in active bidding, launching soon (dealers can launch immediately or on a 3:00 pm EST launch, for a 24 hour period), and expired units that dealers can make offers on. The main page also features a “Command Center” which shows transactionally what the dealership have done- its comprehensive and well thought out. One can also opt-in for the usual text or email notifications, as well as manage your account (indicated by your picture) through the main page.
As for the bidding/buying process, it was straightforward and easy to navigate. One thing though- watching the auctions for the last two weeks now, it’s obvious that dealers are placing low-ball bids on vehicles- i.e., $500 on a 23 F150 Platinum. I firmly believe that that practice will subside and eventually go away as buyers flood the site. As a side note, we should be here to BUY cars- ok, try to get as cheap as possible, but keep it reasonable. It’s unlikely that any dealer will take a $50K haircut on a vehicle, so why throw that out there?
After all of that, I ended up purchasing a 2022 Chevy Trax out of Orlando, FL. I had a little competition on the vehicle, and hit it right below MMR, and ultimately bumped $400 to get the deal done. The seller was quick to use the website texting and let me know what it took to buy it. Will himself got involved, working with the seller and I to get a deal done- similar to what other auction houses used to do- try to put deals together. Once the deal was done, I checked out, and also had the opportunity to use DC’s proprietary transport services ( I declined as I have a guy already), but this a simple, but useful service DC provides as often times floorplan companies will finance the transport. DC also provides the buyer with extended protection (up to 20 days), for those that want a longer guarantee- useful for stores with slow service departments.
All in all, I rate Dealer Club (obviously its early, as a 5-Hammer auction (that’s the best, btw). Joe Nieman, the founder, knows a little bit about building an online auction, and there is every reason to believe he and his team will hit this one out of the park- again.
See my upcoming review on my Dealer Club’s selling experience. Yep, I listed my first unit ( and will continue to do so). Watch for that to land later this week.