I’m a small independent who is getting choked out to death financially by the big corporations including the big corporate auctions. I’m certain many of the rest of you are feeling the same way in 24.
This is a good review of the Tallahassee Auto Auction and its GM Jeremy.
I was surprised that road runner transport up’ed their fee from Tallahassee to Niceville from $150 to $350 out of the blue on me. Yep, yet another corporation increasing our costs to do business – AGAIN! Gas prices went down. Insurance stayed the same from last year at least for me. (Shop and vote with your feet every year if you have to just to stay alive.)
I decided to drive my (1) purchased unit (it used to be 3-5 every auction,) and leave my RV to pick up next week.
I explained my challenge (bitching about corporate gouging) to Jeremy and he in one second offered to allow me to store my RV in a secured and save place to allow me to save the $350 (unwarranted and unreasonable) transport fee to keep in my pocket, drive my new unit home, and simply hitch a ride next week with another wholesaler to pick up my RV next week.
Thank you Jeremy for keeping me alive to fight another day in this (currently) whacked out industry.
The takeaway from this story is to keep a strong relationship with the GM and staff at the auctions to avoid as much of the “but corporate policy is…”) BS. The staff still has some discretion over their operations and can sometimes do things that certainly their corporate masters may (unnecessarily) cringe about not being true car people who truly understand what the small independents guys are going through.
1- Vote with your feet.
2- Maintain a fair relationship both ways with your GM’s and staff
3- Communicate your needs and concerns.
4- Be reasonable but also stand your ground when necessary.
5- Write up your reviews and share your experiences both positive and negative on Auto Auction Review . Com!
6- Stay positive to the best of your ability by fighting for change in our industry by making the point every chance you get to put the corporate boys on notice that when they drive all the small people out of business on the buy side that they will eventually ruin the profit margins for the large corporate on the sell side. This will collapse that auction one day and hopefully so. Bad auctions should go out of business and good auctions should get the bad auctions’ business revenues!
The corporate parasites will kill the host or they will adapt and keep the host alive.
Again, thank you Jeremy for making a sound and reasonable decision to keep me coming back again to your small town feel auction – where the small guys still matter!
Americas Auto Auction in Pensacola: This is “my home auction” for about 20 plus years. It’s a great auction for the little guys who buy here in terms of customer service and satisfaction. They have always been fair, reasonable and helpful and across the spectrum in titles, transport and in the shop/inspection process, as well.
The other day is another great example of another strong feature I wanted to share here on this site.
Anthony, the head mechanical shop/operations manager worked very aggressively in a “save a deal” capacity. The large animal auctions seem to not try hard to save deals that are going south, especially when there are potential arbitration issues and big money involved. As hard and difficult as it is for us small guys to purchase potentially good inventory (amongst a sea of problem vehicles we are all experiencing,), Anthony took it upon himself, despite his busy duty workload, to personally work out a solution for the seller (who had a huge problem) and myself as a buyer. He worked the “save a deal” magic and brought together both parties in a financial solution to make everybody happy. It was unexpected as it was a large amount of money at stake for both parties. He made the call and got the deal closed.
I won, the seller won, and the auction won.
Good job Anthony for going above the call of duty and job description to make the deal stick. Most auctions, especially the huge auctions, don’t try anymore to keep deals like this together.
The family feel of Americas AA in Pensacola has kept me loyal for about 20 plus years now. We are still in the people business. The large corporations have long forgotten this concept of making it not just business, but personal and human.
Great business ideals never die, especially during the tougher times!
Hat tip, Anthony! You are the tip of the spear there at Americas in P’cola! 🏆
Bought one today ordered my first post sale inspection on a qualified unit.
LBAA informed me that the DO NOT CHARGE A POST SALE FEE IF THE UNIT FAILS!
That’s different. That’s a big deal to a little guy like me.
Good job Oscar for informing me of that and thank you to this website for providing a platform to praise (or otherwise) how our auctions are serving our dealer base.
What an awesome website! (My first time here!) I wanted to give a huge congratulatory message regarding Long Beach Auto Auction in Mississippi. About a week ago I was traveling to this auction. A mile away from their exit off of I-10, and this is a bit embarrassing admittedly, while being distracted talking to my mom on the cell I ran out of gas. Laugh at me. We have all run out of gas? 🙂 The usual roadside assistance vultures wanted $125 – $175 to get me a gallon of gas to get me one mile down the road to the next exit gas station. They also wanted a lot of personal information from me before giving me a price. It felt like buying a car from the worst of our brethren out there??? In frustration, hot and burning up in the hot southern Mississippi sun, I simply called Jeff the AGM at the Long Beach Auto Auction. He solved my problem within less than a minute and asked his team to bring me some gas. They showed up promptly. (They did not even AR me that I know of!!!) They simply helped an old man (with a heart condition on a very hot day) out of a problem that I created. They were the solution. Big “attaboy” for Jeff and his Team! I hope people on this site will remember to give great reviews when they are merited and not just post the bad reviews that are typically (deserved and) posted? These reviews should go both ways! The TRUTH IS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND HONESTY AND PROVIDES ENCOURAGING INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS to our currently struggling industry.
I’m a small independent who is getting choked out to death financially by the big corporations including the big corporate auctions. I’m certain many of the rest of you are feeling the same way in 24.
This is a good review of the Tallahassee Auto Auction and its GM Jeremy.
I was surprised that road runner transport up’ed their fee from Tallahassee to Niceville from $150 to $350 out of the blue on me. Yep, yet another corporation increasing our costs to do business – AGAIN! Gas prices went down. Insurance stayed the same from last year at least for me. (Shop and vote with your feet every year if you have to just to stay alive.)
I decided to drive my (1) purchased unit (it used to be 3-5 every auction,) and leave my RV to pick up next week.
I explained my challenge (bitching about corporate gouging) to Jeremy and he in one second offered to allow me to store my RV in a secured and save place to allow me to save the $350 (unwarranted and unreasonable) transport fee to keep in my pocket, drive my new unit home, and simply hitch a ride next week with another wholesaler to pick up my RV next week.
Thank you Jeremy for keeping me alive to fight another day in this (currently) whacked out industry.
The takeaway from this story is to keep a strong relationship with the GM and staff at the auctions to avoid as much of the “but corporate policy is…”) BS. The staff still has some discretion over their operations and can sometimes do things that certainly their corporate masters may (unnecessarily) cringe about not being true car people who truly understand what the small independents guys are going through.
1- Vote with your feet.
2- Maintain a fair relationship both ways with your GM’s and staff
3- Communicate your needs and concerns.
4- Be reasonable but also stand your ground when necessary.
5- Write up your reviews and share your experiences both positive and negative on Auto Auction Review . Com!
6- Stay positive to the best of your ability by fighting for change in our industry by making the point every chance you get to put the corporate boys on notice that when they drive all the small people out of business on the buy side that they will eventually ruin the profit margins for the large corporate on the sell side. This will collapse that auction one day and hopefully so. Bad auctions should go out of business and good auctions should get the bad auctions’ business revenues!
The corporate parasites will kill the host or they will adapt and keep the host alive.
Again, thank you Jeremy for making a sound and reasonable decision to keep me coming back again to your small town feel auction – where the small guys still matter!
Americas Auto Auction in Pensacola: This is “my home auction” for about 20 plus years. It’s a great auction for the little guys who buy here in terms of customer service and satisfaction. They have always been fair, reasonable and helpful and across the spectrum in titles, transport and in the shop/inspection process, as well.
The other day is another great example of another strong feature I wanted to share here on this site.
Anthony, the head mechanical shop/operations manager worked very aggressively in a “save a deal” capacity. The large animal auctions seem to not try hard to save deals that are going south, especially when there are potential arbitration issues and big money involved. As hard and difficult as it is for us small guys to purchase potentially good inventory (amongst a sea of problem vehicles we are all experiencing,), Anthony took it upon himself, despite his busy duty workload, to personally work out a solution for the seller (who had a huge problem) and myself as a buyer. He worked the “save a deal” magic and brought together both parties in a financial solution to make everybody happy. It was unexpected as it was a large amount of money at stake for both parties. He made the call and got the deal closed.
I won, the seller won, and the auction won.
Good job Anthony for going above the call of duty and job description to make the deal stick. Most auctions, especially the huge auctions, don’t try anymore to keep deals like this together.
The family feel of Americas AA in Pensacola has kept me loyal for about 20 plus years now. We are still in the people business. The large corporations have long forgotten this concept of making it not just business, but personal and human.
Great business ideals never die, especially during the tougher times!
Hat tip, Anthony! You are the tip of the spear there at Americas in P’cola! 🏆
Thank you, Anthony and your team!
Long Beach Auto Auction scores again with me.
Bought one today ordered my first post sale inspection on a qualified unit.
LBAA informed me that the DO NOT CHARGE A POST SALE FEE IF THE UNIT FAILS!
That’s different. That’s a big deal to a little guy like me.
Good job Oscar for informing me of that and thank you to this website for providing a platform to praise (or otherwise) how our auctions are serving our dealer base.
Cool!
What an awesome website! (My first time here!) I wanted to give a huge congratulatory message regarding Long Beach Auto Auction in Mississippi. About a week ago I was traveling to this auction. A mile away from their exit off of I-10, and this is a bit embarrassing admittedly, while being distracted talking to my mom on the cell I ran out of gas. Laugh at me. We have all run out of gas? 🙂 The usual roadside assistance vultures wanted $125 – $175 to get me a gallon of gas to get me one mile down the road to the next exit gas station. They also wanted a lot of personal information from me before giving me a price. It felt like buying a car from the worst of our brethren out there??? In frustration, hot and burning up in the hot southern Mississippi sun, I simply called Jeff the AGM at the Long Beach Auto Auction. He solved my problem within less than a minute and asked his team to bring me some gas. They showed up promptly. (They did not even AR me that I know of!!!) They simply helped an old man (with a heart condition on a very hot day) out of a problem that I created. They were the solution. Big “attaboy” for Jeff and his Team! I hope people on this site will remember to give great reviews when they are merited and not just post the bad reviews that are typically (deserved and) posted? These reviews should go both ways! The TRUTH IS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND HONESTY AND PROVIDES ENCOURAGING INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS to our currently struggling industry.