Hammer Time: Good Buy, Bad Buy

by Steven Lang

Updated: May 16th, 2014 Published: November 23rd, 2011

It was a pearl of mediocrity among a putrid vat of automotive shit. A 2005 Chevy Malibu. It came equipped with a V6, alloy wheels, a lime green paint job that would make Kermit proud, and only 47,000 miles. The sole great car relatively speaking among a hundred plus repos by a title lending company.

The bidding started at $3000, then $4000, then…The former buyer for a local Chevy dealer decided to join the fray. $4,000 became $5000. Then another guy, this one a buyer for a large buy-here pay-here dealership walked into the lane. He started bidding too. $5000 went to $6000 and before we all knew it.

It went for $7200… plus about a $350 auction fee.

At this point a lot of folks start laughing and mouthing the words, “Holy Shit!”. The car not only went for retail… but high retail. Super clean to the extreme plus $1500 in monopoly money. No sane soul in this business would have dog-fighted their way into buying that car.

But then only four days later, something even more incredible happened. A 2009 Chevy Malibu. Same green color. Same alloy wheels, no roof, V6 combination. This one with 57,000 miles.

The bidding started at $13,000, then $12,000, then…

Only two buyers happened to be interested in the vehicle. It just so happened that one was directly behind the other. $12,000 went to $10000, and then… after some more time sitting on their heels… a final starting bid at $8000 by the guy in back.

Guy in front bids $8100. Guy in back of him bids $8200. The auctioneer asks and pleads for another bid. After ten seconds of beggary.

Sold! 2009 Chevy Malibu. $8200. Clean condition but bought for $500 less than rough book. About $3000 less than what it deserved wholesale.

The guy in front complained and complained. “You did not take my bid! Why you no take my bid!” But the deal was done. The guy in back of him just earned a big ear to ear grin.

As for the rest of the stuff? One other fellow bought a 2011 Chrysler Town & Country with 34k miles for only $15,500. That was a nice buy, and it reminded me that I better start selling on Ebay again. I got a ’95 Miata in red and 94k for $2675.

Everything else was already at tax season prices.

Steven Lang

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5 of 33 comments

Rental Man on Nov 23, 2011

I think the G6 GTP/GXP 3.9 was offered in Stick shift only as a 2 Door Coupe. As a rental car any of the G6 were not loved. They always seemed to have some kind of mechanical issues. Customers hated the high belt line, small windows, tiny trunk and non stealer gas milege. We were happy when the turds were gone just to have HHR's and Cobalts bringing on the hate. The late models of those were built better. Thank G-D.

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- Geozinger on Nov 23, 2011
  
  The GTP was originally offered with 3.9/6 manual and 3.9/6 auto (6T70). In 2008 when the GXP debuted the 6 manual went away, it was auto only. But the GXP sedan did get the 3.6 V6, the convert stayed with the 3.9. Are we confused yet? I have the early 2009 with the 2.4 Eco/6 auto (6T70). It's at 48.5K miles, and other than the intermediate shaft and the front discs warping, no mechanical issues. The headliner rattles on cold days, the Maxx did the same thing. The G6 is more dramatically styled than most other beigemobiles, but is still pretty normal. To me, the ingress and egress are like other cars. Like many other cars, the sightlines are less than optimal, and not as good as the Uglibu. The car has a nice size trunk, but the opening is rather small, to accommodate the type of hinges that don't intrude into the trunk. I'd rather deal with the hinges, but so far, it hasn't been an issue. OTOH, we don't use the car like a pickup truck either. It's a shame folks didn't warm up to it, but it has to be better than the last Kia (Amanti) that I rented a few years back. It made me yearn for the comforts of my Maxx...
  
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- Bimmer on Nov 24, 2011
  
  I worked at the detailing shop at the time when G6 come out. We had a customer that was getting company cars. He had '69 'vette and pristine low mileage Celebrity (in a rust belt!) in a personal fleet. His company car was a Grand Am GT V6 that he exchanged for a new G6 V6. Both vehicles were black. However, paint on a G6 would scratch so easily if you look at it the wrong way, that customer said that if it was his personal vehicle, he would have driving it thru the window of the dealership, where he obtained said vehicle. For the next car, his company said that they would give him a budget and he could lease whatever would fit it.
  
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Dvp cars on Nov 23, 2011

....."why you no take my bid?"....more than a hint of something going on there, Steve. Either discrimination, corruption, or old fashioned favoritism. You don't usually add extraneous comments, so which was it?....or is that another story for another day?

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- Steven Lang on Nov 24, 2011
  
  No, the guy didn't keep track on where he was on the bidding. The auctioneer stared at him intently for several seconds while asking for another bid. The fellow just talked to his friend and looked away from the auctioneer. I have seen my share of 'quick hammers' and 'brother-in-lawing' over the years. This wasn't one of those situations. The auctioneer played it right and the bidder made a mistake.
  
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