It’s called “wholesale buyer” and probably every dealership has one. They buy specific cars for specific dealerships and do not hold them for 3 months, as far as I know. They also buy loaners from dealership and re-sell them, btw.
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The guy is asking me $395/m for auction licence. It is not $1400. I am not sure what other fees are involved. I appreciate you for sharing your experience. However, since I am planning to buy off-lease car, I don’t think I need to worry a lot about the work done before using it. The car should still have manufacturer warranty and I don’t really care about a few scratches as long as its price is close to KBB trade-in value. Manheim also report the car accidents and carfax history.
This is an example Manheim report: Condition Report
That is why I am willing to trust this report only and bid for the car online.
I think it worth it $395 (assuming no other hidden fee). However, I have learned a lot from this forum that most of the time I am wrong. I appreciate your input.
They buy out of their pocket or dealer’s pocket ? Can I become a wholesale buyer for free for a single transaction 
?
the guy has a dealership and register me as his wholesale buyer agent for a fee.
What practice? I don’t care about dealer plate for a single transaction and bid online as long as I can get a car with a reasonable price.
Are you really a wholesale buyer? If not - then you are a fraud, simple.
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How about hackr instead of fraud?
People that go to wholesale stores like costco and buy for their family instead of their business are not called fraud. they pay a membership fee to access the wholesale store.
Well, so you understand the difference - it’s like either Casanova or a rapist.
@sepidpooy, what vehicle do you want to buy? Do you know that auction prices are significantly lower than your local used market?
I can provide the vin number of the car that I am interested to bid a few days before the auction time since the vehicle detail page is publicly. Therefore, it is possible to submit a proxy bid online. However, I need help to look at historical auction price for similar vehicles to find out what is the reasonable bid price.
What year, make and model are you interested in?
Looking for a family sedan. Prefer 2016 Sonata:
Here are a few example that will be in auction soon:
https://insightcr.manheim.com/cr-display?conditionOrderId=9974001
https://insightcr.manheim.com/cr-display?conditionOrderId=9969049
https://insightcr.manheim.com/cr-display?conditionOrderId=9885283
Thank you. This is very close to the KBB trade-in value. It would be great if I can buy a sonata with this price. Can you place a proxy bid for me for a fee ?
You’ll be surprised about the kind of damage an off lease car can have. Keep in mind that dealers usually have first right to purchase, AKA, they have the right to buy the car before it goes to auction, if they passed, it could mean something, but it could mean nothing.
In addition, it is $1400. On the website you linked, it’s $395/mo with a $995 set up fee. So, if you only do it for 1 month, it’s $1400, 2 months is $1800, so on and so forth.
Those manheim reports can be accurate, but they can also be way off. I’ve personally bought cars off of manheim with clear carfaxes and autochecks with no paint work done only to find out later that the car had $10k worth of damage repaired a month before auction and carfax didn’t update it until a month after I had the car. Carfaxes aren’t even accurate in many cases. Keep in mind that if it’s dirty, that means something definitely happened to the car, but if it’s clean, that means something might have happened and you need to confirm that nothing did happen. Never proxy bid on a car, make sure you see and touch the car before you buy it at auction (or anywhere, but especially places with no recourse) and make sure you become a specialist on the car you’re buying and know what to look for specifically in regards to issues, common failure points, etc.
Oh and BTW, in a super competitive environment like Manheim skyline (NJ), etc, you will get your ass handed to you and over pay for a car like you never thought was possible. Cars at skyline rarely go for or under MMR, they usually sell for $1-3k over in my experience. Most nice cars you’ll never get for cheap. Keep in mind auction fees vary and are on top of the price the car sells for and can be $1500 or more in some cases.
To the guy that personally saw a 2017 S550 Coupe sell for $50k, I call BS. I’ve been in the business for a while and have never seen a 1 y ear old S Class coupe with 15k miles in even below average condition sell for that little. If you can find me one for even $65k, I’ll buy it and send you a $2500 finders fee. Even on MMR, at 2.5 condition, it’s $87,800 and the cheapest transaction listed is $95,500.
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@Falcon01 is pretty much spot on everything he said. Another aspect you should consider is how you pay for the car you will win in the auction. Dealer will at least want a hefty downpayment upfront - if not the whole amount. Personally I would be hesitant to handover a considerable sum to a party I know little about prior to the item changes hands.
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Yup, that’s another point. You really don’t have time to get typical vehicle financing together and will likely need a certified check/wire or floorplan to get a car from a dealer auction. However, this likely won’t be a problem as the car would go under the dealerships/wholesalers floorplan. This means that it will be their car, and then they will reassign to you in exchange for payment. Keep in mind that you would need to give them what you won the car for, plus auction fees, transport fees and possibly even reg, sales tax, title fees, etc. It typically makes no sense to get a car from a dealer auction as a personal car unless you are going for a specific VIN someone gave you info about or the market for that car in your area is much higher than what they go for at auction.
That’s not the case for Sonata’s.
Look online at Autotrader, those MMR’s are way too high. No Sonata Sport 2.4 with 35k miles is worth 13k. You can find them listed at car dealerships for under $13k. That means that these places bought them for $9-11k. Going off of MMR would completely fuck you in this case. You’ll also never get $13k on trade on a 2016 Sonata Sport. You have no experience on the wholesale side of car buying/selling and have no auction or dealership experience at all. You will fuck yourself so badly if you try to do this by yourself, it’s not even funny.
Either find someone experienced who’s been in the business for at least 4 years or just save yourself the hassle and go to a dealership.
Look, there’s a 2016 Sonata Sport with 33k miles listed for $13k. Negotiate the price down $500-700. Pay the stupid FL doc fee and get the car with less hassle. You can even make a vacation out of it.
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FYI warranties only cover defects in manufacturing and are contingent on the scheduled maintenance being performed on time. E.G. if you have sludge buildup, you will have to prove all oil changes were done on time before they will cover it under warranty.
You can do that with private party provided they are a little motivated. OTOH after all your fees I doubt you are really coming out ahead at auction.
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@Falcon01 nailed it. If that doesn’t convince you this is not a good idea, then best of luck.
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update. My sister’s car was totaled after a hit a run accident in Fremont CA Sunday. I remember I got a guys card last time I visit the Manheim auction. I contacted him on Monday and asked if he could get me either a 2016 RAV4, VW Tiguan, GMC Terrain SLT or Hyundai Sante FE (three rows). On Thursday he called and told me that there was a 2017 Sante Fe V6 three row with 29K miles in the Ocean Side, CA auction if I was interested in. I asked the condition and he said grade A. He then ran the CARFAX and sent to me (only four entries - good sign) . Today I picked up the car. He got it at action for $14K and I paid 17K after taxes since he had to get it smogged, oil change and inspection (my sister paid cash because of hit and run insurance pay off)
. We had to meet at a local dealership that allowed him to do the transfer paperwork. 
My sister was totally stoked!
