How do you feel about LC/LX that has been through auction?

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LCCygnus

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UPDATE: Vehicle spent its whole life in Houston TX. Worried about it being a flood vehicle.. What are the chances?

What are your thoughts on a LC/LX that has been through an auction?

One LX I am looking is listed as 1-owner on the carfax and autocheck but at was at an auction in early January, then in late March with mileage listed and then in late April without the mileage listed.

Before the two auctions in March and April, it was listed for sale at a Toyota dealer and sent to auction in early January.

Wouldnt a large toyota dealer have an easy time selling an LX?

I dont understand why it went to auction...

Now it is with the dealer who purchased it.

The carfax mentions nothing about the auction but the autocheck does.

Being a 1-owner, why would this be? What are the more common reasons a Cruiser would be at an auction instead of just sold or traded?

Do you think it was at an auction twice in such a short amount of time a month apart because it didnt meet a reserve the first time?

Everything else with the vehicle checks out rather well as far as title status and service history at a Lexus dealer. Just confused by the auction marks.

The vehicle has spent it's entire life near the shore and thete have been hurricanes in the past ten years since it came off of the production line, but wouldnt such a newish LX just be written off to insurance?

Any opinions are much appreciated, especially those of you who are dealers.

Thank you all.
 
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LCCygnus said:
Thank you for the response.

But why is this?

How would it make its way from the priginal owner to an auction?
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Any number of reasons. The original owner can send it to auction, the 2nd buyer can decide to auction the vehicle, a dealer can take it to auction following a trade in, it could have been repossessed...

Look into the function of auctions.
 
Update: Before the two auctions in March and April, it was listed for sale at a Toyota dealer and sent to auction in early January.

Wouldnt a large toyota dealer have an easy time selling an LX?

I dont understand why it went to auction...
 
LCCygnus said:
Update: Before the two auctions in March and April, it was listed for sale at a Toyota dealer and sent to auction in early January.

Wouldnt a large toyota dealer have an easy time selling an LX?

I dont understand why it went to auction...
Click to expand...

Evidently not. Get a vehicle history report, if you are concerned. Used car sales haven’t been gang busters since COVID-19.
 
shelby95 said:
Evidently not. Get a vehicle history report, if you are concerned. Used car sales haven’t been gang busters since COVID-19.
Click to expand...

Well the auction listing for the dealer was early January and COVID didn't get serious until March but that is a good thought. Thanks
 
Probably 70-80% of trade-ins go to auction (might be more)
If the dealer can't sell it in a week or two, they will often send it to auction.
There may have been no bidders at the first auction. It might have never even made it up to be auctioned. Depends on how many cars they had at the time.
Many dealers don't want to mess with high dollar trade-ins. They can take a while to sell.
The dealer that took my 18 month old super low mileage GS350 F-Sport in on trade sat on it for months and ended up selling it for less than they gave me for trade. You just never know the situation.
Have the vehicle inspected and if you are happy, don't give the auction notations a second thought.
 
Auction part isn't much to worry about as others have stated. Many reason for a dealership to push to an auction instead of keeping it on their lot to sell. Mileage, age, demand. Some dealerships don't like to keep higher priced cars that they can't warranty. As an example the dealership I frequent has a good used selection, but most of them are CPO. Especially the higher priced Toyotas. When I talked to one of the managers there chatting away he mentioned how they tend to send Toyotas that are over 100k to auction after a short amount of time compared to the ones that are CPO.
My LC was traded at a dealership and then sent to auction where a used lot bought it, I ended up buying from them.
 
Also, Take it to a neutral Toyota dealer and have it inspected and run a repair history on it. I would just follow normal "caveat emptor" practices.
 
Cars end up at auction if the dealer cannot sell it. Often those are which were involved in an accident and they cannot certify it. Note that not all accidents end up on carfax. As well cars that have problems that they cannot resolve and don't want bad customer experience. Definitely I would be cautious especially for a vehicle like LX.
 
UPDATE: Vehicle spent its whole life in Houston TX. Worried about it being a flood vehicle.. What are the chances?
 
LCCygnus said:
UPDATE: Vehicle spent its whole life in Houston TX. Worried about it being a flood vehicle.. What are the chances?
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No one can give you a good answer to this. Many vehicles were flooded, but many times that number weren’t. If you are that concerned find a LX from a different city.
 
Personally, IF i were to buy USED, then i would not buy from auction. If you’re gonna pay $$$$, then make sure you make a good investment that won’t turn into a money pit. I would just ante up and get a Certified USED one.
 
i traded a 100-series clean car to a Toyota Dealership to buy my 200 CPO. the 100 was in auction by the end of the week, listed by a local dealer by the weekend, to a new owner early thew following week and traced back to me on Mud in less than two weeks...

no idea why the Toyota dealer didn't sell the 100 on the lot, except for they had a few 200s. they probably just don't have the margin to manage selling/floorplanning it and can do a quick turn to sell a higher margin car.

Auctions are a part of life in the car biz.

as long as the car has a clear title (ie no salvage/flood, etc) then I really wouldn't worry about it.
 
@LCCygnus eric sarjeant of Ed Martin toyota is a regular poster here and has written in detail of the behind the scenes side of auction-or-not decisions. You could probably do some searching on google with the right definitions and get some great info.
 
Sandroad said:
See post #13 from a dealer.....

forum.ih8mud.com

Should I buy?

forum.ih8mud.com forum.ih8mud.com

Also see post #22 from a dealer on the auction path of a lease turn in.

forum.ih8mud.com

Small Dealers

forum.ih8mud.com forum.ih8mud.com
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although Eric adds good content to this forum, Remember he is in the business to sell Cars. Cars sitting on the lot aren’t generating revenue, cars Leaving the lot are making revenue. If you really look into most of what he posts imbedded in there is subliminal messages around only buy from him or other big dealers. I’m sure Eric’s dealership sends very nice cars to auction all the time.

I sold cars (Porsche dealer) through undergrad. Many very nice used cars go to auction, from what I remember the more expensive the more likely they go there. Also although in this forum you may feel like everyone wants a LC/LX but here in the US overall mass market they are not all that desirable.

I remember the nicest used car I ever took on trade,it was a Porsche 993 Turbo ~5 years old at the time and cleaner then new, good color, nothing odd. It sat on the lot for 6 months then went to auction. A week or so later we took a yellow with brown interior lease return 993 cab, it looked like a rotten banana, it sold in a few days, I would have bet $$$ it would have went to auction.What I’m saying is there is little rhyme or reason.
 
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