Interesting that Turners Auction made a nice interim profit this half year. I am suspicious of this good result for two reasons:
1. They are I believe taking a position in the market trading stock
2. They are under-quoting on the price of cars
I sold a car through Turners recently. They under-quoted me grossly. They said my car was worth $4000. Interestingly, they ignored the fact that I had bought the same car from them 8 months earlier for $5500. In any respect, I eventually sold the car for $5,000. I think I could have got $5500 for it actually, because whilst we might be in recession, so more local sellers, and fewer buyers; there is a shortage of supply from Japan I think after the tsunami destroyed vehicles by the thousands. Also TradeMe prices told me I could get more.
Turners superficially give very good service. i.e. They have driven me to the bank to get the cash, dropped me off at the bus depot, etc. They were very nice to allow me to withdrawal from one sale to buy a car when the car I really wanted was passed in. Very good Christians you might say. But I sense an undercurrent there, so beware. I still deal with them. They need to make money, and its apparent that they under-quote. Not sure if they are taking equity in sales, or whether they are simply under-quoting to make their cars more attractive buys. i.e. To draw customers. It could be argued that the change in market circumstances demanded that. The reality was however - TradeMe was telling me something else. When you are looking for a sale, best to get a sense of the market at TradeMe. People do go to auctions for a bargain. It does not mean they have to get one. Don't be lured so readily into auctions either if you are not in a hurry to sell. We could have just as easily come back from our holiday and kept the car.
In fact, we only wanted to sell our car and buy a new one when we returned in 3 months. In the process of selling, we found out that you don't have to auction your car. I think its better to actually just leave your car on their lot and wait for trade inquiries through them. That is if you are in no rush. The problem I guess is that as a customer they seem not to direct you to cars in the yard, so it is dealers who are likely to get these cars.
Business in NZ is a struggle. It is a small market and very little money gets spent in the non-food market. As a trader, it can feel like a 'dog fight' sometimes. It feels rather tragic if you are not accustomed to that system of values; and yet NZ has this superficial exterior which yells 'maternalistic society'. Its really a dog fight. In comparison, I find Australia rather materialistic for different reasons, i.e. psychological repression - systematised by statutory imposition.
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