Jeddah car auction, a frenzy of market place, located not far from Jeddah Stadium south eastern part of the city.
after managing your way through huge truck drivers hauling cars madly in and out of an area less than half a mile in diameter.the car auction it self is situated in the middle of this circle, surrounded by car dealer shops. just at edge of the market auctioneer start shouting through their megaphones.
just at the entrance of the market comes car auction dealers making hand gestures with their thumbs up for a good price down for fair price if you just stop the vehicle.
"there is a misconception in the public minds about us car auctioneers." middle aged AlHarthy said. when a person approaches us as a seller we try to give him as good deal by estimating his vehicles value based on its exterior and engine's conditions.
car auctioning in Jeddah auction have been for the past several years profitable business venture, many people such alHarthy left thire jobs and started selling,buying and, repairing.
some times an auctioneer like my self losses money instead of gaining as most think, i buy a car from a seller i take it fix it's paint and dents and i end up selling at the initial price that i estimated for it so where is the profit?"
as you would enter the market right from the start men in staging on the edge if road pointing with fingers, signs only few experienced buyers Sellers understand. these signs serve as on the fly quote for the car your driving.
when a person stops, no less the five people would approach the driver, and stray shouting prices and estimation to the cars worth. if a price sounded good a person sells the car if not they move one, however to maintain market control some of these care buyer would tell thire Friends along the road of a customer with certain model to be a sellers would basically fix the Price or under value a Sellers car to maintain market control.
another car shop dealer Ali told, that his job is to bring onto the market as much vehicles as possible,"you see these trucks they contain many vehicles". These "newly arrived" cars again go through some refurbishing before its sent to the market place. Ali said there are no inspection done on these vehicles "if you want to check the car it's up to you, a car here is like a fish in an ocean".
however without a professional car inspections many buyers end up with a lemon. a car buyer told of time when bought car from and auctioneer on the street, American car and it looked good from the outside but as he drove it , the car's engine failed and auctioneer refused to take it back. he advised that as buyer one should inspect the car and scrutinizes its paints for dents and mistakes.
Ali's owner of the car shop admitted the market is not like it used be man years ago. he added customers are more well informed these days. "they put us in the spot asking too many technical questions which past buyers dared to ask in the past ten years buyers just bought the car on face value which isthe norm in the market",
flow of information plays a major part Ali speculated, acess to information like the Internet and the use of cell phone gives customers a better way to bargin with us. before all the information about the car used to be supplied by the seller not the buyers.
Ali also mentioned that the nature of the market has changed more new young commerces are taking over the auctioneers job. i started here thirteen years ago the demography of sellers is really young and can use their cell phone to inform each others to fix the price on a customer.
one buyer advised to check the date of purchase the original buyer obtained the car. also he advised that a buyer should be alert to the condition the car is at, for example rough smoke coming from the muffler can tell allot about the cars condition.
